VHS Mixtapes - Tape 1: Seinfeld, Ice T and More

I have a box of VHS tapes. I cannot throw them out. They are all full of hours of television recorded over the last 20-odd years. There are about 50 of them, that’s around 300 hours of content. I want to revisit what's on the tapes.

The Intro - I Have a Box of VHS Tapes

Alright, let's dive into the first tape. The tape itself is about 25 years old. Everything on here was recorded in the early 90s while I was in Sidney, Nebraska.

Ben Kuhns/Hot1047.com

The first thing on the tape is The Boyfriend episode of Seinfeld from its original broadcast on February 12, 1992. I was down with Seinfeld from its premier. My obsession with stand-up comedy was well established in the summer of 1989 when NBC aired the first season. This episode was from the third season and all of the show's pieces were in place. Small goofy premise, Newman, clever pop culture references, Art Van Dalay. This was the episode where Jerry tries to establish a grown up friendship with Keith Hernandez, until he asks him to help him move! Also, it had the JFK movie parody where Kramer got to the bottom of who spit on him.

I was in a 'cut out the commercials' phase of recording so I missed a lot of nostalgia potential, but there was a promo for KCNC 4 Denver news. Watching this is like smelling a roast cooking; it brings me back to childhood. KCNC was the news that I remember my family watching most nights at 10pm.

Next was a video recorded from an episode of Pump It Up! With Dee Barnes, Scarface’s "A Minute to Pray" video (more on Pump It Up! in shortly).

This was followed by some quick clips of various things. Then a few seconds of KDUH news from Scottsbluff Nebraska, Our local-ish TV station in the Nebraska Panhandle. If I remember correctly, they would play the ABC network feed an hour earlier than the Denver stations. So you could see Home Improvement twice if you really needed a fix. Or I'm making that memory up. The clip is like this, but not this:

Next, a clip from SNL on MTV. The Chevy Chase and Richard Pryor Job Interview sketch. I fancied myself a bit of a radical and was drawn to stuff that stuck it to the Man, man. There was also one of those Denis Leary MTV promos.

Next we have an entire episode of Pump It Up! Recorded from the Sterling, Colorado TV station KTVS at like 12:30 AM on a Sunday morning. This episode was all about Ice-T. It was at the time of the O.G.album.

Dee interviewed Ice in his house in LA. Pretty standard interview stuff. But remember this was 1992. Before the Internet. I was living in Nebraska. There was an Alco store and occasionally someone would try to open a record store. Access to the music and artists that I liked required at least a trip to the mall in Scottsbluff. Once on a band trip we stopped at a mall in Golden Colorado, I nearly had a heart attack at a record store there. They not only had Vanilla Ice and Hammer, I found NWA and BDP cassettes. So, any long form interview with a rapper was something to record and study.

Staying up until 1:30 AM to record a whole hour of rap videos and an interview with Ice T was a gold mine. This time I got a couple Ice-T videos and WC and the Maad Circle’s "Dress Code" video!!

This episode also had a promo for a Rap Along with KRS One contest - just call this 900 number.

And an 'urban' McDonald's commercial. So 90’s.

After Pump It Up! The tape goes straight into New Jack City. Recorded from HBO or Showtime. New Jack City is a movie where I knew the soundtrack by heart before I ever saw the movie. Tick Tock Ya Don’t Stop.

After Ice-T recaps the plot of the movie over the credits, the tape goes into Metallica’s video for "One." This video was a major inspiration for me. The video uses clips from the movie Johnny Got His Gun. It uses the visuals and dialogue from the movie in conjunction with the music to generate a new creation. This is a style that is common today, but at the time it was so new and innovative and expanded what I thought was possible.

This was followed by a few seconds of SNL on MTV: Gerald Ford Christmas. Roll over liberty.

Next is the movie Colors. This tape has a clear Ice-T theme. Less by design then by my obsession with Ice in the early 90’s. I knew about, and got, the Body Count album before Charlton Heston serenaded the media with his lyrical rendition of "Cop Killer." In fact, Colors is followed by the Body Count video for "There Goes the Neighborhood."

At the time Ice was the embodiment of rebellion for me. Not retro hippie rebellion. Not sanctimoniousness wishing. But a figure that said that the world may stomp on you, but you must stand up and do what needs doing and take care of your own.

We’re coming to the end of the tape and this is where the gems hide. Most of the tapes in the Collection were used over and over until they got full of stuff that just couldn’t be taped over. In EP Mode there is six hours of fun to fill. That leads to a delightful hodgepodge of stuff at the end. This time it starts with what seems to be the world premiere of Weird Al’s video for "Smells Like Nirvana" on Hanging With MTV. And the VJ was Duff! Again like this but not this:

The night I recorded it I was sitting with my friend, around the cabinet television awaiting the moment. When it came there was rejoicing that had not been seen since I heard the world premiere of "Stuck in a Closet With Vanna White" on the Dr. Demento Show. A few weeks later on a different band trip I found the Off the Deep End album in a Wal-Mart in Scottsbluff. It had been stocked with a bunch of Nevermind cassettes.

Hodgepodge continued with about a minute of "Mind Playing Tricks on Me." That was cut off in favor of Darkwing Duck,

And a commercial to get a free OakTown's 357 cassingle in a box of Cinnamon Mini Buns Cereal. Which I did of course.

Darkwing and Oaktown’s were followed by videos from Yo! MTV Raps by NWA, House of Pain and Cyprus Hill.

END OF TAPE 1

Tape 2 - Time Machines, Donahue, Phil Collins and More

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