Side Note

Why the hell does Urban Outfitters sell a mix CD on vinyl?

There was nothing in middle and high school that gave me more joy than getting a mix CD from a friend. They had themes, hidden messages for the recipient, and was one of the primary ways I opened my musical horizons in the early days of online music piracy. Sometimes these days, I’ll hear a song and remember the exact friend who lovingly put it on a mix CD for me and where I was in that time in my life. They are still tucked carefully in a corner of my parents’ basement, and as long as I’m alive I’ll never throw them away.

Kids these days, if I may flex my millennial culture cred, will never have the precious experience of making, giving, or getting a mix CD. But if they want all of the hip sentimentality with none of the intimacy or need for a CD player, Urban Outfitters has them covered. As comedian Brandon Wardell pointed out on Twitter, Urban Outfitters is currently carrying My 90s Mix, a vinyl record filled with ‘90s Top 40 hits aping the mix CDs of yore. Last November, the company partnered with Sony to release a limited-edition “mix CD” on vinyl with 12 ‘90s pop radio hits including, “...Baby One More Time” by Britney Spears, “Maria, Maria” by Santana, and “Still Not a Player” by Big Pun featuring Joe.

All 3,000 copies of My ‘90s Mix are available exclusively at vintage aesthetic-loving retailer Urban Outfitters and feature a cover made to look like a CD in a jewel case, complete with Sharpie scrawl and doodles from the nonexistent person who “burned” it. (Do “the kids” still know what burning a CD means?) Considering copies of the album are still available for purchase on the store’s website eight months later, one can deduce that customers aren’t exactly flocking to buy this triple-threat nostalgia item filled with songs easily found on any streaming platform and YouTube.

Though mix tapes and mix CDs are a thing of the past, having been replaced by the ubiquitous playlist, “mixes” and “mixtapes” are still common terms in music today, no matter what format the release is on. For example, Drake’s 2017 album More Life is just one of many modern rap albums categorized as a mixtape, though all the songs are new ones by Drake and the album is available in digital form, CD, and on vinyl. However, My ‘90s Mix takes the whole thing to a new level, essentially putting a modern, corporately-produced playlist on a vinyl record that is marketed as a CD. It’s all a bit… much. But hey, whatever a company’s gotta do to cash in on the recent nostalgia craze is what a company’s gotta do.

The nostalgia craze hits a weird low.