Controversy? In the world of Oldies? Who'da thunk it?
Here's the deal. A popular muusic generation is about 5 to 7 years; they got longer in the 1970's as baby boomers hit their early and middle 20's and became less frenetic. although disco lasted about 4 but that was a hideous fad that should have ended in 2. The net resutl it that you've had about 7 henerations since King was at the top. Over the years only the highlights of the past are recalled. STNAD BY ME and PRETTY WOMAN became movie titles ans were used so they were recyled and brough mild interest in their performers. However these highlights don't tell the whole story. Movies like American Graffiti and Diry Dancing have as part of their soundtracks much of the music from the timeframe so you get another look. This too does not tell the whole story. I still have to find a decent copy of Ray Charles' WHAT'D i SAY and HIT THE ROAD; JACK, or Peter, Paul and Mary's IF I HAD A HAMMER, PUFF THE MAGIC DRAGON and BLOWIN' IN THE WIND. Yet, I go FELICIA, POOR LITTLE PUPPET, AL CAPONE and a barely acceptable I'M GONNA FORGET YOU. If you don't know them, that should tell you something. These are obscure pieces that somebody cared enogh about to put them up and I care enough about the whole thing to save and collect them. So you can find the Obscure SANDY's, LOVE YOU SO's and DRIBBLE TWIST's but you can't fine a real SPANISH HARLEM: Go figure.
Not only that but, despite the big to-do about how backwards folk was prior to Bob Dylan., We had a healthy dose of that, too. Leading the pack were the Kingston Trio, Starting with TOOM DOOLEY, they would score big on the charts. and then there was WALK RIGHT IN by the Rooftop singers.Actually "fold" wasn't as "folk" as you thing. It came from two sources traveilling musicians of the latter half of the 1800's and professional musical writers of the same time who fanned out across the US to write about what they saw. All of which was part of the Jazz movement also from which came blues; almost a religion in rock, and Dixiland, which also hit big a couple of times in the Satellite Era. The hootenanny was very much a Satellite Era thing.
It was this blend of musical types, feeding into a main pop form that made the Satellite Era music as expansive as the lofty ideasls of freedom and human worth and the equally lofty goals of space travel and repid ground travel, as well as the other American Utopianisms from the 50's and early 60's.
There is nothing more jarring than to hear "Incense and Peppermints" followed by "we Built This City" then by "This Magic Moment [the Drifters]". Now, I love all these songs. Bu PU-LEEEEZE" Not at once. The world of 1968 was decidedly different from that of 1987 which was very different from 1960. I feel that I am being whipsawed around. Each of thse songs carry different psychological messages to me and these messages spanned 2+ decades. Going through 3 different 5 year eras in 8 minutes is a bit hard to take if you are a music hound or even if you have a brain and lived through them all. It's called Psychological Context.
Now if you think I'm an old fart stuck in a particular timefram: Faggeddabouddit! and if you need help in that direction, groove on THIS. I just don't dig being the ball in a pinball machine being played in a TARDIS set to "MaxTimeSlam" on a zigzag kamikazi mission to the Big Bang in the hopes of preventing the Daleks from evolving into lawyers, politicians or some other interspatial vermin.
What I would do is day/hour time-block the material. However, that would require having an understanding of the psychology of music (a feat that Ayn Rand confessed eluded even her), a belief that your audience has a brain and having knowledgeable staff. But then again syndication is about cheap, not bang for the buck. Who knows? Maybe if you do it right, you can be all things to all persons, just not all at the same time.
Before you can understand why I have an "editorial position", you must understand the "why" and "what" of here. As to "why" I mentioned that in the opening page.This music was an integral part of my teenage years. It seems to be vanishing from the airwaves; almost by design. To cure that I am creating a "superdisk" an mp3 CD of the material. The association with Space Patrol and the whole genre is that we were all pretty much teenagers at the same 1958-'63 timeframe, It was also a very happy time for both us and US. Finally the music of a time period of a culture calls back the emotional content of that culture.
Now as to the "what". This is a compilation of some of the material. It is by necessity, limited. Therefore you can use this in 2 ways
As to my "editorial position": Here's the bit: I see many great sites dedicated to the scene BUT they often cover a period from 1955 up into the 1970's, which, for their purposes is perfectly fine and I visit there plenty so I'm not dissing them for it. Now you will not find that here save, MAYBE in an "honorable mention" page, or as how it relates to the artists that we cover. For example many of the groups like the Drifters and Marvelettes are or were going as late as 1995, when, as part of Fall River Celebrates America, I caught an outdoor show that featured the Coasters, The Marvelettes and the Drifters. Do you know how I would have killed for that in 1961? and Brenda Lee recently won the Country Music Assoc. award (Hey, Cowboys, she was ours before she was yours, so treat her right or Ah'm a-gonna hafta come a-gunnin' for ya's).
However, we confine ourselves here to the late 1958 to '63 time period. That is when these folks were in their heyday.this is for several reasons
I find annoying things like "The Music of YOur LIfe" or the other formats that mix things from the 40's to the '90's. Each of the timeframes had it's own look, sound and feel. To mix them at random is jarring to anyone with a brain and a decent memory. That's not to say that one is "good" and the rest are bad. Not at all, The Go-go ('64-'67) and Psychedelic ('67-'69) era's were great, especially the latter, and don't get me started on the joys of synthesizers or you'll have to stuff a rag in my mouth to shut me up. I have a website just for the "Classic/Progressive Rock" timeframe. But I don't like being whipsawed around as most of the Kool and Music of Your life formats do, I'd rather spend about 3 hours in each timeframe straigh up.
In one way, this is important. Just as you have "oldies creep". you are having "cultural creep". For example it has been noised around that "Generation X" is to include persons born in 1960. Now it is a fact that demographically, populations are computed in twenty year periods from the 6 to the 5 tweny years out. Thus "Boomers" run from 1946 to 1965. It is important to keep the record straignt (and honest). This is important since the dishonest will use whatever foothold they can get to promote their agenda and lies. I say "lies" becuase those who are doing it are 1)adults and are able to control their actions. 2) highly enculturated so they know better and 3)well-educated so they cannot use the excuse of ignorance (well they can try, but would you give them any credibility? My approach is just to say, "Does one so sure of oneself as you, so well educated as you and as grown up as you really want me to take you to be that ignorant, dumb or foolish? If that is what you want, I will do it. I lived the period, I have a Master's Degree--in Psychology, and can playa good deal of the material". Let them slowly twist in the wind.