The attic of 20th-century pop music is packed to the rafters with exotic ephemera—a one-hit wonder that launched a nationwide dance craze here, a chart-topping classic from an otherwise forgotten movie there. Digging deep into the minutiae of those halcyon days is the fun of Moments in Time 2.0, a collection of anecdotes and factoids that’s more engrossing than a thousand long-distance dedications.
Just like its subject matter, the book was built with instant gratification in mind. Music historian Tom Locke has parceled out nuggets of pop trivia from the 60s, 70s and 80s, in bite-size morsels that you can sample a few at a time or all at once. Think of it like a great oldies channel but in print, with a playlist that covers one of the richest eras in our pop-cultural past—beginning at a point when Elvis’ stint in the army had ceded the charts to a cadre of squeaky-clean crooners, and running all the way up to the revolution that was the New Wave, in which a catchy synthesizer riff and a handclap machine were all it took to get a nation up and dancing.
But even if you think you know those three decades like the back of your hand, Moments In Time 2.0 will put your expertise to the test. Which TV show had a theme song by Philadelphia Soul kingpins Kenny Gamble and Leon A. Huff? What group named after a Canadian city hit the Billboard Hot 100 seven times between 1972 and 1982? Those are just two of the burning questions answered in the book, which is cleverly structured as a series of two-page mysteries: Each entry spins a fascinating story beginning on Page One but doesn’t reveal the song or artist in question until Page Two. And since music is meant to be heard, not just read about, each passage ends with a QR code that takes you to an audio file of the song itself.
The novel format of the book comes from Locke’s online segment of the same name, which began airing Sunday nights on Treasure Island Oldies in August 2000. He first brought its focus and approach to the page in 2021’s Moments In Time, which covered a time span from the hot-rodding 50s to the discofied 70s. The book would go on to win five awards and continues to receive 5-Star reviews.
“In Moments in Time 2.0, I’ve adopted the suggestions made by my supporters and by music professionals—like interviewers, podcasters and deejays—to include some memorable stories about artists and songs from the 80s, since that decade has entered the ‘oldies’ domain,” Locke explains. The results have clearly won the approval of the public and the industry alike: Both volumes are included in the Library and Archives at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.
Like many of us, Locke is more of an armchair musicologist than a full-timer; he just happens to know far more about the subject than most of his readers and listeners do. Born in Toronto and a resident of Vancouver since the 80s, he has a diverse professional background that includes advising companies on the use of digital technology and overseeing post-production duties on major feature films and TV shows.
But to hear his admirers in the music business tell it, he’s as well-versed in the field they love as anybody.
“Tom has done it again! This time even better!” raves Geri Petito, Hamilton Radio’s ‘Jersey Jewel.’ “He continues to astound me with his knowledge and storytelling about the music we grew up with and cherish.”
Meanwhile, Alex Ward of SiriusXM Radio’s Pink & Black Days gets right to the oldie-obsessed heart of the matter: “We in radio would call it Solid Gold!”
Wolfman Jack couldn’t have said it better.
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