Vinyl and tape
In the 1980s, jeepneys became moving torture chambers in which passengers were assaulted nonstop by the drivers’ playlists. The staples of these playlists were Queen, Abba, the Scorpions, and Nazareth. I do not recall ever riding a jeep in which Nazareth’s “Love Hurts†wasn’t blasting the eardrums out of my head. The driver’s music library would be arranged in stacks on the dashboard. Often the stacks would be so high that between the tops of the cassettes and the edge of the crocheted “God Knows Hudas Not Pay†curtain on the windshield, there would be an inch of glass left for the driver to see through. His visibility thus impaired, the driver would have to lean out of the jeep in order to navigate. This did not seem to trouble him, as he would frequently turn around in his seat to collect the passengers’ fares while the jeep was in motion.
Ancient Machines, our archaeology series. In Emotional Weather Report, today in the Star.
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March 10th, 2007 at 09:11
There is actually a modern version of this jeepney horror. Just that the horrendous playlist is composed of the following types of song;
a. novelty songs which could cause one a bad case of LSS (Last Song Syndrome) that could undoubtedly result in momentary brain atrophy.
b. Songs by unknown singers which explicitly talks about sex and that alone, and lastly;
c. song remixes that are mainly consist of infinite intros or beatboxing, which after an hour of exposure, you would wish to have just listened to “Hotel California” instead, at least you know that the song’s intro actually ends.
And now the stack of cassette tapes is replaced by a pile of pirated CD’s and a portable CD Player (or a PC CD Drive). And to add to the visual hindrances, stickers, stuff toys are now used to decorate the jeepney’s dashboard (and/or ceiling).
The drivers actually developed their multi-tasking abilities, they are now able to drive, chat with passengers or conductors, and text at the same time. Even if the driver’s that busy, he manages to drive in such a way that the jeepney would be swerving and tilting to as much as 45 degrees.