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Ghetto blaster

A boom box

A boom box or ghetto blaster was the nickname given by people on late 20th century Earth to a large portable electronic device equipped with an AM/FM radio, a cassette player, and speakers. Some owners of these devices would decorate them with stickers.

In 1986, a punker played the song "I Hate You" loudly on his boom box. At the time, he was on a bus traveling northbound on the Golden Gate Bridge. After ignoring Kirk asking him asked to lower the volume, he was nerve pinched by Spock. When the punker's head landed on the machine, he inadvertently turned it off. (Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home)

In 2024, the same punk was on a bus in Los Angeles listening to the same song, or at least a variation of it. Seven of Nine then asked him to turn off the "noise," and he quickly remembered his encounter with Kirk and Spock, and rather than flipping her "the finger," he respectfully apologized and shut off the boombox, telling her he merely liked the song. (PIC: "Watcher")

The terms "punker" and "ghetto blaster" are used in the film's script.[1] "Boom box" is the more common term today, and was found in the script for VOY: "Future's End, Part II".

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