National Jukebox Day
Gather around the nearest jukebox on 22 November, and celebrate National Jukebox Day!
In 1889, the first coin-operated music player was invented in San Francisco by Louis Glass and his partner William S Arnold, both managers at the Pacific Phonograph Co. Formally known as the nickel-in-the-slot machine, the player included a coin operation feature on an Edison phonograph and played a limited selection of songs without any amplification.
The name ‘jukebox’ is thought to originate from places called ‘juke houses’ or ‘jook joints’ – American establishments where people congregated to drink and listen to music in the early 1900s.
Throughout history, the jukebox has continued to evolve– when recording artists were first crooning into microphones and cutting vinyl records, an aspiring inventor in a Chicago music store was working nights to build a system that would play both sides of the record, and when the Blue Grass Boys played to sold out audiences, young men and women would dance the night away, playing their favourite song over and over again on the jukebox at a local pub.
Today’s jukebox is more versatile than ever before with touchscreen interfaces that respond to the swipe of a finger (or can even be controlled by a mobile app) and a vast virtual library of songs with the golden oldies rubbing shoulders with today’s top artists.
Throughout each era – from big band and jazz, country and blues to rock’n’ roll, acoustic and electric and everything in between— the jukebox has played it all.
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