Your Favorite “Mixtape” 3-CD Giveaway

Posted by 33 on August 26, 2013

You've got to admit, one of the coolest ways to show someone you care is to make that person a mixtape.

It's not something you can just throw together in a second; it's something that takes time (much more in the cassette-only days) and thought. It's been a while since someone made me one - though Rockabye has some pretty awesome playlists that I'd like to think have me in mind - but I haven't given a mixtape to anyone in years, either. That's going to change... I dug into my collection recently to pick a couple of my most treasured mixtape gifts that brought back some great memories: all-nighters, incredible road trips, amazing friendships and, no doubt, amazing music. I was introduced to most of my favorite bands this way, not through the radio, but through friends.

Case in point: The Bunnies Candy Chews mix my friend Derek gave me when we were in college. It was definitely the most uniquely decorated mixtape I ever received. But, man, check out these songs and artists:

Pixies

Laurie Anderson

Mazzy Star

"Mr. Roy Orbison"

My Bloody Valentine

This Mortal Coil

"Throwing Moose" (Muses)

DCD (Dead Can Dance)

Fast-forward a bit to the rise of the CDs, and among my most treasured mixes are from my friend Kris, who made me not one, but a two-volume "mixtape" that I played the hell out of.

Are there some songs you dig on these mixes? I must thank Derek and Kris and so many other friends and family who shared the music they loved with me. Best. Gifts. Ever. (P.S. That's my friend Anne's painting in the background. She didn't do mixtapes but she gave me great art that was mixed media.) For today's giveaway, tell us below: Share a memory of a mixtape that you treasure and why. Feel free to even post the song/band list! Share your mixtape stories with us by Friday, Aug. 30 at 6 pm ET to enter our random giveaway for our special "Mixtape Trio" package: Lullaby Renditions of Pixies, Prince, and a CD of your choice. One winner will be selected.

Enter as many different mixtape memories as you like, whether it's one you've received or made. The more you enter the greater your chances are of winning! If you win, you just have to promise that you'll use them to make a mixtape. Got it?

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Comments

Hi, I made a mixtape for my then girlfriend/now wife, Angie. I called it “The Bodacious Mix”. It was made with love and had a pleasing effect on her. Recorded on a 60min cassette tape, is there any other way?
Side A – Man enough – Lloyd Cole,
Creep – Radiohead,
Sounds of then – Gangajang,
Out the window – Violent Femmes,
Close to me – The Cure,
I want you – Sophie B Hawkins,
Logical Song – Supertramp,
Cocaine – Eric Clapton
Side B – Sanctuary – The Cult,
Can’t stand losing you – The Police,
Where is my mind – The Pixies,
Cut me down – Lloyd Cole,
Crucify – Tori Amos,
Belong – REM,
Rich folks hoax – Rodriguez
Wish you were here – Pink Floyd

Barry Scott on December 02, 2016
My favorite mix tape is a really unique one made by a summer crush of mine. I went to Vocal Camp at UCSB when I was in high school and he was in the High School Scholars program. He recorded a performance we gave, then made a mix tape consisting of the performances given by me and my best friends in the program on Side A. Side B consisted of the recordings by the original artists of the songs we did. Considering he was loaded down with physics and other college level courses, the fact that he spent the time to first pick out and re-record select numbers from our concert on one side, then hunt down recordings of the original performances for the other side… all for a 3 week summer fling… Well, there is a reason we’re still great pen pals and ooh & ahhh over each other’s kids on Facebook.

Christi on December 02, 2016
Keep Calm & Listen to This!

I made a double cd “mix tape” for stressed out work colleagues. We had all been working hard for 18 months on a busy project and needed a pick me up. I love making compilations with combinations of songs that will expose people to new and unfamiliar music.

CD1 – Acoustic, including tracks by Jack Johnson, Jose Gonzalez, Gomez, Calexico, Bright Eyes, Deacon BLue, Bob Dylan, Angus & Julia Stone, Broken Bells, Eels, Feist and The Waterboys

CD2 – Groovy, including tracks by Bill Withers, Herbie Hancock, The Bamboos, Koop, Skeewiff, Moloko, Rinocerose, Fila Brazilia, The Whitest Boy Alive, Kruder & Dorfmeister, Sade, Tosca, Beats International and Salmonella Dub

Barry Scott on December 02, 2016
It was only a few weeks ago that I was discussing with an old friend how indescribably exciting it was when someone gave you a mix tape! This was at a time in our lives when absolutely nothing in life was more important than finding a new “favourite band” to become addicted to. At a time when nobody accused you of piracy for sharing music because everyone knew that if you ended up loving the band, you were going to go and buy every album, single and video you could lay your hands on.

My favourite mix tape was spontaneously sent to me by someone I hardly knew. I had responded to an ad in a music magazine for a guy selling some vinyl, and had agreed to buy several albums and 12” singles off him. Included in the package I received in the mail a week later were several amazing posters that he no longer wanted and had decided to give me for free. Nobody had email then so, being the polite young lady my parents brought me up to be, I sent him a thank you letter and heard nothing further. Two weeks before Christmas an envelope arrived in the post with a 90 minute cassette and a simple note – “Hope you like it”. That night I lay on my bed in the dark and listened with delight to the entire tape from start to end. Today I don’t remember the whole tracklist (that was over 20 years ago and my memory isn’t so good now that I’m old!), but I still have the tape amongst my collection in storage at my mum and dad’s house. Some of the bands I already knew and loved but many were new and are still firm favourites to this day – thanks Leyton! The tracks I can recall… Fields of the Nephilim – Last Exit for the Lost; Black Tape for a Blue Girl – Across a Thousand Blades; Dead Can Dance – Xavier; Cocteau Twins – Fotzepolitic; Catherine Wheel – Black Metallic; My Bloody Valentine – Blown a Wish; Lydia Lunch & Roland S Howard – Some Velvet Morning; Cranes – Wish; Swans – Love Will Tear Us Apart (the version with Jarboe singing). Bliss!

Vanya on December 02, 2016