I grew up in the '70s, so naturally I like '70s music. I thought.
But a couple of days ago I had to take my car into the shop for some body work and I'm now driving a loaner vehicle. It has Sirius XM available, so I've been listening to their "70s on 7" channel on my drives to and from radiation treatment.
And.......boy, there's a lot of dreck! I'd consigned to the memory hole all the forgettable detritus the '70s left behind. I only remember the stuff I liked.
Oh well. At least the '60s are still great. Right?
I dont think anything is as good as we remember precisely because we only remeber the few good things and tend to forget the rest.
You should consider writing a song using that line.
😉
????
Every generation (whatever that means) claims the music was WAY better when they were kids. It wasn't.
My failed music career started in '64, and I remember all the crap that was on the radio back then. Most of it was dreadful, but people erase bad music from their memories, kind of like COVID. Thus shall it ever be.
Incorrect. Idiots may do this. I do not.
I was born in 1979. I have spent most of the last 30 years or so looking for the most interesting and most creative music possible by digging high and low through record bins. I have somewhere in the neighborhood of 10,000 records across so many obscure sub genres that it would make your head spin.
One of the easiest ways to get through all of that music to find the interesting stuff is to know what to look for in any given era. I would rank the decades in roughly this order and I’d guess my record collection would probably bear this out:
80s
70s
90s
60s
00s
50s
40s
.
.
.
.
10s
20s
The last two decades have been by far the worst for music generally. The 00s only beat out the 50s and 40s thanks to the fact that underground music existed in the early part of the 00s close to the way it did from the 60s thru the 90s.
I’d probably rather listen to popular music from the 1920s than the 2020s.
Every generation (whatever that means) claims the music was WAY better when they were kids. It wasn't.
While taste is obviously subjective, some trends in popular music are actually measurable. This dude claims popular music today really is dumbed down and grossly oversimplified, and features less complexity and richness than the songs of previous eras. It's not just your imagination having a "get off the lawn" moment:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ks4c_A0Ach8&ab_channel=RickBeato
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bZ0OSEViyo&ab_channel=RickBeato
I sometimes dither in my mind as to which was better, the 60s or 70s*? I personally go with the latter, although it's a narrow advantage. The thing is, artists in the 70s stood on the shoulders of giants in a way that artists in the preceding decade didn't quite enjoy. It's not the fault of the Beatles that there was no Lennon and McCartney in the 1950s!
For me what stands out about the 70s from childhood memories is the sheer, exuberant eclecticism and variety of it all. It was the Baskin Robbins of musical decades. We have plenty of different styles today, of course, but what is generally defined as pop or top 40 is overwhelmingly dominated by a few genres: R&B/Hip Hop and disco (not really sure what to call Taylor Swift: she's something of a unicorn). So if you want a broad range of styles, you generally have to sample multiple stations or streaming options. Which admittedly isn't very difficult in the age of Spotify. But I think we've lost something valuable.
But in the 70s...damn!...you could get in the car, tune in to your local top 40 station (sometimes even AM radio) and hear a Steely Dan song followed by Carpenters followed by Donna Summer followed by Eagles followed by Sammy Davis Jr followed by Don McLean followed by Led Zeppelin followed by Dolly Parton followed by Elton John followed by John Denver followed by David Bowie followed by Crystal Gayle followed by Gladys Knight followed by Jim Croce followed by Stevie Wonder...again, all on the same radio station...it was nuts. And glorious.
*I personally love a lot of stuff from the 80s, too.
Music today is simpler, but mostly because of the context it's being played in, and the impact of merely counting 'popularity' in that one medium.
This system doesn't count influences or remixes or quoted music as popularity.
I sometimes see one of those "greatest songs of 1973" lists or whatever and it's full of great stuff. But that's the view from the future. If you go look at what was actually popular in 1973, sure, there's a lot of overlap, but there's also a lot of forgettable dreck in the list, and a lot of classics outright missing.
I remember radio in the 70s. It was a very mixed bag.
This is the "Why isn't modern music as good as the stuff I grew up with?" phenomenon in a nutshell. You forgot all the forgettable trash because of course you did; it was forgettable trash!
You forgot all the forgettable trash because of course you did; it was forgettable trash!
Nobody should deny that every decade features plenty of "forgettable trash" (and lots of sublimely fantastic works, too). But this is a different question than looking at average or typical quality of popular music across different eras. Not that this is anything close to an objective question, mind you. But some elements of the popular music of different eras are quantifiable. And today's artists (probably due to "improvements" in technology plus trends in the business of music) appear to be producing a lot output that on average is less musically complex and rich than bygone eras.
Also: Cars mostly looked like shit. So too for clothes, hair, and architecture.
Cars also ran like shit (remember reviewers evaluating "driveability") and were shoddily put together.
Lol maybe if you have zero taste.
Your memory has just met Sturgeon's Law.
The 70s gave us disco, and we should all be eternally grateful for that. The best dance music ever made.
Disco. When Donna Summer took over the airwaves, I decided the rest of the 70’s would be elevator music. Fortunately, although The Beatles were done, The Grateful Dead, Dylan, Van Morrison, Ry Cooder, Fleetwood Mac, Pink Floyd, and many other worthwhile musicians kept on going.
Donna Summer is life.
Disco isn't dead...
https://youtu.be/woo0UrQbd2s
Disco the main reason 70s music sucked…Hated it with the heat of a thousand suns…loved the Punk, Classic rock and New Wave that finally crushed it..
You show deep lack of understanding of how music progressed.
Disco won. BIG won. Nobody cares about rock music today. All the shitty synthetic EDM and even pop and rap now is a direct descendent of house and techno music, aka disco’s direct descendants.
Anyway I love punk music but disco and house are far far far better overall.
You understand. Disco didn't die, it rose from the ashes in center field!
You hated the scene. Maybe even just flavor of '70's disco, but I bet your feet tap when some of the beats drop.
Depends on what you were listening to in the 70’s doesn’t it? I was listening to mostly British art/progressive rock. King Crimson, Yes, Genesis (Peter Gabriel version), Gentle Giant, Pink Floyd, Renaissance, Tangerine Dream, Henry Cow, Robert Wyatt, Van Der Graff Generator. Etc. it’s still my favorite music after all these years. Bet they didn’t play any of those bands on Sirius. Well, maybe Pink Floyd and Yes.
Songs below are the Top 20 Billboard hits of the 1970s, per a Spotify list. Except for a few (7, 13, 16, maybe one or two others), nothing there that anyone I knew in high school or college would listen to.
The problem with "top hits" from the '70s was that that was the decade people's listening habits changed dramatically. It was the advent of FM radio (and decline of AM Top 40) and album sales (not singles sales) was where the action was at.
1. “You Light Up My Life” – Debby Boone
Hot 100 Peak Position: 1, Peak Date: October 15, 1977
2. “Tonight’s The Night (Gonna Be Alright)” – Rod Stewart
Hot 100 Peak Position: 1, Peak Date: November 13, 1976
3. “Le Freak” – Chic
Hot 100 Peak Position: 1, Peak Date: December 9, 1978
4. “How Deep Is Your Love” – Bee Gees
Hot 100 Peak Position: 1, Peak Date: December 24, 1977
5. “I Just Want To Be Your Everything” – Andy Gibb
Hot 100 Peak Position: 1, Peak Date: July 30, 1977
6. “Silly Love Songs” – Wings
Hot 100 Peak Position: 1, Peak Date: May 22, 1976
7. “Let’s Get It On” – Marvin Gaye
Hot 100 Peak Position: 1, Peak Date: September 8, 1973
8. “Night Fever” – Bee Gees
Hot 100 Peak Position: 1, Peak Date: March 18, 1978
9. “Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Ole Oak Tree” – Dawn Featuring Tony Orlando
Hot 100 Peak Position: 1, Peak Date: April 21, 1973
10. “Shadow Dancing” – Andy Gibb
Hot 100 Peak Position: 1, Peak Date: June 17, 1978
11. “Stayin’ Alive” – Bee Gees
Hot 100 Peak Position: 1, Peak Date: February 4, 1978
12. “Hot Stuff” – Donna Summer
Hot 100 Peak Position: 1, Peak Date: June 2, 1979
13. “You’re So Vain” – Carly Simon
Hot 100 Peak Position: 1, Peak Date: January 6, 1973
14. “Play That Funky Music” – Wild Cherry
Hot 100 Peak Position: 1, Peak Date: September 18, 1976
15.”My Sharona” – The Knack
Hot 100 Peak Position: 1, Peak Date: August 25, 1979
16.”Killing Me Softly With His Song” – Roberta Flack
Hot 100 Peak Position: 1, Peak Date: February 24, 1973
17. “Best Of My Love” – The Emotions
Hot 100 Peak Position: 1, Peak Date: August 20, 1977
18. “The Way We Were” – Barbra Streisand
Hot 100 Peak Position: 1, Peak Date: February 2, 1974
19. “A Fifth Of Beethoven” – Walter Murphy & The Big Apple Band
Hot 100 Peak Position: 1, Peak Date: October 9, 1976
20. “I Will Survive” – Gloria Gaynor
Hot 100 Peak Position: 1, Peak Date: March 10, 1979
Seems like 1973 was the year that stuck with you.
"You light up my life"...yeah....quickly turned into "It's a Small World After All" type song. Just make it stop!!!
If I remember correctly, the top selling single of the 1960s was "Sugar Sugar" by the Archies.
#8, per the following.
This is the Billboard Top 20 hits of the 1960s, using the same methodology (based not on total sales but peak and duration on the Billboard Hot 100 list). More a song list I could listen to.
1. “The Twist,” Chubby Checker
Peak Date: Sept. 24, 1960
2. “Hey Jude,” The Beatles
Peak Date: Sep. 28, 1968
3. “The Theme From ‘A Summer Place,’” Percy Faith And His Orchestra
Peak Date: Feb. 27, 1960
4. “Tossin’ And Turnin,’” Bobby Lewis
Peak Date: July 15, 1961
5. “I Want To Hold Your Hand,” The Beatles
Peak Date: Feb. 1, 1964
6. “I’m A Believer,” The Monkees
Peak Date: Dec. 31, 1966
7. “Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In,” The 5th Dimension
Peak Date: April 12, 1969
8. “Sugar, Sugar,” The Archies
Peak Date: Sept. 20, 1969
9. “I Heard It Through The Grapevine,” Marvin Gaye
Peak Date: Dec. 14, 1968
10. “Are You Lonesome Tonight?,” Elvis Presley With The Jordanaires
Peak Date: Dec. 3, 1960
11. “It’s Now Or Never,” Elvis Presley With The Jordanaires
Peak Date: Aug. 20, 1960
12. “I Can’t Stop Loving You,” Ray Charles
Peak Date: June 2, 1962
13. “I’m Sorry,” Brenda Lee
Peak Date: July 23, 1960
14. “Love Is Blue (L’amour Est Bleu),” Paul Mauriat And His Orchestra
Peak Date: Feb. 10, 1968
15. “Hello, Dolly!,” Louis Armstrong And The All Stars
Peak Date: May 9, 1964
16. “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” The Four Seasons
Peak Date: Nov. 17, 1962
17. “Sugar Shack,” Jimmy Gilmer And The Fireballs
Peak Date: Oct. 12, 1963
18. “Honky Tonk Women,” The Rolling Stones
Peak Date: Aug. 23, 1969
19. “(Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay,” Otis Redding
Peak Date: March 16, 1968
20. “Big Bad John,” Jimmy Dean
Peak Date: Nov. 11, 1961
I was living in Chicago in the seventies and I still remember listening every evening to the FM station that switched from Polish language to album rock at 7:00. Good times (at least what I remember).
The band Yes?
"In and around the lake, mountains come out of the sky, and they stand there"
I'm not sure writing lyrics while on LSD is a good thing.
Hey! Do NOT diss Yes!
I am still carrying the torch for prog bands from the 70's. Chris Squire should never have died.
Saw Yes at the Akron Rubber Bowl summer of 72. It was the first time I finally got "off" smoking the low quality weed that was available. It was great! BTW the Eagles were the opener for a three band event. My one regret for that time was missing Grace Slick a couple weeks later starting a riot at the same venue after looking around the stadium and remarking "there sure are a lot of pigs here."
Meh
every decade has good and bad music.
the 60 hads Tiny Tim, Sonny and Cher, Johnny Rebel, the Ohio Express (Yummy Yummy Yummy), Allan Sherman, The Singing Nun, 1910 Fruitgum Company
and as a bonus, from 1962, on vinyl, I still have a copy that my parents bought - Ronald Reagan Speaks Out Against Socialized Medicine
Sounds like quite the collectors item. E-bay says $200. Not bad, I suppose, but you’d be better off with Fantastic Four #1.
Well, you can test that hypothesis. SuriusXM channel 73. Where the 60s music went when 40s on 4, 50s on 5, and 60s on 6 went to channels 71, 72, and 73 respectively.
As you are a California boy, I recommend a few hours on channel 77 though 🙂
77 is our standard, except when they occassionally drift from bluegrass into God, guns, mom and old Shep country.
I can't listen to the decade channels because their playlists are devoid of taste (except 50s Gold). The genre stations generally have good playlists that can be great depending on if you get a listening block someone had more leeway to program with lesser known tracks.
Try Deep Tracks. The station moved to channel 305 I think. I think it would be more to your liking.
But, everybody loves kung fu fighting.
The thing about the 70s was that every year seemed like it's own era, so by the end of the decade everyone felt wrung out by it.
Grew up in the 90s, I can remember and replay for myself all the good stuff that no one remembers anymore, but I never have to listen to Alice in Chains ever again.
A replay of a Casey Casum AT Top 40 episode on SiriusXM Channel 7 can very rapidly swing from the sublime to the execrable.
Henry Cow -- that's a band I haven't heard of for a while. I had one of their albums vinyl (that's all you could get in the 70s), but I don't think I moved it to digital when I converted most of my albums. I have a vague recollection of an album cover with a sock woven from wires.
Even the 60s had a lot of weird pop. But the 60s had a lot of great psychedelic stuff: early Pink Floyd, King Crimson, even some Beatles. Lots of 60s bands did great stuff in the 70s as well -- David Bowie and Yes come to mind.
The 80s had *fun* music. Still love Psychedelic Furs, New Order, etc.
I hope you get all the "one-hit-wonders"!!!
And how many songs that you like were written/co-written by Carol King, e.g. 'Up on the Roof"? Ok, that came out in the 60's...
Good grief! Some folks are really hard to please. Actually, of course, I suspect those folks just have their memories eroded by time and/or drugs.
BJ Thomas "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head"
Simon & Garfunkel "Bridge Over Troubled Water"
The Beatles "Let It Be"
The Guess Who "American Woman"
Ray Stevens "Everything Is Beautiful"
The Beatles "The Long and Winding Road"
Three Dog Night "Mama Told Me"
The Carpenters "Close to You"
Diana Ross "Ain't No Mountain High Enough"
Neil Diamond "Cracklin' Rosie"
The Jackson 5 "I'll Be There"
Smokey Robinson & the Miracles "The Tears of a Clown"
George Harrison "My Sweet Lord"
That's just some of the Number Ones from 1970.
Check the list of the 1970s Number Ones, and then tell me how bad the seventies were:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Billboard_Hot_100_number-one_singles_of_the_1970s
much better list then the top 20 listed above for the entire decade.
It's difficult to wrestle music into decades. From my perspective the music of the 60's probably started with the Beatles and ran through the mid-70's. And along with all the great rock were hits like "Snoopy versus the Red Baron" and "Hooray for Hazel." I was once driving a friend home from college and "Hooray for Hazel" came on the radio. I turned it off. My friend turned it back on. I turned it off again. He turned it on. I pulled the car to the side of the road and turned the ignition off. We sat there in a Minnesota blizzard waiting. He looked at me gape jawed and said, "I can't believe you'd hate a song that much. I won't turn it on again." We waited until I was sure it was over. Oh yeah, "Winchester Cathedral." Ugh.
Karma.
Although there were a lot of excellent songs from back then (similar age as Kevin here), I have recently come upon the phenomenon of listening to a song that I liked back then and realizing it was merely decently crafted stadium rock...
You know, a lot of the new music coming out is pretty darn good in comparison to some of the stuff from our youth. Just hard to find it because there is precious little top 40 radio type things to curate it for us.
I haven't had Sirius for about a decade, but if you like rock from the 60's and 70's, try channels 25 and 26, and possibly 308. For me, it was usually channel 23 (Grateful Dead channel), unless they were playing a live stuff well past the 1980's.
Channel 7 is 70's pop music, stuff my wife likes, such as Barry Manilow and Abba. I only now listen to Sirius when I fly Jet Blue.
October 1888: after a demonstration of Edison's latest hi-fi phonograph, Sir Arthur Sullivan records a message for Edison:
"I can only say that I am astonished and somewhat terrified at the result of this evening's experiments: astonished at the wonderful power you have developed, and terrified at the thought that so much hideous and bad music may be put on record forever. But all the same I think it is the most wonderful thing that I have ever experienced, and I congratulate you with all my heart on this wonderful discovery."
hendrix, sabbath, zeppelin, floyd, tull, bowie, eno, roxy music, iggy pop, modern lovers, new york dolls, gil scott-heron, patti smith, talking heads, television, velvet underground/lou reed/john cale, neil young, john prine, gang of four, joy division, psychedelic furs, pere ubu, zappa, the cure, dead kennedys, the specials, REM, and an assortment of one-hit wonders
and tom waits.
Lots of great stuff in your list! But much of it not really 70s. The Velvets were fine very early in the decade, tho of course Lou continued to produce gems for many years. Gang of Four (criminally under appreciated band!) the Furs, Joy Division, The Cure and REM are all 80s bands. Tho I guess Joy Division were late 70s, but I always lump them in with New Order that was definitely 80s. Of course there were bands that started in the 70s but hit their stride in the 80s like Talking Heads. I’d have to check album dates to know if Tom Waits fits with that. When we’re Frank's Wild Years and Raindogs?
Btw if you liked Joy Division et al check out the movie 24 Hour Party People. A very entertaining sort of biopic about the founder of Factory Records starring Steve Coogan.
based on my first purchases, most were 79-ish (i was sort of a record store slut so bought a lot of first releases)
gof 'entertainment' was 79, joy division 'unknown pleasures 79', cure 'three imaginary boys' 79, talking heads '77
waits 'closing time' 73, 'nighthawks at the diner' 75, 'small change' 76
you're right about dead kennedys 80, psychedelic furs 80, REM 83, etc
also skipped some other late 70's oddities like cabaret voltaire, crass, alternative tv, etc since they were less well known
one of my favorites from the era was a sampler called 'mutant pop 78/79' with the mekons, scars, flowers, gof, etc
i remember finishing up the final run of a compiler implementation for a CS project course, listening to that tape while walking home during a blizzard at 3am and smoking a joint
one of the best moments in my life; pure fucking joy
https://www.discogs.com/release/4418739-Various-Mutant-Pop-7879
OMG I thought I was only one of about ten people who had that Mutant Pop album! A cooler version of Damaged Goods than on their own album. And to this day I know that AR in AR-15 comes from Armalite Rifle. And I disprove of it. And so does Jon.
I love Tom Waits and tho his early stuff is certainly in the 70s I don’t think he really broke out until Raindogs which is ‘85. Or maybe that’s just when I was in college and old enough to appreciate him.
i love the song 'horrorshow' on mutant pop; it's based on clockwork orange 'nadsat' which was russian/english slang
Tolchocked a baboochka
Just a mite too horrorshow
Malenky in the rot
'Waah!' her litso yelled
Millicents they caught me
Screaming eyes with pain
Droogs betrayed old Alex
Will pay them back some day
Death sentence
https://lyricstranslate.com/en/scars-horrorshow-lyrics.html
waits' "nighthawks at the diner" was one of our standard friday night getting ready for the bar albums
was blown away by frank's wild years (1987) when i heard it, of course same for bone machine
and 'hoist that rag' is up there with twain's 'war prayer' in the american anti-war canon
And so does Jon.
Breaks down easy, fits into a pram
A child can carry it, do it no harm
Armalite rifle and the Holy Trinity
Its used against you for Irish jokes on the BBC
Ian Curtis died in May 1980. How that makes JD an 80s band is beyond me.
Gang of Four best record came out in the 70s.
Talking Heads really better in the 70s even if their “hits” were from later.
90% of everything is crap.
The Abnormal Curve guarantees it.
Now it’s 99.999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999%
I think a large part of music appreciation is the memories and feelings you associate with the songs. I'm sure like most people, there are some songs I love to listen to because they dredge up memories from certain times in my life, sometimes very specific times like a particular party in high school. I certainly wouldn't think of the song in the same way if I was hearing it for the first time now.
proust:
I place in position before my mind's eye the still recent taste of that first mouthful, and I feel something start within me, something that leaves its resting-place and attempts to rise, something that has been embedded like an anchor at a great depth; I do not know yet what it is, but I can feel it mounting slowly; I can measure the resistance, I can hear the echo of great spaces traversed.
Couldn’t have said it better myself.
The 70s had fantastic music, but as so often, much of what was really popular was absolutely awful. For every "What's Going On" or "Baba O'Riley" that made it on the radio, there was tons of schlock like "Afternoon Delight" and "Babe." Some of the most popular bands and musicians reached their peak during the 70s (Bowie, Stevie Wonder, etc.) as well as some entire categories of music (like funk). In terms of rock music, I consider the 70s the era when it reached its baroque and mannerist phases, with the best coming from the relatively few, truly talented bands like Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd, but much of rock radio being dominated by a lot of insufferably pretentious stuff from bands like ELP and Kansas.
Under the surface of the big trends in radio, I see the 70s as a period of musical rejuvenation that would end up greatly influencing later pop music. There was the far-out experimentation of Brian Eno and Can, the proto-punk of the Stooges and New York Dolls (that then evolved into the full-on punk of the Ramones and Clash), reggae, and the beginnings of what would soon totally conquer the airwaves: rap and hip-hop.
Lots of great stuff if you know where to look.
Hey now I have VERY Fond memories of Afternoon Delight. It was a running joke between my boyfriend and I a bunch of years after it was a hit, it was a rare song inspired by Georgetown in DC - Clydes had a big banner advertising their buffet, called it Afternoon Delight.
But for the 70s I adored ABBA and Disco but could also appreciate ELO and the like too.
"afternoon delight" is perfect.
At least you know where the most interesting stuff lies, but even for pop schmaltz afternoon delight and dust in the wind and steely Dan and Michael McDonald doobies and Toto etc all far far far better than most music released in the last 30 years.
I think there’s an argument for the 70s being an incredible music decade. From punk to funk, from prog to alternative (or at least the roots of it), Bowie, Springsteen, Tom Waits, Todd Rundgren, Nick Lowe, Elvis Costello, The Cars, Talking Heads and the creative weirdness of bands like Devo, B-52s, and Johnathan Richman. Plus a thousand others.
The problem is that much of this did not rule the Top 40 the way a lot of schlock did. But it’s the popular schlock that gets picked up on today’s oldies stations. I think what makes the 60s so unusual musically is that it’s the rare modern era where arguably the best music also ruled the Top 40. Pick a random week from the 60s and read the top 40. There will be a ton of songs still considered classics. Pick a random week from the 70s or 80s and you’re much more likely to wonder what the hell is this crap?
You forgot metal basically being born in this decade with Black Sabbath and Judas Priest.
As for your point about the 60s, how much of that is because of the tight control of the music industry? How much of the 60s music scene even existed outside of the top 40, especially for the people still living today?
Although you're right about the control of the music industry the first few years of the 60s being a factor, label control weakened significantly over this period as bands like the Beatles and Sly & the Family Stone started taking much more creative control of their material, and this greater musical freedom led to the creation of some of the best music of that era.
I think your allusion to top-40 radio's singular character back then as a unified transmitter of "pop music," with a wide range of styles competing for the broadest audience, was a more important factor. Radio, as well as its listeners, later became fragmented into specific music styles and target audiences, which made it more difficult for musical acts to reach such a wide audience as was standard for any successful act in the 60s.
You've hit the nail on the head. The scene is where it's at. Talking Heads did not spring from a vacuum. There is a long thread reaching back back back to beats on a log or rock. It's the scenes, the local tastes and flavors that boil into the gumbo of sound we enjoyed. A lot of folks just ate the extruded muck from the record companies and didn't get too deep into their local scenes.
I graduated high school in 1970 but my playlist is mostly 80s & 90s: The Call, Echo & the Bunnymen, Midnight Oil, Jimmy Barnes, Paul Kelly.
I’m just commenting because it makes me happy to see folks mention Echo and the Bunnymen. I don’t think they really ever got their due here in the states.
The Jesus and Mary Chain...
Who by the way just released a new album.
Sounds like the issue is less "Music from the 70s sucks" and more "Sirius XM sucks" which should be pretty easy to address.
That was my thought too. Some of their DJ's song choices are not awesome.
XM before Sirius XM was far better for music programming.
I wouldn't judge anything like that by listening to Sirius. I never can find a station I really like listening to on it, and I love Rock music. I don't get their choices of songs to play.
The common denominator is Lowest Common Denominator. They get the cheap songs and play them over and over, like Top 40's Radio.
Their latest offer is $3.99/month for 36 months. I think they're getting desperate.
Thanks for the explanation – that makes perfect sense.
If Sirius had better quality, I would consider buying their service. But they've never appealed to me.
Oh, I still remember some of the awful stuff ... 'Animal', by the Tokens. Never anywhere close to being a hit, and I STILL can't get it out of my head.
“90 % of anything is crap.”
- Sturgeon’s Law
My public Spotify 80s playlist is over 63 hours with nearly 900 songs. It's not meant to be the "best of"; it's meant to be an immersive experience of the 80s as heard through my ears. You will never hear a song played twice in over a week of listening at work. If you grew up in the 80s, it'll trigger memories.
As for the 70s, I recall analog lo-fi and maybe stereo, but mostly lots of scratches and pops.