Dear Dad,

I’m sorry.

Every time you pulled out your 3-disc set of rock hits from the 1970s, I rolled my eyes. Aside from the fun melody of “Crocodile Rock,” I did not understand your obsession with this music. It was old. It was boring. I wanted The Lion King soundtrack instead.

But 25 years later, I confess that I was horribly mistaken. The music of the 1970s is incredible. It’s all about freedom and individuality, and it’s full of emotion and energy and all these different instruments and synthesizers, created and performed by extremely talented musicians. You were right all along. We might not love all the same bands and singers of the 70s, but I get it now. Really, I do.

The first thing that helped me to understand was playing live trivia with a “Name That Tune” challenge at the end of every round. Then I started listening to CCR. I remember you had a CCR cassette tape, and to me back then, it was just more “old” music, but again, I was wrong.

The most recent thing I did, just last week, that helped me appreciate 70s music was reading Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid. This doesn’t happen very often, but I got chills reading that book. There weren’t even any melodies in my head, yet the goosebumps spread all over as I “witnessed” the band write music, put together an album, and skyrocket to world fame. I hope Amazon Prime hurries up with the TV series because I’m obsessed. I might or might not have bought giant hoop earrings after reading it. I hope you’ll read it too because I think you’ll really like it.

And Dad, the other thing I wanted to say is, Thank you.

Thank you for putting together a list of your favorite 70s songs and bands from high school. Now I have a perfect playlist for working on my novel, set in 1974, the year you graduated. In fact, the story starts on your 18^th birthday. I hope you’ll like this book, too, one day when it’s finished.

Dads are right a lot of the time. This is something silly, just your “uncool” music that I resisted for a really long time. But it all comes around. Eventually you realize Dad was right.

But I’m still never going to like coffee.

Love,
Your Daughter