1969
was a happening year for America. Astronauts made it to the moon and
back! Half a million young people journeyed to a concert that became a
culturally defining moment. A combat war was waged abroad, and a peace
movement was engaged at home. Illegal drug use skyrocketed. Homosexuals
rioted in New York City. Spiritual and political leaders were mourned. Vampires
and werewolves were a monster smash on daytime TV, while a group of
country bumpkins proved the critics wrong and became a primetime hit.
A musical about young people and the times they lived in spread from
the stage to the recording studio and radio airwaves. An X-rated movie
would go on to win the Oscar for Best Picture, while an age-old love
story would captivate the young. And the struggle for civil rights for
minorities made progress towards equality for all -- including the (not
always) silent majority.
The
45 rpm 7-inch singles released in 1969 reflected what was happening
from coast to coast. Record after record captured the events, trends
and moods of America: its pride, its sensuality, its divisiveness,
its goodness, its humor, its sadness, its loves, its fears, its
triumphs, its courage, its losses, its daring, its dreams, its values, its failures, its joys, its promise, its changes. This book
is about that time and those records.
Gary
Anderson grew up in southern and western Maine in the '50s and '60s,
weaned on AM radio. Thanks to Beatlemania and the resulting British
Invasion, he began buying vinyl in 1964. Since then Anderson has
amassed a large record collection, primarily rock and pop-oriented
music. He currently resides in New York, working as a social worker and
scrounging yard sales, flea markets and antique stores for singles and
albums from the' 60s and '70s. This book grew out of that passion for the
music of his youth.
