💿 Burn, Baby, Burn (The Mixtape Era of Chaos)

There was an art to the burned CD. Not just anyone could do it. You needed time, patience, and a deep willingness to possibly destroy your family computer in the name of music. 💅

Back then, making a playlist wasn’t a 30-second Spotify task. Oh no. You had to earn it. You’d open LimeWire (or if you were fancy, Kazaa), type “Busted – Year 3000” and then play Russian roulette with viruses. You’d get 17 versions of the same song: one sped up, one live, one that was actually Linkin Park screaming in the distance.

Once you’d downloaded your totally legitimate collection of pop chaos, you’d drag it into Windows Media Player and start the sacred ritual: The Burn. 🔥

The tension was unmatched. Would it finish? Would the disc even work? Would it somehow set the computer on fire? Who knew. You’d just sit there, heart pounding, watching that little progress bar inch forward like it was loading your entire social status.

Then came the ultimate betrayal: “Cannot complete burn.”
The scream. The despair. The throwing of a blank CD across the room like a frisbee of rage.

And when it did work? Oh my god. Instant power. You were basically a DJ. You’d take your newly burned CD, scrawl something like “ASTEN’S MIX VOL. 3 🔥” on it in glitter pen, and slot it into your portable CD player with the kind of reverence usually reserved for religious relics.

🎶 Typical 00s Tracklist:

• Busted – Year 3000
• Sugababes – Hole in the Head
• Evanescence – Bring Me to Life
• Girls Aloud – Sound of the Underground
• Linkin Park – Numb
• Blue – One Love
• Britney – Toxic
• Westlife – Uptown Girl
• Atomic Kitten – Whole Again
• Avril Lavigne – Sk8er Boi
• S Club 7 – Don’t Stop Movin’
• Evanescence (again)
• A rogue bonus track that was actually a ringtone.

The mood swings were violent. You’d go from breakup tears to full disco floor in seconds. But that was the beauty of it — no algorithm, no shuffle button, just you and your emotional instability in CD form. 💿💔💃

And if you ever made a CD for your crush? That was basically a love confession. Forget texts. If you got a burned CD with your name Sharpied on it and “track 7” was a love song, congratulations, you were practically engaged. 💖

It was chaotic. It was risky. It was art.
And honestly? I’d risk another family computer just to feel that burn again. 🔥💿