Remember these?! Good Ol’ Jukeboxes. For pocket change you could hear a song or two. The drawback? You had to sit through everyone else’s selections but it was communal music. Bowling alley, diner, bar.. there it was with its come hither flashy lights.
I loved those things. At a diner as everyone scrutinized a menu Id be flipping the pages of the jukebox looking for one song that I liked. There was quite often a load of crap. Lots of Bob fkng Segar, lots of Rush…well this was the 80’s.
There are still some of these around. Digital of course, and on longer pocket change. Our local bowling alley has Green Day in it. Thats sorta hip.
I remember clearly finding a Jukebox in a local bar that had The Ramones in it. I wore those damn keys out. Constant repeat til the patrons hated me. Fuck um, I got the Ramones!
We don’t have many opportunities for a communal songfest anymore. Radio ‘request’ lines don’t really exist, bars have their own play lists and diners have muzak. Back in the day if you worked it right you could have a conversation with other patrons based on the music. I’m not ashamed to say I would assess the crowd and go in with whatever I thought could offend. One particularly redneck joint in Tennessee got an ear-load of Prince thanks to my quarters. Much obliged.
Its just a symbol of our lack of interaction. We cant pick the soundtrack to our nights out anymore. Sorta sad of course its pretty cool not to hear “Lights” by Journey 20 times in a row though.