Believe it or not, Sony’s Walkman was first made available to the public exactly 30 years ago today – today being July 1, 2009.
It was in Japan (of course) where the seeds of this musical revolution – the notion of listening on the move was but a dream before the Walkman’s invention – were sown. The model was the TPS-L2, and it’s surely seen as a classic nowadays. Look at it, up there. It’s so beautiful. Sure, it’ll chew the shit out of your favourite Metallica album… but give a fuck, buy another one.
Me, I love cassettes, still, and I’m not alone – a recent article in the Guardian’s Guide supplement revealed that sales of the format, while small, are steady, and niche labels such as London-based Holy Roar are actively marketing brand-new cassette releases. So, hooray, and to mark this anniversary, Clash asked a few artists for their own Walkman memories.
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Ian Turnbull, Broken Records
“I did initially think you were talking about The Walkmen and couldn’t possibly see how they’d been around for 30 years, but then I read it properly.
“I have to admit that I was too young to remember (i.e. I wasn’t born) when the Walkman first came out, but I think I got one when I was four years old. My dad had got it free from a rep through work or something, and it wasn’t just yellow, it was YELLOW.
“About the same time Weetabix were doing this great offer where you’d collect tokens and send off for a free tape with four recent chart songs on it. Unfortunately I can’t remember what the songs were apart from ‘Young At Heart’ by The Bluebells.
“Apart from the obvious benefits of making music much more portable, the best thing about the Walkman was the preservation of my parents’ sanity, because they didn’t have to hear me playing the same four songs on an infinite loop during long car journeys!”
Broken Records’ debut LP ‘Until The Earth Begins To Part’ is out now on 4AD. It’s reviewed HERE.
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Killa Kela
“When I was younger, say 11 or 12 years old, I got myself my first Walkman. And being the penniless paperboy that I was, I had to rip albums onto blank TDK tapes.
“A guy from my local recreation centre – the receptionist in fact – became my key to hip-hop when he told me about his extensive record collection. He made the fatal error of offering his hand in lending me records, and to say I pestered him and his home was an understatement! Most weekends you’d see me there, hanging around on the grass verge if he wasn’t in; I would rummage through his record crates and tapes, go to the record decks with him and listen to songs.
“To be honest, back then I don’t think I ever took the appreciation of record buying seriously, it had no value to me… It was all image and style. But thanks to this guy and his ear to good hip-hop (and new jack swing), I learnt a wealth about rap’s history – who was good and who wasn’t. And, more importantly now, I have the memories of music when it was fun.”
Killa Kela’s new single ‘Built Like An Amplifier’ is out now.
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Ruggero Lorenzini, Team Waterpolo
“I remember the first Walkman I ever got. It was an early birthday present from my parents. I took it into school with headphone splitters and three sets of headphones so I could showcase the sounds of Daft Punk to all my friends. Sadly though, it was confiscated at lunchtime by a witch of a teacher. I hated her.
“I couldn’t live without my Walkman, so I decided to break into the staff room after school and retrieve what was rightfully mine. Unfortunately the caretaker caught me. I tried to bribe him with the sounds of Daft Punk, but he was not as impressed as my friends were earlier that day. He was an old metal head.
“I was suspended for two weeks, but I didn’t care because I had my Walkman! With my two weeks leave I prepared more mix-tapes and began a mix-tape swapping craze. I then was crowned as mix-tape champion 1995/96/97. I later lost the crown to some punk who figured out how to burn music onto CDs. Loser. Long live the Walkman!”
Team Waterpolo’s single ‘Room 44’ is out now; ‘Letting Go’ follows on August 17.
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Richard Sauberlich and Hamish Crombie, Animal Kingdom
Richard: “It’s hard now to imagine not being able to listen to music while walking around, on the Tube, in a plane, having a little bubble of music strapped to your head. I remember getting my first Walkman and some cassettes in a Spanish market, while on holiday – it was all change from then on. Oh yes, and bring back the MiniDisc!”
Hamish: “All I can remember was the Transformers toy I had when I was ten, and how it turned into Walkman. Even the tapes that went into it were mini Transformers. Amazing!”
Animal Kingdom’s next single, ‘Tin Man’, is released on July 6.
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Alexei Berrow, Johnny Foreigner
My Walkman obituaries:
1988-91: Died of an eroded AA battery. Constantly maligned for lack of a rewind button. Loved the Top Gun talking book and Beatles compilations. Succeeded by free airplane headphones.
1992-94: Broken hearted, ran over by a bicycle and never recovered. Obsessed with Queen albums despite regular supply of lovingly crafted bootlegs from weird boy who played with knives two years younger than me. Came with pentop for re-spooling unpopular cassettes. Succeeded by a series of cheap paperbacks.
1995-98: Best walkman, a £5 bargain in Cash Convertors down the road from school. Missing since first house move, presumed dead from neglect. Featured record button, radio, two-speed fast-forward and rewind. Introduced ears to Radiohead, then Far, then Idlewild, all at brain melting volumes. Succeeded by a procession of scratchy CD players, faulty MiniDisc players, cheap mp3 players, and phones I probably can’t afford.
Thanks Walkmans (and other brands of personal stereo cassette systems) – I APPRECIATE YOU.
Johnny Foreigner’s new single ‘Feels Like Summer’ is out now – download it for free HERE.
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Learn more about the Walkman on Wikipedia, if you like. Alternatively, go make a mix-tape in honour of Sony’s wicked contraption.
