Ace’s Boom Box Chronicles Part 1: A Brief History of the Boombox

Prior to portable speakers, the iPod, Walkman cassette players, and MP3s were a special era in music history. The time of toting a heavy speaker box around that played radio and cassette tapes was in full effect. Get your D-size batteries, Adidas superstars, and get ready to go back to the late 1970s.

The very first Boombox, known as the Radiorecorder, was invented in 1966 by the creator of the cassette tape, Philips of the Netherlands. After its introduction into the world marketplace, Japan perfected and produced its own adaptations under brands Sony and Panasonic which were widely popular due to their more compact designs. By the late 1970s, the youth of America from New York, NY to Los Angeles, CA were jamming out with their favorite, portable tunes. By the early ‘80s, seeing men and women publicly carrying a Boombox the size of an oversized luggage piece upon one’s shoulder blasting Planet Rock became a regular sight.

While these awesome machines allowed listeners to play their favorite tapes, they also broadcasted AM/FM radio, which helped expose listeners to more content and musical varieties than ever before. One of the biggest growing genres during this consumer shift was hip-hop. One simply didn’t see a photo of the early Beastie Boys or RUN DMC without the signature accessory.

As the Boombox grew in popularity and consumer reach, so too did its additional features. Detachable high & low-frequency speakers and second cassette decks made the user experience more versatile, improved the sound, but most importantly, created the possibility of recording music from a different source. Thus, the mixtape was born. Though one had to be quick on the draw to hit the record button, listeners could now totally customize their own tapes, full of only their favorite tunes – if you missed the buttons on time, you’d have to wait for hours until the song was played again to try and record it in its entirety. Impeccable timing aside, these early stages of musical recordings and content creation (which would eventually lead to copyright and pirating issues) changed our culture. Disk jockeys (D.J.’s) used equalizers, balance adjusters, Dolby noise reduction & LED sound gauges to mix music, combining tracks and playing them simultaneously, in clubs and at events everywhere. 

By the ‘90s, the Boombox, which had started consumer desire to possess portable, adaptable, personalized music players, started to fade out. Walkman devices replaced most larger players, which were then replaced by Compact Disc (CD) players that could offer exceptional sound quality compared to cassettes, and so on. As technology advances, so does our access and availability to all kinds of music via a multitude of devices. But the trend started somewhere, thanks to Philip of the Netherlands and the worldwide participation that gave us the Boombox.

Our designer, Ace, still rocks his 1986 Boombox while creating one-of-a-kind graphics and signage. Here’s to you and all the “Aces” of the world who continue to pay homage to the unique sound of the old-school music player, complete with an era-specific playlist full of LL Cool J and early punk hip-hop. In case you’re wondering, Ace’s favorite group was, and remains to be, the Beastie Boys.