PLETHORA OF POP WRITING CHALLENGE

Back to School with the Hits of 86

The actual mixtape I made as an 11-year-old in 1986

My mixtape looked something like this. Image: Dmitry Demidov (Pexels) and Canva

In 1986, I recorded my first-ever mixtape on a TDK D90. I cleverly named that tape Hits of 86 and listened to it nonstop for months on end. Hits of 86 took me from the end of primary school and childhood through to the start of secondary school and adolescence.

To give you a picture, Australian schools are mostly organised into primary school (Grade Prep to Grade 6) and secondary school (Year 7 to Year 12), after which you go to university and get a student debt. Most Grade 6 students are 11 or 12. In 1986, I was 11 and in Grade 6, the self-proclaimed smartest kid in my class.

I’d discovered the art of taping songs off the radio the previous year, but I didn’t get serious until the second half of 1986.

I diligently taped my favourite songs off Casey Kasem’s American Top 40 and Take 40 Australia. Both programs were broadcast on Melbourne’s Fox FM, a radio station 11-year-old Nichola considered cool in 1986 and 21-year-old Nichola considered anathema in 1995.

Thirty-seven years later, I’ve forgotten the order of the songs I recorded for Hits of 86 but I do remember each and every one of those songs. Here are 11 that…