Why Is The Music so Important?

One of my favorite lines has to do with playing the best music "because life is too short to listen to bad music!" On "The Class Reunion" I pride myself in trying to play ONLY the original version of a song. There is something about hearing a particular favorite song the way you first heard it on the radio. Of course the songs I play today come from my CD collection and are usually very clean copies minus the cue burn, clicks and pops that became a part of radio in the days when we played nothing but vinyl. I can remember every control room of my early days had between 2 and four turntables and someplace on or near them was a stack of pennies, paperclips, or other light weight items to keep the tone arm from skipping s the needle wore down. lately there has been a move back to vinyl by music "purists" and I can understand it completely. One of my artists and I were talking about the return to vinyl and came to the conclusion that there is a certain warmth that the record has that just isn't heard on a CD or mp3. Anyway, I like CD's when the original masters are used in their making and not a newly recorded version. When you buy a CD, flip it over and see if it says "original recordings" or "music recorded by the original artist."

These days I find myself playing a lot of songs during the show I played as "new" songs! As I said in an earlier posting I started my radio career in 1964, but had experience with record hops for a couple of years before that. I first worked in a Top 40 station in 1966, that seems like just yesterday but in reality that was 44 years ago. I watched new artists and music trends come and go and each time I had to wonder, "What was next?" To be sure I had some favorites along the way such as the Vogues, Skyliners, Petula Clark, Dusty Springfield, Chicago, Gary Puckett, Mel Carter, the Diamonds and many many more. If I had to pick just one artist or group as my absolute favorite I probably could not! My musical taste runs in many directions from top40 to easy listening, jazz, to country, and what I listen to depends greatly on my mood. What might surprise you is that I never cared that much for The Beatles! To be sure I liked most of their music, BUT when it was done by other artists, except the horrid album or Beatles songs by Bing Crosby! Because I worked in Top 40 during the "Beatles Era" I had to play their music but it was not uncommon for me to turn off the monitor and headphones til the meter stopped moving. The same thing with Elvis. I can take nothing away from the talent of either of them but I just did not care for a lot of his music. Funny, now here I am some 40+ years later, and I am playing their music and for the most part enjoying it! I guess it is because it takes me back to a time when I was young and the pace of life was simple.

So, this has become a very long answer to a short question. Why is the music so important? Because it is a part of who we are and what we at "Baby Boomers" had that neither we nor our children and our grandchildren will never have. With "the Class Reunion" and the "Legendary Artist" series I hope in a small way I can help you keep those precious memories alive!

The mission statement of "The Class Reunion" is simple, "Preserving the greatest music of all time by the original artists!"