Another movie boombox spotting–this one from Barry Gordy’s 1985 film The Last Dragon. This scene takes place in the fictional Sum Dum Goy fortune cookie company in New York’s Chinatown. Can you imagine these things flourishing on Canal Street back in 1985? drool…
Yet another mid-80s JVC ghettoblaster with multi-band reception, this is the RC-M70. Radio stations were plentiful on this one, as it offered AM, FM, and four shortwave bands! David from Ontario writes that the LED array above the cassette was for its “Multi Music Search” feature. Sadly, his passed away in 1993 after 10 years of faithful service.
Sanyo could really manufacture some really nice portables–this M7900 is covered in chrome and silver and AMSS music search, tuning and fine tuning, balance control and the ever-popular soft-eject cassette.
Again, Barry Gordy’s The Last Dragon graces us with another portable– this one suffers a sad fate. One facet of the mid-80s that we fail to recall is that when youths felt the need to breakdance, they would drop a radio and start doing it regardless of time or place, like in this movie theater. The dance session is cut short as one angry moviegoer applied some street justice, ending the life of this helpless boombox.
Say hello to Radio Shack’s top-of-the-line ghettoblaster in 1983, the SCR-6. This one had audible cue-review, Dolby noise reduction, a 6 watt amplifier, twin LED meters, a “Stereo Wide” system for improved sound.
From the 1985 martial arts film The Last Dragon, some urban youths trade stories around a ghetto blaster. Was this you in 1985?
The second of the “calcu-lighters” in the collection is an elegant Casio multi-function alarm clock/calculator from 1980. Calculators makers pushed the envelope after perfecting miniaturization and the LCD display system, so it was only logical to package a lighter within a calculator during the pro-tobacco days of the Carter and Reagan eras. On another note, as calculator manufacturing costs plummeted, they became popular premiums when purchasing cigarette multi-paks during the mid to late 80s. Hmmm…they say an average cigarette takes 11 minutes off your life, so whip out your Newport Lights calculator and multiply 11 times 20…
This RX-5050 was a solid model in Panasonic’s 1983 stereo line. Sound quality was top-notch, utilizing the company’s patented “Ambience” control. The system and a red & green LED meter and a five-band graphic equalizer.
This Sanyo MX650 is a veritable force in loudness. We sure wouldn’t want to bump into this intimidating machine in a dark alley. The cassette drive position is pretty unique.
The Fat Boys spotted with a not-so-fat boombox in the 1984 film Krush Groove. A scene like this may be labelled stereotypical, but was nonetheless commonplace in New York City back in the mid-80s. See below for a close-up of the boombox.
