Wear That Tape Out: Punk Rock Cassettes, DIY Histories, and Materializing the Self

Throughout its approximately fifty-year history as a vehicle for punk cultural production, the cassette tape remains a powerful signifier of anti-commercialism for punks. This dissertation considers the legacy of the cassette tape as a companion to punk rock and as a recording and playback medium that democratized the means of documentation through its accessibility, portability, durability, and copiability. Drawing on archival research and interviews, I construct four case studies—1970s New York City (NYC), 1980s/1990s East Bay (California), 2000s/2010s Midwest emo revival, and 1980s Washington D.C. Hardcore —that demonstrate the evolving significance of the cassette tape, and illustrate how antiquated technologies continue to live on after their supposed obsolescence. Through my four case studies I examine the significance of the cassette tape as a type of sonic memoir, do-it-yourself history tool, object of nostalgia, and physical artifact in an increasingly digitized world. I also challenge popular imaginaries of both the cassette tape and punk that depict the medium and subculture as democratizing forces in the production and dissemination of art, asking how does the cassette tape’s use in punk also demonstrates a curatorial and gatekeeping function? In exploring the significance of the cassette tape to these punk scenes, I aim to illustrate the importance of recording and playback media as a means of shaping what is possible and how we recognize and imagine ourselves through technology.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph. D., Music

Level thesis:degree_level

Doctor of Philosophy

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Music

Grantor

Cornell University

Year dc:date.issued

2025

Author dc:creator

• Peters, Sean

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Braddock, Jeremy
• Appert, Catherine

• Cassette Tape
• Punk

Language dc:language.iso

en

DOI

https://doi.org/10.7298/h17s-gq46

Dc Identifier Other

ProQuest Submission ID: 14969
ProQuest Publication ID: 32000414

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:ecommons.cornell.edu:1813/117618