With all the problems in today’s world – the economy, crime, the decaying of family structure – it’s easy for those of us who belong to an older generation to look back and long to relive the past.
Perhaps that’s why we cling to the oldies music and trends of our youth. Of course, if we look objectively at what went on when we were young, we would recognize that there were plenty of issues to worry about then. As kids, we had to deal with the horrors of Viet Nam facing our young men and the women they would leave behind. The assassination of President Kennedy in 1963 should have been enough to keep us from wishing for a return to “happier times.” And yet, we do.
No doubt, our own parents worried about how we, as teenagers, were destroying the country with drag racing and rock and roll and the onset of the drug culture.
The truth is that the people and events of our youth mark the milestones in our lives. Good or bad, they helped form the adults we became, the values by which we have lived our lives.
I was in 7th grade when Elvis burst onto the radio airwaves with “Heartbreak Hotel.” I can relate many of “The King’s” hit songs to boys I dated or events that occurred during my high school years. Who doesn’t remember their first car or the boy who drove that hot, ’57 Chevy!
Martin Luther King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech in Washington, DC, was a positive turning point for society in general. The Beatles began their ascent to the music world throne in 1963 with “I Want to Hold Your Hand.”
Each of us holds in our hearts the moments that defined us. Just look at how we celebrate now with 50’s parties. Many of us have brought out the poodle skirts, bobby socks or D.A. haircuts and rolled up white t-shirt sleeves for the guys at some point.
During the Winter season, Dearborn Street in Englewood, Florida, rocks with the sounds of the Oldies as pedestrians stroll past vintage classic cars that have been lovingly restored. This scene is repeated up and down the Gulf Coast of Florida, and I’ll bet more than one heart skips a beat over the sight of a mint condition Mustang or 1952 Studebaker.
Don’t you wonder how our grandchildren will reminisce over their early years? Can’t you just see an older, balding man rapping to Snoop Dog or an old gal dressed up like Lady Gaga? How will that boy with rings and studs hanging from every orifice of his face and ears look as a stooped old fellow with white hair? I guess to his peers, those chunks of metal in his face will evoke memories of a happier time as they relive the past.
