So I randomly did a google search the other day for old 1980’s boomboxes and you know what I discovered? Some of those puppies are worth some money. Granted not huge amounts but I ran across a few of them going for three to four hundred dollars.
Now, they were in pristine condition, but DANG! I saw where one went for around $275. The antenna was bent but it was all original product. I chuckled and started really thinking about the old boombox I had, and the one my best friend Brian had, from years ago.
You can remember all the features of your favorite stereo system. Mine was a SEARS brand but I loved that thing. It was AM, FM, with Short Wave as well and I totally geeked out over that.
My budd Brian had just a standard AM/FM. Where mine was single cassette he had the double. That was impressive to me. Brian was interested in my stereo because it had auto reverse. I did NOT have to take the cassette out to listen to the other side, Brian did.
My boombox also had a continuous feature which meant it would continue to play one side then the other all day, or until the batteries ran down. The best feature out of both systems? Brian’s double cassette deck had a feature that when you were dubbing from one tape to another, you could record in double time.
WOW.
Any new album Brian got I could get a copy of it in no time with that double time feature. Could life get any better? We wore that feature out!
Needless to say, ours boomboxes did not stay in pristine condition like the ones I saw going for a few hundred dollars. Instead they went with us wherever we went. Yes, even when we were out riding bikes. Duct tape is really a friend of mine. Antennas got more than just a little bent. There were scratches, chipped plastic, etc. but I didn’t care. It was an essential part of my life.
My old SEARS boombox served me well. It was the ONLY one I ever needed growing up. It played everything from my local AM radio station, that mostly played country, to ZZ Top. Even my bootleg Eddie Murphey dubbed cassette (my parents never knew about, I don’t think). The stereo even followed me through my whole hair band Poison, Def Leppard, Ratt years.
How did I thank my trusty friend for all those years of service? Sadly, I put it down in one of our old wooden sheds one day and never went back to it again. Except for the days I walked into the shed for some tool and saw it over in the corner, I never really thought about that boombox again.
Until the other day. Heck it still may be there back in Virginia in that cold shed waiting for me. Probably not, but it was a trusty companion, a gift from my parents that I loved and abused only the way a kid can.
