Throwback: The Maxell Guy is Still Blown Away by Hi-Fi Wagner!

I was working on this essay and groping for an image of musical awe when I remembered the famous profile (in my memory, it was silhouetted) of a cool dude being literally blown away by the awesomeness of the sound coming from the speakers in front of his chair. I knew it was a commercial image—I thought it was probably just a logo—but I blanked entirely on the company and product it promoted. That’s when I called my friend Scott (evil branding genius by day, film critic by night), whose mastery of the Google image search eventually led me to the jackpot: it’s the Maxell hi-fi guy! Let’s relive the glory of decibles with him, shall we?