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The coolness of stereos from 1956 to 1986 was a one-shot deal.

The coolness of stereos from 1956 to 1986 was a one-shot deal--a "perfect storm" of developments in societal structures, social mores, cultural developments, and advances in material culture and technology.

Here's the recipe that cannot and will not be repeated:

Start with a World War that followed a Depression.

Get to the point where there is a huge population of young men who are not only ready to settle down, they have had technical training and in some way usually some exposure to cultures other than their home town or farm, who qualify for free education under the GI Bill, and who in many cases yearn to be "Blue-Collar Intellectuals."

The development of the Long-Playing phonograph record coincided with the high point of the popularity of symphony music and with the revolution in small-combo jazz that had been fueled by the stupid wartime "Cabaret Tax," that priced big bands out of business. Toscanini and Charlie Parker could both be cool at the same time.

The advent of stereo coincided with the rediscover of Blues and the Folk Revival, followed by the Singer-Songwriter revolution in pop music, wherein artists like Joni Mitchell could actually lay claim to some sort of mainstream career. Ambitious artists made the "concept [LP] album" an art form.

MOST OF ALL: The only music-media competition for most of that time consisted of radio, where someone else picked the music, and TV, where music was featured only a few hours a week.

So, seeing as NONE of the factors that made stereo cool 1956-1986 exist today, why are you unbearably surprised and uncomprehending that between Twittering and Facebooking and texting and sexting and porning and selfieing, young people today do indeed regard LPs as our younger selves would have regarded illuminated manuscripts of the Middle Ages?

It's really really simple. Things change. Nothing lasts forever. You can't un-ring a bell.

JM

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