Seventies Week: a final word.
Over the last seven days I've done my best to give you a flavour of what music was like in the 1970s. Of course, there was a lot of really bad pop and other music --- even some bad rock! --- and some truly execrable “novelty” records, like “Grandad” by Clive Dunn, “The trail of the lonesome pine” by Laurel and Hardy, and “I am a cider drinker” by The Wurzels, to name but a few, but then, what decade has not such unnecessary dross in it? The point is, the seventies produced some huge, huge stars, like Bowie, 10cc, Neil Young, The Who, ABBA, Chicago, Rod Stewart, T-Rex, Queen, The Sweet, Barry White, Slade, Free, Elton John, Thin Lizzy, Hot Chocolate … the list goes on.
It was also a decade long before such crass mass-produced music as Pop Idol, the X-Factor and their ilk, before you phoned in to make someone famous or successful, and before anyone who thought they could sing could become a star. It was a time when bands struggled to get deals, to even get gigs; when the pathway to success was not lined with gold and TV appearances but with long, wet nights playing in run-down clubs and pubs, putting in the hours at the studio and hoping for that one big break. When careers were not made online, but by radio and word of mouth, and people bought albums and singles, not downloaded tracks.
I think very few decades before or since have given us such a plethora of names that have lasted down through successive years and decades, many surviving, and indeed thriving, right up to this day. Many bands and artistes we love and revere today got their start in the seventies, and so I think we have a lot to be thankful to that time for.
I hope my little slice of the seventies has helped those of you too young to have lived through that period in music to appreciate the huge wealth of talent that came out of that time, and the debt we owe those years, and for those who remember the 70s, well I hope the series served to rekindle some old memories, remind you of some old favourites and reawaken in you love and respect for the music of that time.
And now, as I hop back into the time machine and set the controls for 2011, all that remains is to say goodbye to the seventies: I feel sure we will never see your like again.
Engaging time circuits.... Time circuits engaged ….
pop!
(Tomorrow's Journal will be broadcast in its usual timeslot, October 2011. Thank you for listening.)