One of the many great pleasures that come with travelling abroad is the opportunity to sit back and read foreign newspapers. As I made my way back to Paris to connect with the Eurostar to London, I read an article in the International Herald Tribune that started by congratulating Bob Dylan on his 70th birthday on May 24.  

But then, the author, David Hajdu, a journalism professor at Columbia University, pointed out an interesting fact:  Dylan was far from the only legendary rocker turning 70 in the next 18 months. John Lennon would have hit 70 last October. George Clinton, Joan Baez and Paul Simon will reach 70 by the end of the year. In 2012, Paul McCartney, Lou Reed, Brian Wilson and Aretha Franklin will all hit that milestone. And were Jimi Hendrix and Jerry Garcia still with us, they’d enter their eighth decade, too.

Coincidence?  Not really. All these performers were born in 1941 and 1942, which means they were 14 when they first heard Elvis in 1955 and 1956.  

Think back to when you were that age. It was an era of constant discovery, a time when something new about the world revealed itself every day, if not every hour. Everything was a wonder and you were open to anything. As you entered the ninth grade, hormones ran amuck, emotional reactions were strong and much of what you experienced at that magical age became imprinted upon you for the rest of your life. Including music.

Now imagine it’s 1955. Previous generations didn’t have the concept of being a teenager. But in the post-war years – the first years of the Baby Boom – the special social construct, a new developmental framework of teenagerism was invented.  

Along with that came the new sounds of rock’n'roll, delivered by a new invention called the transistor radio.  Together, rock and radio acted as a Trojan Horse for demographic, social, economic, political and sexual revolution that changed the world.  

Imagine a 14-year-old Robert Zimmerman hearing Elvis’ That’s All Right Mama after class in Hibbing, Minnesota.  Or Lou Reed tuning a late-night rock’n'roll station from New York. Full of dreams, impressionable and inspired, they decided to make this music their life’s work. It must have been a magical time for them. And we’re all richer for it.