In the 1960s, Jimi Hendrix helped solidify bell bottom pants and fringed jackets or vests. Years later, the Bee Gees became a prime focus of a dance rock genre called disco, which made quiana shirts and polyester pants for guys, and circular skirted dresses for ladies, favorites of the dance floor. Rock developed an attitude.

Not everyone followed that trend, and more traditional rock got a little darker in tone and lyric. Nirvana loosened up the dress code into torn blue jeans and flannel shirts over t-shirts. But rock bands became the new classical musicians with careful theory within their music. Blast beats, triplets, and tapping spread throughout all forms of metal becoming some of the most important musical trends.

Unfortunately it is becoming harder and harder to hear rock and roll on the radio. Some of you might think I am crazy. “Why just the other day I heard a great Nickelback song on the radio.” You pups! I’m talking about REAL rock and roll. Stuff that made you get up and start dancing. Stuff that sounded just as good live as it did in some stuffy studio. Well, I’ve got good news. If you have cable through cable-tv.com/cheap-cable/ then you could finally get the rock experience you deserve.

Major cable television providers like the one I just mentioned can offer customers hundreds of music channels. We aren’t talking MTV where the M ironically stands for “music.” These are real music channels that play nothing but music – each channel devoted to a different genre. You have the golden oldies, the jazz, the rap, and, of course, you have the rock – the true rock.

So if you’re tired of hearing what youngsters think rock should sound like, turn off the radio and turn on the television.

With that in mind, here are five songs, one from each decade of the rock era, that made the most important inroads into rock music.

The 50s: “Rock Around the Clock” by Bill Haley and the Comets. It didn’t “start” Rock and Roll but it gave the movement the kick in the pants it needed to inspire Chuck Berry and all the other pioneers.

The 60s: “I Want To Hold Your Hand” by the Beatles. It’s the song that brought Beatlemania to America and the rest of the world.

The 70s: “Stairway to Heaven” by Led Zeppelin. Say what you want about how sick of it you are, but there is not a person alive who has picked up the guitar and hasn’t tried to play this song.

The 80s: “Sledgehammer” by Peter Gabriel. With the advent of MTV, Gabriel set the bar high by taking one of his best songs and creating one of the best videos ever.

The 90s: “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana. Curt Cobain screaming “Here we are, now entertain us” summed up the bored, hopeless attitude of 90s teens as effectively as Pete Townshend did for kids in the 60s.

Thankfully, there are people that want to preserve the spirit of the old school music collections. This is why the vinyl records collections have new purposes. At the top of that list is sampling. It is obvious that rappers and R&B singers are digging into the crates of their parent’s music collection. They are taking these records and sampling them for new songs. This is where more than 50% of the new music comes from.

Vinyl collections can also being used to blend old songs together with the new stuff. This is something that is very common in the world of mixtapes and DJ battles. People call it mashing or blending. Either way, this is a cool concept where a DJ may take the instrumentals tracks from one record to seamlessly mix it with another one.

You can use artist seeds or track seeds to create a station. Both give Pandora an idea of the kind of music you like, but track seeds show exactly what sound you’re looking for. (Most artists have a variety of songs over an album, let alone a career, and you can end up with ballads when you really wanted punk, or vice versa. Confused? Here‘s a little help . ) The more seeds you include, the better Pandora will understand your taste. Just type a song title into the New Station bar, then click the Add Variety button under the station that appears on the left. Now you can add as many seeds as you want – the more the better.

When you’ve set your station up, spend some time paying attention to it. Thumb up the songs you like – if you really love one, make it a seed – and thumb down the ones you don’t. Soon Pandora will get the hang of it, and you’ll be rocking along to your favorites!

You can keep the legends alive by planning family parties around a particular era or decade. Want to recapture the 1950s? Find or make poodle skirts, leather jackets, and learn some of the dances. Have someone dress up as one of the famous heartthrobs and deliver some good old-fashioned tunes.The whole story can be found at http://www.designmom.com/2012/04/disco-ball-helmet/

The 1960s was a decade of change. Play records from well-known artists, watch movies or television shows made by classic singers, or have everyone dress up as a garage band. Perform some oldies classics or even write new and silly words to existing songs.

For the 1970s you’ll need a disco ball. Or something to reflect light like one. Bell-bottom pants and peace symbols were famous items of the decade. (And in the late 1960s, too.)

With a little imagination and creativity, it will be easy to think of unique and decade-specific activities for you and your family.