artsMusical Tastes for the Times They Are A-ChangingI stumbled upon this website where you can find out what the number one Billboard song was on the day you were born, or the day you graduated from high school, dropped out of college, or lost your virginity. You pick a date and then a year and the Billboad archive does the rest. Looking for some exercise down memory lane, I entered the approximate date of my high school graduation in 1965 and up came the results for that date from the early 50s to the late 60s. Take a good look at the list and you can see how we evolved from "How High the Moon," Percy Faith's orchestral musings, and Perez Prado, and ended the 50s with Elvis, Pat Boone and one-hit wonders like "The Battle of New Orleans" and "Purple People Eater." Turning the corner into the 60s, you can practically feel the gears grinding as we forsake the Everly Brothers and Ricky Nelson for Ray Charles, The Supremes, the Stones, Aretha, and of course, the Beatles. White America discovered that it had soul after all, but we were still suckers for a quaint English accent. Bob Dylan said it best when he said the "times are a changing" (1964, if you want to mark that one on your musical timeline). Enjoy your trip to the past, and go look up your own time capules. THE 1960s 1969 ... "Get Back" by The Beatles THE 1950s 1959 ... "The Battle of New Orleans" by Johnny Horton Jay Harrison is a graphic designer and writer whose work can be seen at DesignConcept. He's written a mystery novel, which therefore makes him a pre-published author. © 2006-2013 ConceptDesign, Inc. Terms of Use |