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Family and Friends is my everyday journal. Captain's Log is where I pontificate on religion and politics.

Monday, November 02, 2009

Music Flashback

Of all aspects of our any culture music is the strongest component. It enhances everyone's philosophy. 
Michael Manning has a good retrospective of different rock artists that are survivors. This brought back memories of the 60's and 70's for me in music.
I wasn't that big of a fan of Elvis, The Beatles, Rolling Stones and in the 70's when Rock fragmented into protest, motown, acid, heavy metal, etc. It left me behind.
In my younger years I preferred Pat Boone and Ricky Nelson, the Everly Brothers and Leslie Gore to Elvis. Grinnygranny is a huuuuuggggeeee Elvis fan and he's grown on me as we have watched every one of his movies dozens of times. King Creole is really good.
 The only British Invasion groups I listened to were Herman's Hermits (I still love 'Enery the Eighth), and The Hollies. Both groups Bruce and I went see right here in River City (Albuquerque), though all we heard were stupid girls screaming their heads off. The American bands I listened to were Gary Lewis and the Playboys, Beach Boys, Paul Revere and The Raiders, Simon and Garfunkle, Jan and Dean, Chad and Jeremy, The Monkeys and of course The Partridge Family.
In the 70's I mellowed when the rest of the world went heavy and disco. I preferred Neil Diamond, Bob Segar and the Silver Bullet Band (Old Time Rock and Roll forever) Moody Blues, Linda Ronstadt, Barbra Streisand,  Lobo, Bread, BeeGees (I Started A Joke is still one of my all time favorite songs). 
Mom and Dad being part owners in record store and working there during the summers meant we had quite a collection of 45's and LP's and could have built up quite a stock in Elvis, Rolling Stone and Beatles records (if we had, boy could we make a fortune off of them today on e-bay).
Still when I think back to those days, it's not the bands I heard on the radio or listened to on the stereo that come to mind. It's the friends from band I knew while playing clarinet that started their own garage bands hoping to make it big, much as every kid who picks up a basketball dreams of being the next Michael Jordan. When there was a dance in junior high and high school there was a live band singing G-l-o-r-i-a, Hang On Sloopy, Let's Live For Today. Now when I chaperone a school dance there's a disc jockey who plays off a computer. Sure there's a light show and kids dance, have a good time and all that,  but somehow to me the human element is gone. It's just not the same. The kids don't know it.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Yes, I would agree about the techno stuff. Allison Robertson of The Donna's recently asked: "Is there nobody left playing electric guitar directly out of their amps?" I find your parent's record shop fascinating, PM!! :)

One Fly said...

Nice post PM. The music mentioned lives today and will out live what is being listened now. I can not for the life of me quite understand why young white boys listen to gangsta rap.

P M Prescott said...

One Fly, so true, and for that matter, why would women? Who are only spoken of in a very nasty way.

P M Prescott said...

Michael, music today is someone trying to burp as fast as they can. I know my parents always considered my music to be only noise (compared to Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Doris Day, Perry Como, et al, maybe it was)