It's a sad day today, as Sony has nixed the manufacturing of the Walkman. As a kid my first tape player was gigantic, the kind that had an aluminum grate over the speaker, a handle so you could walk with it carrying it vertically, and one big ass orange button for recording. I use to hold the beast up next to my television speakers so I could record the music being played on MTV, and I would also record my favorite movies then listen to the tapes when I got into bed. I still have the tapes from when I recorded Fright Night on two tapes.
Then I was old enough for middle school, and those tape players were heavily frowned upon. So my friends would bust my chops about how old my tape player was, until I saved up lawn mowing money for months and shoved this bad boy in their face:
This guy is still beautiful to my eyes. Bright yellow, newly designed headphones, auto-reverse, and I think to a certain extent it was water resistant. It was also kind of a revolution that you entered the tape the opposite way you were use to, and that the sports Walkman had that extra plastic flap that went around the tape. My preferred way to listen to Appetite for Destruction will more than likely always be on a sports Walkman.
So, any other Walkman stories to share, or was I the only one obsessed with it?
