Special as in starting the train that is fuckin the US today?   The Greatest Generation should have beat some sense into those fucking hippies.  Dr. Spock should have been hung from the nearest lamppost for his feels child rearing plan.

Meh..
I had a great time then and have  a great life now, but I'm old.
You youngsters had best hang on and enjoy every day.  Don't think the good times will last much longer.  LOL.

This certainly is one way of looking at the '70s. Let's see if we can "broaden" our current perspective just a skosh.
Fun fact: the word "skosh" comes from the corruption of the Japanese word "sukoshi." GIs in post-War Japan brought that word back with them. Here's another fun fact: Dr. Spock's book was published in 1946. Still another fun fact is that the "Greatest Generation" wasn't called that until Tom Brokaw's Book called them that. Before that, they were known as the "Silent Majority."

Now, I'm not saying you're wrong; it's just that your syllogism needs more work. There's an aphorism from Classical Antiquity that explains it better:
World War I created the 1920s' Society; the 1920s created the 1930s' society; the '30s, the '40s; the '40s, the '50s; etc. This is how it has been; this is how it is; this is how it shall be in whatever future remains for humanity.

You as an individual are, and can only be, responsible for what you do. Be a good man, and enjoy the music!

This is my favorite Ozark Mountain Daredevils' song!!! Thanks hbilly!!!!!

I have hated hippies since the 1960's.  I still hate hippies today.  It's so much easier to take that attitude instead of trying to factor in their good qualities.  Since they have very few good qualities.

kwg

A handful of you would've heard the biggest hit our next guest ever had, but for those of you that enjoy '80s music, he was heavily sampled in a lot of huge hits, so you may recognize a piano or organ riff here or there. I always liked listening to a Hammond B3, so he was always a favorite of mine: Lee Michaels

PS: Just like with Grand Funk Railroad, I skipped the anti-war songs. They were mostly retarded in their lyrical content, and the George Carlin bit I posted a few pages back pretty much covered the entire sub-genre.

Great  music and got my first AR-15 in 1978. Colt SP1 (what else?).

It was a special time.

I baled hay in the summer, cut and hung tobacco in the fall.

No air-conditioning and a wood stove for heat.

But yeah.... the music was good.

LOL!
First time I saw that in print, I laughed!! 50 years later, still funny!!!!!

That reminds me, I should get off my dead ass and build a fuzz pedal, or an overdrive. I don't know which he used; maybe neither. They might have had some other trick.

I do know I'm a much bigger fan of the first 4 albums than we then became super popular. They were exquisitely raw back then!!!

Gen Z will blame Gen X and Millennial's and those after for not stopping woke culture and globalism thus ending their American dream...wait and see.

Guess post "boomer" generations should have stepped up and made it better for those younger. See how generational hate works? Soon you will be the ones to blame.

Libs love identity hate and we see many here following their divisiveness.

Since it's Forth of July weekend, I wanted to tell a story, but I may have some detail(s) incorrect. 45 years ago, this could be the case, so take it for what it's worth!

Through friends of friends, myself and my other friend and his sister got to sort of volunteer/work at a Day on the Green at Oakland Coliseum in 1978 (I had to look that up!) We jumped at the chance because Ted Nugent was headlining, and Blue Oyster Cult was also going to be there. We met Ted Nugent early in the morning. He was really very nice to us with the amount of time he talked to us and was even asking us questions back. I wanted to see his show because he had a guy singing for him named Derek St. Holmes who was really very good at singing.

It's a rarity in the harder rock groups where men can actually sing well. Ronnie James Dio is an exception, not a rule. Me, for example, on a good day, I could bust just outside of an octave range. I could even offer a choice: you could have "on key" or you could have "emotion." Choose wisely.

So, it turned out the St Holmes left the band. (I been around enough to know not to ask for personnel changes before shows.) But, the new guy, Charley Hunh, was really good. Apparently, if i had bother to buy the "Gonzo Live" album earlier in the year, I would have known that, but I was allowed to remain in his presence and continue talking!

Anyway, we were on Stage Right, and band of foreigners were up during the day. They were fronted by two good looking women who could belt out a song in key with emotion, and look good doing that - none of which I could do! I remember them doing this song:
They had less clothes on than what this promo video shows as it was hot that day.
Anyway, the brunette walks off stage for water and a towel which I hand over just like I was trained!!! She asked me how old I was. I had to think fast.
Good looking woman walks up to you and asks a question, you can't come off as a dork!!! It's the law.
Unfortunately, we're talking about 17 year old me instead of 20 year old me. 20 year old me could answer "old enough to own a yacht!" easily.
But, 17 year old me only managed to say, "old enough to buy beer."
"Stupid, stupid, stupid" I said to myself, but she threw her hair back and laughed and went back on stage. I had to remain calm. People were watching!!!!
What I didn't realize was that no one heard my dorkus answer. They only saw a very attractive woman throw her back and laugh! So, for a few moments anyway, I was...smooth, en espanol - sauve, et en Francais, encore, sauve. That feeling didn't last too long!
Also, I should point out that I had to look up the year of the concert because I couldn't remember if it was '77 or '78, and Cheetah was not listed on the Bill at the website I found. So, now, have I been affected with the Mondello Effect, or is it the Mandigo Effect that you guys talk about sometimes?????
Don't know. But, I remember hot chicks singing about guns which meant penises in the figurative sense. Any Red, White and Blue 17 year old is going to remember that!!!
The rest of the songs were not memorable. Musicianship was very good, and again, these women could sing. If you ever had to listen to the Runaways, you'd be grateful to hear women who can sing. But, their songs didn't do them any favors. The Music was "wound tight" and too hard for any crowd to be able to be involved with the song, in my very humble opinion. Never saw them again until the other day when I was looking for them. I always remembered the name. Here's a video from 2007 which would make them about mid-fifties. They aged very well, I think:
Same song in their prime because I like brunettes:One more video because of reasons:

Poor Pitiful Me

Very clever, @hbilly, with the juxtapostion! Very clever indeed!

Funny side note, as I was washing things up after dinner last night, I asked myself "why would a grown woman ask me how old I was????"

"Oh."
But, this is just between us, Bro. It might prove to be embarrassing if it got out that at 17, I was an idiot.

You guys are stuck with this thread for a while still. There's more band postings to come!!!! MUAH ha ha haa ha HA HA!!

I finally found the Eddie Kendrick song "Boogie Down" that I wanted to add for that posting. But, better late than never, I guess:
Then I also found the only Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes song I like, "Wake Up Everybody." To many of us Westerners, everybody from at least the Tri-State area was pretty much "in your face" aggressive. That's how it seemed to us. What did we know?? We only had the French Connection and the Warriors to guide us. National Lampoon did offer this glimpse into that foreign to us culture:

Out here, we had "fighting words" since time began, and it didn't compute to us that people would say such things to each other and not throw fists.
I didn't know better until I went into the Air Force and actually lived with people, but it's actually a form of showing affection. Here, we had the "Three Bs: Brother, Babe and Beach. To express a brotherly affection towards a female, they were called, "bay." Any other words, well, then it's just time to throw down. But, I digress...
Here's a video I stumbled on looking for someone else. I never heard of these people even though wikipedia says they were formed in Thousand Oaks, CA, probably somewhere near where the Brady Bunch lived. The history of the band fairly typical and mundane: German father immigrates to Canada after World War II, moves to the US when the heat dies down, and turns things over to a music producer. The Band is two brothers and one sister with "points all her own" as Bob Seger would put it. She arches her back at approx 00:01:34 just in case some of you weren't paying attention to the first minute and 33 seconds of the song. The kid on the key boards, I can't explain the outfit. Maybe his fetish is the Flintstones. Don't know. Impossible to say without further diagnostic testing.
I listened to the song, and I have never heard it ever. But, it's got certain elements in it that made me think it was probably very popular in Australia: potential female stripper singing, guy wearing fetish clothing and a guitar solo. Sure enough it was Number 2 in Australia for the year 1978. Please to enjoy:

This song came out when I was in grade school. My friends and I pontificated on its meaning and deduced it was about yogurt or ice cream. That was until one of my friends' older brother got us hip to the meaning real quick.

Ahhh... innocence lost.

Garden Song

Sunny Afternoon

Today's musical guest is about a Guy I listened to in Basic Training 40-something years ago. We had one guy that was the "adult" of the group at 26 years old, and he was from Virginia, a Bartender!! He was going into the Reserves I think. He introduced us to Rootboy Slim and the Sex Change Band with the Rootettes! They were a regular band at the bar he worked at.

This guy, lyrically, was wilder than the fanciful lyrics that Zappa wrote. Rootboy was all about the life he lived and observed. The "adult" did tell us one thing about him: he went schizo off a hit of acid once and it fucked him up good. The following are from his first album:


I looked up "Rootboy" just to see if he was still alive, and I wasn't shocked to find out that...nope! But, he did leave us five albums in total. PLUS, there's a constant political theme in his work. Apparently, "Rootboy" played football at Yale and was in the same Fraternity and house as George W. Bush. When W became President of the Chapter, he banned "Rootboy" from being in the House or participating in the activities of the House.
I think it must have been like this situation: Attached File

It's a constant theme in his remainder albums. Interesting to say the least.

Rootboy's second and last album of the '70s was the only one I could ever find titled Zoom.

Every Song is practically a Gem! I tried hard to reduce, but just decided to randomly pick some because I am too weak to make a decision.
Here's one for those of you who burn a little weed, or a lot of weed as the case may be:
This last FIRST song sums up the Disco Period very well.

If you check out the right side of the web page, there's a couple of songs that didn't end up linked, but it's lined there. They're all worth a "Listen to." I brought this album home with me on leave. Everybody related to one or a couple songs. One guy won the award as he had the most hits!

ETA: the format didn't come out right, but I think that's because too many links. that's my fault. Apologies.


ETA: Can't fix it!!! Sorry! But, I know what mistake not to make next time!

Leslie knauer, the female singer in promises, was also in a band called Precious Metal. She had a set of lungs!

You are correct, Sir!! She makes the rest of the band look like the "A-cup Brigade." There's some cutey pies there.

(Hopefully, I don't butcher this one up, but stay tuned in case I do!)
Today, Gentile Listeners, we celebrate Cheap Trick.
I first heard these guys while inside a Tower Records store in '77. One of the "Sommeliers" had deigned to put it on the store system. They reminded me of the Beatles of whom I was a big fan. Had the albums even with the posters and stuff, saw the movies and watched the cartoon version. Yes, they had their own Cartoon in the mid-Sixties. I became a fan of Cheap Trick. Yay!

If it wasn't for this one song from this one "Live" album, the rest of the World would probably never have heard about this band, as they would've lacked commercial success and disbanded which is generally par for the course.

This "live" version is far superior to the album version. But, let's "set the way back machine" to 1977!
Attached File

Cover Art: manly and APPROVED!!!
Stand By One for the next album

Attached File

Cover Art: Well, we have motorcycles and boots. We also have two pretty boys. But, the other two are off-camera doing something manly like greasing axle shafts and packing wheel bearings. Let's go with this explanation.

Next album is "Heaven Tonight." Very Popular album even with two songs about dying on it.
Attached File

Cover Art: okay, okay, okay, let's relax!! That's probably a very simple explanation for the two pretty ones up in the foreground and the other two are grooming themselves in the back ground. You know, you guys shouldn't be so quick to judge, you bunch of Judgey McJudgersons!! Maybe they pulled into hotel near the new venue this day, and there was no parking for the buses there!!! They probably went to the local YMCA where there's always parking in the rear. Jeez, you guys are something else!
"Surrender" was a song that didn't make any sense to me when I was younger. As I got older, the people that went through the Depression and WWII, etc. started being a bit more truthful about what was going on in those days. It turns out that it was a wild time back in those days rivaling anything that happened in the '60s except for the social violence and the scale of debauchery!

"The Dream Police" was also was hugely popular. Let's see what we got here!!
Attached File

Cover Art: oh, what the hell is going on here?????????????? Yeah, this don't look gay at all. Which one of these clowns' older sister is the Art Director????

For their last album of the '70s (they did 6 albums in 3 years) they changed the Producer. I mentioned how Cheap Trick reminded me of the Beatles previously. Well, they brought in George Martin who produced the Beatles for almost their whole career. Oddly enough, this album doesn't sound anything like the Beatles. It's very well produced and polished! The only other guy that I can think of that has this level of production is the little guy who was married to Jay-Lo who's name escapes me at the moment, but if I keep typing it will come to me any second...now....Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony. (Okay, not losing my mind.)
Let's check out that Cover Art!!! I'm not fearful at all...yikes!!
Attached File

So, we got one male bending over a railroad track with hands at the crotch; three males standing in a line; and a "train" entering the room. Yup. That's what we got there. It's a "Par for the Course" at this point.

Today is the first day of Soul Music Revue Days!: a Two-Day Event!!!
We're going to start with Wayne Cochran!!! Who????? Yes, I understand that. He was NOT a "recording artist" as compared to his good friend, James Brown. James Brown is one of the Top US Recording Artists. He's got about 54 albums, IIRC. James Brown is tomorrow.
Wayne Cochran didn't consider himself a "singer." He did believe that he "could sell you on a song." That is rock n roll, Baby!!! But, in this case, it's Soul!
NOW, on with the Show!
First up are two videos. The first is taken from the movie C.C. & Company. There's some artifacts that are annoying from the conversion process the video clip was pushed through, but the second clip is from the Soundtrack album, added for your convenience. The Movie had Ann-Margaret and Sid Haig in it!!! How could you go wrong!!!!

The early '70s was at the end of his performing career. Drugs and a failing marriage crushed him. He became a Pastor after getting himself clean.

For you "Jaco" Pastorius Fans, being one of the C.C. Riders and being on recordings and such was how Pastorius became known to other musicians outside of Florida. This next video is a crap recording, but the next one is the same song, but with good audio. It does show that Pastorius was probably going places. Sure, next stop was with Joni Mitchell. Shit Happens, but Pastorius did meet Pat Methany.

ETA: I was interrupted by a couple of phone calls! Sorry!
Last Video is one of James Brown introducing his actually good friend, Wayne Cochran, on Brown's TV Show. Some things need to be said about James Brown. I'm saving the nicer stuff for tomorrow on his postings. James Brown was hugely competitive about music and performing. He would have other acts on his Revue, and if you were good, he could either fire you out right, or sabotage your performance or do both. The Fact that James Brown would call Wayne Cochran his friend and "Soul Brother No. 2" during a live filming of his TV Show in front of the public actually says more than it seems. (I forgot to mention earlier that Cochran was really good friends with Otis Redding, and was frequently a session musician for Redding's studio recordings in Georgia.)

Some people really are nice people. Some...well, I don't ever have to do that again.

From the small sample of people that I had the opportunity to meet, they were either genuinely nice people, Stan Kenton, Paul Desmond, Ted Nugent and others, even if they had other places to be, or they were straight out dismissive for whatever reason. Enjoy the memory of that one time you and Robin hung out for a bit!!!!

I detested hippies in the 1960's and till do today.  If we could take them bastards out of history we could be a great country.
kwg

"The people with short hair started into throwing rocks at people with long hair. & the people with long hair started throwing them back.
Come to find out, in california when they have a rock festival you're supposed to carry your own rocks"

I was wondering who would be the first to break out with the David Allen Coe  

You know what the problem is? You guys don't have the music in you!

Pretty woman for being English! She's probably turned into Joni Mitchell by now.

(I'm back on the posting computer.)
I wanted to post this last Kiki Dee video, not for the song which is pretty much blah and filler on an album, but to show the Hairstyles. The '70s were a big push for unisex things and androgyny in both Europe and the US. The English have treated Orwell's 1984 as the "how to manual" since it practically was published. For this post's purposes, that would mean the "Women's Anti-Sex League."
Siouxsie and the Banshees is the first that comes to mind, but there were others, where the leading female portrayed a frigid ice queen on stage. Bowie had two androgynous stage personas and did another one as the lead character in a movie.  
The only difference between now and then is the Progressives are finally back to sterilizing people. That's makes them happy.    The more things change, the more they stay the same, I guess.

I can recommend not to listen to the song, just check out how close the man and the woman have as a hair style.

Another 1 for the long hairs, damn loud mouth. Stay in your corner

Long haired redneck

Allow me to introduce the Number One Soul Brother, Mr. Dynamite, The Godfather of Soul, The Hardest Working Man in Show Business...Mr. James Brown!!!!!
One of the top American Recording Artists, easily in the top Five, and a Show Stopping Dynamo!! The guy was driven to perform, without a doubt.
So, let's start with the question, what is Soul (music)? Great question; glad you asked. Remember the following is my humble opinion from my studying in the situation!

We can honestly say that James Brown created the "sub-genre" of Soul music. The first thing to remember is that Marketing is designed to attract the targeted demographic while repelling unwanted demographics in order to efficiently capture and hold a population segment. Second thing to remember is that the sub-genre "Rhythm and Blues" is code for "negro music," so don't let your white daughters listen to it. Such was how it was in much of the US. I blame the Progressives. They more than anyone else at the time talked about racial purity and promulgated laws against miscegenation where ever they held political power. But, I digress, and I beg your indulgence because I need to do some more. It's important to how we get to Soul music, and when we listen to some Taj Mahal which is happening, people!!! Maybe next week.
Music was way more intertwined between people than our political Elite would allow. That's because people were much more intertwined than our political Elites wanted or felt comfortable with. No, not making a classic Marxist Class argument. This is just Elite vs Group theory argument.
So, to recap, James Brown created the sub-genre of Soul, but Music came from every body who participated in making the music. No one group created something completely divorced from the whole. Soul music is the same.

From the earliest times of humans gathering, music was part of some sort of religious service. In the common tradition here, hymns, which go way back, are songs of praise while gospels, created here in America, and popularized by a man named Thomas Symmes (I hope I spelled that right. Middle English spelling is hard) are testimonials of God's power, love, mercy, grace etc. and how it changed the singer/narrator always for the better.

Hymns and Gospel music have their secularized counterparts: Ballads and Soul Music. Ballads normally praise romance while Soul Music testifies what the individual experienced or overcame or both. Again, Soul Music = James Brown.
James Brown from 1953 to 1966 is different from James Brown 1967 to the end of his career. From 1967 on  is what most people think of with James Brown. What created the change???????? Sit down for this one, people. It may hurt some feelings.

Brian Wilson, one of the co-founders of the Beach Boys, adapted a song in 1965 called "The Sloop John B.", released in 1966 on Pet Sounds.
They did some innovative things with this song's recording, but the most important for us is where the accented beat is found in the song.

Normal popular music is usually four beats per measure with each beat being a 1/4 note value in the measure, a very popular Time Signature. I can't make the symbology, but it's a 4 over a 4 on the musical staff. For comparison, waltzes and polkas are done in 3-4: three beats per measure with each beat at a quarter note value. IF there was an 8 on the bottom, that would mean each beat is an 1/8 note of value, and a 6 on top would mean that there is maxium of 6 beats in the measure. I hope that helps. I've never had to explain this to others in my life!! I hope it makes sense.

So, there can be accents in these beats per measure. Most of the time, when you hear the drummer hit the snare drum, that's normally where the accent is. The accent is just stressed to help with people keeping the rhythm. Most commonly in popular music, it would be on the third beat of the  measure; something like 1..2.. 3.. 4.. and repeat. A lot of times, you may hear it on the 2 and the 4. Brian Wilson's version of the Sloop John B. was the first time in recording history where the accent was done on the one!!! The First Beat!
No one ever did it before. Pet Sounds changed a lot of thinking about music for a lot of people, James Brown included.
Throughout James Brown's career, he had three distinct musical directors/geniuses at his side: Fred Wellsley, Maceo Parker, and the Collins Brothers. As each genius left, he went off to do Parlament/Funkadelics with George Clinton before they did their own thing. From 1967, James Brown wanted his music to be accented "on the one!; "got to do it on the one!" This was his command with almost every new song from now on.
That's a lot of history, and I apologize for that. In my defense, the music that affects people or effectively changes the way people think what's possible with music has a reason for why it affected people or changed how we create music.  
Next post, Musica, my Gente!!!!

Since we're dealing with the '70s, there's less Fred Wellsley since he left in the early '70s with Maceo Parker taking over.

These songs are long. They're known as "grooves" in this sub-genre. In the heavier types of Rock, they would be known as "Jams," only sightly different from the meaning in Jazz.

ETA: while I'm listening to "Hot Pants," I just remember that I forgot one other very important distinction from 1967 on. All the instrument parts were to be part of the rhythm/percussion of the song.
For example in "Hot Pants," the horns have a staccato phrase that takes two measure to complete and then repeats. The first notes of the horns are on the one. Enjoy your weekend grooving!!!!!!

This seems to be about 1974, note the rainbow. This was when a rainbow was just a rainbow. Good jam.