Walkman is 39 and still walking

Walkman is 39 and still walking

Yes, the portable cassette player that revolutionized the musical culture in the 80’s turned 39 this July. The original Walkman TPS-L2 was released in Japan in 1979 and a year later in the US. It’s slick look, compact size, and mobility, made it a commodity in shopping malls throughout the 80’s. The Sony Walkman took 2 AA batteries, could rewind cassette tapes, and had 2 headphone jacks. The fuzzy, thin wired headphones it came with are responsible for more bad hair days in the 80’s then A Flock of Seagulls and Robert Smith combined. The ability to put these headphones on and completely immerse yourself in the music at the time was a technological marvel. Today it’s no marvel, but thanks to Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy and Star Lord, people are hooked on the Walkman feeling again, and it’s not for the Sony Walkman MP3 player. Every since sexy ass Chris Pratt clipped a Walkman to his waist cassette tape enthusiasts have been popping up left and right. During the making of Guardians of the Galaxy vol.2 a huge fire broke out at a Sony warehouse destroying many copies of the original Walkman. This left James Gunn in search of a Walkman and what he found was the monster he helped create, an original Sony Walkman going on e-bay for roughly $8,000. Sony has noticed the demand for the Walkman but is very hesitant on bringing back old tech. According to a rep at Sony, “Using a Walkman today would be like using an aerial antenna to watch TV or using a fax machine for business correspondence”. Think Geek is selling a Star Lord Walkman online but its more of a MP3/voice recorder that looks like TPS-L2 Walkman. (It has the song Come a Little bit Closer built in though and that’s pretty cool). Still, sorry Star Lord there is only one Sony Walkman, and I’m really hoping Sony will do something extra special for it on its 40th.

References

https://youtu.be/QSzE7LT-OvE

https://www.cinemablend.com/news/1621420/why-star-lords-walkman-ended-up-being-a-huge-pain-in-marvels-ass

https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=119404&page=1

https://technabob.com/blog/2017/04/18/star-lord-walkman/

https://youtu.be/Uk_vV-JRZ6E