70's / Seventies

Aron

Aron

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So, last week, I was tempted to finally start a 70's thread to go along with the 80's and 90's threads on the old place. A few days ago I was saying to myself, "Well, I'm glad you didn't bother starting that 70's thread", but now that we have a new place, I'm going to get this thing going.

In some circles, the music of the 70's gets a bad rap, mostly from folks who dislike disco and schmaltzy AM pop music. Personally, I love the diversity of sounds that flourished in the 70s. Glam, punk, disco, funk, power pop, electronic, country, reggae...you name it. So what are your favorite songs, albums, movies, tv shows and cultural signposts from the decade?

I'll get the ball rolling with one of the most enduring pop songs of all time. At least for me. This song would be a hit if it were released in the 80's, 90's, 00's, 10's or whenever. But it belongs to the 70's.

 
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Not my favorite but a fantastic single from the 70s.. the album featured some of the earliest appearances by two of the dudes from KISS too.

 
Aron said:
So, last week, I was tempted to finally start a 70's thread to go along with the 80's and 90's threads on the old place. A few days ago I was saying to myself, "Well, I'm glad you didn't bother starting that 70's thread", but now that we have a new place, I'm going to get this thing going.

In some circles, the music of the 70's gets a bad rap, mostly from folks who dislike disco and schmaltzy AM pop music. Personally, I love the diversity of sounds that flourished in the 70s. Glam, punk, disco, funk, power pop, electronic, country, reggae...you name it. So what are your favorite songs, albums, movies, tv shows and cultural signposts from the decade?

I'll get the ball rolling with one of the most enduring pop songs of all time. At least for me. This song would be a hit if it were released in the 80's, 90's, 00's, 10's or whenever. But it belongs to the 70's.

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Does the 70s get a bad rap? I’ve always considered it the greatest decade for music - be it Stevie Wonder or Bowie or Neu! or Steely Dan it just has most of my favourites in there. Lovely disco



 
When I was growing up in the 80's, I remember 70's pop music was very much derided. Again, I think most of that was from the disco backlash that happened at the tail end of the 70's/early 80's. And, it is often the case that people simply slag whatever the previous decade was just because. I realized how awesome and varied the music from that decade was once I started exploring music outside of whatever the radio and MTV were serving up for me.
 
hlaveta said:
I just snagged a copy of Todd Rungren's Something/Anything? at a local Goodwill this morning and holy crap where has this record been all my life?

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Yeah, that record is solid. I came to that one after hearing Big Star's cover of "Slut".
 
hlaveta said:
I just snagged a copy of Todd Rungren's Something/Anything? at a local Goodwill this morning and holy crap where has this record been all my life?

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Lucky you to be hearing it for the first time. If you enjoy it the albums on either side are things of beauty. Runt has at least 5 solid classic albums in my book. He really is a wizard, a true star
 
I love that original Wailers lineup. A formidable group of talented musicians with very different approaches and personalities. Impressive when you get to introduce an entire genre of music to the entire planet.

 
Willie became Willie in the 70's. Always a little strange seeing him without a beard.

 
Can't have a 70's thread without Linda Ronstadt. I knew Linda's version of 'When Will I Be Loved' before I knew the original. Her voice was such a wonderful instrument, and, somehow, I feel like she is still vastly underrated.

 
So Stereogum has this blog series called "The Number Ones" where this guy is going through each number 1 song and reviewing it. It's a pretty entertaining thing to read each week. Not sure what chart he is using (Billboard?), and what year he started with, but he's been doing tracks from the 70s for a while now. What I've been reminded of while reading those pieces is how many crappy novelty songs there were. The writer just covered Ray Stevens' 'The Streak' in this week's piece. There have also been a bunch of songs that have had some pretty questionable lyrical content by today's standards. So, while there are tons of great tracks from the 70s that we can share, there are some real dogs out there that managed to become hits during the decade.
 
Cross posted this image over on the What's Spinning thread. What says 70's more than a KTEL compilation, and especially with artwork like this?

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imtheocean said:
Cross posted this image over on the What's Spinning thread. What says 70's more than a KTEL compilation, and especially with artwork like this?

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Haven't thought about K-tel records in a long, long time.

This was more in the 80's, but, I used to love the various television commercials for best-of and greatest hits collections that you would order direct from calling the toll free number. Some were from single artists, others were themed compilations. I used to watch A LOT of tv during the summers of my youth, and you would see those ads constantly. They would run those scrolls of songs that were included on the set down the screen, and play snippets of select tracks. There are certain songs that, whenever I hear them to this day, I immediately start singing to myself the song that followed it in one of those tv ads.
 
Aron said:
Haven't thought about K-tel records in a long, long time.

This was more in the 80's, but, I used to love the various television commercials for best-of and greatest hits collections that you would order direct from calling the toll free number. Some were from single artists, others were themed compilations. I used to watch A LOT of tv during the summers of my youth, and you would see those ads constantly. They would run those scrolls of songs that were included on the set down the screen, and play snippets of select tracks. There are certain songs that, whenever I hear them to this day, I immediately start singing to myself the song that followed it in one of those tv ads.
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Yep, I remember those commercials :). My older sister had a bunch of the k-tel compilations, so I'm always on the hunt for them at yard sales/thrift shops. They've usually got some hidden treasures on them.

I've got a "AM Radio" playlist on spotify that I think would fit this thread nicely. Reminds me of LA radio in the 70s.

 
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