A world with limited tunes
How did people exist (musically) before YouTube? I’m old enough to remember how grim things were.
Let’s see. If we go back to BHS (before high school) the only choices available included singing to myself, or getting my mom to drop a tune around the house. Good, but the content depended on stuff we had learned. Yes, I remember the lyric magazines, where the air was approximate.
And then we (all of us, of a certain age) came into enough money to allow the occasional purchase of 45s. The local record store (and plastic model emporium) had playlists that were printed on behalf of radio stations in the big city. We also listened to those radio stations, from time to time, so there was a certain artist awareness. When you had a LOT of money, you could upscale to a LP of a given genre. Again, limits. The home record player wasn’t something you could monopolize in a house full of siblings.
I finally left home, and on campus I discovered the wonder of campus radio, with a huge library (to me) and the chance to actually host a program if you could convince the managers to assign a spot on the schedule. After midnight, on a weeknight, could be yours if you were able to align the lack of sleep with your next morning classes. I did that for years, about the same time as I received a small cassette player from a relative. My library started to grow!
There now. We’ve covered the first two.five decades of my life. I’m going to pause here, while I finish my apple sauce. No relation to the topic, but I don’t want to make a mess.
