History of the Jukebox

Before the jukebox, there was something called the "coin-slot phonograph," which employed phonograph cylinders for the playing of music. Since the coin-slot phonograph was only capable of playing one piece of music about two minutes in length, it was soon replaced by the earliest models of the jukebox, which could play multiple pieces of music using vinyl gramophone records.

The term jukebox almost certainly comes from jook, a slang term for dance popular in the early twentieth century. The first common parlance employing the term was jook joint. Jook joints were informal public houses that featured live music, usually early blues, and alcohol.

The first jukeboxes used 78-rpm records exclusively until 1950 when the all-45-rpm jukebox was released. The 45-rpm jukebox soon became the standard for years to come until the advent of digital music and the compact disc.

You can find a "retro diner" in almost any city in the United States, and, invariably, you'll find the most popular form of jukebox from the mid-twentieth century, the so-called "Wallbox." The wallbox was not technically a jukebox at all. Rather it was a remote unit, usually located at each table of the diner, at which customers could pay for songs to be played on the central jukebox.

The wallboxes were extremely popular as they were very fun and convenient for customers, and lucrative for the proprietors of diners and malt shops of the 1950s and '60s.

Advancements in the technology of the 45-rpm jukeboxes were made along the way, but, until the 1980s, jukeboxes varied mainly in their aesthetic appearance. Along with the big hair and Cold War politics of the 1980s came the compact disc. Soon, compact discs became the standard for jukeboxes, and those employing 45-rpm records were quickly relegated to the status of relics.

The compact disc has been served its comeuppance, though. The ease and speed with which digital music files can be shared and transferred has led to the dominance of the digital jukebox. The digital jukebox operates by downloading music over the Internet.