Jukeboxing Matt’s Bar

Where they haven’t been replaced by charmless, trend-crunching tune-bots, jukeboxes say a lot about a place—nay, enhance the place. In Jukeboxing, The A.V. Club spends some quarters and punches some buttons at Twin Cities bars and venues. This edition takes a look at the jukebox at famed South Minneapolis burger joint, Mattʼs Bar (3500 Cedar Ave. S., 612-722-7072).

The box: Itʼs your standard Rowe AMi Compact Disc Player, the kind with that neon-bowling-alley feel that lets you know you’re home. Itʼs the third jukebox the bar and burger joint has had since opening 58 years ago, and it’s layered with grease from the ghosts of 10,000 Jucy Lucys. An all-star American rock cast resides in this music box, with carpeted-den favorites like Warren Zevon, Bruce Springsteen, Van Halen, Pink Floyd, The Who, and a whole lotta Led Zeppelin gracing its pages. Yeah, itʼs mostly classic rock, but in a bar that only takes cash and checks and has basically three things on the menu, simplicity is what works.

Price: Three plays for $1; seven plays for $2; 18 plays for $5.

Nerd jams: Well, they have Big Starʼs #1 Record/Radio City, some Roxy Music, and Talking Heads’ Speaking In Tongues, but those are all just good rock-and-roll records when you get right down to it. Radioheadʼs OK Computer seems to be the best contender.

Mixes: Strangely, the box boasts two Christmas compilations: Spotlight On Christmas and Greatest Christmas Hits. It also features Pure Disco and Pure Funk, but when it comes to mixes, the best-of album reigns king. With greatest-hits discs ranging from REO Speedwagon to Steely Dan to Rod Stewart to Seal—and even Mariah Carey’s The Remixes album—this jukebox is radio-friendly and unapologetic. Alan Jackson salutes from right above The Clashʼs London Calling and just east of a Tito Puente album. And you know what? Everyone gets along just fine.

Drinkinʼ songs: Matt’s Bar is better known as a restaurant, and the jukebox caters to families accordingly. If you want songs about tears in beers, look elsewhere.

Local: The Very Best Of Prince is about all she wrote for local jams. But isn’t that enough?

Witnesses: Owner Scott Nelson says Michael Jackson and Led Zeppelin get a lot of play at night: “It’s mostly the kids playing stuff. They’ll see something they recognize and go for it. We don’t want one of those new digital [jukeboxes] that they’re pushing us to get, but it’s hard to repair these old ones, and that’s one of the reasons there’s not a lot of new stuff in there.”