An authentic, vinyl-playing, Happy Days-lookin' jukebox is a lot like an old organ. You sometimes see them for sale at thrift stores and garage sales, and on rare occasions, a person you know may even try to give you one that has been broken for a "couple" (meaning, in this instance, a number that could be acceptably rounded up to 10) years. Getting it to work for any reasonable amount of time is pretty much impossible, but not as impossible as lifting one of these monsters without doing irreversible damage to your back.
While the dream of having a working jukebox to play 7-inch singles in your rec room might be tainted due to my pessimism, there is good news to go along with the bad. Last week, the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion released a compilation of all five out-of-print singles (A- & B-sides) in their Jukebox Singles Series, which ran from 1992-2002, as well as eight previously unavailable songs from the band's early days. The 18-song collection, entitled Jukebox Explosion, is available as a download from the usual suspects and on CD/LP (ironic?) through In The Red Records. The long-promised collection features covers of songs originated by artists such as Charlie Feathers, Andre Williams, and The Chain Gang, mingling with some of JSBX's wildest, most raucous (rawk-us?), and highly regarded originals.
Granted, this news may not be as cool as a working, 7-inch-playing, feather-light jukebox, but still, not too shabby.
Jukebox Explosion tracklist: