Anyone Use the Jukeboxes at Restaurants/Bars?

Charlie's Kitchen in Harvard Square has an excellent jukebox filled with new and vintage tracks. Any given night, you'll hear "Marquee Moon," some Modern Lovers, some Undertones, some early Beach Boys, etc.

 

I used to. But nowadays all of the good stuff they were loaded with is gone. You can only find reggaeton these days.

 

If I went to any restaurants/bars that still had jukeboxes and the place wasn't ungodly crowded, I'd definitely do so. There's a bar-and-grill nearby where a friend and I used to go in the 90s to have oliveburgers and shoot pool, and it was usually pretty empty, so of course we played the jukebox. It's the law!

 

I can't imagine going anywhere and actually seeing a physical media jukebox. What you'd see these days are those MP3 server things.

 

That's generally what they are around here.

 

I'm not a fan of internet jukeboxes. This is probably just me, but I think every bar should have its' own scene and vibe, including the music. The room should have some individuality, whatever that may be. Internet jukeboxes create a more homogenous, indistinct atmosphere where almost every bar anywhere - outside of live music & DJ venues - has pretty much the same music scene.

 

I bought one of those Crosley CD Jukeboxes. You could argue it's not a true jukebox, but it sure is purdy. And I love playing '50s and '60s music on it

 

I love jukeboxes. We used to play the one at our high school hangout like mad. The trick was to play longer songs like Stairway and Layla so you got more value for your quarters.

 

I never have bothered with jukeboxes, touch-screen jukeboxes etc.. Not the best listening environment when restaurants and bars are essentially bent on social conversation anyway, unless you go specifically to see a live band. I just don't think about music when I am at those places, unless my band or another band is about to play.

 

There was until around 2000 or so, in this little bar in a town of 500 people in northern Michigan, an old-style 45 record jukebox that still had this song available for play, which I did every single time I went in there:

 

Oh yeah. "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" by CCR is another good long-play, bang-for-your-quarter jukebox choice.

*Edit* I see Eli agrees with me.

 

Good point. Tony Soprano did that and look how he ended up.

 

Unless, like me, you're at a pool place with beer and friends. The socializing is already behind, and Pantera, Ozzy and Sex Pistols play like crazy on the Wurlitzer

 

Yup. There's a juke box at the dive bar in my town and I usually cue up Stones, Zeppelin and Crowes for pool and darts.

People at dive bars tend to like the Stones, Zeppelin and Crowes.

 

Every summer we go on vacation for a week in Maine. One evening during that week we visit the Rock'nRoll Diner in Scarborough. There is a free Juke Box loaded with great tunes from the 50s and 60s. None of the other diners seem to care and me and my girls load the thing up and bop and stroll all the way through dinner. The quality of the food and service varies year to year but my kids demand we go because they love picking out tunes. Surfer Girl is probably our number one favorite because it was my beach nickname for them when they first learned how to boogie board. Other than that I haven't used a Juke box that charges for ages. Since it was 3 plays for a quarter.

 

Yes, all the time.

Two local dive bars both have great jukeboxes...At the berkley front I pretty much always make it a point of playing Achilles last stand first, some weird tradition I've got going on.

Gusoline alley constantly rotates CDs and also has a great selection. For a while they had both stiff little fingers inflammable material and gang of four entertainment, along with some Tom waits, red kross, monster magnet....it's consistently good.

The Bronx in Detroit has the hipster approved dual cd jukebox with a seriously eclectic selection.

This summer we stumbled into some cool little bar in Chicago whose name escapes me and they had an awesome jukebox filled with all jazz and soul, with an emphasis on 50s/60s blue note etc era stuff. I remember taking notes on my phone and buying a few of the selections at Jazz record mart downtown the next day.

The Internet boxes are also fun because you can pick some really random **** to play, but I have to say I have an affinity for physical media jukeboxes.

 

Molly's on Decatur in the French Quarter has a jukebox that matches my taste perfectly. I could sit there for a couple days straight drinking LA 31 on tap and listening to that jukebox: heaven!!

 

In this area, we mostly have the TouchTunes jukeboxes as well.

 

Was just speaking with someone yesterday in a record shop. He was mentioning he has over 200 jukeboxes.
A few held 200 LPs (not 45s).
I thought it sounded pretty cool

 

No because they usually don't have any Yeezy songs on the jukeboxes.

 

Yes -- I'm the guy everybody hates who will program a half-hour's worth of my favorite non-hits to give the room the right atmosphere

 

One of the advantages of having a "proper" vinyl playing jukebox, is you don't have to suffer any of the crap which came after the end of the 45rpm vinyl age.

 

All the time. Although Eddie Rabbit's "Two Dollars In The Jukebox" doesn't take up much of the evening now.

 

The local Senior Citizens Center has a 45rpm jukebox