What’s your favorite bar? Think hard and then think about what makes it so special. Cheap booze? Sure, but that’s only part of it. Friendly bartenders? Getting closer. Inviting atmosphere? Close, but no cigar. For many, it’s a great jukebox that is the make-or-break of their most cherished bars. Indeed, there’s nothing better than going into your favorite haunt, ordering a stiff drink, and popping quarters into the jukebox to play your favorite tunes. Here are some of our favorite jukeboxes in D.C. Tell us yours in the comments.

Photo by Erin M.

FOX & HOUNDS: The Fox & Hound’s jukebox is so well-curated that we both mourned its removal in 2006 and rejoiced upon its return three years later. Their jukebox carries a rock-heavy selection, but within that genre, there’s a lot of variety from 1960s and 1970s—classics like Frank Zappa and Led Zeppelin—to 1990s favorites like Neutral Milk Hotel, Guided By Voices, and Pavement. There are even some customer-made mixes in there if you’re looking for something more obscure. Furthermore, just try to find another jukebox in D.C. that carries the Silver Jews. — Valerie Paschall

Fox & Hounds is located at 1537 17th Street NW.

THE RAVEN GRILL: This Mt. Pleasant “dive” has a few things going for it—cheap beers, blessedly dark lighting, and a jukebox that time forgot. As a nostalgia junkie, I have been in a loving, albeit one-sided, relationship with this particular jukebox since 2006. The selection is small but mighty, with a heavy lean toward Motown crooners (Otis Redding, Al Green, Sam Cooke), ’70s classics (David Bowie, Elton John), as well as some ’80s and ’90s pop and rock hits thrown in for good measure. Madonna mingles with Patsy Cline, Toots and the Maytals, and The Replacements. There really is a little bit of everything thrown into the mix. Think of it like a Wes Anderson film soundtrack: charmingly anachronistic, occasionally obscure, but never boring. — Alicia Mazzara

The Raven Grill is located at 3125 Mt. Pleasant Street NW #101.

ANY BAR WITH A TOUCHTUNES JUKEBOX: Let’s be real, jukeboxes are out of style. While bars have them, most of the time what you hear is either the TV (so sports) or whatever is on the bartender’s Pandora, Spotify, whatever. But sometimes there are bars where the music is actually coming from somewhere else. If you are lucky to stumble into an establishment with a digital TouchTunes Jukebox you have hit the jackpot. TouchTunes is an incredible update on the old jukebox containing limitless songs. If you don’t like what is pre-loaded, pay more and get a song from the large library. Also if you don’t like whatever is currently playing, pay more and bump the person who put it in with your better taste. Even better, there is an app which you can secretly fuck up people’s night by playing Aqua on repeat. Old Jukeboxes are boring, TouchTunes is the future. — Rohan Mahadevan

A lot of bars have a TouchTunes machine.

PHARMACY BAR: Word on the street is that the High Dive’s jukebox is a digital replica of Pharmacy Bar’s (remember that High Dive is in Pharmacy’s old location) UPDATE: High Dive’s owner confirms that’s not true. Pharmacy Bar’s jukebox was owned by the staff, so when they left they took old faithful with them. And faithful it was: our staff recalls Void’s Dehumanized, !!!, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, Sebadoh’s Prince-S, Elvis Costello’s Oliver Army, Belle & Sebastian, Slint’s Spiderland, and even Bob Log III’s Log Bomb as jukebox rippers in the Pharmacy days. Maybe some bar will step up and replicate the greatness that was the Pharmacy Bar’s jukebox. — Tori Kerr, with help from John Fleury, Brett Gellman, and Matt Cohen.

Pharmacy Bar is now The High Dive, which located at 2337 18th Street NW. Long live Pharmacy Bar.

LYMAN’S TAVERN: At the risk of becoming a parody of myself (eh, who am I kidding, no one takes me seriously anyway), I’m going to wax some poetic about how great Lyman’s Jukebox is. What’s in it is not what makes it great—though albums like Metallica’s Kill ‘Em All, and selections from Superdrag and Loretta Lynn certainly help—it’s that it’s a direct reflection of the owners’ taste. A good jukebox, like a good bar, should not cater to your customers, but cater to yourself. Because if it’s not a bar you would want to go to, no one else will. — Matt Cohen

Lyman’s Tavern is located at 3720 14th Street NW.

BLACK CAT: Once upon a time, two of my best friends and I had the plan to get the number “2219” tattooed on us. That number used to correspond to the track “Anywhere I Lay My Head” by Tom Waits on the jukebox in Black Cat’s Red Room. That song was the soundtrack of the end of many hazy, wonderful nights at the Cat, and we could think of no better way to pay tribute to forgotten nights at our favorite place in D.C. Of course, Tom Waits’ Rain Dogs is but one of the many, many classic albums that can be found in the Red Room’s—and Food for Thought’s—jukebox. They’ve since changed it up, but there’s no shortage of classic and contemporary records from some of D.C.’s finest—Fugazi, Priests, The Max Levine Ensemble, Tuscadero, The Dismemberment Plan, Gray Matter, Ted Leo, and tons more. And there’s still plenty of classic records like Rain Dogs. “Anywhere I Lay My Head” isn’t selection 2219 anymore, but we may still get that tattoo anyway, because it’ll always be 2219 to us. — Matt Cohen

Black Cat is located at 1811 14th Street NW.

SHOWTIME: Most jukeboxes are carefully curated, but no jukebox is better curated than Showtime’s. Instead of a wide variety of genres and the obligatory deep cut from Prince, Showtime’s owner focuses entirely on R&B and soul from the ’50s and ’60s, which is literally the best music for dancing. Best of all, the jukebox is entirely free, so there’s every reason to bust a move there (especially after a couple combos). — Alan Zilberman

Showtime is located at 113 Rhode Island Avenue NW.