What when and why?

[Cpl-Chronic]

error, duplicate post...

 

[trippy1313]

CPL: That's pretty cool you started with computer stuff, makes sense why you're able to do all that LED stuff. Being a roadie too, I bet there were some good times.

Howie let's hear that story, short or long.

 

[caution]

Hmm, about a year now. Initially I was just trying to find the model I owned ages ago and that was going to be it, but noticed all the other models I'd never really bothered looking at, and before you knew it I was spending hours on end reading threads on here and elsewhere, researching them and getting really serious about building a well-researched shortlist of want-to-haves. Not sure how much of a collection I'll end up with but I would like to own a few high-end boxes that I've spent considerable effort restoring and/or modifying. Because the real answer to your question of "why" to me at least is taking them into the city, to the beach, to the park... I forgot how fun it used to be growing up. Just last night I took it out down the waterfront downtown after sunset so the LEDs would be prominent, and people would not leave me alone! It's great!

I even put on a presentation recently for an LED mod I did in front of an audience at a local event for electronics inventor/hacker/maker types. I got a healthy round of applause This stuff's fun, ain't no lie!

 

[howie1976]

Howie let's hear that story, short or long.

Warning: I failed miserably when it comes to keeping it short!😋

Ok here it goes! Like many of you here, I am a child of the 80's. I literally grew up (Ages 4-13) in that era. And like anybody who was around back then, my life was heavily impacted by Hip Hop. The way I look at it, both Hip Hop and I grew up at the same time. As a kid I always liked to dance. I was that little kid at parties that would rather join the adults on the dance floor than play with kids my own age. Then one day around 1984, I heard a song on the radio that had a rhythm and a beat like nothing I had heard before. It was Herbie Hancocks classic- "Rockit." It was the first time I had ever heard scratchin and I was blown away. Later that year I saw the movies "Breakin" and "Beat Street" and my love for Hip Hop, Breakdancing and Popping was cemented.

But there was one problem, I couldn't find any hip hop on the radio. Until I discovered a little known AM radio station called KDAY. They had a hip hop show on Friday and Saturday nights. So when my parents sent me to bed on the weekends I would break out the head phones and listen to rap while dreaming of doing "head spins" and "windmills." I was never much of a breakdancer, but I was good at popping. So I would dance with the kids on my street.

Since I only lived one block south of Hollywood Blvd, I would routinely walk up and down the boulevard and I couldn't help but stare in amazement at the boomboxes that were in the store fronts that littered the boulevard. For those in the LA area Hollywood was the place to buy boomboxes. I swear to you I must of walked by and seen everything from C-100's, M-90's, Lasonics, Sharps, and every other Grail you could ever think of. I saw it all, I just didn't know exactly what I was looking at. I just knew they were badass and I always dreamed of having one. But I was just a kid and would never be able to convince my parents to get me one. So the years passed and I never got one. But deep down inside that desire of having one never went away. Fast forward to October 2014. For Halloween, I dressed up as an old school 80's guy complete with my Adidas jumpsuit, Adidas classics shoes, kangol and gold chain. But something was missing- that boombox that I always wanted as a kid. So the next month in November I decided to finally get one. I knew nothing about models or the concept of grails. I just went on Craigslist and the first one I saw was the Rising 20/20. And to me it looked totally 80's hip hop. This will always be my ultimate personal Grail because it truly represents all those boomboxes I saw as a kid in the store fronts and it came to me 30 years after the fact. Talk about waiting to get what you want!

But what really turned it into a hobby was when I took it home and had to clean and bring it back to life. Before last November the most technical thing I had ever done to a radio was change the batteries. Now I was forced to take this thing apart and restore it. And guess what, I did it. That's when it turned into a serious hobby. Seeing that I'm a history teacher I naturally am intrigued by old things but boomboxes are more that just a piece of history, to me they are time machines that take me back to arguably the best time in my life- my childhood.

 

[Dr DER]

Warning: I failed miserably when it comes to keeping it short!
Ok here it goes! Like many of you here, I am a child of the 80's. I literally grew up (Ages 4-13) in that era. And like anybody who was around back then, my life was heavily impacted by Hip Hop. The way I look at it, both Hip Hop and I grew up at the same time. As a kid I always liked to dance. I was that little kid at parties that would rather join the adults on the dance floor than play with kids my own age. Then one day around 1984, I heard a song on the radio that had a rhythm and a beat like nothing I had heard before. It was Herbie Hancocks classic- "Rockit." It was the first time I had ever heard scratching and I was blown away. Later that year I saw the movies "Breakin" and "Beat Street" and my love for Hip Hop, Breakdancing and Popping was cemented.
But there was one problem, I couldn't find any hip hop on the radio. Until I discovered a little known AM radio station called KDAY. They had a hip hop show on Friday and Saturday nights. So when my parents sent me to bed on the weekends I would break out the head phones and listen to rap while dreaming of doing "head spins" and "windmills." I was never much of a breakdancer, but I was good at popping. So I would dance with the kids on my street.
Since I only lived one block south of Hollywood Blvd, I would routinely walk up and down the boulevard and I couldn't help but stare in amazement at the boomboxes that were in the store fronts that littered the boulevard. For those in the LA area Hollywood was the place to buy boomboxes. I swear to you I must of walked by and seen everything from C-100's, M-90's, Lasonics, Sharps, and ever other Grail you could ever think of. I saw it all, I just didn't know exactly what I was looking at. I just knew they were badass and I always dreamed of having one. But I was just a kid and would never be able to convince my parents to get me one. So the years passed and I never got one. But deep down inside that desire of having one never went away. Fast forward to October 2014. For Halloween, I dressed up as an old school 80's guy complete with my Adidas jumpsuit, Adidas classics, kangol and gold chain. But something was missing- that boombox that I always wanted as a kid. So the next month in November I decided to finally get one. I knew nothing about models or the concept of grails. I just went on Craigslist and the first one I saw was the Rising 20/20. And to me it looked totally 80's hip hop. This will always be my ultimate personal Grail because it truly represents all those boomboxes I saw as a kid in the store fronts and it came to me 30 years after the fact. Talk about waiting to get what you want!
But what really turned it into a hobby was when I took it home and had to clean and bring it back to life. Before last November the most technically thing I had ever done to a radio was change the batteries. Now I was forced to take this thing apart and restore it. And guess what, I did it. That's when it turned into a serious hobby. Seeing that I'm a history teacher I naturally am intrigued by old things but boomboxes are more that just a piece of history, to me they are time machines that take me back to arguably the best time in my life- my childhood.

. Nnice story well worth the wait

 

[JustCruisin]

Nice story Howie!

 

[Cpl-Chronic]

I'm starting to see a trend here where most of the collectors are young kids during the hey-day of boomboxes & the passion is re-kindled, right around the same time the mid-life crisis sets in. There has to be a connection there somewhere.

Interesting....

 

[SLO]

. Nnice story well worth the wait

Great story Howie!

 

[SLO]

I'm starting to see a trend here where most of the collectors are young kids during the hey-day of boomboxes & the passion is re-kindled, right around the same time the mid-life crisis sets in. There has to be a connection there somewhere.

Interesting....

Yup so many of us were snot nosed kids back when these memories began, I was at least. The memories these radios bring back are such great times in my childhood. The best part its how it makes me feel like a kid all over again with each one. Even though Im old

 

[howie1976]

I'm starting to see a trend here where most of the collectors are young kids during the hey-day of boomboxes & the passion is re-kindled, right around the same time the mid-life crisis sets in. There has to be a connection there somewhere.

Interesting....

Cpl, you bring up a good point and you've made me think deeper about why l finally decided now to get a boombox. The reason is twofold:

1) Literally a year before I got my first box, my father, at age 67, passed away from a rare form of cancer. He was gone just 2 months after we got the diagnosis. To say this turned my world upside down is an understatement. One of the things this made me accept is my own mortality and that all of us have an expiration date. If we want to do something in life, we need to do it because tomorrow isn't guaranteed.

2) I have a 3 1/2 year old son named Andre that's the absolute love of my life. He has completed my life and made me a better person in every which way. Seeing him grow up has been priceless and although I can't remember my first few years of life, I will never forget his. Boomboxes have become a "bridge" that not only connects my childhood to my son's, but also allows me to pass down my person history and culture to him, in the same way that my dad passed down his love for 70's rock to me with bands like the "Eagles."

So are we all having a mid-life crisis? I don't necessarily think so. I just think that most of us here are probably in our 30's and 40's and therefore have had certain life experiences that enables us to see the deeper more intrinsic value in these electronics compared to earlier times in our lives. Let's just say we now have grown to the point that we can enjoy and better appreciate the finer things in life.

 

[Dr DER]

Cool story..

 

[trippy1313]

Great Story Howie. It felt like reading a newspaper column. Very well explained and catching.

I sometimes feel I should have grown up back then. I'm 28, but I've always been more into past music. Starting from The Beatles being my favorite band, and working my way through the years. I'm just recently been getting into the 80'system hip-hop and funk, And I'm loving it, LL Cool J, Grandmaster Flash & Melly Melle. Amazing. Very rarely do I find a song that recently comes out, that I can stand listening to.

I was born in the 80's but I feel everything I'm into suggests I should have been born in the 70's.

 

[Cpl-Chronic]

Great Story Howie. It felt like reading a newspaper column. Very well explained and catching.

I sometimes feel I should have grown up back then. I'm 28, but I've always been more into past music. Starting from The Beatles being my favorite band, and working my way through the years. I'm just recently been getting into the 80'system hip-hop and funk, And I'm loving it, LL Cool J, Grandmaster Flash & Melly Melle. Amazing. Very rarely do I find a song that recently comes out, that I can stand listening to.

I was born in the 80's but I feel everything I'm into suggests I should have been born in the 70's.

It means you have good taste in music & can recognize the real thing vs. the AUTO-TUNE crap coming out of the studios today, devoid of any real substance....The Miley Cyrys, lack of substance crowd is actually nauseating to me & AMreican Idol is probably the worst thing that could happen to our culture, oh yeah & douchebag reality TV....It's all garbage...

Cpl

 

[howie1976]

Great Story Howie. It felt like reading a newspaper column. Very well explained and catching.
I sometimes feel I should have grown up back then. I'm 28, but I've always been more into past music. Starting from The Beatles being my favorite band, and working my way through the years. I'm just recently been getting into the 80'system hip-hop and funk, And I'm loving it, LL Cool J, Grandmaster Flash & Melly Melle. Amazing. Very rarely do I find a song that recently comes out, that I can stand listening to.
I was born in the 80's but I feel everything I'm into suggests I should have been born in the 70's.

Thanks for the compliment trippy! Discussing this hobby brings the best out of my writing.

Consider yourself lucky. I wish I would have gotten into this hobby at 28!! That would have given me a 10 year head start on my buddy SLO!!!

As for your taste in music, sounds like you're into a variety of genres. If you ask me that's the way to go. I'm into all kinds of stuff, from 80's & 90's hip hop to Old School and New R&B to 70's soft rock to Spanish music like Salsa and bachata. I'm even into the trash of today. I guess that's because I'm around teenagers all day. Nah, I can't blame them. I just love all kinds of music, especially if I can dance to it.

 

[static2000g]

I was born in 76 and caught the tail end of the boombox era. My first box was some random box that cost about 25 bucks at the neighborhood discount store. My next one was a GE with detachable speakers, and my last one was a Fisher. From there I got into a stereo components, and then I got into car audio.

I bought a broke Lasonic 931 for a photo shoot about 2 and a half years ago and after staring at it for about 6 months - I wanted more and I basically dove right in. I pulled out my bin of 500 tapes and I've been hooked ever since

 

[MrMcBlaster]

I bought this ridiculous 70's bed head in late 2013......you know the type.....timber laminate, red velour, built in radio/alarm clock with speakers built into it and all....real pimp material! Anyways my girlfriend says "you know you need a Boombox to go with that". Well she's regretting that random statement now.....I've gone in deep LOL. I got a GF-9000 and it's been non stop since. Still searching for an affordable DiscoLite.....I remember one being for sale in the electronics shop in the small country town I lived in and recall thinking it was just the coolest thing I'd ever laid eyes on but could no way afford it so I'd go in for a look when I was in town. I think that's it for a lot of us....being able to own these things now that were so out of reach back in the day, so we grab them.......but not just one, we need them ALL