I Hear Those Bones Creaking (Part 1)

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Here comes March, and that means we’re less than six weeks away from my birthday. And, as usual, I’m celebrating in style. I’m looking at songs that are 40, 50, 60, and 70 years old. I hear my bones creaking, but if I turn the music up louder I can’t hear them! Let’s talk about 1976 first. Fifty years ago. Wow. I was a kid then. Now I’m a kid trapped in an old lady’s body. But it was a pivotal year for my music education. There were some incredible albums released that year, many of which had follow-up albums that stunk. Case in point: one of my favorite trivia questions is, “What is the name of the follow-up to Frampton Comes Alive?” People don’t even remember, that’s how bad it was. (To keep you from having to look it up, it was I’m in You.) So we’ll celebrate America’s 250th birthday with a look at the stuff I listened to when we were a measly 200 years old. Some things you’ll remember and go, “Wow, that’s 50 now? Dang!” Yeah, I know. You’re hearing it on classic rock; I bought it when it came out! Remember the Alan Parsons Project and their hits in the 80s? Their first album came out in 1976, a concept album of songs based on Edgar Allan Poe’s short stories and poems. We got to listen to that in English class in 1976. Yeah, their first album is 50 years old now! Here’s my favorite song from it, “(The System of) Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether,” about Poe’s short story about a mental asylum in France.