Words by Nicholas Anthony
Vinyl jukeboxes are set to re-emerge from the grimy bars and colourful milk bars from where they have been patiently lying dormant. Intergame Online (via the AV Club) reports that British company Sound Leisure are answering the prayers of hipsters and people who refuse to acknowledge the existence of modern playback formats, by unveiling the first vinyl jukebox to be manufactured in twenty years.
With the surging popularity of vinyl records continuing unabated, the prototype jukebox, dubbed the Rocket, has a playing mechanism that provides the ability to play up to 140 songs. An arbitrary number that someone, somewhere will attribute frivolous meaning to (perhaps it’s a conspiracy in conjunction with Twitter’s 140 character maximum?!)
The jukebox was unveiled at the Classic Car Show at ExCel in London, confusing motor enthusiasts and car models alike. Company director Chris Black, speaking to Intergame, said that “not only have we used the kill and knowledge of our own research and development team, which is by far the leading team in the jukebox industry, we have managed to call on some of the greatest minds and experts around the world to allow this project to get off the ground.”
With jukebox set to go into production this winter, it gives everyone interested enough time to carefully curate their playlist leading to the inevitable, night long conversations on the merits of Bread, Whitney Houston, Marvin Gaye, Beck and Salt-N-Pepa (probably).
Image: AJournalOfMusicalThings