Picture of the day - December 28, 2007

An icon of times past

Photo courtesy of Cinzia Nicolini. Back in the days before iPods, MP3 players, CD's, cassette tapes, or even 8-Tracks, music was recorded on "long playing records" (also called albums, or simply LP's). Back then, if you wanted to "take your music with you", you stuck a "transistor radio" in your pocket because it was quite impractical to carry around a "record player"! My family always seemed to have several stacks of those black vinyl albums laying around the house, most of which belonged to my sister Helen. And man did they ever get played! If we weren't hearing the sounds of The Monkees, The Beatles, The Archie's, Steppenwolf, or Credence Clearwater Revival coming from her room, we knew she was either deathly sick or not at home! I guess she was just like every other teenage girl of the era, enamored just as much with the long-haired "hippie" guys in the band as with their music. But I digress... Helen used to play an album over and over again until it either got broken or became scratched so badly that it continually "skipped", after which it was either trashed outright, used as a not-so-good Frisbee, or placed out in the sun where it would shrivel up like a prune and turn into something resembling an abstract piece of artwork. But then, like now, there was always a "new release" hitting the stores for Helen to replace it with. Of course back then my mom and dad couldn't stand "that old Rock-n-Roll music", but I suppose every generation of parents and grandparents wonders exactly what it is that's so appealing about the "awful music" being listened to by the current generation of youngsters. Back in the 60's it was Rock-n-Roll, in the 70's it was Disco, in the 80's it was Heavy Metal... and today it's Hip-Hop and Rap. Lord help us all come the next decade! These days about the only LP's you'll find are stacked up in dusty boxes at your local flea market or spinning around on the turntables of Hip-Hop DJ's. But there was a time when "vinyl" ruled the music world, and although you can't beat the flawless sound of today's digital music, there was just something about watching that shiny record spin round and round as you tried your very best to read the label. And there was even something a little cool about sitting there with your finger next to the tone arm, waiting to give it just a little nudge when the needle hit the next scratch mark.   Click here to comment on this picture.   Visit the POTD Archives for previous "Pictures Of The Day"!     Submit a photo of your own!            Why I publish the "Picture of the Day"