Rock And Roll's Golden Age

The classic period film, "The Big Chill," famously had a line about how there has been no music since the seventies. I believe that the golden age of rock and roll really took place from the mid- sixties to the early seventies.

How many of today's performers do any of us really believe will still have any type of following in twenty years? How about thirty years? Forty years? More? While there are a few performers from the eighties that have endured, such as Bon Jovi, U-2, and Aerosmith, there are few others. However, think about how many performers and performances from what I believe was the "Golden Age" still endure and are strong today. The Beatles performed together for only a little more than five years. However, both as a group, as well as their individual performers music is strong today. Radio stations such as New York's Q-104.3 FM, exist and enjoy a strong following, playing Classic Rock music consistently. That station has daily mid-day Beatles blocs, as well as a Sunday morning "Breakfast with the Beatles" program.

Who would have ever believed that the Rolling Stones would still be playing concerts and producing albums, let alone still be alive, when they began playing together nearly fifty years ago? Bruce Springstein, both as a solo performer, as well as a part of his group, have endured for over forty years. David Crosby, Graham Nash, Steven Stills, and Neil Young, as individual performers as well as playing together, and with their own groups have been successful for over forty years. Billy Joel, despite not having recorded a new album in nearly fifteen years, still sells out huge stadiums and arenas, and his music continues to sell today.

Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel, together, on and off as Simon and Garfunkel, and especially as a solo performer and writer for Mr. Simon, have experienced incredibly successful musical careers since the late 1950's when Simon and Garfunkel recorded their first song as Tom and Jerry. Robert Zimmerman, a.k.a. Bob Dylan has been a fixture for close to fifty years, as well, and his last album, released about a year ago, was one of his most successful. Of course, there are so many others that have endured since the Golden Age, such as Elton John, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, and so many others.

One might think this is due solely to the Baby Boomers, and their allegiance to the 1960's, and the memories that decade still holds in so many people of that generation. However, if you believe that, I dare you to be in the audience at a Paul Simon concert, and witness people who range in age from their teens to their late seventies, singing along, etc. The younger audience members not only know all the lyrics but get up and dance to the music. What better evidence of the enduring appeal?

It seems to me that what the music from that era had, and continues to possess, is an enduring freshness and originality, combined in many cases with incredible lyrics. Only once in many generations does the combination of talent and spirit exhibited by that eras artists come along. May it endure forever!