Introduction to Teen Idols

Although not quite a teenager yet, this music opened up a whole new world to me that I would never have had the opportunity to know otherwise.  I was raised on a farm outside of a village.  Movies and television were my gateway to the world beyond that.  Oh, I read a lot and had visions of what it was like beyond the limits of my little world, but to see it live was magical beyond description.
 When American Bandstand swept the nation, I was one of its devotees.  Every day I rushed from the school bus into the house and turned on the TV.  I would sit mesmerized by dancers, Dick Clark and the parade of artists that graced the stage.  It would be my first look at the legends from that era—pictures in magazines were nice, but there on the Bandstand stage they moved, showed emotions, and sang.
 The dancers became stars in their own right as we got to know the regulars and shared in moments of their life.  It was all there—the cliques, the fashions, the romance, and the heartbreak.  What we wore, how we styled our hair, how we danced, and what we listened to was in part dictated by the regulars.
 Even today just hearing this song takes me back to moments like seeing Jack Scott (a personal favorite of mine) and watching Chubby Checker twist, and—oh my, the list is endless.