For the Record: The 70s

The voting age was lowered from 21 to 18 with the 26th Amendment in 1971. Young voters were courted by the music industry, either as attempt to encourage them to register or to vote for specific candidates. This also, indirectly, led to the creation of the late-night music TV show, "Midnight Special," which gave fans a new opportunity to see popular singers. --- Send in a voice message: https://po...

Few people were neutral about progressive rock in the 70s. Bands such as Emerson Lake and Palmer, Yes, and Pink Floyd pushed the debate over the authenticity of rock to the forefront with their classical music-inspired rock. This episode attempts to untangle the debate and shed some light on how the 70s created space for this innovative genre of music. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcaste...

Songwriters of the 70s were inspired to write not just about the environment, but the places that inspired them. The first Earth Day was on April 22, 1970. In honor of the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, this episode looks at how the world around them served as motivation for songs from artists and bands such as Marvin Gaye, Joni Mitchell, John Denver, The Eagles, and yes, even The Clash. --- Send...

The 70s was a tumultuous time for labor. In 1970, even postal workers went on strike. Music of the 70s reflected how workers felt about unions, jobs, and the struggle to get ahead. Not confined to one genre, rockers such as Bob Seger and Tom Petty, country artists such as Johnny Paycheck and Dolly Parton, and disco stars including the Bee Gees and Rose Royce all had hits about working in the 70s....

Funk is one of the most recognizable music genres of the Seventies. It is not always easy to define but we know it when we hear it because it makes us want to get up and move. This episode explains how James Brown started the funk revolution, how bands like Sly and the Family Stone, Parliament/Funkadelic, and Rufus Featuring Chaka Khan ran with it, and how the politics of funk influenced its sound...

The decade between the disaster at Altamont in 1969 and the deaths of 11 fans of The Who at a concert in Cincinnati in 1979 saw a transition in rock and roll. Prior to the 1969 Rolling Stones tour, it was all but forbidden for artists to consider the business side of music of they wanted to be taken seriously as artists. This episode makes the case that festival seating was driven by the desire to...

The Seventies was the perfect time for artists like Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, and Waylon Jennings. Progressive country was an outgrowth of the counterculture of the Sixties. While the country music establishment in Nashville was slow to accept the influence of the more progressive artists, they found their audience in a mix of hippies raised on rock and country fans looking for more authe...

From the dance line to the platform shoes to the stars on its stage, Soul Train was the first nationally syndicated show that was made by and for African Americans. This episode highlights some of the influential music performed on Soul Train from legends including The O'Jays, Aretha Franklin, Al Green, and James Brown, as well as discusses the importance of the show's very existence on a televisi...

Former Beatle George Harrison helped create the blueprint for the benefit concert with the Concert for Bangladesh in 1971. Musicians such as Bonnie Raitt and Jackson Browne took the lessons from that benefit and helped create the No Nukes festival in September 1979. As the 40th anniversary of No Nukes approaches, this episode looks at the reasons for these benefits, the successes and challenges, a...

When Sha Na Na played on the final morning of Woodstock, it was a signal of a Fifties revival that would carry into the 1980s. While American Graffiti, Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, and Grease presented a specific image of the Fifties, that image was tinged with nostalgia. Did that image of the Fifties ever really exist? --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/amy-liv...

Rock bands like Boston, Queen, Journey, and Foreigner sold millions of albums and still are part of classic rock's regular radio rotation. However, punk rock bands such as The Ramones rebelled against the corporate take over of FM radio in the mid-70s and what they perceived as the death of rock and roll by creating a style of music that was both new and an homage to the past. American punk rock b...

As the Vietnam War dragged into the 1970s, artists from Merle Haggard to Martha Reeves to Marvin Gaye were inspired to write or record songs about the war. This episode takes a close look at what was happening in Vietnam as the 70s began and how that was -- or was not -- reflected in the music that was made. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/amy-lively/message

What is Gay Pride without music? As we approach the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, we must remember that Pride exists (still) out of necessity. For much of our world's history, queer people have felt the need to either hide or assert their right to exist. Music is integral to Pride. Some of the iconic songs of the 70s were written with the LGBT community in mind and some were claimed. Th...

Rock and roll was a man's world in the 1970s. Would that have been any different if Janis Joplin had not died just as the 70s were beginning? The world will never know but what is known is that women in the music industry faced challenges that men did not, simply because of their gender. This episode reviews the contributions of Joplin, Bonnie Raitt, Stevie Nicks, Christine McVie, Ann Wilson, Nanc...

The 70s gave birth to hip hop but hip hop was conceived in the 50s. After World War II, "white flight" left many cities in a state of poverty and neglect. The Bronx was the epitome of the results of this mass migration and young African American artists found little to relate to in the most popular music of the era: disco. By borrowing both technique and music from the disco that they largely reje...

Songwriters of the 70s took on Richard Nixon the best way they knew how: with their music. Blaming music for drug use, the Kent State shootings, Watergate, and getting a pardon for "any crimes he may have committed" were all issues that inspired artists such as Jefferson Airplane, CSNY, Gil Scott-Heron, Stevie Wonder, and David Bowie. This episode discusses how music reflected the dissatisfaction...