Today I was listening to music that was popular during my teenage years, and I suddenly felt a brief wave of nostalgia and some loneliness come over me. I don’t remember having those feelings before, but they did revive many memories of that time in my life.

The 1950s and early 1960s were a time of major transition for me, popular music, this country, and the world.

I was muddling through adolescence without thinking much about the changes other than getting through school, having fun, and exploring sexuality some. The world seemed calm to me after WWII and the Korean Conflict, and education was inexpensive and available for everyone, especially veterans. The US economy was good, automobile manufacturers were experimenting with new designs (sometimes to ridiculous ends), and women were feeling empowered with work, educational opportunities, and the introduction of “the pill.” 

Then along came Elvis, Jerry Lee Louis, and a host of other blues and rock and roll bands and singers. The big bands, band singers, and crooners were aging, and the world was moving in a new and dynamic direction. 

At the same time, the rising affluence in America allowed middle class people to expand their knowledge of the world through that revolutionary medium: television. Now everything that was new and exciting could be experienced vicariously by most everyone while staying home. We were all becoming addicted to nightly broadcasts of all sorts of entertainment out of reach to most people before. This was a boom that I believe hastened all the changes, good and bad, that moved us along the path to experimenting with life in ways not thought of before. 

Along with rock and roll came more liberal thinking in youth about everything from politics to sex. And here I was trying to mature a couple of years before these changes really began to happen. In some ways I had one foot in the before, and the other in after the social revolution that was going on around me and….damn. I felt too responsible and missed a lot of the fun of it. Can you believe I never even tried pot? Instead, I finished my education, got married, and had children. 

Now, I’m not regretting my decisions of that time and am really happy, proud, and grateful that Kirsten, Kristopher, and Katrina are in my life. But it would have been quite an experience to have gone to Woodstock. 

So now, what is all this drivel about? Listening to The Lettermen took me back to traveling along the Oregon Coast with my family on a fun camping trip when I was in grade school. My rock and roll albums reminded me of all the times several of us would just cruise around town American Graffiti style, listening to the radio and trying to “pick up women,” and the Kingston Trio and the Limelighters made me think of times I just sat around contemplating my navel. Early Rock also reminded me of going to school dances and The Kenton Club and my awkward experimenting with the latest dance crazes. 

These days I try to listen to some of the contemporary popular music, but I have to admit I find most of it pretty boring, especially hip hop and all that autotune stuff. I am finding I do like Latin and African music mostly because they have a lot of rhythm and movement, but since I didn’t listen to it when I was growing up, it does not bring back any memories.

Ken Kaiyala
2-18-2015