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All the 16 Year Old Dudes
Responding to Pierce and Paul
Even though I’m in slow down mode, when I read Pierce McIntyre’s latest challenge and then Paul Combs’s response, I started thinking, planning, and then deciding to peek out of my self-imposed exile to give you all the 16 songs that changed my sixteen year-old self. I will cheat a bit at the end, listing a few bubbling under the Hot 16, because no list can be final or complete when it comes to the songs of our youth.
I know that we all believe, and rightly so, that the music of our formative years is THE GREATEST MUSIC EVER. My Dad thought so about Swing/Big Band music, and really, listening to Benny Goodman’s “Sing Sing Sing” or anything by “The Duke” leaves me wishing and hoping and praying that those sounds won’t get lost in our excesses. I also understand that those of you in ’82 and ’92 feel fully formed by the bands that rocked and soothed you, and I appreciate that I can never fully appreciate them because I was not 16 when Asia or Nirvana hit.
I turned 16 in 1972, and sometimes that seems fully fifty years ago, and at other times, maybe five minutes ago. And partly why is the music from that time still seems as fresh as it ever did. Maybe you’ll agree, or maybe you won’t. But I know you know that without these songs, the Rock/Soul, and maybe even Country canon wouldn’t be as rich.