In 1964, Andy Warhol got his first tape recorder. After that, it never left his side. He brought it with him everywhere, giving it the pet name “my wife.” Photographs of Warhol in public often show him clutching it close to his body, like a security blanket. He claimed that it changed his relationship to the world. “The acquisition of my tape recorder really finished what­ever emotional life I might have had,” Warhol explained, “but I was glad to see it go. Nothing was ever a problem again, because a problem just meant a good tape, and when a problem transforms itself into a good tape it’s not a problem anymore.”