I guess I’m going to have to step up as the sole Idolator reader that still rocks the 8-tracks. I’m old enough to have bought them new. My first car, a Chevy Mailbu, had a pull out 8-track that I used to rock Paranoid and Back in Black with. I still will buy interesting tapes when I see them and I still have about five decks including a recorder and this dandy portable:

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My best tapes are probably NY Dolls, Van Der Graf Generator, Beefheart and a bootleg Kraftwerk tape. And I’m still tempted anytime someone is going on about how “warm” and superior their records sound to let ‘em know they haven’t lived until they’ve heard it on 8-track.

The last known use for the cartridges that I know of were as “Carts” at radio stations up until the end of the 90’s(?). A track would be recorded from vinyl, cassette, or even CD onto an 8 Track Cart that was of the appropriate length (90 Seconds ~ 5 minutes) and stuck in a special player to be broadcast. The advantage? Instant start and no rewinding required – it goes right back to the beginning.

I was amazed in the early 90’s when I saw Negativland and they triggered all their samples using stacks of these. This was long after digital sampling was a viable option. I was impressed and the show was hilarious!

As for their future? Sad to say, it probably is in the hands of future ironic hipsters…

(There’s also a special vinyl version of the album with a unique mono mix.)