The Sony Walkman was a sensation from the very start. And while it was the subject of the sort of moral panic typical of the era, its impact has been more transformative than most of us realize.
My first Walkman was the metallic finished WM5 that was similar to, but slightly smaller than the WM2. 11 year old me knew all the models. My dad took me to the mall in February 1983 and said I could buy one with the babysitting and lawn mowing money I had saved. Somehow he knew I wanted one. The first tapes I played were the ones in the car: Blondie's Autoamerican and Joe Jackson's Night and Day. A few years later after the motor wore out, I got a blue Sports Walkman that I used into the early 90s.
I got nothing but grief from teachers and friends' parents about Walkmans being antisocial and dangerous to my hearing. I didn't care and spent many a school bus ride and lunch hour blasting Led Zepplin, Pink Floyd, the Smiths and so many great others. For an introvert, it was a way to avoid having to "fit on" with the cool kids as I could listen to what I wanted without fear of judgement, and disengage in a corner and read books or do homework.
This series is all so fantastic (and yes, I had the bright yellow waterproof Walkman and then a tiny red and black one with an FM radio, that slid open a bit more when you put the cassette in) - but what struck me here is a bit off piste. Andrew, what you're writing is actually *history* - even though it doesn't feel that way. This is 30-40 years ago, now - much like being in the '70s discussing the World Wars or something. That's the gap in time we're dealing with. Maybe it feels less remote or "important" but this was such an impactful time with a direct connection to so much of what we have embedded in how we live today. As *history* it deserves just as much study and consideration as any other point in time - though perhaps the fact that it doesn't get much of that is the most GenX thing of all.
Hey thanks. And I agree, it is "history", unfortunately. I genuinely believe that 1979 was the year everything really changed, though it only became obvious in retrospect. There are also just so many echoes and prefigurations of the present -- fake news, digital isolation, moral panics, culture wars... so much to chew on and write about...
1980, being 27, gives me a brief time tripping mini thrill. Now, just arriving 70, I have always found the arrival of mechanical/electronic isolation - following cells and ear bud cells - a curiosity.
Always found it most odd as the urge, societally, to shut out humanity as if it being a distasteful experience. Andrew, thanks for the perspective, interesting and food for thought.
Winters with Dad in North Carolina were freezing! Thanks to my divorced parents. The only warm break was visiting Mom in her tiny condo on sunny Madeira Beach, Florida. It felt like another planet.
One birthday, she surprised me with a bright yellow Walkman. It came with a cassette loaded with her favorite band, Boston (not exactly my music at the time).
A walk on the beach, headphones on, 72 degrees in February, the first track "More Than a Feeling" - that's a memory I'll always treasure.
Also, regarding the anecdote about the birth of the Walkman, the general anecdote that it was planned and produced by Sony management is not supported in Japan, and the recent theory is that it was developed by engineers within the company as a product to be used only within the company.
I was living in Toronto in the mid-80s and bought one of the first portable disc players. I have fond memories of walking down to the Roxy Theater on frequent occasions listening to Paul Simon's Graceland as I traversed the warm starry nights.
From the perspective of 1979, the end game of the personal music listening experience would have been impossible to conceive. Who would have thought a library of tens of thousands of albums, encoded in digital perfection, could ve stored or streamed to a tiny piece of glass and metal the can be held in one hand and the headphones wouldn't need a wire?
My first Walkman was the metallic finished WM5 that was similar to, but slightly smaller than the WM2. 11 year old me knew all the models. My dad took me to the mall in February 1983 and said I could buy one with the babysitting and lawn mowing money I had saved. Somehow he knew I wanted one. The first tapes I played were the ones in the car: Blondie's Autoamerican and Joe Jackson's Night and Day. A few years later after the motor wore out, I got a blue Sports Walkman that I used into the early 90s.
I got nothing but grief from teachers and friends' parents about Walkmans being antisocial and dangerous to my hearing. I didn't care and spent many a school bus ride and lunch hour blasting Led Zepplin, Pink Floyd, the Smiths and so many great others. For an introvert, it was a way to avoid having to "fit on" with the cool kids as I could listen to what I wanted without fear of judgement, and disengage in a corner and read books or do homework.
This series is all so fantastic (and yes, I had the bright yellow waterproof Walkman and then a tiny red and black one with an FM radio, that slid open a bit more when you put the cassette in) - but what struck me here is a bit off piste. Andrew, what you're writing is actually *history* - even though it doesn't feel that way. This is 30-40 years ago, now - much like being in the '70s discussing the World Wars or something. That's the gap in time we're dealing with. Maybe it feels less remote or "important" but this was such an impactful time with a direct connection to so much of what we have embedded in how we live today. As *history* it deserves just as much study and consideration as any other point in time - though perhaps the fact that it doesn't get much of that is the most GenX thing of all.
Hey thanks. And I agree, it is "history", unfortunately. I genuinely believe that 1979 was the year everything really changed, though it only became obvious in retrospect. There are also just so many echoes and prefigurations of the present -- fake news, digital isolation, moral panics, culture wars... so much to chew on and write about...
Besides the Walkman, 1979 was the year of Thatcher's election, the onset of Reagan's third presidential bid and the explosion of New Wave.
1980, being 27, gives me a brief time tripping mini thrill. Now, just arriving 70, I have always found the arrival of mechanical/electronic isolation - following cells and ear bud cells - a curiosity.
Always found it most odd as the urge, societally, to shut out humanity as if it being a distasteful experience. Andrew, thanks for the perspective, interesting and food for thought.
Winters with Dad in North Carolina were freezing! Thanks to my divorced parents. The only warm break was visiting Mom in her tiny condo on sunny Madeira Beach, Florida. It felt like another planet.
One birthday, she surprised me with a bright yellow Walkman. It came with a cassette loaded with her favorite band, Boston (not exactly my music at the time).
A walk on the beach, headphones on, 72 degrees in February, the first track "More Than a Feeling" - that's a memory I'll always treasure.
Long time no see.
May I also translate this blog 'nevermind' into Japanese?
https://econ101.jp/category/translation/andrew-potter/
Also, regarding the anecdote about the birth of the Walkman, the general anecdote that it was planned and produced by Sony management is not supported in Japan, and the recent theory is that it was developed by engineers within the company as a product to be used only within the company.
https://www.nippon.com/en/japan-topics/g00726/walkman-story-the-early-years-of-the-iconic-personal-cassette-player.html
I was living in Toronto in the mid-80s and bought one of the first portable disc players. I have fond memories of walking down to the Roxy Theater on frequent occasions listening to Paul Simon's Graceland as I traversed the warm starry nights.
Like CDs, or those other mini disc players?
CDs. In fact, it was likely a Walkman (discman?)
I had one of those eventually, too.
From the perspective of 1979, the end game of the personal music listening experience would have been impossible to conceive. Who would have thought a library of tens of thousands of albums, encoded in digital perfection, could ve stored or streamed to a tiny piece of glass and metal the can be held in one hand and the headphones wouldn't need a wire?
Love that "professional grouch, Allan Bloom." Did he merely document "the closing of the American mind" or did he help to slam it shut?
Good question! We're going to be doing the culture war soon enough...