Fifty years ago today, on August 30, 1963, Phillips introduced the Compact Cassette tape to the world at the Berlin Radio Show.

While it would still be a good decade before the new technology became accessible to the masses and took off from there, the cassette really marked a change in how music was consumed. Coupled with their sheer portability, cassettes offered music fans more control — fast-forwarding, rewinding, and even recording over (again and again), if one desired.

The first album I ever owned on cassette was Stray Cats’ Built For Speed. In retrospect, I can’t say what about the rockabilly trio’s 1982 debut appealed to me. I liked Stray Cats enough to have bought both singles, “Rock This Town” and “Stray Cat Strut,” but don’t remember being so big on the band that I’d wanted more. Tellingly, while I would go on to buy many more albums on cassette and then later buy many of those all over again on CD, Built For Speed never made the transition.

I’ve held onto the Built For Speed cassette for nostalgia’s sake, because while the specific motivation may have escaped me, I’ll never forget how cassettes once really rocked my world and everyone else’s.

Cassettes are experiencing a mini-revival of sorts, with the neglected format being feted via the inaugural international Cassette Store Day on September 7. Among the artists participating is Bright Light Bright Light.

Purchase Stray Cats – “Rock This Town” via iTunes, Amazon MP3.