Mixology: Can't You Hear Me Knocking?

Mixology is a recurring feature in which I take a look at one of the many mix tapes I made over the years. Some are better than others, but all of them are fun to revisit.

Can't You Hear Me Knocking? (1981)

I've discussed the first mix tapes I made on my old clock radio cassette player before. Here's another one from 1981. Again, not sure of the exact date, but I'm going to guess it was around May or June, because Tom Petty's "The Waiting" came out in May. I was up in Toronto, about to finish eighth grade. My dad was getting ready to move to Washington State to take a new job; we would eventually follow him in November. At that point, I think it didn't really sink in that we would be moving, even though a realtor had been showing our house to prospective buyers.

Life for me around this time generally involved a lot of street hockey with my buddies, soccer, bike-riding and TV. In addition, I was all about music at this point; listening to it, anyway. I had a small black Panasonic transistor radio that I used to carry with me when I walked our dog Sammy. I distinctly remember walking her and hearing "Tom Sawyer" by Rush for the first time on that radio; pretty mind-blowing stuff.

My musical tastes in '81 were primarily AOR (album-oriented radio) fare: Lots of soon-to-be classic rock, hard rock, prog rock, etc. Those tastes come through on this tape, which was recorded on a Memorex cassette primarily off CHUM-FM and Q107-FM, the two big rock radio stations in Toronto at the time. Of the songs on the tape, the only ones I actually had on vinyl were "Who Are You" and "You Better, You Bet" off the Who's Who Are You and Face Dances albums and "Follow You, Follow Me," which was from the Genesis record And Then There Were Three.

When I listened to this tape again for the first time in probably 28 years, I didn't even recognize the Styx song. I had to look it up to see that it was on the Cornerstone album in 1979 and actually hit #26 on the singles chart. "Babe" was the monster single that preceded it. I had purchased the 1981 album Paradise Theater, which was a huge hit and had pretty cool etchings on the vinyl, as I recall. AC/DC was coming off the huge success of Back in Black a year earlier and re-released Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, which had come out in the mid-70s in Australia. The title track was a big hit on rock radio and paved the way for the release of For Those About To Rock later in the year.

I listened to this tape a lot after we moved to Richland, Washington, but what it reminds me of the most was that carefree time before we left Canada.

Side A
Who Are You - The Who
Watching the Wheels - John Lennon
In the Air Tonight - Phil Collins
Can't You Hear Me Knocking? - The Rolling Stones
Breathe - Pink Floyd
Jumpin' Jack Flash - The Rolling Stones

Side B
You Better, You Bet - The Who
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap - AC/DC
Why Me? - Styx
Follow You, Follow Me - Genesis
Let Go the Line - Max Webster
The Waiting - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Find Your Way Home - Jefferson Starship
Life of Illusion - Joe Walsh




The Waiting:


You Better, You Bet: