Our Music

I’ve said several times how much I enjoyed the music we listened to, and I did. We just didn’t realize at the time how lucky we were. Not only did we come of age in a time of major social, political and technological changes, we also experienced a golden age of music.

From the time we could call ourselves teenagers, we saw the British Invasion led by the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and The Who; the advent of the psychedelic and heavy metal rock of Jimi Hendrix, Led Zepplin and Steppenwolf; and the rising of the mellow west coast rock of The Eagles, The Band and Jackson Browne, a down to earth, simple sound that was more country than most of the modern country of today.

I was never much of a Beatles fan, but even I could see the influence they had – influence that if possible, was even stronger than they’ve been given credit for. However, I was (and still am) a fan of the Stones and the Who; groups that to me were in some ways even ahead of the Beatles.

Over on the R&B side we said hello to Stevie Wonder and James Brown, and the Temptations showed over and over that they were so much more than just another R&B group.

In country, Johnny Cash enjoyed a strong resurgence after a relatively quiet period since he helped lay the roots of rock in the Sun Studios in Memphis, and we gave a big welcome to Merle Haggard, Kenny Rogers and a young song writer named Kris Kristopherson, who over a 5 year period wrote some of the best sounding songs since Willie Nelson came to Nashville. Loretta Lynn didn’t hide her accent when she sang Coal Miner’s Daughter, Bobby Gentry sang about Billy Jo McAllister, Ray Price told us about the Good Times and Sammi Smith asked us to Help Me Make It Through The Night.

We didn’t forget there was a higher power either, with songs like Turn, Turn Turn by the Byrds, Get Together by the Youngbloods and Spirit in the Sky by Norman Greenbaum, and if you want to stretch it far enough, In A Godda Da Vida by Iron Butterfly too.

With all the war and riots going on we also had to have upbeat songs like People Got to Be Free by the Rascals, He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother by the Hollies, Teach Your Children Well by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young and even Everything Is Beautiful by Ray Stevens. And then Marvin Gaye showed the world that a protest song could be a first rate song with a quality all its own when he recorded What’s Going On.

And finally, another slice of American slang came along when The Zombies recorded Time of the Season and were the first (I could find) to utter that now famous line, “Who’s your Daddy?”

Music still turns my mind back to high school quicker than anything else. Now you know why.