I was born in 1952, so I wasn’t really old enough to go all “ga-ga” over Elvis, but I still remember my first crush on a musician. It was Peter from Herman’s Hermits! I was only about 12 years old, but I was in L.O.V.E. with him. I slept with the album cover under my pillow, and it pains me now to say that I was known to kiss that picture from time to time. Didn’t we ALL have a crush back then?
As I got into my teens, there were the Beatles, the Stones, the Yardbirds (You remember them, don’t you?), and the Who. All of those bands are the ones that play in my mind when I think of the oldies. I used to have a lot of 45 rpm records, you know those relics of oldies memorabilia, the singles. You had to put a little plastic disc in the hole in the record to play it on your record player. And yes, it was a record player, not a stereo.
I get nostalgic sometimes for the 8 track cassettes of my late teen years, too. My 1964 Impala Supersport SS didn’t come with a tape player built in, so I got a portable 8 track player and played Creedence Clearwater Revival on it as my girlfriends and I cruised around town. I cried a few tears when someone stole that out of my car! Oh, to be a teenager again! The only reason I would consider going back to that time is for the music!
I found a place online where I can find all my favorites, and download them to my phone or my iPad. They have every CCCR album they ever made! I could listen to them all day long. They even have some Zappa songs if you were a fan of Frank. And while I don’t care for the country music that is out there today, I had a secret love for Jim Reeves and his deep, sexy voice back when I was a young girl, and all his albums are there too. For more information click here.
I go back a bit farther than you do Karen. My oldies are from the 40’s. I loved the big bands, Nat King Cole and the Beach Boys. Even though Elvis was in my time, he was never a favorite. I listened to the radio via a crystal radio with a set of head phones. I remember my friends telling me about a NEW song called Beep, Beep. They told me they thought of me when they heard it. It was a fun song. Music has been a big part of my life all my life. Thanks for sharing your memories.
I was born in the 70s and I remember eight tracks and vinyl, floppy discs, external cdroms, before the internet, before cell phones…it’s funny to think that my kids will not really know this stuff and to think what they might see and what will become obsolete to them…it’s amazing.
I was born in the 70s and I grew up listening to Herman’s Hermits because of my mom and I still love them.