My Salute to Lou Ottens, The Inventor of the Cassette Tape

 

This is slightly unusual for an Author's Picks article but I did want to acknowledge that on March 6th 2021, Lou Ottens who was the inventor of the cassette tape passed away at the age of 94. Before I got into all of the compact disc technology in the late 1980s, I had been relying heavily on vinyl records and cassette tapes in the early years of my love for kayo kyoku.

As you can see above, these are just some of the tapes that I've had. I purchased these at the various record stores in Chinatown in downtown Toronto when I was a university student. It was quite the expensive hobby but the distance between U of T and those places made things simply too irresistible. And thanks to Ottens, my all-nighters were kept quite bearable since I was able to throw in those tapes into the gray tape recorder for repeat play; really needed that music to keep me up although the multiple cups of green tea also helped.

Without further ado then, I have some sample songs from some of the above tapes in my pink (or lavender) case.

Akiko Kobayashi -- Kokoro Midarete: Say It With Flowers （心みだれて）

(cover version)

Akina Nakamori -- Firestarter

Junko Yagami -- Loser （ルーザー）

Seiko Matsuda -- Marrakech （マラケッシュ）

TUBE -- Summer Dream

Yoko Oginome -- Wangan Taiyozoku （湾岸太陽族）

Hiroko Yakushimaru -- Genki wo Dashite （元気を出して）

Mayumi Itsuwa -- Nokoribi （残り火）

Anyways, thanks very much, Mr. Ottens, and my condolences to your family and friends!