Golden oldies |
Classic Notes of Rock & Roll Teens today crave hip-hop, the brothers dig that soul, I'm attuned to yesteryear and classic rock & roll. Jerry Lee lit balls of fire the year that I was born, and Elvis left 'em all shook up whenever he performed. My sister stacked up 45's, to make a perfect playlist, Beatles served eight days a week, with a Chubby Checker twist. The Monkees played a TV set and made us all believers. Dylan's changin' times rocked on, but folk stayed with the Weavers. A brand new key from Melanie, Cali dreamin' Mama Cass, Cream tapped into real strange brew, and John gave peace a chance. The Beach Boys took us surfing long before the world-wide net. The Stones did 8 track jumpin' jack, put satisfaction on cassette. Six presets on the AM band in Cody's hot rod lincoln. Jan & Dean spun dead man's curve, The Grateful Dead went truckin'. Jim opened psychedelic doors to strange exotic scenes. Janis sang the pain and loss of truly being free. Queen made classic rhapsody, The Byrds scored easy rider. Pink Floyd revealed a darker side, Deep Purple smoked the water. One hundred watts of stereo, speakers four feet high, the pounding beat that moved our feet was also felt inside. Album covers brought us art, 12 inches on a side, images to catch the eye and blow a teenage mind. But CDs shrank the music scene and digitized the sound, no more hiss, no pops or skips, no vinyl going 'round. Grunge, Emo, Rap, and EDM, Punk discord screaming loud. Chaotic mosh pit skirmishers replaced the mellow crowd. Today the tunes are served up small in tiny blue-tooth bytes, earbuds dole out processed notes as clean as Muzak lite. Glass tubes turned back to silicon, and wires turned to waves, though progress keeps on keepin' on, I miss the good old days. |