There are certain generational litmus tests. Did you create your mixtapes on cassette, CD, MP3, or Spotify?

“Saturday Night’s Alright (For Fighting)”. From Elton John’s Goodbye Yellow Brick Road album (1973).

“Tiny Dancer”, from Elton John’s 1971 Album Madman Across the Water. One of my favorite piano riffs. I always liked this version from the 60th Grammy awards, with Miley Cyrus and Elton John performing as a duet.

This joke has been bouncing around the music forums on the internet for a generation, so I can’t take credit for it. It was probably first written by an IT Admin with a love of Thelonious Monk. And now it’s time to come clean…I fudged a bit for the joke. Cdom9 is actually just written…

“If I Could Turn Back Time”, Cher (1989)” Cher has a lot of good music, but for a certain demographic of the MTV generation this music video is our anthem. This video was filmed on the USS Missouri, shot in one night with the active crew while docked in the Long Beach Naval Shipyard. The…

“..Edsel is a no-go.” This was a perfect SignPost. It tripped up about 70% of the people who saw it. They recognized it, but couldn’t place it. Had I started with “Harry Truman, Doris Day” I’m sure more would recognize Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire.” My brother had a history teacher in High…

The quote above is attributed to Harlan Howard (1927-2002), an American songwriter primarily known for his contributions to country music, penning songs for Patsy Cline, Charlie Rich, Johnny Cash, and a host of other first-generation country artists. It was his way of describing what makes a great country song. More recently, it\’s the title of…