Juke Box Transition? a Fond Remembrance of the Past, Present and Future Potential of the Juke Box

Can the venerable Juke Box remain in the digital and MP3 world? The MP3 Jukebox is a available in various types and expressions although still the regular Juke Box is still here.

Juke Box styling came along from the stark plain wood boxes in the early 1930s to bright light displays with plastic and color liveliness in the Rudolf Wurlitzer 850 Peacock juke box of the early 40's. Unfortunately once the USA government went into the 2nd world war, metal ore as well as plastic were required for the war campaign.

Music juke box output was restricted. The 1943 Wurlitzer 950 juke box sported wooden coin slides to save on on metal alloy. It should also be noted that although the juke box mechanisms were made of metal, they weren't built during this period, instead, an new console was developed and the inside components of the juke box were positioned into it. As most of the mechanisms were built handmade, many of these juke boxes contained parts which never fit the right way and involved alteration.

The 1943 Wurlitzer Victory console had glass lit panels instead of plastic. After the war, materials were available once again and there was a great expansion in juke box construction. The Bubbler juke box represents the appearance and is arguably the most popular juke box styling of all time. Alot of of these continued in popularity on into the 1950's in active use and are alternatively associated with the fifties in pop music culture despite their 40s origin, as their unique visual prominence and production volume.

After the '40s, the juke box trends as a whole went more three-dimensional and techy in appearance, distancing their look from traditional juke box fashions such as ancient Grecian, renaissance, and Gothic architecture designs noticed in the 'forties model juke boxes.

Music juke boxes of the forties are known as Golden Age because of the yellow catalin plastic. Music juke boxes of the fifties are known as Silver Age because of the predominant chromium-plate design. With the rise of drive in restaurants in the sixties, restaurants wanted to get customers in and out quickly.

Today, the restaurant juke box has been replaced by other forms of amusemententertainment media, yet when you go to a place that still has a juke box, young and old are still attracted to their almost garish styling. The juke box as a mass media device may be dying yet the nostalgia is something that may never leave us.