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This question came up after my daughter and her teenage friends watched the video of George Lucas's 1973 hit movie, "American Graffiti," with its sound track evoking the world of pre-Beatles pop music. There are about 40 songs on the soundtrack, with the Doo-wop groups of the late 50s dominating.  --DP
 

. "How'd you like the music?" I asked.  "Cool. But why aren't your old records more like that?" my daughter wanted to know. We'd rescued some of my old LP's and 45's from my parents' basement years ago, but in the present context they seemed such a miscellaneous hodge-podge. Only Buddy Holly passed muster as 'real 60s,' his death in 1959 notwithstanding. Johnny Cash? The Kingston Trio? Bo Diddley? Peggy Lee? Nat 'King' Cole? Dave Brubeck? They were all ruled out as either 'not Rock' or stuff 'nobody ever heard of.' 

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. As with other things about the 1950s and 60s, the musical image that dominates in public is often the one shaped by the media, deliberately or otherwise. So of course I tried to explain that music of all kinds really was popular when we were their age, and it did make the top of the charts at the time. George Lucas just picked what fit his recollection of the period (1955-62, apparently) and the mood of the film he was making.

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What got left out? Well, there's nothing with a Latin beat (no Perez Prado or Ritchie Valens), no folk-revival (Kingston Trio, etc.), no wacky novelty songs (no 'Flying Purple People Eaters'), and no romantic ballads, show tunes, or jazz / pop instrumentals (no Johnny Mathis, 'Petite Fleur' or 'Autumn Leaves'). And no tracks by superstars, like Elvis --too pricey for a low-budget film with (then) unknown young actors? 

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An interesting discussion followed, about popular music then and now, with the kids concluding that if I was right, 'almost anything could make the charts in those days--even TV theme songs? (Yep, 'Bonanza' and 'Davy Crockett' f'r instance.) --or Doris Day, for God's sake!?' (For sure.) "I guess people buying records then must have been much older," someone teased. "Well, they are now if they weren't before," I assured them. But would they still remember or care about that music? 

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.So I said I'd ask my 'old' friends and classmates: 

Did I have it right? Was the music we listened to at the time as eclectic as I remember it now?

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What kind of music do you hear in your own mental soundtrack evoking that time in our lives? 

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And the 'American Graffiti' soundtrack? Do we still remember and identify with that music, those songs and the groups who recorded them? . . .

*   *   * If so, here's a chance to test your memory of some of those. How many of the following songsters can you match with the hits they performed on the 'American Graffiti' soundtrack?

1.	"Rock Around the Clock"	a.  The Platters
2.	"Love Potion # 9"	b.  The Silhouettes
3.	"Only You"	c.   Bill Haley & His Comets
4.	"I Only Have Eyes for You"	d.  The Crests
5.	"Who Wrote the Book of Love?"	e.  The Cleftones
6.	"Maybe Baby"	f.   The Monotones
7.	"Since I Don't Have You"	g.  The Clovers
8.	"Little Darlin' "	h.  The Skyliners
9.	"Heart and Soul"	i.   The Flamingos
10.	"Ain't That a Shame"	j.   The Del Vikings
11.	"Sixteen Candles"	k.  Buddy Holly
12.	"Get a Job"	l.   The Beach Boys
13.	"Runaway"	m. The Diamonds
14.	"Come Go With Me"	n.  Fats Domino
15.	"All Summer Long	o.  Del Shannon

(Correct match-ups at the bottom of the page. And you can check out the playlist of all 40 songs in the original sound track at:
The Unofficial American Graffiti Home Page: Discography. [linkupdated 7/23/0]
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Your thoughts? Tell us what you remember, using e-mail or the "Comments" form above. Or propose a different topic to test our long-term memories.

- RESPONSES TO DATE -

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Stopped to read the music section for the first time. One of my great frustrations in life (well, perhaps it's minor) is that I purchased a "Best of the Del Vikings" CD, expecting to be able to once again listen to "Come Go With Me".  No such luck! There are twenty-two other songs, but not that one. 

Another of my favorites was "You" by the Acquatones. They had a female lead singer, but the others were men. Turns out one of them was a guy named Dave Goddard, who was a member of the fraternity I joined at Rensselaer. They were a high school group on Long Island who made a few records, had a few local hits, and then went on with the rest of their lives. 

You failed to discuss the teenage "death" songs that were popular back then. "Endless Sleep" is a title I remember (about someone drowning). There was also one about a car/train wreck where the girl friend ran back to a stalled car to retrieve a high school ring.   --Paul Cherecwich

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My first impression on reading the piece was that, yes, our music was diverse. But you have to consider that we lived through a great transition; the birth of Rock & Roll. Now it happens that I still have a box of 45's that I somehow managed to hold on to since I bought my first one, "Shake, Rattle and Roll" by Bill Haley and the Comets, in 1953. So I took a look and Dennis is correct.

Many of the AG tracks are present; "Rock Around the Clock", "Love Potion # 9", "Little Darlin' ", and "Come Go With Me" to name a few. But to support Dennis' observation, there were also a number of the Pop tunes from 'crooners' that were the remnants of the prior generation. In fact, I don't even remember buying many of them, but they include; "Mambo Italiano", Rosemary Clooney (do the kids even remember that George had a singing aunt?); "Ko Ko Mo", Perry Como; "Black Denim Trousers and Motorcycle Boots", Vaughn Monroe; "Memories are Made of This", Dean Martin; and "Ain't That a Shame" by Pat Boone. Then there were Country singers that made some pop songs. I found "Sixteen Tons" by Ernie
Ford and "Just One More Chance" by Les Paul & Mary Ford in the box. How about the left over Big Band hits of the 50's? I have "Unchained Melody" by Les Baxter. You didn't mention the Caribbean influence. There are a number of these; "Day-O" and "Waterboy" by Harry Belefonte for example.

To the best of my memory, most of these songs made it to the top of the charts during the 50's. But we tend to remember the 'revolutionary' component of that time which was certainly the R&R that American Graffiti memorialized.

--Herb Swain

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Answers: 
1.- c.,  2.- g.,  3.- a.,  4.- i.,  5.- f., 
6.- k.,  7.- h.,  8.- m.,  9.- e.,10.- n.,
11.- d.,  12.- b.,  13.- o.,  14.- j.,  15.- l. 
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. Page last updated July 23, 2002