I was thinking the other day how much music, namely rock and roll, influenced my life growing up. Things are so different now, music is so different, but when I was a kid we had the radio on all the time. And it's like we were always thinking about music. I have to get that song, when's the DJ gonna play my song, I've got my tape ready, will he talk through the intro, will I hear it again in an hour or so? Every night we stayed up until 9 to watch music videos on our local channel. We didn't have cable, but at least we had that show. On Friday night we stayed up past Johnny Carson to watch Friday Night Videos, then the Saturday video countdown, then on Sunday we listened to Casey Kasem's top 50—once after church, then again on repeat. Before going to bed we'd listen to our favorite station and in the morning more and more and more. I don't know if it's even possible to love and consume music as much as we did back then, because the songs are so self-absorbed now. They used to be about life and relationships, and now they're just about . . . something else. There were real problems in music back in those days (not too long ago) . . . life problems. And when YOU had problems, it was like they all made sense. Once time I had my heart broken and every song on the radio in my car was a love song and it hurt sooooo bad. That's the power of a good song.
Anyway, sometimes I'd give anything to go back and be surrounded by a wallpaper of rock and my favorite bands. It was fun.
Music does most certainly move us all. I fell in love with my husband as we listened to Simon and Garfunkle.
ReplyDeleteNice! I love them, and especially I love Simon's solo works.
DeleteThe Bowie-Jagger duet of "Dancing In The Street" is delightful. I'd never heard it. Always connected it with The Mamas And Papas from mid-1960s --energetic endorsement of a counterculture under construction. I think we made a peace movement look like it was a lot more fun than it really was, but even the fun and silly songs often had a serious undertone back then. I believe they woke people to a larger world, and choreographed our first steps in it. Excellent post, Amy.
ReplyDeleteThank you! The Mamas and Papas were great--love them so much. You're so right that songs back then had an undercurrent of politics. Almost everyone was united in a need for change, and now we're so divided about everything.
DeleteI was brought up with a show on UK TV called Top of the Pops. It was THE show to watch if you wanted to keep au fait with the music scene.
ReplyDeleteI've seen clips of that show and really liked it!
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