Music of the 70's

It is my belief that the 70's were the best decade so far for popular music. Bands of just about every genre built upon the freedoms started in the 60's and built upon them in heretofore unheard of ways and explored musical freedoms and ideas as far as they could possibly go, until the 80's arrived. While the 80's offered some great music as well, the facts that they couldn't go any farther than their forebears, and a tendency towards glossier and glossier production styles becoming the norm, the fruits this decade bore were not quite the same as the one before.

70's PROGRESSIVE (PROG)ROCK - this genre, derided as overly virtuosic and bombastic (a trait never denied by its makers; in fact it is part and parcel of the genre)is a perfect example of what I am talking about. Taking what happened in the sixties and vastly improving upon it musically and idea-wise, leaders of the genre like Genesis, Yes and ELP filled stadiums in the 70's, because clearly the public had an appetite for this type of material.


Khan


PUNK ROCK - A reaction to prog, this simple, angry genre was born in the 70's, and, for all intents and purposes, died there too. All the best punk bands are 70's bands: The Ramones, The Dictators, The Dead Boys, The New York Dolls, The Stooges. Once again, they took what came before and made it new and fresh. Unfortunately, this genre went quite downhill after this with the advent of all sorts of infighting subgenres such as skinheads, hardcore, punk/metal hybrids, etc., however, being a
"77" punk band is a proud title for many bands today.



SOUL/R&B/FUNK/REGGAE - Even the "urban" genres of the day experienced huge growth and creativity spurts. People like Marvin Gaye and Barry White introduced orchestras in a very creative way, female artists like Minnie Riperton and Thelma Houston (not to mention Aretha Franklin, of course) released genre-defying, even mind-bending albums not possible to record the decade earlier. It was also here that musical geniuses like Roger Troutman appeared. Bootsy Collins and George Clinton took to very funky excesses started by James Brown and took them to great extremes. In the reggae world, albums like Culture's two sevens clash and others showed the 70's had its own identity and creativity.



RAP/HIP HOP - this genre began in the 70's and, though it has changed a lot, can truthfully be called a "70's genre". All its major hallmarks and archetypes began in the 70's.


Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five

DISCO - While the 70's are known as the "disco decade" by uninformed people, I submit to you that disco was not that bad. It was simply soul music with a slighly different beat. It was the idiots who WENT to discos who gave it a bad name. I call this the "Led Zeppelin" phenomenon. Just because their fans are largely idiots, don't take that out on the band, it's not their fault.


Gloria Gaynor

POWERPOP - A 70's genre through and through, a miracle occured when this genre was born. Prizing hooks, melodies and short songs that are pleasant to the ear, and giving them a little "Oomph" (but not so much that it became "punk", although some bands did do that), and taking the reins from the Beatles and Beach Boys, more "B" bands emerged such as Big Star and Badfinger who made great, great music. It was a pretty big phenomenon then, and still continues today. See also: The Raspberries



Badfinger

HARD ROCK/HEAVY METAL - BLACK SABBATH! That's all I have to say. Black Sabbath. Working on the theory that Black Sabbath IS metal, and they released their first album in 1970, the stage was set for a tidal wave of "heavy" bands that followed. Early Heavy bands like Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, and here in the US, Blue Cheer and Iron Butterfly (these are just the most prominent examples, not necessarily the best)initiated a worldwide movement still strong today of heaviness. Don't forget, this was born in the 70's too!


Black Sabbath


Deep Purple

COUNTRY - the decade "outlaw country" was born, as examplified best by David Allan Coe, as well as Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings, expanded what the genre could do, as did artists like Mickey Newbury. This brought new facets, ideas, thoughts and instrumentation to country. It says a lot when country, primarily thought of as a "traditional" genre, could even be susceptible to the changes brought by the 70's like everyone else.


David Allan Coe


This was just a brief, brief overview in an attempt to make my point. I could probably write a book on this subject. So anyone that says "The seventies sucked" or "it was the worst decade for music", do politely tell them they are mistaken (I was going to say "shoot them" but I decided to go the more gentlemanly route.)