I recall in 1984 buying my then 11yr old son his first boom box. I could not tell you the brand, I think maybe Sony, but I recall his thrill. Enjoyed your read.
I never listen to WXRT, since they're playing the same playlist today. But I LOVE EWF. It's the literal soundtrack to my music major college years. Every weekend party, we'd DANCE OUR ASSES OFF UNTI DAWN to EWF. That is, until "1999" came out . . . .
Oooh, sea foam and teal — that's like an 80s version of Art Deco! And yeah, XRT opened my ears to a lot of stuff in the early 80s (they even played Prince circa Dirty Mind), but they settled a little too comfortably in the Bodeans/John Hiatt zone for decades thereafter...
That thing was SO 80's. And vaguely Memphis meets Pee Wee's Playhouse, the design styles I was *obsessed* with in the 80's. Gary Panter was the graphic designer for PWP, and I was insanely jealous of his job.
What a great story, and such an important part of your musical journey!
Funny how you found all those clever workarounds to keep using it in everything you were involved with back then.
I remember having a pretty lousy one myself growing up, so I had to use my parents’ stereo. As long as it was just disco, they were fine with it. But when I brought home the first B-52’s album, they quickly decided it was time I had my own stereo… upstairs, in my bedroom! 😀
Hahaha, thank you B-52s! The funny thing about those workarounds is that I neither knew nor cared what the RCA inputs/outputs were about when I bought the boombox — they were just there and looked cool. But their presence definitely paid off in the long run!
Yeah-you’d think I’d realize that a video which has clips from late 80’s & 90’s movie scenes would NOT be the official video for a song released in 1982!
My weapon of choice was the Pioneer SK-31, purchased with part of the life insurance proceeds I received at 16 years old after my Mom passed ( I had the boombox for several years until I basically drunkenly punched it to death in the mid-80's. Have fun with THAT, armchair psychiatrists ). Like you, I had the same pre-amp/turntable setup ( my turntable was a Rotel that I wish I still had, frankly ).
Gawd knows how many mixtapes I made with that thing.
Oh wow, sorry about your mom. I only just learned about the Rotel brand a few years ago, when I took home a Rotel receiver as a loaner from the place that was fixing the receiver that I had at the time. It sounded really good!
This was awesome Dan, brought back so many memories of my boombox from the early 80s, which was very similar to yours.
Sadly I ended up having to sell mine to pay for a very expensive phone call that a friend and I made from my parents’ phone. We’d met two sisters that were visiting Bermuda on a cruise ship and we thought it would be “romantic” to call them on the ship as they steamed out to sea.
Somehow we managed to get an operator to connect us to the cruise ship and managed to convince whoever was on the ship to connect us to the two young ladies in question. Long story short, a ten minute phone call cost $300!! That was a LOT of money in 1987 and I had to sell my boombox to my next door neighbor to pay my share.
A tough lesson to learn but thankfully I’d get an all in one stereo with tuner, turntable and dual tape deck later that year.
Dude! You deserve an award for boombox reinventions! I wasn't as innovational as you but still scrappy, my Uncle George was a Chicago car gypper and got into the aftermarket car stereo craze - he hooked me up with a car stereo FM/cassette, a 12 volt power converter and spherically shaped (to ride on top of the rear shelf behind back seats) from Playback, the electronic playground and that was my first home stereo. I took it with me to the Western Michigan U. dorms too, my new unknown roommate did not know what to think of that contraption on my desk.
Great description of navigating Chicago radio too!
Couple of weeks late in offering my own quick story, which is none so impressive as yours and nothing I feel I could write about as well. But when I started doing The Tube in1983, I got paid. I only got paid minimum Union rates but for me, it was money. And I liked to do things well. So I had my eye on, and bought, a Panasonic Boombox with - wait for it - a turntable! Yes, a turntable that ejected from the bottom. Talk about classic one-upmanship elitism showoff! Of course, there were downsides to this - the chances of walking around with it and a record not skipping were non-existent. That part was okay; if I'd walked around with it too much, I wouldn't have owned it for long. (Truth.) But it also meant that when I took it with me - like to the residential studio EMI decided to put my band in over New Year 1983-84 - I had to pack loads of records with it, which rather defeated the purpose.
Nonetheless, I held on to this beautiful beast for decades, it traveled across the Atlantic with me, up until the needle went completely and I could not find replacements and besides, I had Technics turntables at home through good equipment so what was the point? My memory is that it finally got put out in a yard sale to finance our RTW trip in 2016... with no takers. It may be for the best that I can't quite remember its final destination; it would be easier now, only a decade later, to find a good home for it. I imagine Mick Jones' Rock & Roll Library would have been happy with the donation. Oh well, it was good (fun) while it lasted.
Oh wow — I remember looking at those "all in ones" and thinking, "Well, maybe I should just save up a while longer and get one of those!" But of course patience wasn't one of my prominent virtues as a teen. Were the speakers of your mega-box detachable? And if not, did you have problems with the records skipping when you played them at high volume?
I miss XRT. I miss Lin the most.
Lin was a lovely bloke. RIP.
The best
This was nostalgic as hell and a fun read with my morning coffee. Cheers, Dan. 🎵 🎶
Right on, Gary! Glad it hit the spot. Have yerself a funky Tuesday!
I recall in 1984 buying my then 11yr old son his first boom box. I could not tell you the brand, I think maybe Sony, but I recall his thrill. Enjoyed your read.
Thanks, Lori! I'm sure he was stoked!
I am definitely one of E, W and F's white fans (RIP Maurice White).
A truly incredible band. I got to interview Maurice (and Philip) once, a couple of decades back, and it was a real thrill.
I never listen to WXRT, since they're playing the same playlist today. But I LOVE EWF. It's the literal soundtrack to my music major college years. Every weekend party, we'd DANCE OUR ASSES OFF UNTI DAWN to EWF. That is, until "1999" came out . . . .
I had this exact boom box, and I loved it.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/144706112204?gQT=1
Oooh, sea foam and teal — that's like an 80s version of Art Deco! And yeah, XRT opened my ears to a lot of stuff in the early 80s (they even played Prince circa Dirty Mind), but they settled a little too comfortably in the Bodeans/John Hiatt zone for decades thereafter...
That thing was SO 80's. And vaguely Memphis meets Pee Wee's Playhouse, the design styles I was *obsessed* with in the 80's. Gary Panter was the graphic designer for PWP, and I was insanely jealous of his job.
What a great story, and such an important part of your musical journey!
Funny how you found all those clever workarounds to keep using it in everything you were involved with back then.
I remember having a pretty lousy one myself growing up, so I had to use my parents’ stereo. As long as it was just disco, they were fine with it. But when I brought home the first B-52’s album, they quickly decided it was time I had my own stereo… upstairs, in my bedroom! 😀
Hahaha, thank you B-52s! The funny thing about those workarounds is that I neither knew nor cared what the RCA inputs/outputs were about when I bought the boombox — they were just there and looked cool. But their presence definitely paid off in the long run!
Always liked Cynical Girl…which stiffed as a single but had a great video I never knew even existed!
https://youtu.be/kyhYwjUWuto?si=lfP4jSlRECep0ETk
I don't think this was an official video — but it's very cool!
Yeah-you’d think I’d realize that a video which has clips from late 80’s & 90’s movie scenes would NOT be the official video for a song released in 1982!
Hahaha - I don't think I made it to the 80s and 90s snippets!
My weapon of choice was the Pioneer SK-31, purchased with part of the life insurance proceeds I received at 16 years old after my Mom passed ( I had the boombox for several years until I basically drunkenly punched it to death in the mid-80's. Have fun with THAT, armchair psychiatrists ). Like you, I had the same pre-amp/turntable setup ( my turntable was a Rotel that I wish I still had, frankly ).
Gawd knows how many mixtapes I made with that thing.
Oh wow, sorry about your mom. I only just learned about the Rotel brand a few years ago, when I took home a Rotel receiver as a loaner from the place that was fixing the receiver that I had at the time. It sounded really good!
Yeah, I didn't realize what I had. Since I was CD-only at the time, when we moved 21 years ago I gave the turntable to a neighbor girl. Oops.
This was awesome Dan, brought back so many memories of my boombox from the early 80s, which was very similar to yours.
Sadly I ended up having to sell mine to pay for a very expensive phone call that a friend and I made from my parents’ phone. We’d met two sisters that were visiting Bermuda on a cruise ship and we thought it would be “romantic” to call them on the ship as they steamed out to sea.
Somehow we managed to get an operator to connect us to the cruise ship and managed to convince whoever was on the ship to connect us to the two young ladies in question. Long story short, a ten minute phone call cost $300!! That was a LOT of money in 1987 and I had to sell my boombox to my next door neighbor to pay my share.
A tough lesson to learn but thankfully I’d get an all in one stereo with tuner, turntable and dual tape deck later that year.
Holy crap - that’s nearly a grand in today’s $$. I can see why your parents would be pissed!
Yeah, not my finest hour!!
I bet you never heard from the girls again either, did you?! A life lesson learned at the expense of a great boom box. Damn. Thanks for sharing, Mark.
Indeed, never did hear from the girls again! An expensive lesson
Dude! You deserve an award for boombox reinventions! I wasn't as innovational as you but still scrappy, my Uncle George was a Chicago car gypper and got into the aftermarket car stereo craze - he hooked me up with a car stereo FM/cassette, a 12 volt power converter and spherically shaped (to ride on top of the rear shelf behind back seats) from Playback, the electronic playground and that was my first home stereo. I took it with me to the Western Michigan U. dorms too, my new unknown roommate did not know what to think of that contraption on my desk.
Great description of navigating Chicago radio too!
I don't know, man — that sounds pretty impressive!
Hi Dan,
Couple of weeks late in offering my own quick story, which is none so impressive as yours and nothing I feel I could write about as well. But when I started doing The Tube in1983, I got paid. I only got paid minimum Union rates but for me, it was money. And I liked to do things well. So I had my eye on, and bought, a Panasonic Boombox with - wait for it - a turntable! Yes, a turntable that ejected from the bottom. Talk about classic one-upmanship elitism showoff! Of course, there were downsides to this - the chances of walking around with it and a record not skipping were non-existent. That part was okay; if I'd walked around with it too much, I wouldn't have owned it for long. (Truth.) But it also meant that when I took it with me - like to the residential studio EMI decided to put my band in over New Year 1983-84 - I had to pack loads of records with it, which rather defeated the purpose.
Nonetheless, I held on to this beautiful beast for decades, it traveled across the Atlantic with me, up until the needle went completely and I could not find replacements and besides, I had Technics turntables at home through good equipment so what was the point? My memory is that it finally got put out in a yard sale to finance our RTW trip in 2016... with no takers. It may be for the best that I can't quite remember its final destination; it would be easier now, only a decade later, to find a good home for it. I imagine Mick Jones' Rock & Roll Library would have been happy with the donation. Oh well, it was good (fun) while it lasted.
Tony
Oh wow — I remember looking at those "all in ones" and thinking, "Well, maybe I should just save up a while longer and get one of those!" But of course patience wasn't one of my prominent virtues as a teen. Were the speakers of your mega-box detachable? And if not, did you have problems with the records skipping when you played them at high volume?