"Love Is A Mix Tape"

In the 1990s a shy music geek named Rob Sheffield met a hell-raising Appalachian punk-rock girl named Renée, who was way too cool for him but fell in love with him anyway. He was tall. She was short. He was shy. She was a social butterfly. She was the only one who laughed at his jokes when they were so bad, and they were always bad. They had nothing in common except that they both loved music. Music brought them together and kept them together. And it was music that would help Rob through a sudden, unfathomable loss.Rob Sheffield isn’t a musician, he’s a writer, and Love Is a Mix Tape isn’t a love song- but it might as well be. This is Rob’s tribute to music, to the decade that shaped him, but most of all to one unforgettable woman.
(from Hardcover edition)
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I read this book in one sitting. A heartfelt story about love and loss entwined with some really great mix tape soundtracks. I caught myself repeatedly racing to my cd collection to listen to some long lost songs.

I got to thinking about all the great mix tapes I've given and received over the years. I was going to hunt them down and post them hear but like most of you who grew up during the eighties I'm really sick of most of that music.

Mix Tape Anecdote.
When I was a sophomore in high school I received a mix tape from a secret admirer on Monday after gym class. On it was a bunch of Depeche Mode, The Cure, The Smiths, Violent Femmes, Pet Shop Boys, Erasure and Oingo Boingo. Attached to the tape was a note stating that the admirer would only reveal herself that coming Friday during a party when one particular song played, Shriekback's, This Big Hush. I remember that on that tape she put all the really dark songs from Shriekback's Oil and Gold.
I haven't seen the girl since 1989 but I still listen to Shriekback.
The Big Hush
Faded Flowers
Only Thing That Shines