I remember when, (the music thread)

[Lincsong]

Since we're having fun in the Observation Bar remembering things, I figure let's start one on music. So this is from the year of 1969 when I made my grand appearance in the World...[video=youtube;5UWRypqz5-o]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UWRypqz5-o&feature=fvwrel[/video]

 

[LizzieMaine]

A reminder to please keep posts Golden Era relevant in some way -- I've let the modern stuff thru in the Unpopular Opinions thread, but I'd rather not have the forum overrun with rock-era stuff. Thanks.

That said, I remember when you could hear some pretty fair Swing Era musicians working with Doc Sevrinsen's band on the Tonight Show. Will Bradley was there well into the '80s, I think.

 

[Lincsong]

1939?

[video=youtube;H-y8TS7jbpY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-y8TS7jbpY&feature=player_embedded[/video]
[video=youtube;hIimKV7s7WA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIimKV7s7WA&feature=related[/video]

 

[davidraphael]

I remember when....

...I first watched The Shining and was blown away by the use of Al Bowlly, Ray Noble and Henry Hall.

[video=youtube;1hOj5zDXuXA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hOj5zDXuXA[/video]

[video=youtube;XJ08xUN0hOA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJ08xUN0hOA&playnext=1&list=PL40BD6F317BD0365D[/video]

Years later I found that this influenced and even spawned a whole generation of contemporary electronica musicians, leading to a new sub-genre called Hauntology of which there are many exponents: Belbury Poly, The Advisory Circle, The Focus Group and others.
To stay on-topic, there is also an artist called The Caretaker, whose name of course was taken from The Shining. Much of his output uses 1920s and 30s 78rpms. He even did his own version of Midnight, The Stars and You.

[video=youtube;v2mj361lm0o]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2mj361lm0o&feature=related[/video]

 

[Fletch]

I remember seeing Woody Allen's Stardust Memories at about the age 13, with old 78s such as Chick Webb's on the soundtrack. I was concerned the public might associate 30s music with "dorks," because I thought most of the characters in Woody's movies were dorks, including Woody. Hey, I was 13.

 

[Yeps]

I remember bringing up big stacks of LPs from my dad's collection and spending Sunday afternoons listening to them and reading all the stuff written on the covers.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I remember when you could routinely hear good music on the radio -- WNEW, New York was a 50,000 watt powerhouse in the Northeast, and you'd often hear William B. Williams mentioning that Benny Goodman just happened to be in town and would be dropping by the studio later that night, so be sure to stay tuned. And closer to home, a station I grew up to work at began each day with the WRKD Carousel, "good music for a good morning," much of it played from old Standard Transcription Library discs. I later inherited that station's entire 78rpm library, which I have put to good use. And then when I got an FM radio in the late '70s, there was Hazen Schumacher's "Jazz Revisited" on NPR, and syndicated rebroadcasts of "The Harley Show, Music Out Of Baltimore." And when I briefly relocated to the west coast, KMPC was the California answer to WNEW.

And now, what's left? WNEW turned into a quack-quack-quack business news station, WRKD plays nothing but frat-boy satellite sports talk, and I'm afraid to ask what became of KMPC. Hazen Schumacher is long retired, and I suspect Mr. Harley of the Harley Show long ago hoisted his last Natty-Boh. Radio is now the vastest of vast wastelands, and I terribly miss when it wasn't.

 

[Lincsong]

Funny you say that Lizzie, because I remember when cars had a standard AM radio and you could hear music on AM.

 

[Fletch]

Everything is generational. I remember when it wasn't - or wasn't so much. I used to call in to Hazen Schumacher's request show - strictly local of course, only on WUOM-FM Ann Arbor - and ask him to play stuff no one had ever heard of. The U-M music library usually had it.

 

[Lincsong]

I remember when aftermarket 8 tracks were mounted below the dash.

 

[Jaguar66]

I remember when aftermarket 8 tracks were mounted below the dash.

Do you remember 45 RPM record players in automobiles?

[video=youtube;S0hRzEihsR4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0hRzEihsR4[/video]

 

[AtomicEraTom]

Ah, the 'Highway Hi-Fi'
I remember the local oldies Station going from
Oldies 94.9 WOLX, best of the 50's and 60's. to
Oldies 94.9 WOLX, best of the 60's and 70's to
Oldies 94.9 WOLX, best of the 60's, 70's and 80's to
'Classic Hits' 94.9 WOLX, best of the 60's, 70's, 80's and 'beyond'

 

[scottyrocks]

Do you remember 45 RPM record players in automobiles?

[video=youtube;S0hRzEihsR4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0hRzEihsR4[/video]

Yeah, its interesting you bring that up. The dad of a friend of mine had an actual turntable mounted in the glovebox area of his car. Even then I wondered how you could possibly play a record on it without it skipping.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

Short answer, you can't. lol

Even then I wondered how you could possibly play a record on it without it skipping.

 

[LizzieMaine]

They might have stabilized it with tiny gyroscopes. Space age engineering brought to consumer products and all.

The auto turntables that were most successful used 16 2/3rpm discs. The rotational speed was slower and more stylus pressure was used, making the arm less likely to skip. I also think these units were probably engineered more like a close-and-play phonograph than a regular phono with a pivoting arm.

 

[scottyrocks]

Tom yes, obviously, my question was kinda rhetorical.

The phonograph I remember, Lizzie, looked like an actual turntable, with a platter, tone arm, center spindle, and record holding arm. It slid out and was exposed while playing. My little brother had a close-n-play, and the record player in the car that I remember definitely wasnt one of those. I guess it was more of a novelty thing.

 

[Lincsong]

Do you remember 45 RPM record players in automobiles?

[video=youtube;S0hRzEihsR4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0hRzEihsR4[/video]

I saw one of those at the Cow Palace a couple years ago.

 

[Fletch]

First phono I have any memory of, ca. 1970, was a Voice of Music portable, the type used in schools. It had 4 speeds - 16/33/45/78 - which was not uncommon at the time. The Sanyo compact stereo we bought in '72 was also a 4-speed.

The 16 2/3 speed was used mostly for talking books, which didn't require high fidelity.

At the time, the 78 speed - at least at my elementary school - was used only for making normal records sound like David Seville's Chipmunks, and making kids laugh themselves half sick dancing around like victims of ergot poisoning.

 

[rue]

Just curious.... When was the first time they put a stereo in a car?

 

[LizzieMaine]

Car radios really became feasible around 1930 - the Motorola company specialized in making them for after-market installation, hence its name. Philco also had a line of car radios, called the "Transitone." By the end of the thirties they were an option on even the lowest-priced cars.

*Stereo* didn't catch on in cars until the sixties, when tape cartridges became popular.