Have you ever wondered what a boombox is? When you are sitting back and watching a great 80s comedy movie, and then you see someone walking down the street jamming with this humongous thing on their shoulder.
You think to yourself, why are they carrying that, and where is their iPhone or Android. Well, I’m here to tell you that was the best thing compared to Phones in the 80s.
I will give you the basic breakdown of exactly what a boombox is and how you can still use it today.
When was the boombox most popular
The Boombox became most popular in the late 80s; before that, people had record players and radios they listened to in their homes. They had no portable device to listen to on the go.
Although the Boombox was created in 1975.
It didn’t take the world by storm until the late 80s whenyou started to see more and more people carrying it down the street blasting it super loud.
It was a great way to grab people’s attention and to start a little dance or block party in the middle of the street or sidewalk.
When using an 80s boombox, the main thing you will need is a cassette, you can also use the radio, but you can play your music with the cassettes. You can stop or play it at any time. No, there was no CD function on the 80s boomboxes, only cassettes at that time.
What is a cassette
In the 80s decade, there was no such function as a CD player or an auxiliary port on the boombox. The only way they were able to use the Boombox was with a cassette. Which basically is a tape or a cassette tape. It was shaped like a box, and it had two sides that were a circle.
Those circles were black tape that was inside of it that control and held all the music. When you pop the tape in the boombox, you press play, and it will play all the music on that tape.
And if you want to go to the next song, you will have to guess what part you want to hear it. And when you wanted to listen to more music, you would have to take the tape out and turn it around to hear more of the songs. The quality of the cassette tape is not the same as listening to it now with streaming devices.
What is the best boombox
Many boomboxes have come out after the first one that was made in 1975. One of the first models was the model of a Sanyo M9998LU that was made by the Europeans, which was a standard black model.
When I think of boomboxes, I think of the iconic silver big boombox, the Brooklyn-style boombox. There’s not much research that states how this Boombox became the Brooklyn-style boombox. From watching many 80s movies, I gather that it’s because Brooklyn, New York, is where the boombox was most popular.
Mainly because many people enjoyed the hip hop and disco music there, and Brooklyn, New York was a place where it was super overcrowded with a lot of young people that loved to hang out on the streets and enjoy time with their friends.
Who invented the boombox
The exact inventor of the cassette play is the inventor of the boombox, which is the Philips that was based in Europe. And in the late 70s, the boombox was produced by companies like Sony and Panasonic.
Why was the boombox invented
Back then, people did not have any portable devices to listen to music on the go. They did have car radios that they could hear, but if you were walking or riding a bike or anything that was not with the car, there was no way for you to listen to music.
That’s why the boombox was invented, known as the ghetto blaster. So that people can listen to music on the go. I know most of us never knew the slang word for a boombox. Well, yes, it’s a ghetto blaster. Then later, after that, people kept thinking, and they created the walkman, in which you can listen to music with your headphones without having to blast it super loud. I am not sure of the slang word for walkman as of yet.
What boombox was invented after the 70s and 80s
Jbl boombox
This is the updated version of the 1980s boomboxes. This is a great copy of the old Boombox with a lot of added features. The feature is:
- Bluetooth waterproof
- long battery time
- CD player
Sony zs rs60bt
This one is not as fancy as the previous one that I mentioned. But it does have a Bluetooth function and a CD player as well.
Panasonic Rx d55
This one is more of the retro radio that does not have Bluetooth function is the classic Model. This one was made in the late 90s
How does the boombox speaker sound
The Bluetooth on these models sounds super clear because they haven’t updated to the standards of a regular radio made recently in this decade.
So you will get that same excellent quality of music as if you’ve been listening to it on a stereo, iPhone speakers, or however you listen to your music currently.
