As I’ve mentioned before in a previous post, the one thing that separates men from animals is the fact that they’re “time binders”. Men feel the innate need to catalog and keep records of past and current dates and events. I’m no different. Back when a music fan could actually be introduced to new music via the radio or Viacom owned music video stations I made it a point to record and catalog them. I have crates filled with hundreds of VHS tapes going back to 1991 (No “Hoarders”).

Why? You might ask. Simple. When I was a little kid my parents used to play mostly 8 track tapes and vinyl records. They then moved on to cassette tapes before my uncle came from Japan on a visit in the Summer of 1989 and gave us one of the first ever CD players, a Sony D-2 Discman. We had nothing to play on it but even at the age of 13 going on 14 I knew my world was about to change forever. Again.

I was one of those kids that used to have to move antennae on my TV to get a picture when it was on VHF. I remembered the pre cable days on Pay TV networks like Star and Prevue (yes, there was a time before cable TV as we know it even existed). I had a VCR at home but I wasn’t taping anything off television but wrestling and cartoons because we only had 5 channels worth watching back then. I was, however, a master of making pause tapes on the radio.

The CD changed the way we listened to music but it took a while because retail tapes cost half of what a CD did for years plus there was no way to record onto a CD so radios and walkmans still ruled for another decade before they were ultimately eclipsed. The walkman taught us patience and how to do basic maintenance.

Too much fast forwarding or rewinding killed your batteries. You knew what songs were on both sides of a tape simultaneously. When you put your walkman away you turned one battery upside down just in case the “PLAY” button was pressed by mistake so it would work later.

You might have also learned to tell tale signs of what was going to happen right before your tape was about to get eaten. Maybe you cold even repair eaten tapes. The bottom line is people continue to hold on to these tapes after between 20 and 30 years. Why?

For some it’s nostalgia. For others, it’s about cataloging a culture or a bygone era. For some, it’s because they knew that when everything switched over to digital one day everything wasn’t going to be converted. Even to this day, only about 25% of all music has been converted to digital format. What this means is you better hold on to those old cassette singles with the bonus tracks not on that old Rap album that’s been out of print since 1988. It’s not gonna be on iTunes in the near future. Or ever.

Kids who grew up with only CD’s have always had the option to scan or totally skip a track altogether. We grew up learning patience plus basic care & maintenance with vinyl records and tapes. We had to get up and turn the channel and work to get reception on the few available channel we did have. The next generation had cable and remote controls. They also had a variety of music television options and another way to get exposed to new music in addition to the radio. Thank God for the VCR.

The same way those old taped radio shows from the 70’s, 80’s & 90’s weren’t going to be converted to digital formats unless individuals recorded them, old videos like Masters Of Ceremony “Sexy” , Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud “Girls, I Got ‘Em Locked” or more obscure jawns like Funke Natives “Urban Contemporary Jeep Music” might’ve been lost forever. Thanks to innovations like YouTube and Dailymotion, you can upload your old recorded media and share it with others that may feel nostalgic, kill time at work or just want to win a bet.

My need to catalog an era was somewhat akin to Thierry Guetta’s need to document everything that was happening around him but with one main exception. I always knew why I was doing it but I was just waiting for the reason it was necessary to happen. Now, I have a hundreds of organized and labeled tapes that are fully cataloged. I’ve captured everything from old video game matches to sporting events to videos, rare cartoons, film and music documentaries. I have so much material that never hit YouTube, Dailymotion or Vimeo it’s truly sickening. Now I think it’s time I release it to public so it can finally serve it’s intended purpose. Why am I still sitting on this stuff? It’s 2011!

Since I don’t have the means to convert any of my VHS tapes then upload them I’ll simply put that into the hands of folks that do that regularly. I have a gang of rare and classic videos from both the US & Canada (such as Dan E O’s “Margarine”) and rare stuff like the Bjork documentary from 1997 (in English) about “Homogenic” (only this part is currently online). In any event, hit me up @ poisonousparagraphs@gmail.com if you’re serious and have any inquiries about exactly what kind of footage from what era I have as it spans from 1991 to 2004.

One.