Let’s go back to the days when the mob controlled the jukebox industry
[This was my weekly column for GlobalNews.ca. – AC]
My first job was at a place called Frosty’s, the only real hangout in my small prairie town. The front third of the building was dedicated to cheeseburgers and soft ice cream; further back in the middle was a modest pinball arcade, while in the rear was a pool hall.
Many God-fearing townsfolk considered this to be three levels of Hell, descending from evil, dinner-spoiling sweets to money-sucking coin-operated amusements, to the domain of smokers, ne’er-do-wells, and hooligans.
Those of a certain age might remember jukeboxes with suspicion, too. My grandparents certainly did. These machines not only stole dimes and quarters in exchange for fleeting plays of the Devil’s Music (“You can listen for free on the radio!”), but the machines themselves once kept shady company. Very shady.
The first coin-operated music-playing machines first appeared in the late 1920s. The name “jukebox” was derived from the word jook, which came from the Gullah language of African-Americans living throughout the southeastern United States.
Jook — later juke — meant rowdy, wicked, disorderly, and all manner of bad behaviour. Juke joints were roadside shacks that started popping up in the 1920s. This is where one could enjoy plenty of drinking, dancing, and all kinds of carrying on. By the early ’30s, automated record-playing machines that almost replicated the juke joint atmosphere were referred to as “jukeboxes.”
On Thursday, May 7, I will present a live performance of his podcast, Uncharted: Crime and Mayhem in the Music Industry as part of the Departure music conference. The title of the podcast is Music and The Mob and will cover everything from jukeboxes to payola to extortion and more. Tickets for the event at the Jane Mallett Theatre are available here.
