During the 1970s, it seemed like rock and roll was in a death struggle with disco. However, as vapid as "YMCA" and "Bad Girls" were, they could not drown out the fact that there was a lot of really great rock and roll being made from 1975-1979.
It is a closely guarded secret that I was born in Massachusetts. As a matter of fact, I have only been back twice: once to visit and once for depositions. My family came back to visit friends in 1976, the Bicentennial Year. It was also the year of Boston's eponymously titled debut. To say that Boston was a big deal in the area around Boston would be an understatement. If the songs weren't playing on the radio, someone was playing a cassette or 8-track tape. Boston stood for the proposition that even if you got good grades and were a perfectionist engineer (like band founder Tom Scholz who worked for Polaroid), you could still form a bar band which became an overnight sensation. With cosmic guitars and feel good lyrics, Boston was one incarnation of the ultimate rock band.
Everybody in the world has Frampton Comes Alive!: if you lived in the suburbs you were issued it. It came in the mail with samples of Tide.
Wayne's World 2. So true. Peter Frampton defied convention by launching his solo career with a live album. However, Frampton Comes Alive! (1976) with its classic single "Do You Feel Like We Do?" effectively captured the 70s. Now when I see Peter Frampton shilling for auto insurance, I don't know whether to feel embarassed or nostalgic.
Blue Oyster Cult was another hard rocker who epitomized this time period. "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" and "Godzilla" were darker rock songs, but still maintained a sense of fun. BOC was immortalized in the More Cowbell sketch from Saturday Night Live (which unfortunately I can't find a good version of on YouTube).
The Who were already well established when they released Who Are You
(1978). However, this album was enough to make them my favorite band of all time for a long time. I am pretty sure they are still on my top 10 list.
Finally, who can forget Van Halen? I once wrote an article for the Eastwood High School Sabre debating whether Van Halen or the Cars represented the breakout band of 1978. I don't remember my conclusion. However, there is no disputing that songs like "Dance the Night Away" and "Runnin' With the Devil" marked the start of a rock and roll franchise. Of course, Van Halen was only Van Halen with David Lee Roth. As Bowling for Soup famously asked, "Who's the other guy singing in Van Halen?"
The thing about the rockers wasn't that they were very deep. Usually, they weren't. They didn't ask deep questions. They didn't emulate classical riffs. But they sure were fun. However, now instead of my parents, it is my daughter telling me to turn the music down.
1 comment:
My 13 year old daughter (you know who I mean) has discovered The Who, courtesy of CSI Miami.
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