Sometimes, I miss the days when Memorial Day weekend carried no greater responsibility for me than listening to KSHE's "Rock And Roll 500" countdown. I had no idea how the song rankings were determined, but I was always curious to hear if the top-ranked song would be a surprise. Occasionally, instead of Led Zeppelin's "Stairway To Heaven" or The Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again," the number one song would be "Roundabout" by Yes or Jethro Tull's "Locomotive Breath."
At the end of the countdown, I'd think, "Did I really spend that many hours listening to album rock tracks, largely because they had numbers attached to them, and I wanted to see how close the station's rankings came to my own? Yes. Yes, I did."
I haven't devoted that many hours to a countdown in decades. That's probably for the best. After all, I'm older, and I need more sleep now.
