Jolly Old English Rock

April 17, 2024 10:54 AM CDT

This Saturday nights Those Were the Days radio show on WRCO will put the spotlight on the British Invasion music phenomenon that occurred between 1964 and 1966. Sixty years ago, this month the Beatles occupied the top five spots on the U.S. Billboard chart. Other groups from ‘jolly old England’ began to emerge and it seemed if you had an English accent, you were destined to have a hit record. When I began collecting music over fifty years ago, it was difficult to find some of the songs that I wanted to own. The Beatles record companies have always repackaged the hits. Other groups such as the Dave Clark Five were tough to collect for many years. We did not have the internet to help find music. You basically had to luck out at a rummage sale or dig through bins at the few used record stores that existed. During one of my first times off the farm I stumbled down State Street in Madison and found Penny Lane records. That is where I bought some of those used treats from groups like the Hollies, the Kinks, the Animals, the Yardbirds, and the Who. I had to ask mama for an advance on my chore pay. She often asked, “where are you gonna end up if all you do is listen to those old records”? I ended up about six miles from the old home farm playing those old records at the local radio station. My cousins gave me my first album ever. It was the Rolling Stones first greatest hits package called, Big Hits (High Tides and Green Grass). That got played a crazy amount of time on my record player. The groups of the British Invasion have always been among my top listens. One of my favorites, the Searchers, were respected by the Beatles. Many of those groups were just covering American songs and putting a different spin on them. The Beatles name came as a tribute to Buddy Holly’s Crickets. The Hollies also paid tribute to Lubbock Texas most famous son. The Searchers name came from a John Wayne movie.

I hope you will join me for the best music ever put on vinyl this Saturday night between six and midnight. Maybe you can be a trivia star? You will be able to hear the records I have bought through the years with my chore money! This Saturday, April 20th, is Record Store Day. Support your local independent record stores. If my schedule will allow, I will be heading to Madison to hopefully score some hidden gems (don’t tell my wife June). There are many brand-new releases that are only available on Record Store Day. It seems June thinks I should be getting rid of my inventory and not buying more. Perhaps I will bring back some new/old stuff to play during Those Were the Days on Saturday night. I hope you will request a song from the fifties through the early nineties this weekend.

Phil