"The Girls' Tapes" ... Part 1

Hello friends,

a few weeks ago my pal the mighty Vinyl Villain had another very fine post (here) in his "This Was Stuck To The Front Page Of A Magazine" - series: highly valuable stuff from old tapes and I really recommend  to have an accordingly close look.

Eirher way, his post made me flicker thru my old tapes, because I knew I had a few promotional giveaways from yesteryear as well, but they all turned out to be crap by and large. What I found though were several tapes which were especially compiled for me by young girls at the time. And I still have all of them, because, you know, if there is one thing I have from my mother, then it is not to throw things away too easily, because they could turn out to be useful when the Russians  march in one of these days. (I only wish I had had a bit of her austerity, then I would not have given all of my money to various inn landlords in a true George Best - style in my younger years! But I digress ...).

Some of these tapes are "labours of love", some are not. Some are good throughout, some are not. But they all have one thing in common: I haven't listened to them for eons, which perhaps I should have done, because I saw that there are some neat songs on them, so I thought I start a new series with the extremely catchy title: "The Girls' Tapes".

It's gonna be two tunes from each tape, along with the usual bit of rambling. But don't forget: it's the music that counts, so bear with me, please ...

Let's start with this one, given to me in 1986, when I was 17 or 18, by Anette J. I used to hang around with her sister more than with her, because she was two or three years older than us and, obviously, knew people much cooler than us. But occasionally we would visit the same independent clubs in town and if we had one thing in common, then it was out appetite for the bizarre in music, and by Christ, some bizarre music was played in the clubs we went to, believe me. Like the ones below, dancefloor fillers then if you want, still some four years after they were released:

mp3: Anette J.: Neon Judgement - 'TV Treated' ('82)

mp3: Anette J.: Soft Cell - 'Martin' ('83)

Especially Soft Cell's 'Martin has stood tthe test of time, I would think ... and it's one by them you don't hear that all often: a killer tune! Anette used a BASF Chromdioxid Super II 60 and now works in some very imortant management function at Munich Airport. Contact to her long long lost.

Next up one made for me by a friend of a DJ colleague I had in the late 90's, perhaps in 2000, Claudia. I don't even know her last name and we only had very random contact then. Nevertheless this tape proves that she existed and it is a very rowdy one, full of good punk stuff, no "classic" late 70's punk songs, instead some fine bands which were rather new to me at the time. Here you go:

mp3: Claudia ?: The Queers - 'Another Girl' ('96)

mp3: Claudia ?: Sloppy Seconds - 'I Don't Want To Be A Homosexual' ('90)

I hope the second tune doesn't offend anyone who reads this here: hey, it's just as a song, not my personal message to you, okay? Everyone to his own taste, I always say ... and if I were homosexual, B.A. out of Sloppy Seconds - as pictured above in all his glory - wouldn't be my preferred wet dream either, so ...




Claudia used a Sony UX-S 90, and no, I have no idea whatever became of her. I'm sure she made her way in life, because she was rather straight-forwarded, not the easiest girl not get along with perhaps.


That's it, as usual I hope you enjoyed my choices. More girls' tapes to come within the next weeks ... I know you can hardly wait, can you?


Have fun,


Dirk