From Stranger Things to Barbie – ’80s retro cool is back for 2023′ says celebrity sound engineer
Jonny Williams, sound engineer to the stars and Founder of retro-styled speaker brand BoomBocs is predicting an ‘80s retro-tech revival for 2023. Jonny says “From Stranger Things and Barbie, to 80s fashion and mullets trending on TikTok, everyone loves a bit of nostalgia. The 80s was outrageous for both fashion and music, and of course, it’s the era that gave us the original boombox.”
His disruptive speaker brand BoomBocs recently launched a nostalgia-inspired, colourful, and feature-packed STUDIO portable speaker (press review samples available), and the brand counts industry heavyweights Lady Gaga and Steven Tyler as customers.
The BoomBocs STUDIO retro-designed portable speaker is now on offer for £99 from Boxing Day onwards (£50 off RRP) and is available to purchase from Amazon.
Jonny says: “The 80s was such a revolutionary period for the development of music technology that I wanted to revisit the era and try to reintroduce some of its best bits. Notably, retro styling! Combining this with up-to-date technology just seemed like a winning solution for a new wireless speaker to disrupt the market.
“I was born in the 80s so that’s where everything started for me. Fun fact, Kylie Minogue was No.1 on the day I was born! Although I was too young to remember the era, I am fully aware of how important this time was for many things, including music, technology, fashion, and culture. Live Aid happened in the 80s – that legendary Queen performance. MIDI was invented which changed music technology forever. The list goes on. It was also the era when hip-hop and rap emerged as a new genre of music with groups like NWA, Public Enemy and Run-DMC establishing themselves in a world of music that was largely dominated by rock and pop at the time.”
“Everybody loves the retro design element of the Boombocs. Not only is it a cool shape, with exposed speakers but the colours make it stand out amongst the sea of boring, black box speakers currently saturating the market. The great thing about it is that once you’re attracted to its stellar aesthetics, the sound quality then knocks you over. It’s a speaker like no other.”
“Despite its retro look and feel, the BoomBocs is bursting with modern-day features and tech. People are so used to their mod cons now that we wanted to incorporate the most important features for playing music. These include having both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity. Having the capability to connect to Wi-Fi then gives you direct streaming to Spotify Connect, Deezer and Amazon Music. You can also connect to over 50,000 internet radio stations and Podcasts worldwide. The Bluetooth feature runs on v5.0 so you get high-quality audio transmission over great distances.”
“The boombox speaker is associated with this style of music as the iconic playing device that provided music to the streets, allowing hip-hop artists to voice their lyrics over beats in public. The modern-day BoomBocs is built on this same culture as a playing device to bring people together and enjoy its sound together, whether in public or the privacy of their own home.”
