Why were the 70s such a tacky decade?

[jamespowers]

I was born in the 80s. The LATE 80s. Late enough that I didn't have to worry about any of this crap! I'm so glad I was.

:rofl: Yes, you missed it. I wish I could have at least skipped it.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

And then I still remember this playing on the radio constantly back then. My Dad even had the 45! :eusa_doh:

[video=youtube;dQsjAbZDx-4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQsjAbZDx-4[/video]

 

[jamespowers]

and then i still remember this playing on the radio constantly back then. My dad even had the 45! :eusa_doh:

[video=youtube;dqsjabzdx-4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqsjabzdx-4[/video]

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

 

[Ernest P Shackleton]

Well, I was collecting and playing Shellac since I was a child, and so for me the 'Seventies were a time of discovery, of "Classic Period" Fletcher Henderson, Benny Goodman's 1935 sides, early Duke Ellington, The Hot Five and Hot Seven sides, and later in the decade Whiteman "Potato Heads". Acutally, by last musical discovery of the '70's was a big stack of Hit of the Week cardboard discs, found on the day after Christmas, 1979. Of course I heard all of the usual stuff at college. Fellow in the next room played "The Wall" ad nauseum at high volume. Flying Lizards briefly became all the rage (they actually had some pretty good stuff other than "Money"), and of course the B-52's were good for a laugh, but I always returned to the stacks of 78's.

So, with that, you're admitting you didn't hear anything beyond mainstream music, but even if you had, you know you wouldn't have liked it? If you're going to cite Pink Floyd and B-52s in response to my comment, then we can dispense with the idea we're going to have any real conversation about music of the 70s. I won't pretend to know a lot about your 78s if you'll show the conversation the same courtesy and acknowledge your ignorance. Why anyone would claim knowledge of something they never had any interest in knowing about is beyond me.

*edited for poor grammar

 

[31 Model A]

And then I still remember this playing on the radio constantly back then. My Dad even had the 45! :eusa_doh:

[video=youtube;dQsjAbZDx-4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQsjAbZDx-4[/video]

Two beautiful foxes that were great singers.................AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA the 70s did have 'some' good things about it.

 

[Harp]

Two beautiful foxes.....

...been awhile since I last heard (or used) that line.

 

[dh66]

...been awhile since I last heard (or used) that line.

Probably since the 70s

 

[LizzieMaine]

 

[hatsRme]

They ARE beautiful, indeed.

And, "Crazy, like a fox" projects a whole different complement. A favorite of mine for years.

Your photo, LizzieM?

 

[LizzieMaine]

Nah, those are British foxes, courtesy of the Internet. I've seen one or two in my backyard -- they eat the rats that live in the junkyard.

 

[Harp]

Nah, those are British foxes, courtesy of the Internet.

Youtube.com/watch?v=yVQNVoc2_Og Anna Netrebko, Russian fox

 

[jamespowers]

Two beautiful foxes that were great singers.................AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA the 70s did have 'some' good things about it.

Someone has to do it with an opening like that:
http://youtu.be/jofNR_WkoCE

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Two beautiful foxes that were great singers.................AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA the 70s did have 'some' good things about it.

[video=youtube;neJL3L1solQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neJL3L1solQ[/video]

 

[31 Model A]

[video=youtube;neJL3L1solQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neJL3L1solQ[/video]

I love british humour..................

 

[vitanola]

So, with that, you're admitting you didn't hear anything beyond mainstream music, but even if you had, you know you wouldn't have liked it? If you're going to cite Pink Floyd and B-52s in response to my comment, then we can dispense with the idea we're going to have any real conversation about music of the 70s. I won't pretend to know a lot about your 78s if you'll show the conversation the same courtesy and acknowledge your ignorance. Why anyone would claim knowledge of something they never had any interest in knowing about is beyond me.

*edited for poor grammar

Well, actually, I did get around quite a bit in the late 1970's and early '80's. Live stuff. Went often to CBGB in '79, 80, and '81. With anither group of friends followed a bit of the Disco scene. New York, mostly. Still have some cylinders that I took back in the old days of Pere Ubu and Devo. Actually follow Home and Garden, the final iteration of Pere Ubu, not because I particularly care for their music, but because they are such fine, interesting fellows with whom to hang. I have simply never cared for electric guitar based music, but I've been blessed (or rather cursed) with an exceptional memory for music and lyrics. Good lyrics. Awful lyrics. Alan Parsons Lyrics. Laid Back lyrics. Black Rose lyrics.

Kraftwerk and their ilk were just a bit passé by the time that I was actively seeking out live music, at the very end of the decade. At the time I thought their stuff a bit pretentious, a little "Cage-y" with their lyrical monotony. Steely Dan was easy to take, but then they sat at the feet of the Masters. Try their "East St. Louis Toodle-oo" sometime. Really nice, but not quite Duke.

Then there was the "Art Rock" stuff. Automatic Fine Tuning, Poco, Strawberry Raven, then the old home town boy Michael Stanley. Nice enough, but none of them were Bix, or even Erno Rapee.

No, I gave '70's and 80's music the Old College Try back in those days. Some songs from back then are yet strangely stirring, dripping with nostalgia, even. I can't say, though, that I ever really liked any of that stuff. I won't claim that it was all bad, but will just say that it has simply never been my cup of tea.

Now, as "Art, it all stopped short in the cultivated court of the Empress Josephine"' or rather stopped short with the invention of Vinylite, why should we even argue. Put a record on your machine, Son! Just be sure to use a fresh needle!

[video=youtube;UB9G_nLrshY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UB9G_nLrshY&feature=youtube_gdata_player[/video]

 

[Bugguy]

I'm conflicted about the 70's... too many confused memories. I started 1970 1A and 265, if you know what I mean. Three years in Korea, two in grad school, a career, and no 401-anything contributions. A lot of unclear, hazy recollections: Steve Goodman's Lincoln Park Pirates at the Earl of Old Town, teaching across the street from Cabrini-Green, M*A*S*H, hash, and a helicopter leaving the roof of an embassy. I wouldn't mind reliving the 70's now that I've seen the script. I'd definitely lose the double-knit pants, make better female companionship choices, drink single malt, and buy a fedora.

 

[scottyrocks]

There was very little of the '70s that I found pleasant, even when I was there.

By the time I was 14 (1973), I had established a style that stayed with me through the rest of the decade, and well into my adult life. I completely bypassed the disco era, in both clothing and music.

 

[vitanola]

There was very little of the '70s that I found pleasant, even when I was there.

By the time I was 14 (1973), I had established a style that stayed with me through the rest of the decade, and well into my adult life. I completely bypassed the disco era, in both clothing and music.

I was awfully callow when I went away to college, just turned fifteen, and so I made a game attempt to understand and enjoy the popular music of the day a in an attempt to fit in. In fact, I was thought to be a bit of an expert on emerging music by some of my peers. Even so, I just couldn't put my heart in to it, for a close acquaintance with so much pre-rock music made the stuff that was then current seem noisy and uninteresting. I've never met a person who had a thorough knowledge of early to mid-Twentieth Century music who actually preferred Rock, even musicians who made their living playing Rock, for doing so was more remunerative than playing the stuff which they preferred.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I've never met a person who had a thorough knowledge of early to mid-Twentieth Century music who actually preferred Rock, even musicians who made their living playing Rock, for doing so was more remunerative than playing the stuff which they preferred.

Same here. I've always had the sense that part of the reason rock has endured as long as it has is that the gigantic all-engulfing amoeba that is the boomer generation has so completely obliterated the memory of anything before 1945 that those who have followed have just accepted it as the status quo. People don't listen to pre-rock popular music anymore because most of them have no idea it ever existed. I have often argued, and I remain convinced, that the highest art of popular music was reached in the songs composed for the Broadway stage and for movie musicals in the 1930s, and if people aren't familiar with that body of work, their musical education is sadly lacking.

All you rebels and punks and free thinkers out there, why not be real free-thinkers. Listen to Paul Whiteman or Billy Murray or Johnny Green or Fats Waller or the Hoosier Hot Shots or the Washboard Rhythm Kings or Ruth Etting or Vernon Dalhart or Freddie Fisher and his Schnickelfritzers or anything else recorded before the minions of postwar musical orthodoxy took over.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

I've found that most people who aren't familiar with music from the 1920s through the 40s actually seem to like it once exposed to it, not that they would necessarily become die-hard fans.

I've always had the sense that part of the reason rock has endured as long as it has is that the gigantic all-engulfing amoeba that is the boomer generation has so completely obliterated the memory of anything before 1945 that those who have followed have just accepted it as the status quo.

And that was because the Baby Boomer generation had completely rejected the values of their parents and grandparents. And it's worse now because they're the generation who are the current Boys from Marketing. They're the current leaders of the media, the entertainment industry and academia. Isn't immortality wonderful?