My Generation?

"Hey, Hey, My, My...Rock and Roll will never die..." the words are quite clear. Rock and Roll will never die. In 1954, dj who worked for a radio station in New York coined the phrase "rock & roll". Back in the day, "rock and roll" musicians ranged from Booker T. and the MG's, Chuck Berry and of course, Elvis, to list a few. Enter 1964 (what a great year to be born!) and the Beatles invade America. Following their British mates, THE WHO breaks out with their first song in 1965. Music continues to get "psychedelic" with songs about white rabbits, purple haze and an "adonis like man" inviting listeners to light his fire.

The following years bring great rock and roll. Some bands break up. Young musicans choose to abuse substances, sometimes ending their careers or leaving the world in an abrupt fashion. Despite losing Keith Moon in 1978 and John Entwhistle in 2002, The Who continues to rock.

VH-1 classics (ok, am I disclosing my age ?!) hosted a week-long series on The Who, one of my favorite artisits. I saw the rock opera Tommy the summer of '76 with my Grandmother. I remember my mom dropped us off at the Livonia Mall movie theatre (which I thought was a very long ride from Oak Park) and I simply fell in love with Roger Daltrey. He possessed the long, curly, tendrils of light brown hair and "sweep me off my feet" crystal blue eyes. OUCH! This was a bit too much for a 13 year old to handle. When I wore my Tommy t-shirt the first week of 6th grade, I instantly made about 3 new friends. These young ladies simply wanted to look at the gorgeous man on my shirt!

When I was a Junior in high school, I was re-introduced to the Who. I gained the understanding as to what the songs were really were about. Pete Townshend's words are tremendous. We used to go to the Birmingham theatre (sometimes after midnight) to watch the movie Quadrophenia. As a teenager, I could somewhat relate to the main character, Jimmy.- he was confused. He was a Mod (see website Mod (lifestyle) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) (after all, I was labeled Ms. Mod (not the definition listed above) in middle school and it was not a compliment, it was daily harassment) and he struggled with the challenges of daily teenage life.

Many of us giggle when we watch these rockers rock. Why? We joke about their age. Question their full heads of hair with small, minute specks of grey. They are a bit slower at jumping in the air, they may wear comfortable shoes instead on the platform shoes or boots, and their pants may be tight NOT because they want them to be. Should we really be concerned about how they look? If we shut our eyes and just listen to the songs - that is where the beauty is. Roger may not have that beautiul long hair and I am not a 13 year old teenybopper either (just a 44 year old teenybopper....(only sometimes).

As I mentioned earlier, rock and roll will never die. I give a standing ovation to Roger and Pete (along with all of the other SENIOR CITIZEN ROCK ICONS) to keep the rock era of the 70's rocking as long as possible - even if they have to perform from their rockers! (oops, another joke). LONG LIVE ROCK!