What was the spirit?!

[ea1987]

I have always been fascinated by 80's, especially by the music of that period and all the things that were around this world (mainly the boomboxes!)
Unfortunately I couldn't join those years, because of my age and also because of my country (I have heard by some old friends that also in Italy there was a boombox culture,but not so much strong like the one in USA). So my question is,after having read "the boombox project" book:
was it real?Really people went down the streets with a boombox on their shoulder?also with those monsters like a conion c 100?or it was something increased by the movie after those period?I mean, I always pick up my boombox when I go to play basketball with my friends in a park in my town, but now everything has changed,people look at you like a crazy man, saying "turn off that radio!". Was different in the 80's or you had to fight against this injury (mainly against old people)?
There is a part in the book in which a person said that he remember when he was walking around his city and he could listen to different kind of music in evey corner of the streets..this thing really fascinate me..that was the right spirit!!!
I would like to know what you think about it..what you remember!!!
Thank you,
andrea!

 

[Superduper]

 

[mellymelsr]

Very real. I lived it, breathed it and was consumed by it. Some of the greatest memories of my life were during the boombox era....

 

[ea1987]

I would be happy if you told me only about some experience that you remember..or also posts some old photos (if you have it)!thank u!

 

[Jboogie2384]

Oh I remember and very much lived the era to the fullest. I remember carrying cardboard for the break dance battles while somebody else had "carry the radio" duty. It was fun!! Sorry I don't have any pictures because Polaroid cameras weren't portable like that. Plus it wouldve gotten destroyed while doing windmills. But yes the pictures your seeing in that great book are very accurate. Don't go by the movies like "Breakin" or "Breakin" part two cuz nobody I knew dressed that loud. "Beat Street" was a little more accurate in the fashion scene. I grew up in the streets of the Bronx and yes almost every corner had a radio bumping somebody's DJ mix or playing 98.7 KISS or 107.5 WBLS. And if you liked Freestyle it was Power 97.1 (back then if I recall). Those where the days!! Sheepskin coats, Adidas,Pumas,Lotto,Nike,Fila sneakers. Lee jeans (two tones too!) with a Levi jacket with a design on painted on the back. Kangol hat and Gazelle glasses!! Champion hoodies with the matching tshirt, the iron on letters representing your crew!! I miss the good ol' care free days of yesterday. :superduper: it was!!

 

[MasterBlaster84]

Yes very real and I lived it too although in my town it was subdued and not quite as out there as the big cities. I carried my boxes with me everywhere and chewed up a lot of D batteries in the process.

 

[Lasonic TRC-920]

Yep, It was real. I never left the house with out my radio, a back pack full of tapes and extra batteries!

We'd sit on the corner, blast 95.5 KLOS or 94.7 KMET Los Angeles radio. Skateboarding and BMX bike riding.

Sometimes we would have 2 or 3 radios out on the street all on the same station just blaring to the world. It was like having a Block Party all the time.

Yep, there were some old folks who hated it, told us to move down the block or turn if off. But when your 15 years old, you just pick up and find a new spot to party. In a parking lot, wash river bed or in front of a house that was empty.

Good times

 

[ea1987]

But now,mainly in USA,nothing has remained?Or sometimes you see someone walkin around with a ghettoblaster in his hand?!

 

[Jboogie2384]

But now,mainly in USA,nothing has remained?Or sometimes you see someone walkin around with a ghettoblaster in his hand?!

Once in a blue moon, yes. I actually did it yesterday when I picked up the EVERSONIC. It pumps pretty nice. People looked at me like I was crazy but they smiled at the same time. I had the disco lights flashing and all that. :superduper:

 

[Master Z]

But now,mainly in USA,nothing has remained?Or sometimes you see someone walkin around with a ghettoblaster in his hand?!

I think we are what's left. It's up to us to keep the "spirit" alive!
I know there are a lot of us here that still take their boxes out, but its not that common.

 

[stormsven]

Dude i grew up in communistic country at 80 s. Hanging around with boomin box was a "bad behavior" but we still managed to find remote places for break battles . And the late 80s anyway was a common view a group of young people sitting around boomin some disco massive blaster. The boomboxin was so strong, even the f...n communistic rules was overtaken :superduper: .

 

[Lasonic TRC-920]

But now,mainly in USA,nothing has remained?Or sometimes you see someone walkin around with a ghettoblaster in his hand?!

I personally have never seen a person on the street with one since the decline at the end of the 80s early 90's. I drove from Los Angeles to Oakland (near San Fransisco) to get a radio and took it with me into a restaurant and everyone was looking at me like "Dude, don't even think about it ". All of them with their stupid little iPods and Cell phones!

I think we are what's left. It's up to us to keep the "spirit" alive!
I know there are a lot of us here that still take their boxes out, but its not that common.

Master Z, what you just said is MASSIVELY Profound. It had not dawned on me that this group, the people on this board are the last of the people waving this flag. I guess there are probably more and they will most likely find there way here in time. But your right, it's our job to keep it alive.

Dude i grew up in communistic country at 80 s. Hanging around with boomin box was a "bad behavior" but we still managed to find remote places for break battles . And the late 80s anyway was a common view a group of young people sitting around boomin some disco massive blaster. The boomboxin was so strong, even the f...n communistic rules was overtaken :superduper: .

Now That is COOL....

 

[Eric]

I came from a very small town, 73 in my graduating class, but a few kids would bring their boomers on the school bus. I can still remember Quiet Riot, Night Ranger, Ratt, Boston and Queen all being played from the back seat. This would have been about 83 to 85 (I graduated in 87). It's funny I can still remember our bus driver "Virginia Williams" nice older lady yelling at us to" turn down the radio or I'm going to make you shut it off" so it would get turned down for a while and slowly get turned back up. I'm sure if I was to ask my daughter today if she would like to take a blaster on the bus, she would give me that look like "ya right dad"......everyone has their own mp3 players and headphones now.........but, if it did happen, I bet the kids would find that same feeling of enjoyment and power that we felt as a group all rockin out together.

 

[Lasonic TRC-920]

It was real for the teenagers of the mid 80's and every once in a while you might get a few kids playing too loud in a place where it they needed to tone it down. There is a scene in one of the first star trek movies where one of our youth was playing too loud on a bus and spock took care of the problem and everyone cheered. Before boomboxes we had pocket am radios with 1 " speakers. Cassette tapes just took over from 8track tapes and those portables were heavy.We left the golden age of high power home systems in the late seventies to the ever cheaper plastic stuff.By the end of the 80's the cd was taking over with the help of the microchip's and heading for ever smaller walkmans and ipods.From what I can tell is some the best boxes built were from the early 80's which were big and heavy!

Not Original Version, couldn't find it, but this is close:
[youtube]fB0wa8a80Mc[/youtube]

 

[reptoid]

I grew up in a beach town. So the boomboxes here existed primarily on the sand as opposed to concrete. I still bring a boombox out everytime I go to the beach... and if I don't, I get scorned by my friends. It is easier to get away with it on the beach as opposed to in the streets. People seem to like it, including strangers sitting near by.


Other than the beach boombox experience, my only other real experiences in my area would have been when out skateboarding. We would take a radio to a ramp/street/driveway and set it up while we skated. I would see boomboxes and break dancers when traveling to larger cities or on tv. But I have only recently seen it downtown here with breakdancers and a i931.

 

[skippy1969]

I came from a very small town, 73 in my graduating class, but a few kids would bring their boomers on the school bus. I can still remember Quiet Riot, Night Ranger, Ratt, Boston and Queen all being played from the back seat. This would have been about 83 to 85 (I graduated in 87). It's funny I can still remember our bus driver "Virginia Williams" nice older lady yelling at us to" turn down the radio or I'm going to make you shut it off" so it would get turned down for a while and slowly get turned back up. I'm sure if I was to ask my daughter today if she would like to take a blaster on the bus, she would give me that look like "ya right dad"......everyone has their own mp3 players and headphones now.........but, if it did happen, I bet the kids would find that same feeling of enjoyment and power that we felt as a group all rockin out together.

Sounds exactly like where I grew up.....Exactly.

 

[mellymelsr]

I was lucky enough to grow up in Northern California where there is an abundance of parks, beaches, and inner cities. In my neighborhood all the kids had boomboxes. In the summer there were constant boombox battles at the neighborhood park to see who had the loudest box. M90's and M70's were the big boys on the block and if you had a lesser boombox you didn't mess with them. My friends and I carried our boomboxes everywhere...on the bus, BART (our subway system), to the park, to the beach, to the mall...everywhere.

My fondest boombox memories occured at the neighborhood park. All the kids hung out there during the summer because there was a large pool, huge grass area, and 2 basketball courts...and girls, girls, girls... . It seems like everything that happened at the park was surrounded by music and that music was played on the dozens of boomboxes that were carried by kids that frequented the park. The greatest thing about that park is there were no restrictions on boomboxes and we could play them as loud as we wanted and there was no park curfew so summers we would blast our boxes all day and all night!!

To understand my love for boomboxes you would have to have been a teenager during the 80's. For me those summers were filled with the simple enjoyment of friends, music, and fun with no worries attached (other than running low on D batteries). It was a time that kids of today will never understand as most of them do not even go outside when the sun is out as they are attached to a computer, video game, or cell phone. So for me that is a time long gone that should be cherished for the wonderful memories it created.

 

[ford93]

New York City was the capital of the boombox moment. It was all about cutting class copping some weed hang out with the fellas and some girls that wanted to be down with us.

Crazy fun I call it and those memories will never fade.

 

[Lasonic TRC-920]

I was lucky enough to grow up in Northern California where there is an abundance of parks, beaches, and inner cities. In my neighborhood all the kids had boomboxes. In the summer there were constant boombox battles at the neighborhood park to see who had the loudest box. M90's and M70's were the big boys on the block and if you had a lesser boombox you didn't mess with them. My friends and I carried our boomboxes everywhere...on the bus, BART (our subway system), to the park, to the beach, to the mall...everywhere.

My fondest boombox memories occured at the neighborhood park. All the kids hung out there during the summer because there was a large pool, huge grass area, and 2 basketball courts...and girls, girls, girls... . It seems like everything that happened at the park was surrounded by music and that music was played on the dozens of boomboxes that were carried by kids that frequented the park. The greatest thing about that park is there were no restrictions on boomboxes and we could play them as loud as we wanted and there was no park curfew so summers we would blast our boxes all day and all night!!

To understand my love for boomboxes you would have to have been a teenager during the 80's. For me those summers were filled with the simple enjoyment of friends, music, and fun with no worries attached (other than running low on D batteries). It was a time that kids of today will never understand as most of them do not even go outside when the sun is out as they are attached to a computer, video game, or cell phone. So for me that is a time long gone that should be cherished for the wonderful memories it created.

Melly, you nailed it on the head! We did the same thing down here in So Cal. Back in the day we had boombox volume wars. Everyone showing up with the newest Rock or Rap mix tapes that they just made the night before and we would go to the park or beach or where ever the girls were!

Today, kids just shoot each other! Sad times indeed

 

[ea1987]

Something similar had been happening here in my town when I used to go to the park everyday during the summer..every day with a different kind of music (from hip hop to metal!!)
There was one of my friend with a small box who had won from somewhere and we were all excited when we were weating for him and we heard the music coming..!that was great,even if it took place in 2000's!!