Pinball Music - The History of Banning Fun

in Music • last year (edited)

This Tuesday I have three songs dedicated to the pinball game.

Pinball games were banned in major American cities from the 1940s until 1976 when a young man, Roger Sharpe, "decided to challenge the New York City council.

The games were invented after the Great Depression when men were out of work. They invented a machine that took them to new levels. The machine was banned because of a mafia scare. The mayor of New York ,Fiorello La Guardia, worked to get the machines out of the city. He saw that they were a game of chance and stealing kids' lunch money.

Thirty years later Rodger Sharpe proved the City council wrong and got pinball machines reinstated in New York City. The other major cities in the US then followed. This incident was recently made into a motion picture. The movie shows that politicians don't like to be wrong. But, if someone has the guts to prove them wrong then there is a catalyst for change.

1. The Pointer Sisters - Sesame Street Pinball Counting Song

This song came out as soon as the pinball machine was legalized in New York. Sesame Street was quick to act on the powers of censorship and relay in a simply way that kids are meant to be fun.

This song had a great impact on me as a kid and I didn't know why. I just thought pinball machines were always there. I didn't know there was a time when any establishment with a pinball machine was smashed in by the police and the pinball machines were thrown into the ocean.

I just saw it as a fun game and this song portrays how kids feel when they watch a pinball game.

Altogether the Pointer Sister did twelve segments of the Pinball song. This particular version is the Medievil Times segment. Each segment takes us through a history trip. Watch and see:

2. Lonnie Irving - Pinball Machine

There are very few songs I could find about pinball during the Pinball Machine Prohibition. This one by Lonnie Irving was recorded in 1960 on vinyl. It's a country/ hillbilly/ blues. One verse takes you to yet another unbelievable line about being the victim of a pinball machine.

The song was written in humor about the "dangers" of a pinball machine. The problem was the authorities and the public really didn't catch the point here. They must have thought he was singing the song against pinball machines because it took them another 16 years before they could reconsider legalizing pinball.

Anyway Lonnie Irving has a lot of balls to sing this during the ban on pinball machines. His song is not only the blues of the pinball game, but also the blues of a truck driver.

3. Pinball Wizard - The Who (1970)

This one may just seem too obvious, but who am I to judge?

The Pinball Wizard song came out a few years before Pinball was legalized and just a few months before the Who's Woodstock performance. Maybe there was some influence in this music.

The concert at The Isle of Wright in 1970 is a special recording that also contains video coverage the live performance. I like the sound quality on the "Live at Leeds" album, but this version of the song contains a fun dialog between the members of the band similar to the Magic Bus performance. The "Pinball Wizard" has some spiritual feeling, but is mostly a lot of fun and a lot of rock. A virtual pinball starts moving with steady beat of Kieth Moon. If you listen carefully you will also become a pinball racing across the machine.

The point here -

We covered three songs this Tuesday because Pinball is fun. Eighty years ago La Guardia tried to smash an entire industry just because he could. There was one thing that kept that industry alive a hundred years later. It was fun. No one could keep pinball down for a century because it was pure fun and the real thing.

We shouldn't let history repeat itself. We should not turn away from new technology because of fear that we don't understand it. We need to play with it a little for ourselves and see what it can really do. banning something doesn't make it go away. It just makes it more difficult for the people who really need it to enjoy it the most.

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This pictures is taken by Mineopoly

Ban fun today and it will be the title of tomorrow's song

#music #pinball #ban #fun #kr #games #legalize #pob #vyb #ttt
last year in Music by
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     last year  

    The movie shows that politicians don't like to be wrong. But, if someone has the guts to prove them wrong then there is a catalyst for change.

    I love these lines
    Indeed politicians love to be tagged right all the time because of their quest to remain in power

    Nice tunes here friend

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     last year  

    Hi @jesus-son,

    Music is always flowing like the reflection of the waters, but at certain times music becomes the ripple itself.

    !LUV

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       last year  

      Yea, very right my friend

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         last year  

        Yay! 🤗
        Your content has been boosted with Ecency Points, by @mineopoly.
        Use Ecency daily to boost your growth on platform!

        Support Ecency
        Vote for new Proposal
        Delegate HP and earn more

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           last year  

          Thanks.

          I know Ecency loves to have fun.

          !LUV

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             last year  

            Didnt Play pinball for ages, but also didnt see them somewhere.
            Banning something is never the solution and having fun in life so important, youre absolutely right
            !LUV

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               last year  

              I wonder if those machines were banned in European cities during that time 1940-76 ?

              I just realized not that the Who made Pinball Wizard during the time the machine was banned in America. It wasn't until 6 years later that pinball was legalized. My head gets in a swirl with dates. I mixed up 76 and 66. It was 1976 that the machine was legalized in new York.

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                 last year  

                Who knew that there were a bunch of songs about Pinball machines!! Not me....

                and who knew that Pinball machines were banned from the 1940s until 1976, that's nuts!!

                That Lonnie Irving song was great and loved the intro about the coffee and apple pie, that's what really makes a song, to hear a little intro and what the song is about or where it came from. The Who finished out this #ttt post perfectly. Thanks for the tunes and the history lesson.

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                   last year  

                  Thanks for listening @ablaze,

                  Everybody's got a story inside. Somehow the banjo brings that Lonnie Irving song out. I've only strummed on these things a few times, but it was hard to stop. I don't think anybody knows who Lonnie Irving is but people like this would wander from church to church and coffee house to coffee house and play. A lot has changed.

                  Pinball Wizard is a fun song to finish out the week^^ !LUV

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