It's been a sad last few months for music icons of my misspent youth--Robin Gibb, Donna Summer, Adam Yauch, Whitney Houston, Dick Clark, Davy Jones--just to name a few--you can get a full list here. And seriously has anyone seen Gloria Gaynor lately? I kid as she was spotted at a Broadway show recently so we know she's still hanging in there as is Cher who turned 66!!? on May 20th. Thus if my musical heroes aren't passing away they are getting really old and if their old that means so am I--and really who wants to feel like that? I try not to reflect on it too much as it just makes it seem one is going through some sort of mid-life crisis which would be odd and difficult since I'm pushing 50 and if this is mid-life then, well that would be a lot longer than some folks get these days--above class included as most of them were somewhere between late 40's to mid 60's.
The music they created brings me somewhat fond memories of when I first heard their songs on the radio (not the internet but an actual radio station people). As a kid growing up in the "wilds" of North Carolina, neighbors and friends were few and far between and since their was no such thing as cable--we had 4 channels to choose from and not much on--I would turn to radio to fill up the empty spaces and time at our house in the middle of the woods. Many times the first time I heard new music from these artists was listening to Casey Kasem's American Top 40 Countdown (the original--not that current travesty by Ryan Seacrest) which ran every Sunday from noon to 4pm on a local AM (yes AM!) station. I would stare at my watch while we were in church hoping the minister wouldn't sermonate too long and I could take dad's keys, run to the car and turn on the radio so I wouldn't miss what was at number 40. I even obsessed to the point where I would write them all down in a notebook from 40 to 1 and keep track of it week after week. Some people collected coins or stamps or whatever, I collected Billboard charts and of course the music that made the Top 40 also.
From the first 45 rpm record I bought in 1975 "Fly, Robin, Fly" by Silver Convention to the recent download tune "Wide Awake" Katy Perry's new single I have continued my hobby and it has been the one consistent thing in my life all these years. Eventually Casey no longer hosted the show and I stopped listening as I soon discovered there was an actual magazine called Billboard where I could just peruse all sorts of charts to my own hearts content--something I still do but in an online version.
I guess the thing here is to not get too maudlin about the past and what shoulda, coulda, woulda but to just remember these artists for the small joys and excitement their music brought me as a child, teen and now adult as I flashback through their catalog of tunes with fond memories of radio, records and chart watching. And now enjoy a little musical disco interlude----
The music they created brings me somewhat fond memories of when I first heard their songs on the radio (not the internet but an actual radio station people). As a kid growing up in the "wilds" of North Carolina, neighbors and friends were few and far between and since their was no such thing as cable--we had 4 channels to choose from and not much on--I would turn to radio to fill up the empty spaces and time at our house in the middle of the woods. Many times the first time I heard new music from these artists was listening to Casey Kasem's American Top 40 Countdown (the original--not that current travesty by Ryan Seacrest) which ran every Sunday from noon to 4pm on a local AM (yes AM!) station. I would stare at my watch while we were in church hoping the minister wouldn't sermonate too long and I could take dad's keys, run to the car and turn on the radio so I wouldn't miss what was at number 40. I even obsessed to the point where I would write them all down in a notebook from 40 to 1 and keep track of it week after week. Some people collected coins or stamps or whatever, I collected Billboard charts and of course the music that made the Top 40 also.
From the first 45 rpm record I bought in 1975 "Fly, Robin, Fly" by Silver Convention to the recent download tune "Wide Awake" Katy Perry's new single I have continued my hobby and it has been the one consistent thing in my life all these years. Eventually Casey no longer hosted the show and I stopped listening as I soon discovered there was an actual magazine called Billboard where I could just peruse all sorts of charts to my own hearts content--something I still do but in an online version.
I guess the thing here is to not get too maudlin about the past and what shoulda, coulda, woulda but to just remember these artists for the small joys and excitement their music brought me as a child, teen and now adult as I flashback through their catalog of tunes with fond memories of radio, records and chart watching. And now enjoy a little musical disco interlude----
"Fly, Robin, Fly" Silver Convention
"Hot Stuff" Donna Summer (for which she won the Grammy for Best Rock Vocal Female)
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