I remember being a young teenager in the early eighties when Walkmans (Walkmen?) first arrived on the scene.
It’s hard to convey what a game changer they were. It was a time when everyone was excited about the possibilities of technology, and Japan were world leaders in everything tech related. China were a very insular country back then, it was difficult to even travel there, and instead we were all encouraged to study Japanese at school. Unsurprisingly it was one of the languages my mother studied as a hobby, and we had several mature Japanese exchange students over the years.
From memory, boom boxes* were also popular back then, with young people wandering around town carrying these huge “portable” stereos on their shoulders, ready to provide music for any impromptu breakdancing sessions.
”Sony” walkmans were the real deal, I don’t remember the brand of the one I got but I expect it was some cheap knock off. It didn’t matter, because it revolutionised my life. It didn’t have a radio receiver, and of course there was no Spotify, so you were reliant on cassette tapes. From memory I played the debut album of The Police, Outlandos d’Amour, on repeat, probably because I could only afford to buy one tape at a time. It was the soundtrack of my summer. The problem was, my brain couldn’t comprehend the fact that I was the only one who could hear the music. This would lead to many amusing scenarios such as shouting in reply to any questions people asked you, so you could be heard over the music which of course they couldn’t hear. Also, singing along to music only you could hear was hilarious to those around you.
Times change, and now whole generations have grown up used to listening to music on their headphones. Even dinosaurs such as myself can eventually learn, and now I can listen to music through my EarPods in the office with quiet confidence that I’m not going to accidentally hum along.
Of course, there’s always a downside to everything new. There’s been a fear that headphones will cause hearing damage for as long as I can remember, but recently there has been a new menace revealed in research. Apparently the plastic in modern EarPods has bisphenols in them which can leach into the body and act as hormone disruptors. Sounds very sci fi; I wonder if I can give up my HRT now?
*someone reminded me yesterday that these used to be called “ghetto blasters”, for some reason we didn’t find that label problematic at the time.