Alright, perhaps I had a little "apple pie in the sky" high hopes for more guesses on the movie quotes in the last post. This is a little more personal as a post, but I would like to think that everyone could comment on it.
Now that I have been outed. I suppose it is safe to say that yes, I was born in 1977 the single worst year in American popular music history since the invention of America.
Those who know me know I am not kidding. The big three; the three worst bands of all time were all having important years. Foreigner released their debut album. Steve Perry had just joined with future hall-of-famers Journey, and the biggest bad of them all Boston was having a huge year following the success of their debut album in 1976. Other horrible bands were also having great years. REO Speedwagon and Styx both produced breakthrough albums. Let's not forget Fleetwood Mac's Rumors either. And if that's not enough to scare you...
The song that topped the charts for more weeks than any other, as well as won a Academy Award: You Light Up My Life; dominated the airwaves. Also hitting it big on the charts that year: Barry Manilow, The Bee Gees and Andy Gibb, Barbara Streisand, Rod Stewart, Leo Sayer.
Bing Crosby, the plane crash of Skynard, Charlie Chaplin, and of course Elvis.
Starlight Vocal Band won a Grammy. So did Chick Corea and Chuck Mangione. The last two are white guys who did more to create smooth jazz( the worst form of music known to ears since arena rock) than anyone since Kenny G
Now some will say that there is a balance. Count Basie and Duke Ellington Both won Grammies as well that year. As did Stevie Wonder, Emmylou Harris, Chet Atkins & Les Paul, and Ella Fitgerald. Pete's Dragon was on movie screens, Elvis Costello released Allison, and The Commodors hit it big with Brick House and Easy (Like Sunday Morning) [the latter is the theme song of my ninja Mark.]
The thing is, yes, Punk was just beginning to make waves, The Clash, the Sex Pistols, The Jam, etc; but do you notice something? That's right. We needed another British Invasion to save us from ourselves. Back in the Early sixties it was Pat freakin' Boone who was watering down good real music and making it palatable, but thank goodness The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Kinks and The Beatles were there.
I'm not going to go where you think I'm going. Saying we need another invasion. I really wrote this because I want to know what you think was the worst year in American popular music history? The year you were born? The year John was killed? 1991? You tell me.
3 comments:
Davey, I cannot keep up with all this research! Ok, without very much to defend myself, I say it was 1982. Any year in which Toto and Marvin Gaye win 2 Grammys each is a low point in my book. It was the year before Duran Duran would have a real impact on American music, and thus began the transition out of the 70's and into the dancable music of the 80's.
Toto, wow. That is bad. In fact, by my count they won more like 5. Now I like me some Marvin Gaye. And in this particular case we are talking aobut "sexual healing" a fantastic song. But I agree in principle: 1982 was a pretty bad year.
I dunno, what year did the Macarena come out? That song alone is a big enough black hole of suck to pull an entire year beyond the event horizon.
I think that was a big year for Britney and the legion of Boy Bands as well. I remember I retreated to my burgeoning mp3 collection at the time, so I wasn't paying much attention to the airwaves. Sorry I'm not doing my research -- I've already allotted more than my 5-minutes of time-wasting ;)
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