Baby Boomer Music:The Opportunity to Listen to Your Favorite 60's Music is Just a Click Away

By Clark Richards

The grocery store knows what foods we purchase, the library maintains a record of our reading selections, credit cards are monitored to ascertain shopping habits, phone records reveal daily calls, the list goes on of those analyzing who we are and what we do. All this is of little real benefit to us, but there are now streaming Internet radio stations that can successfully analyze our music preferences and deliver the music mix that one can thoroughly enjoy.

Previous articles on Associated Content have focussed attention on two Internet radio stations that do just that, but the information was not specifically directed at those of us that are retired and have the time to relax, reflect, remember the past and enjoy each day without the daily stress associated with having to report to work. Musicovery enables the listener to select a mood and enjoy that complimentary genre of music and Pandora assesses the acoustics, rhythm, tonal qualities and musical time period that appeals to the listener and delivers those specific sounds. I am particularly enamored with Pandora and have discovered records and artists of the 60's period that I had not previously heard.

There is hardly a person living that cannot connect a familiar song from the past to an event in our lives or a familiar memory from years long ago that seems like it was just yesterday. For those of us born in the first decade of the baby boom I suspect Do Wop music, the folk songs of the late 50's and early 60's, hootenannies, the Motown Sound, Rock and Roll, protest songs and patriotic sounds of the Vietnam era constitute a source of many pleasant memories from our youthful and informative years. Musically, I'm generally stuck in those years. That's not to say I don't enjoy many of the wonderful songs and artists of today, but the acoustic rhythms, key tonality, harmonics and other musical qualities of the sounds of that day seem to appeal to my ear and I find I generally enjoy current music that has those same tonal qualities.

Peter, Paul and Mary, The Kingston Trio, The Christy Minstrels, The Seekers and The Chad Mitchell Trio are just a few of the many folk groups that are among my favorites of that day. Additional sounds from other groups like The Beatles, The Supremes, The Tokens, The Byrds revive memories. The Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, Frankie Avalon and many others of that time period along with other male singers like Roger Miller, Burl Ives, Ed Ames, Johnny Mathis and of course Sinatra have created the sounds that are soothing, familiar and are complimented by a host of female singers of that period such as Connie Francis, Lesley Gore, Petula Clark, Dusty Springfield and the ever present Cher.

I mentioned these groups to provide the reader with the range of music that is from the past, may appeal to the members of my generation and available on Pandora. Listening to Pandora is like tuning to a radio station that existed in the 60's. Of course one can select from any time period and genre that is appealing to them. My grandson thinks I'm cool because I introduced him to these web sites.

One final thought - one can enjoy the pleasures of these two sites at no cost or one can subscribe for a small fee that eliminates any commercial messages that appear from time to time. Happy listening!

Clark Richards is a retired soldier, business owner and teacher that has traveled extensively throughout Europe, South America, Asia and Australia.

Location: Williamsburg, VA - Other CP's in Williamsburg, VA

Affiliations: Freelance writing

Interests: Bicycling, gardening, politics, writing, motor cycles

Education/Experience: '92 M. Ed College of William and Mary, '71 BGS University of Nebraska (Omaha)