Tape treasures: the cassette sales that made history on Discogs

In May of this year, a rare early Deftones demo from 1992 sold for an incredible $5,000, making it the most expensive cassette ever sold on Discogs. The tape had four tracks. An article on the “25 Most Valuable Cassettes of All Time” was published by Discogs, but it appears that the list only includes cassettes that were sold on Discogs. The 1992 self-titled Deftones demo has the identical four tracks on both sides of the tape, and the actual cassette itself bears the phone number of Dave Park, the band’s manager at the time. Only 15 copies of the demo cassette were ever produced, according to the handcrafted artwork, yet 28 people reportedly claim to have a copy. Strange things do happen here. A promotional cassette by Prince (then known as “The Artist (Formerly Known as Prince)”) that was distributed for free to guests at the Versace collection show during Paris Fashion Week in 1995 and subsequently sold on Discogs for more than $4,600 is reportedly the second most expensive cassette ever sold on the website. Then, at number three on the list, is a $4,500 demo by Xero, the early version of the band that would later become Linkin Park. Other noteworthy entries on the list include a demo from Swedish metal giants Ghost from early 2009 that sold for just over $2,000, a demo from Primus from 1984 that sold for $1,250, a demo from Nirvana from 1990 that sold for $1,200 and included multiple tracks that eventually appeared on “Nevermind”, and the self-titled second demo from The Smashing Pumpkins that sold for $1,200.