Electric guitars made music like never before from performers like Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton. Bob Dylan played harmonica in a way that seemed to emphasize the words to his rebellious folk songs. The Beach Boys summer surfing sounds echoed across the globe.

Diana Ross and the Supremes made Motown music famous. The Beatles, Rolling Stones, The Who, The Kinks, Moody Blues and Herman's Hermits were just a part of what was called the "British Invasion." Some of the decades most beautiful ballads were sang by Aretha Franklin, Carol King, Carly Simon, Dionne Warwick, Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, Roy Orbison and Simon and Garfunkel. These were Just a few of many classic artists that made the 60's music era so great. Early sixties dance crazes were the twist, the locomotion, the madison, the mashed potato and the shimmy.

After the famous Woodstock concert of 69', rock bands like Creedance Clearwater Revival, Pink Floyd, Santana and Led Zeplin continued classic rock into the 1970's. Songs like 'Dancing Queen' sung by Abba, a new group from Sweden, was the new 'feel good' music that was easy to both sing along or dance to.

Then came 'Disco' music, made popular by songs from artists like the Bee Gee's and Donna Sommer. Movies like Grease and Saturday Night Fever, starring John Travolta, had made Disco mania so fashionable that hundreds of Disco dance clubs opened across globe. Some of the soft rock and pop artists making a big impact in the seventies were Elton John, Phil Collins, John Lennon, The Eagles, David Bowie, Paul McCartney and Wings, Fleetwood Mac, and ZZ Top. Another somewhat unusual sound which came mainly from Britain in the late seventies was Punk Rock, though it  was not quite as popular in the U.S.

By early 1980s post-punk made way for a lighter version of music called 'New Wave." Newcomers Boy George, Duran Duran, Depeche Mode, Spandau Ballet, The Thompson Twins, The Eurythmics, all classic performers in the new wave category of great music. Eighties rock/pop artists Michael Jackson - with his legendary Moon walk - Madonna, Blondie, The Police, Bon Jovi and U-2  all helped bring twentieth century music to it's absolute peak.

Somehow though, music of the 90's seemed to come to a standstill, with the exception of a few new talented artists like Bryan Adams and Celine Dion, very few real good hits were made and it seems to have continued to be that way throughout the new millenium.

In the opinion of an old baby-boomer like myself, popular music of today has become nothing but echoing electronic sounds. Song lyrics often contain a multitude of words in one sentence that don't seem to have any real meaning, and all seem to sound the same. Pop groups and bands no longer use their instruments to make great musical  preludes to songs, like the saxophone played during Gerry Rafferty's "Baker Street," or the guitar in Eric Clapton's "Layla."

Unlike the dancing trends of the 50's 60s, 70s and 80s, today's dance music usually consists of a mixture of Hispanic-Arabian sounds to which dancing has become nothing more than a sexual exotic performance. Many of today's young listeners seem to favor "Rap," which in my opinion does not deserve to be in the music category but rather in vulgar offensive rhymes, which are almost impossible to dance to.

Since disco, and maybe some line dancing in the eighties, there have been no new dance crazes. No great musicals that have created classic songs and ballads like those from West Side Story, Hair, Grease, Saturday Night Fever. Since the late eighties pop music has not produced any new outstanding guitar players, no exceptionally good singer-song writers, no exciting bands, no new foot tapping musical instrumentals, and no emotional ballads.

One thing for certain, though new technology back then was record players, transistor radios and stereos rather than MP3s, iPods and iPads, the age of the Baby-boomers sure knew how to produce great music.


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