Feeling old

[lustychimera]

Remembering when now classic 'oldies' first hit the airwaves. Songs like Bridge Over Troubled Waters.

And yes .... airwaves.

This version always stuck with me. Live at the Carnegie hall in 1969, a couple months before it's actual release. Almost like a rough draft version, just simple piano and Garfunkel's other wordly vocals. No autotune or any adjustments, just pure sound.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Airwaves - what they call minty chewing gum now, innit?

Trying to explain to the new generation about radio and waiting for specific songs and recording off the radio is like trying to explain about having only 3 or 4 TV channels, and if you missed one episode and the repeat, well, sucked to be you. Hence TV series not having much story arc until video was invented.

On the plus side, this means kids now can access all the good music around the internet and not listen to dross. It does lead to conversations like "Have you heard of David Bowie?" Yes, child, I have...

And teenage rebellion of listening to classical music and Radio 4 (the BBC's talk radio station, very upmarket!)

 

[jaF0]

I still have and listen to cassette tapes I recorded off the air in the 80s.

 

[nice90sguy]

You only have to read my MySpace blog to see that I keep up with the times, in spite of my advanced age

 

[XerXesXu]

The first song I can recall hearing is The Man in the Black Sombrero - Lee Lawrence played on a clockwork gramophone. My Gran's house was all gas, no electricity. We had a valve radio and could listen to All Time Family Favourites before Sunday lunch.

 

[KeithD]

The first songs (an album) I can remember hearing were by Les Paul and Mary Ford. My parents played them a lot. The song I listened for (and endured through) early in life was Kate Smith's "When the Moon Comes over the Mountain," because it marked the end of her TV show and the segue into The Lone Ranger TV program.

 

[Tweedledude]

The first songs (an album) I can remember hearing were by Les Paul and Mary Ford. My parents played them a lot. The song I listened for (and endured through) early in life was Kate Smith's "When the Moon Comes over the Mountain," because it marked the end of her TV show and the segue into The Lone Ranger TV program.

Oh how i remember Kate Smith for the very same reason

 

[jehoram]

I had to remind myself recently a character would not have access to a cell phone in a story set in 1995. She would have to wait until the bus stopped and use a pay phone- at least those would be available.

Around that time, my wife was working in a remote area. She actually had a cell phone, which was about the size of a lunchbox (another artifact of the past!). She had to drive to the top of a local mountain to get a signal.

I remember when the operator would come on the line and say 40 cents more for the next three minutes ...

And you were in the phone booth with a pile of change on the little table there...

But "dial" and "hang up" will be in our vocabulary for a long, long time until other words substitute for them. And I still "tape" a program on our DVR... it's one syllable less than "record." And on Star Trek, you'll still hear Kirk telling Spock to "replay the tape of that encounter" so I'm assuming that the word will still be around in the 23rd century.

 

[SimonDoom]

"Don't Fear the Reaper" - Blue Oyster Cult, yes!!

Did you think at the time it could have used a little more cowbell?

 

[AchtungNight]

I mentioned Tim McGraw's "I Like it, I Love It" in a story recently. I honestly thought that song came out earlier than 1995.

 

[Tweedledude]

I remember this as a little kid at the rodeo

 

[MrPixel]

I just took a trip down memory lane, using Google Streets to explore the downtown of the modest community where I grew up. When I moved away 50+ years ago, population was roughly 27,000; today, 175,000. The only recognizable buildings were the post office and the preserved hotel from the late 1800s next to it. Most of what I knew had been razed. That alone was enough to make me feel old.

But, noooooo, I had to look up a teen friend who I knew to have bought the little business he worked for as a teen. He had apparently just retired and closed his store, but discovered the local history museum posted a video interview of him from a couple of years ago. I watched the video and was quite taken aback, "Who is this old man with the familiar voice?"

...sigh...

 

[bestkeptsecret678]

For a few years I had a job that involved waiting for my pager to go off and then finding a pay phone to call in for a gig.

Yes!!

And Who remembers that paging service where you’d call and talk to an operator, who would transcribe your message so that it would show up on someone’s text pager screen?

And no, I was not dealing in illegal substances… let’s be clear on that.

 

[bestkeptsecret678]

You only have to read my MySpace blog to see that I keep up with the times, in spite of my advanced age

I thought it was called MyFace?

 

[jaF0]

Yes!!

And Who remembers that paging service where you’d call and talk to an operator, who would transcribe your message so that it would show up on someone’s text pager screen?

That was Hai Falutin, maybe 70s?

If people had a phone at home at all, it was one phone in the home. Only one. And it was rented from the Bell Company with a monthly fee. If you wanted another, the fee was higher as I recall. Rotary phones too. No Touch Tone in wide use until the mid 70s or so.

They also remotely measured the amount of power it took for phones to ring. If they detected more than expected at an address, they checked to see if you had installed another phone without their knowledge. (REN, Ringer Equivalency Number)

 

[jaF0]

What about the whole 'Paul is Dead' thing?

Involved the Abby Road cover picture among other 'clues'.

 

[lovecraft68]

Back in the day, there was nothing more satisfying than slamming the receiver down when the other person on the call was being an asshat.

Okay, some other things were more satisfying, but pressing a red phone icon sure isn't.

I have found that the nasty stunt of blowing a referees whistle through the phone works as well on a cell as it did a rotary.

 

[lovecraft68]

Vinyl making a comeback makes me feel old because I remember back in the 80's there were cassettes coming around, but we always bought the album as well because of the artwork which in the Metal genre were always amazing.

 

[SimonDoom]

Anybody remember POP-CORN? You could call that number (767-2676) and get the exact time. It's probably hard for people today to comprehend that something like that would even be necessary or useful because of universal computer/cell phone access. I remember it from the 1970s. We didn't have that then.

 

[StillStunned]

Anybody remember POP-CORN? You could call that number (767-2676) and get the exact time. It's probably hard for people today to comprehend that something like that would even be necessary or useful because of universal computer/cell phone access. I remember it from the 1970s. We didn't have that then.

I remember a service like that, but it wasn't called that here in Europe. The automatic clock, perhaps? And I don't know what number you had to dial. My dad called it once or twice, both to know the time and to check whether a new phone was working properly.

What I remember more clearly is sex lines, and crowding around the payphone in a posh department store with my friends to call one of them for a lark. That was what passed for fun 30+ years ago.

 

[jaF0]

The Time number varied I guess. I don't remember ours, but WE2-1212 was for the weather,


At the tone, the time will be two thirty eight and ten seconds.

Beep.

At the tone, the time will be two thirty eight and twenty seconds.

Beep

At the tone, the time will be two thirty eight and thirty seconds.

Beep.

 

[MrPixel]

Anybody remember POP-CORN? You could call that number (767-2676) and get the exact time. It's probably hard for people today to comprehend that something like that would even be necessary or useful because of universal computer/cell phone access. I remember it from the 1970s. We didn't have that then.

Nope. Don't recall it at all. "At the tone, the time will be..." Nuh uh. Don't 'member it.

 

[jaF0]

Senor Wences?

 

[StillStunned]

I remember a service like that, but it wasn't called that here in Europe. The automatic clock, perhaps? And I don't know what number you had to dial. My dad called it once or twice, both to know the time and to check whether a new phone was working properly.

What I remember more clearly is sex lines, and crowding around the payphone in a posh department store with my friends to call one of them for a lark. That was what passed for fun 30+ years ago.

Just remembered: it was "the talking clock".

 

[ElectricBlue]

Nope. Don't recall it at all. "At the tone, the time will be..." Nuh uh. Don't 'member it.

I've seen a video of one of those talking clocks in operation. The whole thing was done using a series of interconnecting records, each with one phrase from the whole sentence. An astonishing mechanical arrangement, synched in to a very accurate clock.