Skip to main content

Awesome! The Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack is coming out on cassette tape

guardians of the galaxy soundtrack on cassette tape mix
Image used with permission by copyright holder
The cassette tape is making a comeback, thanks to Marvel’s latest hit Guardians of the Galaxy. Come November 17, you too can rock out to Awesome Mix No.1 the way Star-Lord’s mom intended — on cassette.

The film’s soundtrack is already available on CD and vinyl, as well as digital download, but now it’s coming out on cassette tape. According to Billboard, the Guardians cassette will be released by Marvel Music/Hollywood Records, which is a division of the Disney Music Group. From November 17 to December 31, the limited edition cassette version of the soundtrack will only be available at stores that are part of the Record Store Day’s community of independent retailers. It’s the first cassette that Disney has released since 2003.

Luckily, each cassette will also come with a digital download of the album, so you don’t have to worry that you’re plunking money down for nostalgia’s sake alone. The Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack, with its mix of great retro tunes from the ’70’s, spent two weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart after it first came out. It enchanted fans of the movie and brought classics like Cherry Bomb, Hooked on a FeelingSpirit in the Sky, and others back into the limelight.

It’s unclear how many copies of the soundtrack will be available on cassette tape, but they’ll undoubtedly sell out fast. So go find your local record store and dust off your Walkman (if you have one). As for all you young folks who never owned a cassette tape in your life, go check out some Walkmans on eBay — They’re cheap!

Editors' Recommendations

Malarie Gokey
Former Digital Trends Contributor
As DT's Mobile Editor, Malarie runs the Mobile and Wearables sections, which cover smartphones, tablets, smartwatches, and…
Guardians of the Galaxy never needed the MCU to be successful
Star-Lord leads the Guardians of the Galaxy as they walk out of a spaceship in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

Before James Gunn moves entirely to DC, he has one last ride to fulfill with the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Gunn will premiere Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 this week, finalizing the trilogy he began nearly 10 years ago with the unexpected box-office hit and critical darling Guardians of the Galaxy. Gunn single-handedly raised one of Marvel's most obscure teams into the mainstream, turned Chris Pratt into a star -- for a while, anyway -- and launched the cosmic corner of the MCU with a healthy dose of humor and an overabundance of heart.

The Guardians movies are silly and funny, with several large-scale set pieces of flashy lights and boom-boom-pows meant to fulfill the MCU quota. But there's an emotional center to them -- it's not just a collection of characters in tight spandex jumping around, but a group of well-defined, three-dimensional figures relating to one another while saving the universe. In many ways, the Guardians trilogy is everything the MCU should be, to the point where it's not an overstatement to say these films would've succeeded with or without the Marvel connection -- if anything, the MCU needs them more than they need it.
Heart meets stupid

Read more
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 introduces Marvel’s best villain since Thanos
The High Evolutionary stands up in a red-walled room in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

Nowadays, it’s not all that controversial to say that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been stuck in a bit of a rut for the past few years. In the wake of the climactic high that it hit with 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, Marvel has repeatedly struggled to consistently deliver films and TV shows that feel as cohesive as the titles that built up the studio’s reputation in the first place. That hasn’t been due to a lack of trying, either. In just the past four years, Marvel has released around 20 new feature films and Disney+ MCU shows.

While opinions may vary about the MCU’s latest offering, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, the general consensus surrounding the James Gunn-directed film seems fairly positive right now. At the very least, many seem to agree that it’s the first MCU film in quite a while that feels like it was actually made with real, palpable amounts of love and passion. It also, notably, introduces the most memorable and compelling villain who has shown up in the MCU since Josh Brolin’s Thanos was dusted out of existence in Endgame.

Read more
The best songs in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, ranked
best songs in guardians of the galaxy movies ranked babygroot dance

The Guardians of the Galaxy franchise has always had an intense connection to music, and director James Gunn really knows how to incorporate Star-Lord's classic '70s and '80s bangers into his movies. Whether it be for emotional effect or cool factor, the needle drop is an extremely important aspect of Gunn's filmmaking in the series.

A needle drop, unlike a film's original score, is when a movie uses a pre-existing recording of a song as either background music or music in the scene itself. When music or sound is in the scene itself — as in the characters we are watching can also hear the sound — it is characterized as diegetic sound. Nondiegetic sound is the opposite; only we as viewers can hear it. In the Guardians of the Galaxy movies and TV shows, Quill's Awesome Mixes are used both diegetically and nondiegetically to great effect. Gunn's needle drops allow him to inject scenes with emotional weight, reveal something about our characters, or create a lively scene that matches the goofy tone of the Guardians.
8. Creep by Radiohead, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

Read more