Billy Idol “Don’t Stop” 1981. A cassette post today for a few reasons: the inventor of the cassette tape, Lou Ottens, died this past weekend at age 94 and today, March 10th, is Ritchie Cordell’s birthday – he was one of the writers of  “Mony Mony,” a hit for Tommy James and the Shondells in 1968. Billy Idol’s 1981 version of “Mony Mony” on this cassette EP first went to #7 on the US Dance chart but then his live version went to #1 in 1987 (knocking Tiffany’s cover of another Cordell-penned/produced songs, “I Think We’re Alone Now” from the top spot that week). I didn’t purchase many cassettes, though I have a ton of dubbed Maxell tapes, but for whatever reason I bought this one back in the mid-80′s. Besides “Mony Mony,” it has Generation X’s “Dancing With Myself” (Idol did not re-record it for the EP, the producers simply edited down the original Gen X version). It has another Gen X song that Idol did re-record: “Untouchables” that originally appeared on the 1980 album Kiss Me Deadly plus the song “Baby Talk.” Side B is an interview with Billy Idol and Martha Quinn from MTV and I honestly don’t remember ever listening to it and can’t confirm that by actually playing this tape right now because, true to form, my cassette player immediately began to chew it up.