This is funny stuff. Yesterday, as I was driving in my car with both kids, returning from a fruitful trip to Hobby Lobby, the song, "Head to Toe" by Lisa Lisa and the Cult Jam came on. I knew every single word to this song. And it gave me a major flashback.
Let's go back to June 1987. Angie Lemmon and I are sitting in my bedroom on Blueridge Drive. We are in love. In love with Joe Hamilton and John Durbin. We both have it bad. Unfortunately for us, the love is not reciprocated.
But Angie and I had a plan, a plan that was sure to make even the coldest 12 year old heart fall in love with us.
We were going to make them a love tape.
It was going to be the best love tape that any boy at Meadowbrook Middle School had ever heard. So for the next 6 hours, Angie and I sat on the floor of my bedroom waiting for 106.1 to play the songs that would really let our true emotions be felt.
As most of you remember, making a love tape is hard work. You have to be sure to push play and record simultaneously. You have to make sure that you get as much of the beginning of the song as possible that doesn't have the annoying DJ in it. You have to call said DJ about a million times to request your songs. It was a tough job, but we were up for the challenge.
Hours later, with only Cheetos and New Coke to replenish our fading energy, the love tape was complete. It was a masterpiece. A love tape that would have John and Joe at my front door begging for us to "go with" them. It was going to work.
It just had to.
We knew both boys were swimming at John's grandmother's house. So we called, asked for John, and when John answered we said, "This is for you and Joe" and pushed play. Laid the phone receiver next to my jam box and let music play.
All two hours of it.
I don't remember all the songs but I do remember there were more than one Lisa Lisa and the Cult Jam tunes.
"Nothing's Going to Change my Love for You" was on there more than once I am sure.
"I Can't Fight this FEELING" REO Speedwagon
"OH I, I just DIED IN YOUR ARMS TONIGHT!"
I'm sure some Chicago and such. You get the picture.
Did the love tape work? I don't believe so. But we got poetic justice a few years later, 9th grade. Angie and I were about a foot taller than both boys and had the older, more mature guys hot on our trail. Joe and John were left in the dirt. And you know what?
They never made us a love tape.
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12 comments:
Sounds better than my tape making techniques, which included pressing one jam box up to another to record favorite songs. Now, THAT, people, is techonology.
Love it! I was so in love with the movie "Girls just wanna have fun". What a great memory!
I remember recording songs off the radio too...Huey Lewis and the News! BUT, Santa saved me and got me the tape so I had it all then!
That is so hilarious...was that the same summer that Rita had her puppies and no one had a job but Mikey? My husband and your mom tried to retile the master bath shower that summer...I don't think it was successful. Sadly, my tape making was done on an 8 track...how embarassing is that?
OMG! Seriously, I am LOL! I TOTALLY remember taping songs off the radio. You had to have such timing!
My big song to try and catch was Def Lepard's 'Pour Some Sugar on Me!'..loved that song!
What was even better was Friday night dedications. Me and my friends would sit for hours trying to get in to profess our love on the radio.
Great post!
LMAO! Too funny - I remember making those tapes. I can't believe the time and effort that went into making them!
I just laughed my ass off!!! I even have an old mix tape in one of my old school boxes that my parents finally made me take home from their attick. too bad i don't have a tape player to play it on. Pressing play and record at the same time....that's like walking 5 miles barefoot in the snow to school, up hill both ways. Our children will be so lucky! We also recorded ourselves singing to those great songs, when there was no current love interest to make a tape for.
Cracking up thinking about the clear cassette tapes with the yellow and pink on them. Those were the coolest! I made lots of "love tapes" with those. :)
We rented "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" every weekend at Sound Warehouse. Loved, loved, loved that movie!!
Love this post! Takes me back to the days of Peter Natoli. Sigh. Or Troy Allen. Sigh. Or Griff Wakem. Sigh. All I need now is some blue eyeliner, a curling iron and admission to the skating rink.
P.S. Did I ever tell you about the time my Dad gave me a spanking in public when I was wearing skates?
That is funny stuff! Don't you know if I'm ever around the old stomping grounds (which is rarely) I make a point to drive down Blueridge Drive? I secretly hope Tessie and Mike will be outside waving at me even though I know they don't live there anymore. HA! Good times on Blueridge Drive!
Man you brought back memories. I knew all the songs and the movie. Oh my. Those were the days.
I had to send this to my BF, and we cracked up about it. I had the best stereo out of all my friends, so we always used mine to record those great love tapes..Oh the memories...thanks for the reminiscing.
On the other hand, thanks for making me feel so damn old today. :)
Oh my gosh, I just re-lived a little bit of my own early days vicariously!
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