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Post by Kapitan on Sept 4, 2021 12:06:19 GMT
As Alphabet Street has wound down again, I was thinking about what might be a fun kind of ongoing, but changing, sort of discussion for a thread. I landed on discussions of music by years, taking the great idea sockit had about talking '90s music, but making it more specific.
Let's go on with individual years, which we can rotate weekly or every few days--whatever seems appropriate--to keep things moving along. While we're on any given year, the discussion is wide open: albums, bands, songs, trends, genres, music business, your recollections of what you loved or hated, heard or missed ... anything you think would make good conversation.
Thread-starter's privilege, I'll choose the first year.
Years Covered: 1963 1976 1989 2002 2010 1972 1983 1959 1967 1997 1979 1993 2006 1980
1976 The year of my birth, the Billboard charts were topped by Chicago (greatest hits), Fleetwood Mac, the Eagles (greatest hits), Earth Wind and Fire, Fleetwood Mac, Stevie Wonder, George Benson, Led Zeppelin, Wings, the Rolling Stones, Peter Frampton, and Bob Dylan. Talk about a diverse collection of artists, not to mention overwhelmingly legendary ones.
Obviously I don't remember 1976. I usually think of it as being a combination of punk, disco, power pop, and the old legends trying to make sense of it all, but that's more a product of what I happen to have heard, read, etc., as opposed to living it. Frankly, the Billboard charts don't reflect that narrative at all.
The first album from that year that I loved was one I discovered when I was 12 or 13, KISS Destroyer. It's probably their high-water mark and still an album I can listen to and enjoy, silly as it is. It didn't take long before I heard Zeppelin's Presence, often considered their worst but it gets high marks from me. Perhaps the greatest ambitious album of the year is Stevie Wonder's sprawling, majestic Songs in the Key of Life, with his masterpiece "Sir Duke" as my favorite. (Seeing him perform that album live several years back was a great experience.)
What about you? What do you remember, or what do you love (or hate) about the year of my birth, 1976?
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Post by carllove on Sept 4, 2021 13:14:51 GMT
I was 14 in 1976, and just starting high school, so I was very into music then. Queen released A Day at the Races which was a highlight, but that was also the year of Chicago X (one of my least favorite Chicago albums with Terry Kath), Led Zeppelin Presence (a disappointment after Physical Graffiti ), Wings At the Speed of Sound (Just No!) and the precursor of The Bee Gees disco sound “You Should be Dancing”. Bob Dylan’s Hard Rain did not please the critics. Paul Simon’s Still Crazy After All These Years was released in 1975, but “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” from that album charted in 76.
My favorite album from that year is David Bowie’s Station to Station, and I’m not a huge Eagles Fan, but who doesn’t love “Hotel California”? Albums I purchased with my allowance money that year included Boz Scaggs Silk Degrees, The Rolling Stones Black and Blue and Steely Dan The Royal Scam. Abba was big, but I didn’t really like them back then. New wave was starting up with Blondie releasing their debut album. Boston was really big with the crowd in high school. I had a huge thing for Funkadelic back then. AC/DC released two great albums that year. Everyone should listen to Jeff Beck Wired at least once in their lifetime. Brilliant album. Also, I can’t leave out the namesake of my home state, Kansas. “Carry on Wayward Son”, was a hit from Leftoverture.
Oh yeah - The Beach Boys released Fifteen Big Ones. I still don’t own that album and probably never will 🤣
So - looking at this list, it just reminds you of how much better music was in 1976 than it is now. Even the weaker efforts of some of my favorite bands were much better than what is on the radio now. It was a bit of a transition year, with New Wave, Disco and Punk all knocking at the door.
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Post by Kapitan on Sept 4, 2021 17:35:44 GMT
I was 14 in 1976, and just starting high school, so I was very into music then. Queen released A Day at the Races which was a highlight I think this is my favorite 1976 album. I'd have to think about it and scan my collection, but off the top of my head? Yep. Must have been great to hear in real time.
(I often think that about classic albums. But honestly when I think of the [fewer] classic albums that were released once I was old enough to notice--say, 1986 and after?--I didn't really immediately feel the presence of greatness on them all, by any means.)
Those first two singles from it: "Somebody to Love" and "Tie Your Mother Down"! Amazing facsimile of gospel, and a great rocker. What a band...
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Post by jk on Sept 4, 2021 22:38:31 GMT
Nineteen-seventy-six was the year I taped David Bowie's brand new LP Station to Station. It was also the year I saw David perform everything on this setlist, starting with the album's title track:
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Sept 5, 2021 11:55:29 GMT
1976...The Bicentennial and the year I graduated from high school.
For most of 1976, the turntable was full of The Doors, Blue Oyster Cult, KISS, The New York Dolls, Slade, Queen, Ted Nugent, Montrose, and Led Zeppelin. I would ride my bike over to my buddy's house and we would have what we called "listening sessions". He would play his "album of the week" and then I would play mine. One night, my buddy bought the Ramones' first album at the record store, but he was afraid his mom would be upset if she saw the album cover, so he bought the cassette so he could put it in his pocket and smuggle it into the house. Right after graduation in late May, a bunch of us went to the Jersey shore for a week. I remember laying on the beach listening to "Silly Love Songs", "Sara Smile", "Shannon", "Love Hangover", "Evil Woman", "Convoy", "The Boys Are Back In Town", and a song called "I Write The Songs". Oh, there was another song that was just released that week - "Rock And Roll Music" by The Beach Boys - and it was all over the radio, too. The Jersey shore had some great record stores, too. I actually bought Agents Of Fortune by Blue Oyster Cult there, but had to wait a week to play it!
In 1976, the drinking age in New Jersey was 18, so, at night we went into every nightclub and bar we could find. I wasn't a drinker but I certainly loved the live music. Bruce Springsteen was very big in Jersey at that time, and at each stop you would hear whispers that Bruce might make an unannounced guest appearance. Of course he never did, but each band was covering his stuff. We stopped into this offbeat, almost empty club at 1:00 AM and the band was playing Lou Reed/Velvet Underground songs. The lead singer looked exactly like Lou on the Transformer album cover. They had a really cool light show and, frankly, I was a mesmerized 18 year-old.
At most of the clubs, the band covered a Beach Boys' song or two or three. They were usually crowd-pleasers. People got up and were singing and dancing. There were Beach Boys' billboards on the boardwalk. The record store bins were full of Endless Summer and Spirit Of America. In a few weeks, 15 Big Ones would be released. It was the first NEW Beach Boys' album I would buy. While some (most?) of those hard rock bands mentioned above would remain on my preferred playlist, both in my car and in my room, slowly but surely they would take a back seat to The Beach Boys. Who'd a thunk it?
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Post by carllove on Sept 5, 2021 13:07:32 GMT
Nineteen-seventy-six was the year I taped David Bowie's brand new LP Station to Station. It was also the year I saw David perform everything on this setlist, starting with the album's title track: My favorite album from that year, and you got to see it live! That must have been magical!
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Post by Kapitan on Sept 5, 2021 13:13:34 GMT
Here are the Top 20 singles of 1976 according to the Billboard year-end charts. Interesting how little crossover there is with the list of chart-topping albums from the same year.
No. Title Artist(s) 1 "Silly Love Songs" Wings 2 "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" Elton John & Kiki Dee 3 "Disco Lady" Johnnie Taylor 4 "December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)" The Four Seasons 5 "Play That Funky Music" Wild Cherry 6 "Kiss and Say Goodbye" The Manhattans 7 "Love Machine" The Miracles 8 "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" Paul Simon 9 "Love Is Alive" Gary Wright 10 "A Fifth of Beethoven" Walter Murphy & The Big Apple Band 11 "Sara Smile" Hall & Oates 12 "Afternoon Delight" Starland Vocal Band 13 "I Write the Songs" Barry Manilow 14 "Fly, Robin, Fly" Silver Convention 15 "Love Hangover" Diana Ross 16 "Get Closer" Seals and Crofts 17 "More, More, More" Andrea True Connection 18 "Bohemian Rhapsody" Queen 19 "Misty Blue" Dorothy Moore 20 "Boogie Fever" The Sylvers
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Post by jk on Sept 5, 2021 20:55:32 GMT
Nineteen-seventy-six was the year I taped David Bowie's brand new LP Station to Station. It was also the year I saw David perform everything on this setlist, starting with the album's title track: My favorite album from that year, and you got to see it live! That must have been magical! It was! I'd been invited to the Rotterdam show by a friend of my wife's. To quote the wiki page below, "The performances began without introduction with a showing of the 1928 surrealist film by Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí, Un Chien Andalou, which includes a famous section of a razor blade cutting into a woman's eyeball. Bowie appeared on stage immediately as the film finished, while the audience was still disoriented. The visual element of the performances incorporated banks of fluorescent white light set against black backdrops creating a stark spectacle on a stage largely devoid of props or other visual distractions." I remember when the film started there was a mass exodus to the bar! Bowie was in his Thin White Duke phase (* this picture* was taken at that performance) and was quite startling to behold. Apparently he'd always been pretty static on stage but now he was starting to move around more, with occasionally comical results. We were in the front row of a balcony right at the back and David was somewhere off on the horizon. Still, we had an unrestricted view of him and the band. Yes, a magical time! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isolar_–_1976_Tour
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Post by Kapitan on Sept 5, 2021 20:58:35 GMT
Was that the first time you'd seen Bowie, jk? Had you been a fan for long?
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Post by jk on Sept 5, 2021 21:12:52 GMT
Was that the first time you'd seen Bowie, jk ? Had you been a fan for long? Yes, the first and only time. I'd known his music since 1966 when I heard "Can't Help Thinking About Me" and was most impressed. "Fan" is perhaps a big word. Favourite albums? Hunky Dory, Heroes, Lodger and Let's Dance. Favourite track? Probably the Fripp-heavy "Fashion" -- RF claims he "surpassed" himself on this session:
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Sept 6, 2021 2:49:50 GMT
Here are the Top 20 singles of 1976 according to the Billboard year-end charts. Interesting how little crossover there is with the list of chart-topping albums from the same year.
No. Title Artist(s) 1 "Silly Love Songs" Wings 2 "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" Elton John & Kiki Dee 3 "Disco Lady" Johnnie Taylor 4 "December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)" The Four Seasons 5 "Play That Funky Music" Wild Cherry 6 "Kiss and Say Goodbye" The Manhattans 7 "Love Machine" The Miracles 8 "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" Paul Simon 9 "Love Is Alive" Gary Wright 10 "A Fifth of Beethoven" Walter Murphy & The Big Apple Band 11 "Sara Smile" Hall & Oates 12 "Afternoon Delight" Starland Vocal Band 13 "I Write the Songs" Barry Manilow 14 "Fly, Robin, Fly" Silver Convention 15 "Love Hangover" Diana Ross 16 "Get Closer" Seals and Crofts 17 "More, More, More" Andrea True Connection 18 "Bohemian Rhapsody" Queen 19 "Misty Blue" Dorothy Moore 20 "Boogie Fever" The Sylvers
Disco was starting to take over. Look at how many of those songs were either flat-out disco music or inspired/influenced by it. I really resented it. I thought it was ruining my beloved AM radio. I've...come around...a little bit over the years. I find some disco music listenable and some even enjoyable. But, back in 1976? It was...noooooooooo!!!
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Post by jk on Sept 6, 2021 7:48:22 GMT
Here are the Top 20 singles of 1976 according to the Billboard year-end charts. Interesting how little crossover there is with the list of chart-topping albums from the same year.
4 "December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)" The Four Seasons
How about that for an introduction to the year in question? Nineteen-sixty-three, besides being a fertile year musically, was extraordinary in at least one respect. The new British music was huge in the UK all year but had to wait until Christmas to take off in the US. The British media focused almost exclusively on what was happening at home, so for the American scene, blissfully unaware as it was of the imminent upheaval, we in the UK had to tune into French stations. (I remember everyone at my school was nuts about The Beatles and the new UK music scene except for myself and one other boy.) That's where I first heard "Surfin' U.S.A." and, much later, "Little Deuce Coupe", both of which made a big impression on me... More later, no doubt. I'm most curious to see who else here has memories of that year!
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Post by Kapitan on Sept 6, 2021 12:02:47 GMT
If time went backward, I'd have just been a teenager for 1963; but as it is, I was 13 years away from birth and so I have no memories of the year. I can, however, paste a list of Billboard year-end top 20 singles from the Hot 100.
№ Title Artist(s) 1 "Surfin' U.S.A." The Beach Boys 2 "The End of the World" Skeeter Davis 3 "Rhythm of the Rain" The Cascades 4 "He's So Fine" The Chiffons 5 "Blue Velvet" Bobby Vinton 6 "Hey Paula" Paul & Paula 7 "Fingertips" Little Stevie Wonder 8 "Can't Get Used to Losing You" Andy Williams 9 "My Boyfriend's Back" The Angels 10 "Sukiyaki" Kyu Sakamoto 11 "So Much in Love" The Tymes 12 "Puff, the Magic Dragon" Peter, Paul & Mary 13 "Blowin' in the Wind" Peter, Paul & Mary 14 "Wipe Out" The Surfaris 15 "I Love You Because" Al Martino 16 "Wild Weekend" The Rebels 17 "You're the Reason I'm Living" Bobby Darin 18 "Walk Like a Man" The Four Seasons 19 "Mockingbird" Inez & Charlie Foxx 20 "I Will Follow Him" Little Peggy March
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Post by jk on Sept 6, 2021 12:26:34 GMT
1 "Surfin' U.S.A." The Beach Boys
2 "The End of the World" Skeeter Davis 3 "Rhythm of the Rain" The Cascades 4 "He's So Fine" The Chiffons 7 "Fingertips" Little Stevie Wonder 9 "My Boyfriend's Back" The Angels 14 "Wipe Out" The Surfaris 16 "Wild Weekend" The Rebels 18 "Walk Like a Man" The Four Seasons 19 "Mockingbird" Inez & Charlie Foxx
Some gorgeous singles there. There was something wonderfully relaxed about that summer. I can't quite put my finger on it -- maybe in retrospect it was the lull before the storm (read: British Invasion). Other great summer 45s included The Four Seasons' "Candy Girl" and The Essex's "Easier Said Than Done", which I remember banging out on someone's harmonium while on holiday that year: But more than anything else, for me it was the year of The Kingsmen's "Louie Louie". I first heard it one evening late in the year fading in and out on a French radio station, where it was described as "une disque très comique"! Maybe, but it changed the way I looked at music more than anything before or since: And then the Invasion hit...
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Post by jk on Sept 6, 2021 21:44:10 GMT
Eek. So I'm the only one here with memories of 1963! I suppose that must make me the oldest poster here. (Thankfully, I'm nowhere near the oldest at EH!)
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