The Seventies...it wasn't my fault. I can't help it if the Seventies was the decade when I became old enough to finally go to the men's department. And it certainly wasn't my fault regarding what awaited me there.
Don't blame me for the automotive absurdities that rolled out of Detroit in response the the Japanese automotive ass-whipping we were amidst. Vega-Pacer-Pinto-Gremlin-Duster. I had a hand me down Pinto.
It's not my fault that the late Sixties prodrome of synthetic fabrications and plastic-ersatz leather exploded in uptake and subsequent sartorial manifestations of hideousity. Earth Shoes. Nik-Nik Shirts. Famalore GET THERE Shoes. I wore all of them...and I have pictures. But it's gonna take longer for me to write and post that confessional than it did for me to write the story about my daddy. Or your daddy.
I've recovered and I hope that those who can remember anything about the Seventies have also taken the effort to purge themselves of whatever toxic sequelae might remain. Most of the toxicity was petroleum based so it might require an expurgant of equal power. You might try a spritz of acetone. It was an ugly decade.
But what about the music? The Seventies...even with all of their sartorial and automotive manifestations that make my skin crawl, still offer me a few fond memories. And thanks to YouTube, I rounded up a flurry of memories with one qualification...I saw these musicians perform these songs live-in concert-for ticket prices less than a month's car payment or rent. I attended some of these concerts before I was old enough to drive...relying on the good nature of parents to get us to and from. To and from usually...Columbia or Charlotte or the beach...certainly, these cats didn't roll in to my hometown.
This is about all that I can remember that was good about the Seventies.
Onward...voting tomorrow and then off to Boston...it's hotel and billables time again...and this is a good thing.
Sanford Townsend Band
Redbone
Seals and Crofts
Todd Rundgren
Allman Brothers
Eagles
Three Dog Night-Pre Chuck Negron's Flameout
18 comments:
Todd Rundgren nuuuuuuuude. I'm not exactly sure where to go with that.
In the 70's cocaine also replaced marijuana as the drug of choice. This explains a lot.
Great musical picks! I also love Cheap Trick and Blue Oyster Cult and the likes of what I call my 'dirty seventies rock'. I call it that because it always makes me think of Matt Dillon with feathered hair and dirty jeans and just hanging out with nothing to do but smoke and get into trouble. Elo kiddies.....
Allman Bros. 2003 DVD. I'm sure my copy of "Live at the Beacon Theatre" has a permanent groove in #20-Dreams. Can't imagine seeing and hearing them live. You lucky dog. I have a friend much younger than me who managed to sneak into probably every concert held at the Filmore in San Francisco in the 60's and 70's. Fantastic memories. Fine time for rock and concerts.
It was Leon Russell for me. Been playing "The Union" in all of my classes and I can pick out the 50+ crowd, because they immediately know Leon's voice. The *youngsters* usually only recognize Elton's. But everyone gets to have a happy flashback (so to speak)!
Gail...I had a Filmore poster that one of my older cousins gave me. I'm certain that it would be worth tons today.
AnonFeatheredHair...I wanted that feathered hair thing when I was about 14 years old but my curly mop only got larger...never compliant enough to "feather"...oh, the painful memories.
LPC...Indeed it explains a lot. And I'm grateful that my crowd never had enough money to indulge in that particular evil.
AnonNudeRundgren...I'd suggest doing nothing.
Luckily, at the point in the 70s that I was able to choose my own clothing, I spent the school week in a uniform, so the damage was minimal.
Dress warmly this week - it's absolutely gorgeous, but a bit chilly here in Boston.
YogaOne...I kid you not...I'm standing in the men's clothing store that I worked part-time in during college and in walks Leon Russell. Gray mane of hair and beard. I looked up and it just came out of my mouth..."You're fu_ _ing Leon Russell"
Patsy...I would love for LFG to be in uniforms again. It made life a lot easier.
Arrg, the 7o's. I entered them a recent HS graduate and left them a married man.
The Good Wife is the only thing I am happy to have still in my life. Oh! And the mustache that I just recently shaved off.
As for the music. Well, I didn't like much of it then either. I had already tuned my ear to Jazz.
Cool. I think that's exactly what I would have said!
Let's all pretend that the 70s never happened, sartorially speaking that is.
Ya know, I think I flew a little bit when the wind hit my huge lapels and bell bottoms just right, but, then again, there was the issue of paharmaceuticals vs. my perceptions
Ah, the 1970s. I do believe that they were uglier for men than they were for women, with Nik Nik shirts, polyester pants, and excess facial hair. On the other hand my 1970s wardrobe was nothing to brag about.
You forgot to post a Peter Frampton video.
Belle...indeed. And re Frampton...I only posted videos of some of the acts that I actually saw perform live. I never saw Frampton.
NCJack...that made me laugh. Reminds me of the Levis denim coat I had with lapels that were bigger than me.
MattNelson...I'm with you.
I was a child in the Seventies, but I have a photo of my dad wearing a gigantic, wide tie which had on it a picture of Columbus, or maybe it was the Pilgrims, shaking hands with some Indians. Fortunately, I can't remember ever seeing him wear this, so the photograph is the only evidence I have of this nightmarish item. He has long since gotten rid of it, thank the gods.
Ah, yes, Elizabeth, I have fond memories of a certain highly fashionable tie from '72: full clown width, and a paisley pattern obviously inspired by the designer's peyote-based religion ("yes, Don Juan. of course, Don Juan. Holy Sh*t, Don Juan")
Sartorially speaking, the 1970s were what one made of them. Hardy Amies, Bryan Ferry, Tommy Nutter, Don Cornelius, Patrick Lichfield, David Bowie, Harold Melvin and The Blue Notes, Edward Sexton, Bunny Roger, Sammy Davis Jr., The Rolling Stones, Yves Saint Laurent and other notables seemed to make some enduring statements of style. It is indeed a shame, though, that so many confused cocaine with "fun"
And what of the piquant delights of 1970s cinema?
The music, of course, occupies its own class
Well played,
B
Robert Palmer and Brian Ferry... snappiest dressers of rock!
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