In today’s world, we have music streaming at our fingertips. Smartphones streamline listening to music on the go so that all you need for company are a pair of decent headphones. But before the smartphone was the MP3 player. And before the MP3 player was the boombox.
Boomboxes had an incredible impact on music culture. They were the mark of an era, and no one who lived during the '80s could forget their appearance on shoulders and sidewalks. They dominated the decade and were used by DJs, rappers, break dancers, street performers, and more. They offered great stereo sound in a portable box, bringing people together with a shared love of music.
So let’s take a look at where this technology came from and where it went from there.
Boomboxes are essentially a combination of a portable radio and a cassette tape deck; with one, you can listen to AM/FM radio, play cassette tapes, and record a radio song to cassette. They can be plugged in or powered by batteries. The classic boomboxes of the late '70s and '80s tended to be three things: rectangular, blocky, and heavy. And since they were quite heavy, people tended to rest them atop their shoulder, creating that iconic image most people still associate with boomboxes.
The birthplace of the boombox, as surprising as it may sound, began in Europe. The first boombox was created in 1966 in the Netherlands. The technology for the boombox - basically a wooden box with speakers, a cassette tape player, and sometimes an 8 track player - quickly took hold in Europe. It wasn’t until boomboxes became mass produced in Japan during the 1970s that they gained traction in the United States.
The first mass-produced boomboxes featured two speakers for stereo sound, one on each side of the cassette player. These speakers were driven by a built-in amplifier. The larger the speaker driver and the deeper the boombox enclosure, the more powerful the bass.
Once boomboxes staked their hold in American culture, they became known as “ghetto blasters” or simply “the box.” By the start of the 80s, boomboxes were available everywhere, and they weren’t too expensive. They impacted the culture in a very important way: for the first time, people could take their music on the go and play it loud for everyone to hear. Teens would lug them around, and break-dancers would bring them out to cardboard dance on the sidewalk.
In fact, the incredible bass that they supplied is what made these boomboxes so important to the development of the hip-hop community. For the first time, a portable box could pump out heavy bass, allowing people to actually feel the rhythm of a song. Break-dancing wouldn’t have become as huge as it did without boomboxes.
It also allowed the general population to invent the mixtape, which was a collection of unique soundtracks that would often be given to friends or romantic partners. Plus, boomboxes became such an icon that they were featured in countless music videos, television programs, and movies throughout the ‘80s and into the ‘90s.
And as boomboxes revolutionized the music community, so too did the design of boomboxes change. Some models had three-way speakers, adding more detailed mid- and high-frequencies. Some had two cassette wells, so you could quickly make a copy of a friend’s cassette tape. Some models even featured built-in graphic equalizers along with tone control so their sound could be adjusted to exactly how the listener wanted. Plus, as the evolution of boomboxes continued, some models were smaller, lighter, and more compact than their forefathers; some boomboxes even featured just a single speaker.
Once the digital age hit its stride, boomboxes faced their downfall. Boomboxes were eventually rigged with CD players, and some later models even had MP3 capabilities. But with CD and MP3 technologies came the arrival of personal players.
These players were small and compact. Compared to the rectangular, blocky, and heavy boomboxes, these devices remade what it meant to listen to music on the go. The switch to CD players and MP3 players meant the popularity of the boombox declined. People began switching to these smaller devices and listened to music through headphones as opposed to the speakers of the boombox.
Boomboxes are a relic of the past, and even the CD and MP3 technology it predated is considered archaic. But people even now carry a love for physical audio formats: vinyl records, cassette tapes, and CDs are still alive. They carry the nostalgia that streaming just can’t replicate. The spirit of boomboxes lives on in Bluetooth speakers, in such a way that we’ve almost come full circle again. That’s why it’s so important to remember where it started.
Thanks for reading! We hope you learned something new about boomboxes. And if you’re interested in reliving the nostalgia of the boombox era, or you simply want an easy way to listen to your cassettes, then we encourage you to check out our wide selection of refurbished boomboxes here. Have a great day!
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