Some younger people don't get the reference to "Don't Play B-17" in that Olivia Newton-John song.

[SamAdams76]

I was driving with a younger relative this morning and had on the Sirius/XM 70's station in which Casey Kasem was counting down the Top 40 from the week of 7/12/75.

One of the songs in the countdown was "Please Mr. Please" by Olivia Newton-John in which she urges a fellow bar-fly not to play a certain song on the bar-room jukebox as it reminded her of an old love.

So as she repeatedly sings the verse "Please, Mr., please, don't play B-17", my young relative eventually pipes up to ask me what she means by "B-17". Is it the name of a song that was popular back then?

I then explained that there used to be a contraption called a jukebox that had several stacks of records in them that were usually placed in bars and casual restaurants at the time in which people could drop in a quarter and play three songs of their choice. Each song was numbered accordingly to order of the stack that it was placed in. So "B-17" would be the 17th record in the second stack. So if that record was selected, it would be mechanically pulled out of the stack and dropped into the queue (of records to be played).

It was actually a marvelous display of technology for the times. There was something magical about dropping a quarter, selecting your song and then listening to them play for the entire crowd.

Of course, all of that seems absolutely primitive to the younger generations, who have immediate access to millions of songs on their phone devices.

[SamAdams76]

[AnotherUnixGeek]

Of course, all of that seems absolutely primitive to the younger generations, who have immediate access to millions of songs on their phone devices.

Actually a lot of younger people seem fascinated by analog technology - the vinyl resurgence seems to be fueled in large part by younger people, not just people like me who want to re-assemble the vinyl collections we used to have as kids and teenagers.

[Flash Bazbeaux]

It took me a minute to figure it out, because I thought of the Flying Fortress. Which kids today will also know nothing about.

[Tennessee Nana]

Duke of Earl was the first song I ever heard on a jukebox...

[Sequoyah101]

They know who ONJ is?

What is a pay phone?

[madison10]

My 15 year old nephew received a record player for his birthday. He is creating a vinyl collection. Favorite singers are classic country like Johnny Cash.

I do not believe in reincarnation, but the nephew’s tastes remind me so much of my dad. (His grandfather)

[Bringbackthedraft]

There was something magical about dropping a quarter, selecting your song and then listening to them play for the entire crowd. .......................... In my era it was a nickle in the jukebox to play Earth Angel.

[ResistorSister]

I had a carrying case for my 45 collection and a portable record player that was built into a carrying case; party in a box!

[E. Pluribus Unum]

“I Love Rock ‘N’ Roll”
(Joan Jett And The Blackhearts)

I saw him dancing there by the record machine
I knew he must have been about seventeen
The beat was going strong
Playing my favorite song
And I could tell it wouldn’t be long till he was with me, yeah me
And I could tell it wouldn’t be long till he was with me, yeah me

Singing, I love rock and roll
So put another dime in the jukebox, baby
I love rock and roll
So come and take your time and dance with me
Ow!

He smiled, so I got up and asked for his name
But that don’t matter, he said, ‘cause it’s all the same
He said, “Can I take you home
Where we can be alone?”
And next we were moving on, he was with me, yeah me
Next we were moving on, he was with me, yeah me

Singing, I love rock and roll
So put another dime in the jukebox, baby
I love rock and roll
So come and take your time and dance with me
Ow!

He said, “Can I take you home
Where we can be alone?”
Next we’re moving on, he was with me, yeah me
And we’ll be moving on and singing that same old song, yeah with me

Singing, I love rock and roll
So put another dime in the jukebox, baby
I love rock and roll
So come and take your time and dance with me

I love rock and roll
So put another dime in the jukebox, baby
I love rock and roll
So come and take your time and dance with

I love rock and roll
So put another dime in the jukebox, baby
I love rock and roll
So come and take your time and dance with

I love rock and roll
So put another dime in the jukebox, baby
I love rock and roll
So come and take your time and dance with

I love rock and roll
So put another dime in the jukebox, baby
I love rock and roll
So come and take your time and dance with me

[Sasparilla]

In the late 1950’s, all the kids in the neighborhood used to climb over a 3 strand barb wire fence & played in 12 B17’s that were parked at an airfield waiting to be picked up for scrap. All the flight controls still worked. Everything else except the seats & engines had been taken out. To us,the planes were huge. And they were some really big fun.

[alloysteel]

“Gee, Ma, it was a Wurlitzer!”

Younger people have so little context with an older and seemingly simpler time. Dial phones, AM car radios, juke boxes, 45 RPM records (”the little records with the big holes”), soda fountains in drug stores, the rumble of a flathead Ford V-8 being wound out, marching bands and horse parades, even Hula-Hoops.

The past is a great place to visit, but few could live there.

[bramps]

There was something magical about dropping a quarter, selecting your song and then listening to them play for the entire crowd

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Not to mention the restaurant booths with the wallhangers. Just flipping the panels to look at the songs was a kick in itself.

[SkyPilot]

Someone turn the channel and dial the telephone.

[GnuThere]

I was always thrilled to visit a place with a jukebox.

[july4thfreedomfoundation]

It took me a long time to figure out, because, like you, I thought that they meant the B-17 Flying Fortress.

My uncle flew the B-17 in the European theatre during World War II.

[A Formerly Proud Canadian]

Aw shipp! It’s not just the kids of today that would not know what a B-17 was. When I was a teenager in the 1970s, I had a cousin my age, who did not know what D-Day was, let alone what the Dieppe Raid was. Of course, the edjumacashun system under the leadership of Rocky Waterhole (Pierre Trudeau), tried, and succeeded, in getting rid of recent Canadian history. His (or Fidel Castro’s) spawn is continuing the tradition. That is what communists do. Both were and are lapdog of the CCP.

[Moonman62]

That’s from back when children were used as remote controls for the TV.

[pinkandgreenmom]

Upon seeing an episode of The Brady Bunch, my kids were baffled by the ice cube tray that had to be filled up with water.

[Trumpet 1]

In France at the University of Grenoble, they had a record room. Apparently, socialism provided limited resources. Therefore if you wanted to play a record you had to go to the college discotech. 1969 The Beatles White Album Why don’t we do it in the road... and Lead Zef, gotta whole lot of Love. The Americans were into Rock. The Natives mostly seems to like French Polka music. Jazz was slightly appreciated.

[bramps]

Fonzie appreciates this thread.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mIwTWGOMY0