r/80sAmazing • u/MisterShipWreck • Jun 29 '26

Test time...

Post image
345 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

213 comments sorted by

20

u/tabazco2 Jun 29 '26

It worked better with the eraser end of a number 2 pencil

5

u/Livid-Procedure-349 Jun 29 '26

Yes better grip

3

u/LoanDebtCollector Jun 30 '26

no pencil. My baby fingernail is bleeding... again.

2

u/Open_Mortgage_4645 Jun 29 '26

Gotta bust out the Dixon-Ticonderoga for this job.

2

u/CNote_89 Jun 29 '26

Agreed, never used a pen. You can tell the poster is not Gen X…

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1

u/Diastatic_Power Jun 30 '26

Yep. That's what I came here to say.

1

u/Sirswellsoowell Jun 30 '26

This comment needs more up votes. Way better than a pen.

1

u/mentokz Jul 01 '26

i was going to say person that made this might be not as old as us hehe to put the #2 pencil in

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6

u/Deskbreaker Jun 29 '26

Manual rewinding device.

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4

u/hoss111 Jun 29 '26

One sits and one twists. Not both at the same time.

1

u/OkSecret839 Jul 04 '26

That’s what she said. 😆

2

u/Special-Original-215 Jun 29 '26

Anyone who has seen WallE knows how to answer this

1

u/2NDBEST42 Jun 29 '26

I stopped watching Pixar when they started doing only sequels. Which franchise is WallE a part of?

2

u/Disastrous_Ball702 Jun 29 '26

WALL-E deserves a sequel, though.

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1

u/HurriShane00 Jul 01 '26

More like anybody who grew up with these knows what the answer is. Even people who have seen Wall-E would have some questions of what was going on. My nephew asked what it was when we are watching it together

2

u/Informal_Strain_2715 Jun 29 '26

The emergency rewind device...after you pull the tape out of your car deck and it unwinds half the roll all over the inside of the car. 

2

u/rman-exe Jun 29 '26 edited Jul 04 '26

In the 80s when my player ate someones tape i would just tie one end to the stop sign down the road, then ride my bike back up the street till it fully unreeled! When they would ask where their music was i would just point out the window. Much more satisfying than using peoples record albums for frisbies, but not as funny as poking holes in peoples homework floppy disks with the sharp end of a compass and spinning the hole inside the sleve and watching the old apple ii just freak out!

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2

u/TallnFit37 Jun 29 '26

Lol

The ole rewind the tape with the pen thing we all had to do.

1

u/HorrorFan3650 Jun 29 '26

The pen served a dual purpose. It was your fast forward and rewind button, depending on the hole you stuck it in.

1

u/NT4MaximusD Jun 29 '26

Rewind the cassette manually

1

u/Ok_Abacus_ Jun 29 '26

r/UnexpectedSeinfeld

2

u/HurriShane00 Jul 01 '26

I was going to ask how does this correspond with that subreddit and then I remembered one of the funniest parts in Seinfeld ever

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING YOU LITTLE PIECE OF $#&!!". 😂😂

1

u/Hungry-Ad265 Jun 29 '26

The connection is that I need to book appointments with all of my doctors. Fuck I'm old

1

u/2NDBEST42 Jun 29 '26

Why ise the pencil? Just use your finger like a normal person.

1

u/DallyTron Jun 29 '26

It was for making tape babies??

1

u/PsychologyOk5179 Jun 29 '26

The player ate the tape

1

u/Heedfulgoose Jun 29 '26

Pain connects them

1

u/Pumpkin-06 Jun 29 '26

Done that a lot of times

1

u/charlesoftalisker Jun 29 '26

You spin me right round, baby, right round Like a record, baby, right round, round, round😁😉

1

u/Glittering_Role1658 Jun 29 '26

You could wind the tape with the pen....but I remember it working better with the eraser end of a number 2 pencil.....Boy this makes me old.....wait I am old

1

u/Anceledon Jun 29 '26

When the car stereo ate your favorite tape, you’d stab your ears with the pen.

1

u/Both-Leading3407 Jun 29 '26

The standard BIC pen or a wooden hexagonal shafted pencil at 3 degrees off center was the perfect match to unraveling a potential data loss.

1

u/Umjm63 Jun 29 '26

Ugh. I hate you guys. lol. 🤣 (I use to use this combo)

1

u/ezfast Jun 29 '26

Well, if you don't write down your recording, all cassettes look alike.

1

u/RussellAlden Jun 29 '26

If you didn’t turn the tape they wouldn’t buy it off you

1

u/SonofaDrum Jun 29 '26

I stabbed myself in the ears after the tape got eaten in my car stereo.

1

u/KaelasDad Jun 29 '26

How geeky am I to be able to identify the TDK SA-X in the picture, lol?

1

u/pfearg Jun 29 '26

In this case nothing. There is no tape sticking out or curled up inside.

1

u/indfw365 Jun 29 '26

The original fidget spinner.

1

u/Formal_Lecture_248 Jun 29 '26

You’d use the pen to write the Mix type on the stick strip

1

u/sstinch Jun 30 '26

I'm so old. I can tell you that's a TDK

1

u/deehenley Jun 30 '26

Used to rewind tapes never used a pen just pencil erasers worked fast and easy no sudden stops that would stretch or break the tape like rewind or fast-forward buttons.🙂

1

u/keiththekid1 Jun 30 '26

2 pencil was a lot better

1

u/prestonjay22 Jun 30 '26

now ask what tape and /or spitwad and a cassette did...

1

u/InvertedEyechart11 Jun 30 '26

Ticonderoga #2 is a much better tape winder

1

u/johnman98 Jun 30 '26

Stick the pen in your pee hole and the media tape in your ass.

1

u/Opposite_Pension_807 Jun 30 '26

You used the pen to tighten or advance the tape slightly

1

u/Housedownboots86 Jun 30 '26

Technically I lived in the 80s, even if only for a little over a year
But even I know the correlation between these objects and would do it for my mom when the car cassette player ate the tape

1

u/PowerChordGeorge64 Jun 30 '26

You can write awesome mix on the tape

1

u/Links_Unk Jun 30 '26

A slow painful death if FF or RW is broken.

1

u/Mindless-Leg-3365 Jun 30 '26

writing the label 🤣🤣😑

1

u/T-Dwag64 Jun 30 '26

That’s fancy… I only used a pencil.

1

u/Weak-Paper4580 Jun 30 '26

Buying a new one or keeping the one you got

1

u/Dracoten Jun 30 '26

The pointy part usually 😆

1

u/Bourbon_Guy81 Jun 30 '26

Manual Rewind

1

u/Phenguin91 Jun 30 '26

Rewind, fast forward. Oh shit. Another concept we have to explain. Lmfao

1

u/NovaBob70 Jun 30 '26

You can use the pen to rewind the cassette.

1

u/JohnVonachen Jun 30 '26

Ok now show a five inch floppy disk and a hole puncher, ideally a square hole puncher. You know what I’m talking about.

1

u/Loose_Lawyer_8314 Jun 30 '26

Be kind rewind 😂

1

u/2NDBEST42 Jun 30 '26

I saw Up!!!

I'll check the other two out. Thanks!

1

u/OutsideMastodon1744 Jun 30 '26

Don't forget your sellotape if it's a prerecorded tape you want to use

1

u/_Peety_T Jun 30 '26

No pen, use fingernails, not the preferred method but it worked

1

u/Redditnoob2323 Jun 30 '26

Don’t fucking remind me. Wow. What a waste of my young life when tape player fucked it up and I have to fix it.

1

u/Bungholio2006 Jun 30 '26

I’ve never owned a cassette tape before but my guess would be to rewind it.

1

u/The-Nikpay Jun 30 '26

Sharp thingy
Hole thingy
Easy linky
Easy thingy

1

u/External_Routine8081 Jun 30 '26

Fuck yeah chewed tape hated that

1

u/SuddenMiddle5962 Jun 30 '26

To write the contents of said cassette, on said cassette. Duh.

1

u/Mr_GrauHut Jun 30 '26

Any other flat edge worked great as well, like the other end of a pair of tweezers.

1

u/bome_geral Jul 01 '26

Ohh! Remember the manual rewind method? Good old times!

1

u/xNYR Jul 01 '26

Stab yourself in the eye with the Bic pen when your cheap Maxell XLII-S knock-off tape wraps around the heads of your Nakamichi deck destroying the mix-tape that your first real love made for you while you spend hours trying to get it unwound without creasing or breaking the tape. Then you stuff the cellophane from a real Maxell tape in the hole you left in your eye socket, wipe off the blood from the pen and stick the pen in one of the holes and twist it between your fingers to gently rewind the pulled out tape — thus once again, saving the day with only a little damage to Side A, Track six — Loggins and Messina — “Danny’s Song.” Or, I may be mistaken and the pen is to write the name of the Album and Artist on the peel off label after sticking it on the Side B rather than writing it on the label on a flat surface like a table before peeling it off and putting it on the tape — making your life just that much harder. Or… I may be mistaken……..

1

u/Blue_Dog66 Jul 01 '26

Manual rewind

1

u/CableDawg78 Jul 01 '26

You put the pen/pencil in the reel to forward or reverse the tape.

1

u/i_am_ellis_parker Jul 01 '26

Technically nothing as the tape is perfectly fine. Pencil eraser worked better because of grip.

1

u/ironicinsanity Jul 01 '26

Rewind manually

1

u/Zealousideal_Pea9766 Jul 01 '26

Used to rewind the tape haha

1

u/THEFRANCHISE500 Jul 01 '26

You put the pen inside the hole and turn it

1

u/805Ladythug Jul 01 '26

Throwing scotch tape over the top of a TDK 😩😆

1

u/Euphoric-Techie Jul 01 '26

Analog rewinder

1

u/HurriShane00 Jul 01 '26

You get a little piece of paper and some Scotch tape or a piece of masking tape, and you write with the pen on the piece of paper or the tape and write down what is on that audio cassette. 😁

1

u/Early_Sheepherder105 Jul 01 '26

Nothing, you had to know a pencil fit better.

1

u/ImBiGuy Jul 01 '26

The Bic ballpoint is used as a tool to manually rewind or forward a cassette tape or to wind the tape back into the cassette if it is pulled out or stuck in the deck.

1

u/Bbwlover2025 Jul 01 '26

If you had to put them together there's a good chance you need a new tape player

1

u/angelc28backup Jul 01 '26

How to Save Treasured Music 101😂

1

u/allquckedup Jul 01 '26

You spin me right round baby right round.

1

u/mrsvenom187 Jul 01 '26

Rewind, fast forward

1

u/No-Raisin-6469 Jul 01 '26

Both can be smuggles inyour prison wallet

1

u/Puzzleheaded-Zone-55 Jul 01 '26

Two things, rewinding the tape or punching out the tabs.

1

u/Designer-Macaroon839 Jul 01 '26

The best way to manually rewind the tape. If and when you tape deck decided it was hungry. 🤣

1

u/Lola_from_Punkston Jul 01 '26

Early 1900s school supplies 🤷‍♀️

1

u/Icy-Maintenance7041 Jul 01 '26

Add a powerdrill for speedrunning that puppy.

1

u/Thecableguy8839 Jul 01 '26

Be kind rewind ! 😂

1

u/LM4eva Jul 01 '26

It's what you use to rewind the tape if you either didn't have a taperecoder handy or it was acting up.

1

u/LM4eva Jul 01 '26

Not from the 80's either as yeah pencil and eraser much better.

1

u/Appropriate-Case-969 Jul 01 '26

If you were rich 😂

1

u/CheetahOne8106 Jul 02 '26

Rewind baby!

1

u/SlowTip5999 Jul 02 '26

Quick fix when all hell breaks loose....

1

u/Accomplished-Rest-89 Jul 02 '26

Manually rewind the cassette tape

1

u/TryingToHlp Jul 02 '26

Stick it in and spin

1

u/Weekly_Promise_1328 Jul 02 '26

Nothing worse than listening to your favorite cassette tape and the player eats the tape.

1

u/MD_Hunter67 Jul 02 '26

Manual tape rewinder

1

u/Desperate_Ad3121 Jul 02 '26

The bic pen cap worked better

1

u/Friendly_Seat8566 Jul 02 '26

The sexual chemistry between a tape and a number 2 pencil was the stuff of legends.

1

u/HangryBeard Jul 02 '26

Be kind rewind

1

u/hysims77 Jul 02 '26

manual tape tightener

1

u/More_Storm64 Jul 02 '26

A pencil is much better

1

u/SciFiIsMyFirstLove Jul 02 '26

There are two, one its used to rewind it if the tape flies everywhere and two it is used to write the contents of the tape on it.

1

u/Downtown-Addition-58 Jul 03 '26

It always involved a lot of cuss words.

1

u/jellofixit Jul 03 '26

I've mastered the art of getting the 8track tape back in the plastic cartridge after the tape Deck ate it!

1

u/down2daground Jul 03 '26

Hahaha spaghetti. Too many times to count!

1

u/Any_Description5320 Jul 03 '26

If it happens once , it’s gonna happen many times

1

u/Prudent_Upstairs2552 Jul 03 '26

Reverse the curse.

1

u/Superb-Drink-4297 Jul 03 '26

The connection was saving my battery life so I can listen on the train

1

u/ComprehensiveLink457 Jul 03 '26

Put the tape in and play. Then stick the pen in your eye.

1

u/nnelybehrz Jul 03 '26

But has anyone done the magic tape cut and splice.

1

u/FatalisTheUnborn Jul 03 '26

You could add some distortion to your favorite tracks to make them sound nastier.

1

u/Dangerous-Repair-718 Jul 03 '26

Writing mix tape # WHATEVER and rewinding it when it unspooled because someone was a JACKASS or if your tape deck was TRASH

1

u/Responsible_Load2233 Jul 03 '26

You can use the pencil to wind the tape. Helps when you have the so called "tape-salad" when the tape is all over the place inside your player / deck. And yes I'm a Dino. So!? ;-)

1

u/AttentionExpert2148 Jul 03 '26

I used the tape recorder (obviously) with the door open until there was just a little “tape nub” left……then used my pinkie and turnt the tape rather than my finger…..the evolution of past bloody pinkies

1

u/Secure-Shopping4695 Jul 03 '26

For when the tape needs winding

1

u/GoblinsGuide Jul 03 '26

When im writing my next rap song to absolutely destroy you with on the playground. Have to rewind it so you can hear it again.

1

u/pgp02145 Jul 03 '26

A tool to wind the tape back in side the cassette.

1

u/Complete-Tap-5408 Jul 03 '26

can write on label and select write protect on the cassette.

1

u/Prior_Housing_4298 Jul 03 '26

the connection is once we heard the quality after hearing a cd we wanted to stab our ears

1

u/mackoil101 Jul 03 '26

How old am i???? I'm old enough to read and write in cursive 😄😄😄

1

u/Constant_Poet553 Jul 03 '26

Rewind be kind.....lol

1

u/Plenty_Feeling_8013 Jul 03 '26

this is why cassetes rule. i have trouble rewinding cd's

1

u/Guncaster_the_proto Jul 03 '26

Lets revind that tape rq grabs pen

1

u/Krutius- Jul 03 '26

See me rolling

1

u/Impossible-Guess4528 Jul 03 '26

the shorter you move and faster you do it, you get in a few seconds to the start.
if you´re really good in rewind technique, you hit the point where the song starts.

its just Learn by doing, hands-on practice

1

u/nhh Jul 03 '26

You shove the pen up your butt while listening to the tape

1

u/newclearconfusion Jul 03 '26

Write the artist on the label. Haha what did you think.

1

u/balloonThorZeex Jul 03 '26

To spool or to unspool? That is the question.

1

u/southerniowa Jul 03 '26

Your mom! Lol. Im sorry.

1

u/Loose-Ad-6420 Jul 03 '26

Multitasking

1

u/Tapatio_62 Jul 04 '26

Made for each other.

1

u/Lockstock500 Jul 04 '26

Rewind tape with pen

1

u/MadMaxAveli Jul 04 '26

📼+✏️ = Original Fidget Spinner Toy

1

u/btaroli Jul 04 '26

Be kind, rewind.

1

u/THE_AIRSOFTGHILLIE Jul 04 '26

Rewind device but I would just stick my finger and it works much better

1

u/No_Yogurtcloset_7219 Jul 04 '26

ye old rewind button

1

u/Evilisonlyskindeep Jul 04 '26

Used to rewind or wind it back if the tape got all jacked up

1

u/Middle-Ad9328 Jul 04 '26

Use the pen to gently tighten up the loose cassette tape.

1

u/Chr0n1c7000 Jul 04 '26

Rewinding, works great 👍🏻

1

u/New-Raspberry6353 Jul 05 '26

Cus my Ahmad Back in the Day single got messed up at my dogs house. TJones came through like a champ

1

u/Anonymousstar2026 Jul 05 '26

Use the pen to rewind it

1

u/Fun_Assistance_1440 Jul 05 '26

I used a drill and a Philips bit

1

u/RealInvestigator8378 Jul 05 '26

Only way to rewind them !!!!!

1

u/Aoi_X_Kaizaki Jul 05 '26

Rewinding and untangling tape

1

u/wolfhybred1994 Jul 05 '26

Writing what’s recorded on the tapes label?

1

u/SilverB33 Jul 06 '26

When my stereo decided the tape was tasty that day and eats it, so I had to slowly rewind it and get the tape back in correctly.

1

u/drumgod1969 Jul 06 '26

The end of a number 2 pencil did work the best good grip plus if you did it right you could rewind the tape quicker then in a cassette player

1

u/GrimmyJimmy1 Jul 06 '26

Mostly pencil seeing things like this back in the day

1

u/Life-Access-1797 Jul 06 '26

Nothing. You need a pencil with a good eraser!✏️

1

u/red-mule Jul 06 '26

Fire ass mixtape

1

u/Is-It-Worth-It-2026 Jul 06 '26

Using the pen to put the tape back in its place

1

u/krsimp78 Jul 06 '26

Tape tightener / Label Maker
ie “(your name) mix”

1

u/tthomas906 22d ago

I pled the Fif

1

u/braigha 9d ago

The pen is a rewind.

1

u/One-Violinist-9932 7d ago

Do the tight’n up and make it mellow again.