CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM 21Star Of 45s
Along with the pinball machine and the black
leather biker jacket, the jukebox is a timeless icon
from the early days of rock’n’roll that has never lost its
attraction, fascination and strange magic.
Back in the 50s, standing against the wall in the
corner of a coffee bar, glowing brightly or dimly lit,
chrome shining, engine humming as the 45s were
selected, lowered on to the turntable and spun, it was
a portal to music you rarely or never heard on the
radio; the only way you could listen, thrilled, to early
rock’n’rollers such as Del Shannon, Ricky Nelson,
Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Ritchie Valens, Buddy
Holly... It was also the sound. Compared to the tinny
sound coming out of the radio at home, the volume
and glorious heavy bass pumped out by a jukebox was
a thrill in itself. Back then, the idea of actually owning
one of these dream machines and having it in your
home was like dreaming of joining Flash Gordon on
his spaceship to loop the loop around the Moon.
That was then. Now, owning one, such as the
particularly cool and groovy, nostagia-dripping model
pictured here, celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the
launch of the iconic Norton Commando motorcycle,
from British manufacturers Soundleisure, is just
a matter of splashing the cash.
You can load it with 70 vinyl seven-inchers, sixty
watts per channel stereo output is delivered through
two mid-range speakers, two tweeters and a 12-inch
bass speaker. It has remote control, aux input and
output, mic input, Bluetooth connection, bespoke
number plate and – check this – a Norton rev counter
which lights to 45rpm on play. And while design
options for the Norton are limited as it’s licensed from
Norton, for other designs the Soundleisure team
will do their best to incorporate your ideas into the
finished jukebox. As the Norton is hand-built to order,
delivery time is six-to-eight weeks.
If you want to drool a bit more, then get over to the
Soundleisure website and take a look at some of their
other dream machines on offer.
£9,995 (UK price including delivery and VAT).
More at https://soundleisure.com/classic-jukeboxesPaul HendersonBring a taste of 50s rock’n’roll to your home with an eye-popping
music player that just oozes fun-filled nostalgia.
STARRING ROLES
Jukeboxes in songs and films.‘I love rock and roll, so put another dime in the j
baby... ukebox,^’ sang Joan Jett (pictured) in her (^) signature
song, a cover of The Arrows’ I Love (^) Rock ‘N
Wh ’^ Roll.^
ile the (^) jukebox might not be mentioned (^) in
songs (^) as often as cars and girls, it’s found its wa
into plen y^
ty over the years, including (^) recordings by
Eric Clapton (‘Link (^) Wray was playing on a jukeb
I was pa ox,^
ying’ – (^) Sign Language) and Van Halen
(‘Can’t ya see me (^) standing here I got my back a
the rec gainst^
ord machine’ – Jump), among many others.
Classic jukeboxes also make appearances in
memorable scenes many films, such as Back
The Fut^ To^
ure (a (^50) s Seeburg in a cafe), Iron (^) Man
(a Wurlitzer OMT in Tony Stark’s garage), a
Natur nd^
al Born Killers when Mallory Knox (^) (Juliette
Lewis), dancing in front of an AMI Contine
attra ntal,^
cts the unwanted attention of a local who
then gets his (^) knife-in-the-back comeuppance.
ETTG
Y