Musical Snobbery at it’s finest

Yesterday, I gave you a very over, overview of my life in a musical sense. Today is to look a bit closer so that you, the reader can have a better understanding of my prejustices, (and maybe why I am like I am)

I was born in 1960 in St. Charles, Missouri which is just to the west of St. Louis. In my baby book, my mother recalls that the most popular song at the time was Elvis Presley’s “Are You Lonesome Tonight?”. Post army Elvis must have been a real stressor on me as I have been told my mother went through great distress during delivery by trying to come out ass first. If we only knew then….

I have a theory, that someday I’ll blog about concerning the years that shape the musical personality of a child. In short, I believe that many people form and shape what I call their musical personalty between the years of 10 and 13 (or 5th and 7th grade…whichever comes first).  Those years for me came between 1970-1973.

There was an overarching love for all things post 1964 rock/pop. Am not sure where it came from as all of my siblings were much older, so their taste for music had no influence whatsoever in what I listened too. From the beginning I loved The Beatles, The Who, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, The Beach Boys, and The Mama’s and the Papa’s.

However, by 1971, all had either died, broke up, or other then glimpses of brillance, best had past them by. Which left a mishmash of music out there. For years I use to disparage this time, with the onset of age and maybe a bit more wisdom, I’ve come to find that it was a time of wonderful diversity…one which I fear we will never see on radio ever again.

There was always a bit of a war going on inside of me between the primal raw power of Rock and Roll, and the sugary pop that has always been a part of the top 40. Also in the mix was a healthy dose of Philly Soul. In my world, Led Zep always found time along side of John Denver, the Allman Brothers alongside Don McLean, and Gladys Knight and her Pips alongside of Emerson, Lake, and Palmer.

Looking back, I see that the sharp division between FM radio (which I adored in public) and AM top 40 (which I adored in private) was a wonderful primer for my great variance of musicial taste. The slow death of FM progressive radio in the late 70’s and early 80’s was a sad thing to see. For me, the advent of music over the internet has allowed me a great deal of joy. It may not be a great thing for big record companies, or big radio, but frankly, that IS a good thing.

OK…enough for today….peace…