And during that era, there was usually at least one oddball "novelty" record in the mix to bring a little levity to all the "Love Me Do" and "Heartbreak Hotel" sentiments.
These were tunes like "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka-Dot Bikini," "They're Coming to Take Me Away Ha-Ha," and "Gitarzan." And for 40 years, the syndicated deejay Dr. Demento has spun these and more recent records that straddle the line between the strange and the comedic every Sunday night.
Now that, too, is coming to an end. The Good Doctor has announced he is ending his show for radio syndication. The Radio Hall of Famer agreed recently to talk about his demented decades. Speaking by telephone from his home studio in Lakewood, Calif., Dr. Demento said his syndication business was losing money, so he intends to concentrate on building his website, drdemento.com. But the 69-year-old doesn't view this as his retirement.
"My schedule isn't changing a bit," he said. "We will do the Internet show to the same standard as the radio show. In fact, I can add a segment with things I can't play on the radio."
Dr. Demento has always played songs that seem to connect with the 13-year-old brain. "Bra Size 45" and "Shaving Cream" come to mind. But he admits his core audience now is comprised of people who are parents and grandparents who might want to share their love of the novelty songs with younger people.
But at his peak, from the mid-1970s through the early 1990s, Dr. Demento represented something subversive to listeners.
One California kid listening in 1976 was embarrassed when his mother walked in on him listening to a song whose lyrics included the line: "He's got the Cutest Little Dinghy in the Navy."
"His mother heard that and said, 'You turn that off!'"
But "Weird Al" Yankovic was hooked and continued listening to Dr. Demento surreptitiously until one day he sent in a tape parodying the hit single "My Sharona," with his own version, "My Bologna."
The only novelty star of the MTV era was born.
Trevor Joe Lennon, a disc jockey familiar to listeners of Daytona Beach's WHOG-FM, interviewed Dr. Demento several years ago for his own program, "Sixty Minutes of Sixties," and came away impressed.
"He was just a real interesting fellow who gave out information in depth on the library of music he had," said Lennon, who left Daytona for Tampa two years ago and is now trying to make his own way via the Internet. Clips from his interview with Dr. Demento can be found at trevorjoelennon.com.
Lennon said most radio stations have such narrow niches, there is no longer room for syndicated programs such as Dr. Demento's. "He's being squeezed out by corporate America."
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