I listen to a lot of music these days. Mostly Alternative. But… as I drove around today, I had iTunes Radio playing in my car …. streaming through my iPhone. And tonight, as I cleaned, I listed to Pandora… piped into our little speaker system. We have come a long way baby. And I love it.
But…..little did I know. Today is a big dang day… in history.
For you, for me…. for everyone from The Talking Heads to Taylor Swift.
On this date, in 1877, Mr. Thomas Alva Edison…. YES…. Edison…. invented the phonograph.
While other inventors had produced devices that could record sounds, Tommy A’s phonograph was the first to be able to REPRODUCE the recorded sound. AND….. there in lies the Magic.
His phonograph originally recorded sound onto a tinfoil sheet phonograph cylinder…. and as I mentioned before…. it could also reproduce those sounds. And just like THAT…. the music industry was born. The phonograph was later known as the gramophone. Hence… the Grammy’s.
Alexander Graham Bell made several improvements in the 1880s….. including the use of wax-coated cardboard cylinders. There was also a little cutting stylus-deal…. that moved from side to side in a “zig zag” pattern across the record. It made little grooves… and such.
Of course…. other improvements were made throughout the years. You know…. like the turntable and its drive system… with the scratchy needle…. and of course, the sound system.
These days … the starlets walk down the red carpet… and accept their awards for their recorded sounds. We applaud them. We support them. Their music makes us feel good. Or bad. Or happy, sad, wired, or glad.
Nonetheless…. music is a thing of beauty. It touches our hearts… right through our ears. Thankfully, someone figured out how to record it…. and then reproduce it….. for all of us.
So tonight, crank up your favorite tunes.. and do a little swirly dance in your living. Give a shout out to Alex and Tommy and all the boys & girls …. who got our toes to tappin’ and our fingers snappin’.
We Got the Groove.