Summer is gone and autumn is here, a time for whiskey and football and whiskey and casting our memories backward over the years and more whiskey as we approach the holidays. Long before iPods and Spotify, we listened to tiny little transistor radios, plastic junky things with tinny speakers, and we were lucky if there was one decent station in town that played music for kids--and by that I mean rock and soul and anything vaguely cool. While the other stations were playing Vic Damone and Vikki Carr we were tuning in some great music through those tinny little speakers, or even a single earplug--primitive by today's standards, for sure, but the music was good and it's all we had. Here are just a few of the tunes we savored.
The Animals, of course, covering an old blues, "The House of the Rising Sun."
Gladys Knight and the Pips, "I Heard it Through the Grapevine."
The Beatles, "I Saw Her Standing There."
And of course the incredible James Brown and his Fabulous Flames, shown here burning up the stage at the T.A.M.I. Show. Mick was waiting in the wings, learning some new steps.
