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On an unrelated note, what is the story behind this aesthetic for jukeboxes? Who designed them? visabrain: get in loser we’re going exploring me: no wait forget I asked visabrain: *revs engine* me: ur so bad ugh *gets in the car* https://t.co/i9Al1spV76
TIL that there’s American racial history tied up in this. A juke joint was a place that black people would hang out in to relax and socialize https://t.co/vuEE6V4sto https://t.co/4N1QyNiw5a
“In its height of popularity in the mid-1950s, approx. 750,000 jukeboxes were in use across the 🇺🇸. That dipped during the ‘70s & ‘80s, but w/ the advent of CD tech & a growing antiques market, the number of jukeboxes presently in use is a solid 250,000.” https://t.co/XjNiCLDjEX https://t.co/ssM0ix5MYM
There are apparently three major names in the jukebox world: (1) Wurlitzer - it seems like the iconic one is the 1015. Apparently they’re owned by Gibson Guitars today https://t.co/kDxjMfEoVz https://t.co/4BKSCaAA9P
2: Seeburg 3: Rock-Ola Seems obvious-ish to me that it’s the Wurtlitzer 1015 that we really wanna know about, that seems to be THE Iconic jukebox https://t.co/C8au1uHGor
The Wurlitzer company was started in Cincinnati by German immigrant Rudolph Wurlitzer. They started out importing string, woodwind and brass instruments “Wurlitzer enjoyed initial success largely due to defense contracts to provide musical instruments to the U.S. military.”😮 https://t.co/biexk4nZWG
In 1880, they started making pianos and theatre organs, which were popular in theatres during the silent movie era There’s a lot to dig into here, seems like a fascinating company that pivoted and responded to market forces quite skillfully Also, these aesthetics: https://t.co/JKf3lhpYKt
Oh yeah this reminds me: my first introduction to jukeboxes as a concept was in the Moonwalker video game, which is in turn a reference to the Smooth Criminal music video. It looks similar enough to the Wurlitzer but I’m not totally sure https://t.co/HGTGSNkG0j https://t.co/PFvWwBYqBG https://t.co/NoI5yHCRQL
A 1921 Wurlitzer organ https://t.co/MQSP8QBvCQ https://t.co/7HWDHrAmBl
Oh yeah this reminds me: my first introduction to jukeboxes as a concept was in the Moonwalker video game, which is in turn a reference to the Smooth Criminal music video. It looks similar enough to the Wurlitzer but I’m not totally sure https://t.co/HGTGSNkG0j https://t.co/PFvWwBYqBG https://t.co/NoI5yHCRQL
A 1921 Wurlitzer organ https://t.co/MQSP8QBvCQ https://t.co/7HWDHrAmBl