There’s a strong connection between music and memory. Whenever I here the song Lovin You by Minnie Riperton, I’m instantly transported back to 1975 when I spent the summer apprenticed to Tom, my future brother-in-law, fixing electronic organs. I was 15, Tom was 22 and super cool. He had a business (New Hampshire Organ Service) and he had a van with an 8-track player and an FM radio (a rarity in 1975). As we drove between repairs across rural New Hampshire we’d pass the time by listening to the radio.  Now, when I hear those radio songs from 1975 it is like I’m sitting in that van again.

Music can be like a time machine.  Transporting us to different times in our lives. I was interested in exploring this a bit more. Inspired by @realtimewwii which gives a day-by-day account of World War II, I created a set of dynamically updating Spotify playlists that follow the charts week-by-week.

For example there’s the 50 Years Ago in Music playlist that contains the top 100 or songs that were on the chart 50 years ago.  As I write this on April 12, 2015, this playlist is showing the top songs for the week of April 12, 1965.

The music on this playlist sends me back to when I was 5 years old listening to music on our AM radio in the kitchen in the morning while eating breakfast.

If you follow this playlist you’ll be able to re-create what it was like to listen to music 50 years ago.  If the mid-sixties doesn’t speak to you musically, there are some other playlists that you can try.

There’s 40 Years Ago in Music that brings me back to 1975 on the road with Tom.

There’s 30 years Ago in Music which is currently playing music from the mid-80s like Madonna and Phil Collins.

There’s 20 Years Ago in Music currently playing music from the mid-90s:

10 Years Ago in Music plays the music that was on the radio when Spotify was just a gleam in Daniel’s eye.

5 Years Ago in Music – the playlist of @echonest in its heyday.

All of the playlists update weekly on Monday. If you’d like a reminder about when they are updated you can follow @50yearmusic. And of course, the code is on github.