1975 ... a year of music an 8-year-old could appreciate

A transistor radio was a wonderful thing to keep you company at 8 years old.

And the music I heard coming from it when I was 8 years old made me a music fan for life.

When I was 8 years old, all kinds of musical genres were being played thanks to the radio station I was listening to religiously when I wasn't having to go to school or "family things": WABC-AM (770) out of New York City. It was the "Morning Mayor," Harry Harrison, when you woke up, followed by Ron Lundy, then the one and only Dan Ingram in the afternoon and in the evening, I either listened to Chuck Leonard or George Michael (no, not the guy from Wham! and music star, the guy who later hosted the sports show "The George Michael Sports Machine" for over a generation before his passing).

Music was my escapism from the real world. At 8 years old, I was very awkward and didn't like being around people much (which is funny because even now I don't hang around a lot of people since I live by myself). I never got to experience many things when I was 8 years old that most 8-year-olds did. I have no regret over that noting that "friend-bonding" wasn't something I have ever mastered considering people -- male and female -- have been allowed to wander in and out of my life freely and I never really blinked an eye.

I remember those people very well. I guess I was never good at starting conversations.

But I'm getting off track here. I grew up in a time period where the music coming out of my radio involved everything from rock to pop, from R&B to disco, from country to easy listening and from jazz pop to jazz soul. It was commonplace to hear a disco record like B.T. Express' "Express" get followed up on the radio by Jessi Colter's "I'm Not Lisa" and that gets followed on the radio by Ace's "How Long," Elton John's "Philadelphia Freedom" or Barry Manilow's "It's A Miracle."

Radio stations -- not just WABC -- had no barriers back in the day. I was too young for what was being played in the 1960s on the radio, but I had the '70s and I had that wide variety of music that an "older" generation enjoyed a decade earlier. Today, that really doesn't exist anymore. Every one of those aforementioned musical genres splintered off into their own formats for other radio stations to play non-stop in the mid 1980s.

I was bitter about it. That was my musical education for 10 years of my life. And in that regard, nothing could quite beat the music coming out of my radio in 1975. It was the middle of the decade and every one of those genres had a place on my radio. In 1975, a number of chart-topping country songs could be heard on pop radio and be successful crossover hits.

Other than the Summer of '83, which I still consider the greatest summer musically of my life, the music of the Summer of '75 was pretty dynamite. Or was it "Dy-no-mite" as performed by Tony Camillo's outfit called Bazuka in honor of Jimmie "J.J." Walker's character on "Good Times." (It was also during that summer that Jimmie Walker was one of the two celebrity guests one week on the old "$10,000 Pyramid" on ABC with Dick Clark that he played 10 regular games and not once did he and his partner make it to the winner's circle. Who simply does that, failing miserably like that?)

Beside "Dynomite," there were other big hits that summer that still remain a staple of '70s radio to this day -- "Please Mr. Please" by Olivia Newton-John, "I'm Not In Love" by 10cc, "The Hustle" by Van McCoy, "One Of These Nights" by the Eagles, "Jive Talkin'" by the Bee Gees, "Get Down Tonight" by KC & The Sunshine Band and my favorite song that summer, "Swearin' To God" by fellow New Jersey guy Frankie Valli.

And when that summer was winding down, I was listening to Glen Campbell's huge hit "Rhinestone Cowboy," Janis Ian's "At Seventeen," Earth Wind & Fire's "That's The Way Of The World" and the Isley Brothers' "Fight The Power."

That transistor radio was practically with me listening to the hits of the day. I guess when you're 8 years old, you are impressionable. And when AM radio wasn't on playing the hits of the day, our house FM radio was there to turn on and hear the new "album rock" format song releases by Bad Company, Pink Floyd, Rush and this guy from New Jersey named Bruce Springsteen that I didn't know about, but learned awfully quick who he was when he adorned the covers of both Time and Newsweek on the same week!

An older generation understood 1975, maybe for better or worse. My generation just liked the music that came out and thought this was what radio was going to be forever.

Well, forever, I found out when I was older, had limitations. And it's why I yearn for that format again. (Of course, the music being written in the 2010 decade could be a hell of a lot better written, too, and sung by far-better sounding singers.)

The only way I can get 1975 back is via '70s-style radio stations, but then I have to share that year's music with the music of nine other years that decade. And they play the same crap over and over and over again because the sheeple say they need to enjoy the music they recognize daily. Whatever!

I have YouTube to hear the hard-to-find songs of now that were part of my childhood, songs as diverse as America's "Daisy Jane" and Consumer Rapport's "The Wiz" song "Ease On Down The Road."

The year 1975 is 40 years old. So to all my friends born in 1975, happy 40th this year! I still contend you were born in a cool and groovy year. And all throughout 2015, I am honoring the year 1975 musically with a countdown of the 250 best songs (my take on the 250 best songs, which may surprise you that some of my "favorites" that I heard on the radio at 8 years old may not be in this countdown completely) on my Facebook page all this year, starting Wednesday, January 7, 2015 and counting down to No. 1, which gets revealed on Friday, January 1, 2016!

I hope whatever song I post on my page brings a memory or two back -- and debate on why the song is ranked as high as it is or as low as it or if a favorite isn't even on the countdown at all.

I don't have to long for the music of 1975 anymore. I can hear it anytime I want really.

Now if only I can get a transistor radio to play that music again.