Jukeboxes

Dick Clark is always so fond of claiming that music provides the soundtrack to our lives as modern Americans. He is definitely correct in his assessment. Music has a way of capturing our minds and our imaginations and whisking us back to people and places of the past.

Recorded music could never have been so prevalent, and, consequently, neither could the memories created by it, if not for the advent of the jukebox.

Early coin-slot phonographs, with their stunning ability to play a single piece of music about two minutes in length, began as novelties. But, the technology used to create the first coin-slot phonograph was soon employed to create the first early jukeboxes.

The jukebox was an essential piece of technology in the galvanizing of American popular culture. Its use of recorded music allowed people all over the country access to the same music, beginning with the swing jazz of the WWII era, through the Hit Parade, all the way up to 1960's psychedelic rock.

Jukeboxes are much more than cultural relics, as they are still being produced now, complete with all the latest technology.

The jukebox, whether it is a vintage Wurlitzer 1015 or a brand-new digital model with the capability of storing and playing thousands of songs, symbolizes much more than bygone eras of music, technology, and fashion. The preservation of jukeboxes, regardless of the technology they employ, is the preservation of American popular culture.

American popular culture of the twentieth century has had a profound influence over the hearts and minds of people all over the world, and that influence is centralized at the jukebox. American-made jukeboxes brought the sounds of Louis Armstrong, Elvis, Glenn Miller, and The Beatles to audiences the world over.

Today, whether it is in the basement of a collector or in a college bar, jukeboxes are still bringing people together and sharing the sounds of our culture.