The main premise of New Boomer Music is that Boomers want music that is similar in style and feel to the music we grew up with. This can be defined as a new Boomer-friendly genre called New Boomer Music. It's NEW music FOR boomers BY boomers in a style that is similar to the music of the period from 1964 - 1989. The initial focus of New Boomer Music is on "Classic Rock":
- It began in 1964 with "I Want to Hold Your Hand" by the Beatles.
- It peaked in the late seventies/early eighties with songs like "Just What I Needed" (1978, The Cars), "The Logical Song" (1979, Supertramp), "Money For Nothing" (1985, Dire Straits), and "If You Love Somebody, Set Them Free" (1985, Sting).
- It dwindled throught the late 80's and pretty much ended appropriately with "The End of Innocence" by Don Henley in 1989.
New Boomer Music as a genre can be defined by one or more elements of a set of diverse, yet connected qualities of "Classic Rock":
- A melding of electric guitar, powerful vocals, and bombastic drums with thoughtful lyrics and artful complexities of classical melody and arrangement
- Socially relevant, reflecting more than gloom and doom - celebrating life, making powerful statements
- Full of energy and passion like Pete Townsend's windmill-like guitar licks and Jimi Hendrix' sensuous relationship with his guitar
- The psychedelic drone of McGuinn's 12-string Rickenbacker or the mystical Latin sounds of Carlos Santana's guitar
- The poetry of Bob Dylan
- The ethereal qualities of the Moody Blues
- The perfect harmonies of Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young or The Eagles
- The "fire and ice" lyrical melodies of The Beatles
- Dynamic, complex arrangements and virtuoso playing of Yes and Emerson, Lake, & Palmer
- Songs that often don't follow today's "standard" 3 1/2 minute ABABC convention of verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge...
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