In the pre-Internet days of the 1980s, when people used cassette recorders for music, I would often record songs off the radio. There was a talent to doing it. Often, songs started without any introduction, so you had to be ready with a cassette in your stereo and hit the record button as soon as you heard the first notes of the song you wanted.
In 1982, a radio station was playing a series about the history of rock and roll, and I recorded part of it on a cassette tape. At the end of the series, they played a mix that featured every number one pop song since the start of the rock and roll era. After I recorded the mix, I listened to the tape a number of times, like the track was a song by itself. The mix was fun, and it seemed to incorporate a large piece of the history of popular music.
Up through this week, I had not heard that clip for close to thirty years, but through the miracle of the Internet, I heard it again recently when Salon featured the same mix of every number one song through 1982, along with a second mix of number one songs since then, apparently through 1993. Although I had not heard the pre-1982 mix for decades, the sequence of the clips is still familiar to me. The mix is a great overview of popular music, and the sounds weave together so the segment sounds like a symphony of music history.
Salon did not explain who put these clips together, and I still do no know. But hit the play button and listen while you do some work or surf the Internet. You recognize these songs and you love them. You know you do. And how perfect is it that this collection, which will bring back so many memories for you, begins with a song called “Memories are Made of This,” the first number one song of 1956? If you wish to follow along with the song names and artists, you may start with Wikipedia’s list of Best Sellers in Stores from 1956 and then follow through subsequent years. [2024 Update: Unfortunately, the audio is no longer available for putting in this article.]
Whoever put these together did a great job. The clips weave together better than when I used my old cassette tape recorder to record complete songs off of the radio.
What do you think? Do the clips reveal something great about popular music or do they represent the decline of Western Civilization? Leave a comment.
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