Avoiding Tan Lines in the Tanning Booth Tanning beds were all the rage in the mid-1980's, just after Fredrich Wolff invented the tanning bed in the late 1970's. At the present, tanning beds are not as trendy as it was, given that the danger of melanoma (aka skin cancer) has alarmed nearly all passionate tanning fanatics. But a neverending queue of tanners keep returning to the tanning salons... What's the appeal?