26/01/2010
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Right... now...
How many of you are music lovers?
How many of you listen to rock music, and more specifically, rock & roll from the 60s and the 70s?
How many of you enjoy listening to the radio a lot?
How many of you would enjoy listening to the radio, if it wasn't filled with the same boring voices, the same boring programs, the same boring people, the same boring music and it just had some true passion instead of all this?
Personally, I relate to every single one of those questions. Every now and then, in whichever country I’d be living, I would find a radio station with some really good music and inspiring DJs. But those stations are becoming more and more scarse and especially since I moved to Argentina, where every radio station was worse than the other, I have not been listening to it at all. I miss the feeling of suddenly hearing a song that I really really like, but I wouldn’t have thought to look for it myself. Isn’t it a unique feeling, being in your car, stuck in traffic, listening to the DJs unique personality that makes you laugh or cringe and out of nowhere, one of your all-time favorite songs will come up and you’ll start singing and moving around in your seat, as much as your seat belt allows you?
Recently, I watched the Boat That Rocked (thanks to my lovely friend, S.).
Apart from the fact that it is a hilarious movie, with endless beautiful images and inspiring messages, it gives a beautiful insight on what the 1960’s were like in relation to music.
Those years were unique. A time when people would gather around a radio receiver and wait for the voice at the other end of the sound waves to stimulate their emotions. Friends lying on the floor, co-existing next to each other, doing nothing but listen to the radio and plunge into the pool of thoughts that every song would awaken in their heads. Young girls falling in love while listening to the voices of Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Jim Morrison.
We’re talking about the years that the radio DJ is more famous than the rock ‘n’ roll stars themselves! There aren’t television sets in every home and not everybody can afford a car to go wherever they want. The radio is everyone’s number one method of entertainment and news source. Forget about nightclubs, smokey bars and raves. Invite your friends over, place the radio in the middle of the carpet on the living room floor and start dancing and boogying to the rhythms instructed by the DJ. Whole lives and dreams and relationships and culturally shocking habits were formed through that little grey box with buttons and an antenna on it.
No, I obviously did not experience any of those years, nor am I one of those people who feel that they were born 20 years too late. But I’d give anything to be able to experience a month in that period of time! Where’s that damn time machine again??!
M.
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1 comments:
I love, love, love the serendipity of the radio. For me, an integral part of a road trip is the mystery of what will play next. And I love how the music genres change with different regions. When I drive home to Alabama, I appreciate the cajun music that I get in Louisiana and the southern rock that shows up more and more as I head east.
You know how I love surprises and a great radio station can be a channel for the Universe to affect your mood, outlook or perspective. The fact that you didn't pick the song adds to is power as is a surprise gift of beauty, reflection and memory. :)
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