I grew up on rock and roll, as did most of my generation, but my earliest recollections were not of Chuck Berry but of Broadway.
My parents (I think it was more my mother) enjoyed Broadway musicals. They had just bought an enormous piece of furniture that was part television set, part record player, part radio, part storage facility, and topped off with large speakers. The unit was so big and cumbersome that if one had the misfortune of dropping something behind it, it stayed there. The thing was just too heavy to lift and try to move. I still don't know how anyone managed to get it in our house to begin with. I was at school when it was delivered and only saw the last ambulance pull away.
I was not allowed to play my 45s on the thing. My mother used the record player exclusively for her collection of show tunes and Victory at Sea albums.
My parents bought me a record player. It was one of those small carrying case type that only played 45s. That was fine by me because that's all I collected back then.
My earliest 45s were a pretty standard collection of popular rock and roll of the time, including such artists as Ricky Nelson (Believe What You Say, Poor Little Fool), Del Shannon (Runaway, Hats Off to Larry), Bobby Vee (More Than I Can Say), The Tokens (The Lion Sleeps Tonight), Jay & The Americans (She Cried, Only in America) to name a few.
I came into the scene a bit late for Doo-Wop, but I did have Blue Moon by The Marcels, and Dance by the Light of the Moon by The Olympics.
I was also a big fan of instrumentals, which were big back then. A few of the many that I had were The Magnificent Seven (Al Caola), Tequila (The Champs), Pipeline (The Chantays), Because They're Young (Duane Eddy), Soul Serenade (King Curtis), Jack the Ripper (Link Wray), and Harlem Nocturne (The Viscounts).
Most of my 45s were purchased after watching the weekly top 20 countdown on the local favorite dance show, The Buddy Deane Show. It's worth mentioning that some of the more popular Buddy Deane songs did just so-so nationwide. But if they hit his chart, I bought them. Some of Buddy's number ones were:
Calcutta - Lawrence Welk
Sail Along Silvery Moon - Billy Vaughn Orchestra
I Told Every Little Star - Linda Scott
Tossin' and Turnin' - Bobby Lewis
Wear My Ring Around Your Neck - Elvis Presley
Ebony Eyes - The Every Brothers
At some point, around the time of the british invasion, I started to buy albums. If memory serves, my first LP was Gerry and the Pacemakers Greatest Hits. I loved the british invasion. Just as I was starting to get tired of The Beach Boys and The Four Seasons, along came The Beatle, The Animals, The Searchers, The Zombies, The Kinks, The Rolling Stones, The Hollies, The Yardbirds, The Who, Peter and Gordon, Chad and Jeremy, and The Dave Clark Five, just to name a few. They were the boost the 60s needed to push it into the upper echelon of musical decades.
The Drifters, The Four Tops, The Coasters, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, The Temptations, The Shirelles, The Crystals, Martha Reeves and The Vandellas, Gene Pitney, Roy Orbison, Buddy Holly, Ray Charles, Elvis. These were just a few of the musical talents I grew up on.
As the decade progressed, the music progressed with it. Folk rock emerged, thanks to Bob Dylan and The Byrds. Psychedelic music took root in the San Francisco Bay area in 65 and 66, then exploded, before it imploded, in1967's summer of love (which I spent in Vietnam by the way). Even some of the british groups got psychedelicized (or flower powered) like The Beatles, The Stones, and Eric Burdon and the Animals. And some, like Cream, Pink Floyd, and Traffic, started that way.
Of course, as anyone who survived the 60s knows, I've merely scratched the surface of that decade's musical legacy. I'll talk some more about it in future writings. It was a time when rock music was still evolving, when musicians pushed the envelope, and continued to push until they broke on through to the other side.
The following are some of my favorite 60's songs in no particular order. Summer in the City - The Lovin' Spoonful, Only Love Can Break a Heart , The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance - Gene Pitney, Only in America - Jay & the Americans, Runaway - Del Shannon, Ferry 'Cross the Mersey - Gerry & the Pacemakers, Tuesday Afternoon - The Moody Blues, The World Turns All Around Her, Going Back - The Byrds, In The Past - The Chocolate Watchband, Don't Worry Baby - The Beach Boys, Because They're Young - Duane Eddy, Summer Wine, Some Velvet Morning - Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazelwood, Bernadette - The Four Tops, A Day in the Life - The Beatles, Bus Stop - The Hollies, Today - The Jefferson Airplane, 7 and 7 is - Love, Strange Young Girls - The Mamas & the Papas, Don't Throw Your Love Away - The Searchers, A Hazy Shade of Winter - Simon & Garfunkel, Happy Together - The Turtles, Shapes of Things, Heart Full of Soul - The Yardbirds, Darkness, Darkness - The Youngbloods, Apache - Jordan Ingmann, The Crystal Ship - The Doors, Candy Girl - The Four Seasons and because I think it was the first 45 in my collection, I Believe What You Say - Ricky Nelson.