Eldergays, are any of these groups from the 1970s worth listening to?

You have to have been a gayling living through the craptastic 70s to really hate this stuff.

I think Bread was the poor man's version of America, which was the poor man's version of The Eagles which were shit to begin with. I was so happy when the New Wave groups started on the scene. Music between 1970 and 1978 was pretty bleak.

May I suggest Steely Dan instead? Their music has held up very well.

R2 You may, but I've already "discovered" and enjoyed their Steely Dan records! They were much better than what I've been lead to believe. I don't understand their reputation for being frat boy music, I guess the 70s were a different time.

What's funny about these albums to me, is that I don't think they had any "musical" staying power for my parents, I don't think they kept listening to any of those groups listed after the 70s.

Best bet is to google lists of these groups' hits and give those songs a listen. None of those bands ever released an essential album other than greatest hits collections.

Pure 1970's California rock.

Full bush and hairy holes EVERYWHERE!

^^^ LOVE!!!

Those are all terrible bands, OP.

Those are all fantastic bands, OP.

Agreed. The songs may seem schmaltzy by today’s standards, but I find their music soothing as they are from my childhood.

I thought America was great (grew up in 70s/80s) and have listened to them my entire life. And also a lot of music from the Eagles. i have never owned any music from the others but tolerated their songs when they came on (except the Flying Burrito Brothers - who the hell even is that??). Seals & Croft were kind of unique, but i only knew their radio hits, never owned any music by them.

One of the best 70's songs of all time. It's still sounds spectacular. Wear headphones to hear every tiny sound. It's beautiful.

Lots of men with long hair and beards and no body.

[quote]You have to have been a gayling living through the craptastic 70s to really hate this stuff. I think Bread was the poor man's version of America, which was the poor man's version of The Eagles which were shit to begin with. I was so happy when the New Wave groups started on the scene. Music between 1970 and 1978 was pretty bleak.

r1, I bet you and I are almost the exact same age. I had the same reaction, especially to America: "Why did the horse have no name? You're in the desert! There's nothing to do but GIVE the horse a name, you stupid hippies!"

"Play some 'funky Dixieland'? THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS FUNKY DIXIELAND!"

Overall the Doobie Brothers are the best, but The Flying Burrito Brothers were as good when they were at their peak.

"I found her diary underneath a tree . . ."

WTF was her diary doing underneath a tree? People got misty listening to this song.

I love this video. I want that denim sequined jacket.

I'd be shocked if there weren't any Three Dog Night albums in the collection. They were one of the most popular groups at that time.

They didn't write their own songs, but they sung some of the best songs of that time.

Seals and Crofts’ first album is lyrical and mystical — nothing like the commercial crap they switched to. I highly recommend it. It’s like they became a different group over night.

R17 Yep, they DO have Three Dog Night in their collection and enough albums that I should have put them in the poll: Golden Bisquits, Harmony, and Seven Separate Fools.

I also should have put Poco in the poll.

All these bands are good.

“Schmaltzy by today’s standards”? By today’s standards, everything mentioned in this thread is absolute fucking gold.

R18, there’s nothing wrong with “Summer Breeze.” It’s an exquisite composition.

Dennis Locorriere from Dr Hook has big dick face

Summer Breeze is trite top 40.

[Quote] there’s nothing wrong with “Summer Breeze.”

Never said that but okay.

All of those bands are pretty bad EXCEPT the Flying Burrito Brothers and specifically Gilded Palace of Sin, which is a truly truly great record. There's a reason that Gram Parsons was friends with Keith Richards and Mick Jagger - they're peers.

Best of Bread is actually kind of pleasant once in a blue moon.

America had great harmonies and excellent songwriting. Tin Man, A Horse With No Name, You Can Do Magic, Lonely People, I Need You...and even a lot of their deep cuts are pretty good. If you like Crosby, Stills and Nash, I think you will like America.

Just remember when listening and watching these videos. HUGE BUSHES AND HAIRY HOLES EVERYWHERE IN THE 1970'S.

R20 agreed. That’s the irony of it, and makes the hyper analysis of 70s song lyrics by millennials even more laughable.

Kansas had some good songs too.

America is revolting. “Sister Golden Hair” has some retarded lyrics.

R18, I don’t know how else to interpret what you wrote. It sounds dismissive of everything that came after their solo record; “Summer Breeze” was a few albums down the road. Read what you wrote again.

LOVE the 3 a, b, c's: america, bread, the carpenters...

say what you will....

Here’s he deal. All of these songs sound better on an AM car radio of similar vintage, preferably a Delco in a GM. Perhaps with a bit of static from a storm that’s making its way nearer

Sorry, everything that came after their debut, not their solo record.

I grew up listening to all this stuff. My mom loved the ‘70s adult contemporary/yacht rock music.

Here are a couple more to add to the list. England Dan and John Ford Coley and Little River Band.

R31 Unfortunately, the Carpenters must have been too corny for my parents (somehow), there isn't a single album by them in their collection. They had to draw the line somewhere. No Kansas, either!

Doobie Brothers Livin On The Fault Line album is their best imo.

Lead singer of Kansas Steve Walsh was another reason to love the. He was always showing off his body and huge bulge. Loved him! Thanks for the reminder, r29!

R34... forgot about them, england dan and john ford coley.. love them too...

also love the stylistics!....

Hated the Carpenters.

I LOVE Little River Band. Poco and England Dan & John Ford Colley were pretty great as well. I'll add one: Atlanta Rhythm Section. Their version of "Spooky" was great.

Steve! So handsome!

A real town in TX, not China.

If they purchased any Todd Rundgren albums, those are essential listens.

I always thought all of Bread's songs sounded the same. i will lump in the Doobie Bros as sounded the same as well, but i think it's because their lead singers had pretty distinctive voices. I wouldn't put either of them at the top of my 70's chart.

“Carry On, Wayward Son” is great. OP, just look it up online if you don’t have the record there. Sick riffs, interesting time signature, great transition to the killer chorus.

What.... No Air Supply?

I feel like once you’re into “China Grove,” you might as well go Foghat.

Eagles "Take It To The Limit" is a great song and probably would sound better sung by someone with a more soulful voice.

"Desparado", also an Eagles song, is better with Linda Ronstadt singing it, it's a solid tune and a song by one of the band members done solo, Don Henley, "Heart Of The Matter" is a true gem of American popular songwriting.

America, rather than being a "poor man's Eagles", as a poster above suggested, were probably more like a poor man's Neil Young, at least in the beginning...except they were better singers. They weren't all countrified like the early Eagles, and they didn't have that rock edge that the later Eagles had. They had a decent string of hits that were pleasant to listen to.

The Doobie Brothers were sort of a good-time boogie bar band. Songs to play while you're on a road trip type of stuff. Great, catchy tunes. Their sound changed dramatically when they added Michael McDonald to the lineup and became the personification of what is now known as "yacht rock".

Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show began as pretty much a novelty band, singing a lot of songs by Shel Silverstein. Then they dropped the "and the Medicine Show" and just became Dr. Hook, specializing in fairly bland, soft pop-rock. I only like them for the nostalgia factor.

Flying Burrito Brothers were among the bands that pioneered the "country rock" genre. They were an offshoot of the Byrds, I think. They were critical darlings who never had a hit song. "Hot Burrito #1" is a pretty tune.

Loggins and Messina are my personal favorites of this list. They didn't have a ton of hits, only 3 or 4 really, but they had a ton of great album cuts, like "Watching the River Run", "Vahevala", "Peace of Mind", "Angry Eyes", "Holiday Hotel", etc. etc. They were musically probably the most versatile band on the list. Don't be put off by what Kenny Loggins eventually became in the 80's...this is when he was really good.

Bread is pure soft rock schmaltz...but they are very good at it. It just gets to be a bit saccharine after listening to more than two or three of their songs. Some of their songs are probably considered classic love songs, so good for them.

Seals and Croft usually managed to come up with a great tune every year or two. They were devout members of the Baha'i faith, so they were super serious and a bit pretentious, which probably kept them from becoming bigger stars.

Eagles’ “Take It To The Limit” takes it to the limit and waaaay beyond with an outro that never fuckin ends.

Also, as mentioned upthread, Steely Dan was/is a completely different kind of sound and i still love it. Interesting, intellectual lyrics as well.

My all time fav Atlanta Rhythm Section song. RIP leader singer, Ronnie Hammond. He had one of the purest most beautiful voices in rock music. Just a beautiful singer.

“Sylvia’s Mother” by Dr. Hook & TMS is a tearjerker. Written by Silverstein. Devastating!

R45 Just ONE album, thankfully.

I think what I find funny about my parents' record collection (to be fair, it's mostly my dad's), is that while he bought all those records when he was in his 20s... he certainly didn't KEEP listening to this 1970s soft rock. That's what kind of cracks me up about their record collection, they certainly didn't play any of this music while I was growing up!! Like most people he probably "regressed" to music he liked as a TEENAGER as he got older, which has aged better (and definitely still holds more cultural cachet): Cream, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Van Morrison, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and The Doors. Only 70s artists definitely stuck around for my father were really Jackson Browne and Eagles.

It just makes me laugh that there were so many albums by the groups in the poll, but they were RARELY listened to after the 1970s!!

Bread had some decent songs. The hits were mostly written by David Gates, but band mate Jimmy Griffin's songs were just as good if not better, and he had a more soulful voice. His songs were usually the b-side or album cuts. His solo albums are worth seeking out.

r52 I used to hear that song on the radio when I was a kid and feel so heartbroken and didn't really understand why, but I was clearly living that song with the man singing it.

America: Schmaltzy sub-Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

Bread: Closer to the Carpenters than to real rock, can't really be compared to America

The Doobie Brothers: Fratboy Rock

Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show: Novelty act

The Flying Burrito Brothers: Related to the Byrds/Buffalo Springfield ecosystem of musicians, never had more than cult status

Loggins & Messina: Messina was a session guy---ex-Buffalo Springfield. They did listenable pop and then Loggins went to Nashville and did commercials from a crappy local hospital

Seals & Crofts: Had been around a long time, originally partnered with Glen Campbell in the 60s.

r48 Loggins & Messina have a place in my heart because the song Back to Pooh Corner put my kids to sleep almost every night when i sang it to them, so we have a 31 and 26 old running around who know that song by heart and love it. Also loved their version of Danny's Song.

The Flying Burrito Brothers were great. I love Gram Parsons. He hated Roger McGuinn's version of You Don't Miss Your Water so much he left The Byrds, I believe. Sweetheart of the Rodeo is where that all started.

Steely Dan was always very different in appeal from these bands. they were closer to jazz than to folk and part of the Zappa/Mothers ecosystem of music which was very eclectic, but owed a lot to jazz

I had a lady teacher that used to play the Bread greatest hits album when we had individual study period in school.

You'd think just being in school was torture enough.

r59 i think that's why i love them so much. very different sound, very progressive.

however, i have been looking at this thread as more about 70's music in general than a particular genre and just been posting about bands from the 70's generally.

Michael McDonald, the man responsible for changing the sound of the Doobie Bros, was connected to Steely Dan. You can hear him contributing vocals on the Aja album particularly on the song "I Got The News". I love that album btw, that was one magical summer in high school the year that came out.

70s music, in general, was horrible, although there were bright spots here and there. For every Jackson Browne, you had the Eagles who just awful despite being part of the same social network as Browne. Some of the more cultish folkies like Wendy Waldman were better and at least Laura Nyro was interesting, but the popular stuff just kept getting worse. This was music that either helped kill AM Top 40 or benefited from the conversion of FM from experimental formats to AOR, as well as the gradual deterioration of bands as different as Chicago, Jefferson Airplane/Starship and Led Zepplin.

England Dan and John Ford Coley were just as commercially trite as Seals and Crofts. Weren’t two of them related or something?

And BTW, *I* am R18 and I don’t know why R 24 is pretending to be me.

You won't want to give it too much thought, but your dad purchased a lot of those albums because they were ones that his dates would have really enjoyed and be into

I wish Loggins & Messina would reunite and tour again. I missed all of this. Here's an entire show at the fucking gorgeous SBB! Enjoy!

r63 got to agree to disagree. i think the 70s had a lot of good music, as evidenced in this thread.

Can’t Buy a Thrill is a great album.

I have to admit I love America.

The Doobies were like two separate bands. I loved their early stuff like China Grove and Long Train Runnin'. Their remake of Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me) is my all-time favorite cover. Once Michael McDonald came along, they had even greater success, but I hated that sound.

Bread gets knocked a lot, but they had a very polished sound. Make It With You, If, and Baby I'm A Want You are their biggest hits, but It Don't Matter To Me is my favorite. I used to dismiss their hit Everything I Own as just another silly love song, until I heard that David Gates wrote it about his father upon his death. Brings a whole new side to the lyrics.

Seals and Crofts started off in The Champs (Tequila!). Diamond Girl and Summer Breeze are their biggest hits, but I just love the more modest hit Hummingbird (especially the ending). Their career took a hit when , at the height of their popularity, they released the single (and album) Unborn Child, a very pro-life record. Gotta admire them for taking such a risk.

[quote]England Dan and John Ford Coley were just as commercially trite as Seals and Crofts. Weren’t two of them related or something?

Yes, Dan and Jim Seals were brothers.

The stuff your Dad listened to as a teenager was absolutely solid and listened to today got a reason. It was music that breathed and challenged the norm and is as alive today as then.

The soft stuff you describe is all dreck. Mainstream, derivative, and written for mass appeal.

Music that examines the status quo through heart and soul is what you want. Joni, Janis, Marvin, Carole and JT were innovators, look for people like them.

No love for this fuckable cheeseball?

[quote]they were closer to jazz than to folk and part of the Zappa/Mothers ecosystem of music which was very eclectic, but owed a lot to jazz

But the Steely Dan guys also got their start writing pop songs in the Brill Building.

I like Frampton and will on occasion (after a few glasses of wine) open youtube and pull up some of his live performances. i thought he was a great live performer (don't know how he is anymore), very comfortable in his skin, and he and Bob Mayo were such a great team. Really sorry that Mayo died at a fairly early age; they seemed to be kind of like soul mates of a sort.

OP, you forgot to include Boris Grebenshikov: ‘The Bob Dylan of Russia’

R75 Believe it or not, I’m not a Russian troll.

[quote]What.... No Air Supply?

No, because they didn't hit outside of Australia until 1980.

Holy crap, r77 - i feel like a fool, i had NO idea Air Supply was an Australian band.

70s AM light is the most depressing music on the planet. And this coming from a 90s emo kid.

Jackson Browne is not a group, but he fits right in with OP's list, and he's better than all of them.

Summer Breeze reminds me of 5th grade and sun and boy crushes. Great memories for me.

I love driving and Used to play Ventura Highway while cruising around during the summer.

I love the song Donkey Jizz as well.

^Jaw

Ha! R81/r82

This is why disco was inevitable.

r79, what the hell is "70's am light?" This music was on FM, you moob.

Another vote for Loggins and Messina, especially Golden Ribbons and Lady of My Heart

Add to List:

Quintessential 70s hippy, dippy singer Jesse Colin Young

Who cares R85. Both sounded equally shitty back then anyway.

r85 , what were your "enlightened" choices back then.

Also AM quality radio was typically shitty music with a lesser quality of sound, therefore cheaper bandwith and sounded shitty. FM=popular, money-making albums and films. get it straight.

[quote] Yep, they DO have Three Dog Night in their collection and enough albums that I should have put them in the poll: Golden Bisquits, Harmony, and Seven Separate Fools.

Three Dog Night Harmony is an awesome album.

They cover Hoyt Axton, Paul Williams, and Stevie Wonder

I love Dan Fogelberg

I liked 'light rock' as a teen in the '70s at the same time as hard rock, funk, and classical. We were a musical family; singing along anywhere was never discouraged.

I found America's "Horse With No Name" to be kind of spooky, until at 15, an older pal, who resembled the band's singer Dewey, got me high and we made out. It's been my favorite song ever since.

... but then they went on to make this shit:

R88, No way, I hardly have enlightened tastes. Only stating a fact - okay, okay it’s my obnoxious opinion - that Easy Listening 70s is the most depressing music on the planet. There’s nothing wrong with the songs themselves. But play one of these bands, and I feel physical revulsion, my stomach curdles, I want to crawl into a hole and die. If I were a filmmaker and wanted to make a bleak arthouse film that left the audience feeling nothing but a niggling void, a mild existential discomfort, I would fill it with this music and stark empty spaces and no dialogue. And cigarettes. Maybe.

I like Bread and America. No thanks to The Dooley Brother, Steely Dan and The Eagles.

If there's nothing to do in the desert, he had plenty of time to name his horse.

Supertramp wasn't on the list, but should have been. They're another one with interesting lyrics. I went through a phase a few years of listening to their best of collection on repeat.

and this of course.

Dan Fogelberg’s Nether Lands would never see the light of day at this point in time.

I love take The Long Way Home.

I liked the 70s and still enjoy listening to that kind of music. 100 times better than what's going on these days.

how quickly the ear adjusts back to autotuneless singing.

Of 1970s pop/rock music, can't stand just about all on that list. Really like Joni Mitchell's 70s albums and Fleetwood Mac pre-Buckingham/Nicks. Also the Stones' early 70s and late 70s output was great.

Very little of the music mentioned here challenged anything and it doesn't wear well. Most of it also charted on AM. Thankfully, FM was standard equipment on cars bey the end of the decade.

LOVE “Get Closer”, R11!

You won’t find many posters on Datalounge with solid taste in music, but I can agree with the guy who said that Flying Burrito Brothers is the only good band in the list.

Here’s something funny a friend showed me recently though: a teenaged GG Allin playing this kind of crap in 77

After listening for years to this schmaltzy, overwought crap, it was a delight when someone like Debbie Harry showed up sing songs like "Rip Her To Shreds".

I love the doobie brothers

Agreed, R37 and R40 — Steve Walsh was so hot in his heyday!

R92 Oh boy, that song is dreck!!!! Thank goodness that particular record is nowhere to be found in the collection!

R89 I'll give Harmony a listen once I've cleaned it.

R11 I'll admit that I've listened to "Get Closer" several times on Spotify today, it's not half bad!!

What made me curious about these soft rock artists was inventorying/cleaning my dad's record collection. I've been cleaning all of the "good" records and listening to them, so I was wondering if any of the other artists listed in the poll would be worth listening to eventually. In this crazy pandemic world, I've found cleaning records with a Spin Clean to be oddly relaxing.

And no need to worry about the quality of my turntable up and running (with a new needle). I've got their old Dual turntable up and going, too. So I'm getting the full 1970s vibe from them. Naturally, they also had Sansui floor speakers, but I bought a new set of speakers when I purchased a new amplifier. I'm becoming one of THOSE Millennials who is into "vinyl" now, I guess. 😒

I should post the entire collection here for you all to judge. My father owned two Diana Ross albums, for some reason.

r29 belongs on the "Worst Song of All Time" thread.

R106 - yes, I agree. When I stumbled onto college radio and new wave (before it went mainstream) it was exhilarating. Today I'm neutral about a lot of these bands and hearing the songs bring about an "aww" moment of nostalgia, but nothing more.

R96, Supertramp should not even be mentioned alongside the likes of America, Bread, and other shit music of the 70s. Supertramp was a phenomenal band who created timeless music.

How could you leave off the Monkees? Davy Jones is so dreamy!

This thread needs this song.

Supertamp were phenomenal, but have somehow been overlooked. They shouldn't be.

As much as I hated these groups, I have to admit that most of them knew how to sing.

These were all a little before my time but they’re nostalgic for me from hearing them as a young kid. We all have our favorite underground cool kids bands, critical darlings and music snob preferences of course, but a lot of these tunes are the definition of easy listening and are well-crafted for what they are.

A lot of this music was popular as it helped soothe people during traumatic times. Sucks that we're going through difficult times again, but at least we still have this music to help get us through

R118 That's an interesting way to interpret the soft rock from the 1970s, soothing the soul of a traumatized nation. I really like that thought!

We were all funkin out to The Doobies in Watts!

I’ve been listening to this music the past year for that very reason. They are songs of my childhood, and they are calming.

There were a lot of people who had either been through war, or war adjacent in that era.

The grande dam is probably Pink Floyd's The Wall. Although you have to listen to that with headphones or exceptional speakers, or you haven't heard it.

There is an unmistakable sound and eeriness in that era of music.

R122 I don't want to de-rail the thread, but I have honestly NEVER looked at 1970s music through the lens of people who survived war, growing up with fathers who went through war, economic recessions, etc. It's very obvious to look at the protest songs of the 1960s and realize "duh" that was influenced by the war, but I never considered the after effects and *processing* of those experiences being worked out in the music that followed.

I feel like this would be a good thesis!

Three Dog Night's 'Out in the Country' is something I rarely come across anymore, but it always makes me weep.

Thanks r124 that’s a great song. Why does it make you cry?

The Isley Brothers "Summer Breeze" is the best version.

[quote]I'd be shocked if there weren't any Three Dog Night albums in the collection. They were one of the most popular groups at that time.

Now there was a band that was absolute shit. They were like the Creed of the early 70s.

The Carpenters were derided and got a lot of shit in their time, but they were exquisite talents. Karen Carpenter was one of the greatest female singers of the 20th Century. It was my generation (Gen X) who really appreciated them, as opposed to Boomers.

I still remember when they announced her death on the radio. My young gay heart was crushed. I loved them and still do. Karen had an incredible vocal range.

This song shows off her vocal range. Beautiful.

I'm not from that era at all but some of the music is nice to me. It's pro tool free and that's downright refreshing. Nothing synthesized on OP's list thankfully.

Seals and Croft had really nice harmonies. Very delicate.

Kenny Loggins can sing really well. Corny thing he is.

The Doobie Brothers are a very well rounded band. Fine instrumentalists to be had there. Michael Mc Donald just so happens to sound soulful when he sings, he replaced someone else, right? I wouldn't know. But, that band with out without Michael Mc Donald is good!

I know nothing of the other bands OP listed. Nothing. No opinions to be had. I might check out some of them on YouTube or might not.

The Carpenters were of that era and they were really good. Karen Carpenter had an alto for the ages and she played the drums quite well. I first heard them on some retro hour on the radio as a child and just positively had to learn more. My parents liked that since they had a rep as being wholesome. Karen Carpenter could have done jazz marvelously.

I like this thread and thanks for indulging me with this rather stream of consciousness post.

I was fascinated to read in Karen Carpenter’s biography that she had a teeny-tiny voice that, unamplified, couldn’t be heard across a room.

All those groups mentioned had hits except for the Flying Burrito Brothers. I'd say listen to their hits, not their albums. As for the Flying Burrito Brothers, well, some of their their albums got good reviews but all failed commercially. I've never heard any of their albums so I don't know how good they really were.

"I was fascinated to read in Karen Carpenter’s biography that she had a teeny-tiny voice that, unamplified, couldn’t be heard across a room."

Anybody listening to her records would know she had a "teeny-tiny" voice. She had no volume at all. Her singing never bowled me over. She had a DISTINCTIVE voice, not a very good one. Her vocal range was so limited. Her mournful singing style suited ballads but she sounded ridiculous singing up tempo numbers. Even when she was singing about being happy ("Top of the World") she sounded like she wanted to slit her wrists.

I'm a child of the 60s and 70s. I remember all of these. Do "Earth, Wind & Fire", "Hall & Oates" or ""KC and the Sunshine Band" belong on this list?

Was KC & the Sunshine Band proto-disco or were they just considered disco? They predated it, right? The lead guy was a HUNK. Woof.

R135 For reference, none of those artists are in my parents' record collection. Therefore I didn't include them in the initial poll.

I do enjoy the thread discussing peoples love of 1970s music, so keep the conversation going!

Speaking of Bread, Dusty Springfield's cover of Make It With You is sublime.

R137 Forgot to sign off as OP, obviously.

WRONG R1-The LATE 1970's is when music and fashion became bleak

E.G.- Disco , New Wave, Punk.

Disco and punk and new wave were all pretty awful. Devo was doing amazing stuff, but their cool shit from the 70s didn’t get released until 1990, I think, on the album Hardcore. Music they recorded on tape machines in their basements in Ohio. That was cool New Wave. The popular punk of that time has always been obnoxious to me, and not in a cool way. Pop chord progressions played fast, with snotty vocals. Blah. Turn it down a notch, for god’s sake. The Jam and the Buzzcocks were good, however.

When I think of New Wave and disco, I see them as unfortunate precursors to the plastic, neon/pastel 80s. Synths and drum machines and that godawful reverb on the snare.

The 60s were so great, and the styles ran the gamut because pop/rock progressed so quickly, from 50s pop and doo-wop to the early Beatles, the Byrds, Rolling Stones, Mamas+Papas, Jefferson Airplane, Neil Young, Hendrix—my god. All in one decade. In the 70s you had the continuation of that stuff, plus Sabbath, plus the “AM Gold” stuff derided or celebrated in this thread.

But by the late 70s, way too much bloated production techniques, which gave rise to punk as a reaction to shit like Fleetwood Mac. If I had to choose between listening to Top 40 from 1982 or Top 40 from 1972, I’ll go with ‘72 every fucking time.

I love the yacht rock music of the 70s as well as the singer-songwriter stuff like James Taylor, but I also love a lot of disco, too. The good disco like Donna Summer and Chic, not the Disco Duck/Village People garbage.

This era was before my time, but I think people who weren't around in a particular era don't have all the prejudices and baggage of people who were, so they can listen to different genres objectively, and find things they like in each genre.

I have to say I can't stand punk. I tried and just couldn't get into it at all.

In my Upper Middle Class suburban town ( north of NYC)in the late 1970's , Disco music was associated with lower middle class Italian types from Brooklyn and Queens.

It was considered TACKY and LOW CLASS.

Disco was also seen as elitist, r144. Studio 54 and all of that. It was music that the jet set high-society types played everywhere they went.

The BEST music/fashion was 1965/66. Just before all that DRUG/PSYCHEDELIC drenched hippy stuff of the late 1960's but still COOL.

I was in high school in the 1980's and HATED contemporary music/fashion. I loved the Beatles and the Byrds. When I first bought The Best Of The Byrds I played the album OVER and OVER, especially Mr. Tambourine Man.

[quote]It was considered TACKY and LOW CLASS.

Unlike all you and all your neighbors in Scarsdale.

R147- Rye ,actually

Close though

1970, sort of setting a stage.

R13, - '"Horse With No Name" is about HEROIN ~ this has been well known for 45 years.

R41- "China Grove" is the penultimate road trip song.

R2 - I want to marry you and spend out days listening to the extended version o "Aja" and trying to figure out hidden meanings in obscure storylines and lyrics. And what does The Custerdome look like?

The overanalysis of song lyrics was one of the more annoying things about the 70s.

The Carpenters were awful--Karen had a pleasant voice but their material and arrangements were crap.

The Flying Burrito Brothers, like many cult bands were a mixed bag, but better than the other ones on the list. Steely Dan also, was much better than anything on the list.

Summer Breeze is overwhelmingly nostalgic to me.

[quote] '"Horse With No Name" is about HEROIN ~ this has been well known for 45 years.

Wrong asshole, R150. America was always known as a 'clean' band; no parties, no drugs except pot and beer. Dewey Bunnell has repeatedly stated this for 45 years, and he was never a junkie.

Don’t forget Orleans

I used to watch the entire Time Life soft rock infomercial when it used to air. It calmed me!

I liked America's songs for "The Last Unicorn," which is an underrated film overall. "Walking Man's Road" still holds up.

Doobie Brothers of course!

I think James Taylor has been under represented. His songs were straight from the heart and wonderful to listen to. He is the one musician i haven't seen in person that i wish that i would. such a beautiful voice, and writing songs about his life. <3

I'm a big Flying Burrito Brothers fan, but the Doobie Brothers were a significant band in the 1970s. There was a recent cover of their song Listen To The Music by Tom Johnston various artists around the world which shows that some of their best songs are still relevant today.

I love this lesser-known but lovely Seals and Croft tune:

A favorite tune of America not yet mentioned:

Another lesser-played America song:

Thanks, OP. I hadn't listened to this album in a long time:

Am I the only person who finds value in all kinds of music, from easy listening to disco to new wave to hard rock? Why limit yourself? There is no glory in being a music snob. I might think the Carpenters were cheesy, but I still feel nostalgic when I hear their songs.

I feel the same way, r164. I like (almost) all forms of music. (I've never been able to get into screamo or some other heavy metal, though, I'll admit.)

Many years ago, when I still had a FB acct, I posted Barry White's "Love's Theme" (linked for reference ....). Well, some elitist queen commented, "Barry White? Really?"

Yes. I like what I like. What's it to you??

I’m a child of this era as well—America was my first concert, followed by Seals and Crofts. I still listen to Supertramp, Steely Dan, and Todd Rundgren, but, as others have pointed out, they’re in a different musical universe than the bands mentioned by OP.

“Jimmy Messina! How she blowin’?”

“FUCK you, Loggins!”

“Come on, everybody. Everything’s...smewth.”

No OP- because if you do you will turn to stone!

America, Bread, Doobie Brothers, Seals & Crofts. Say what you want about 70s music being cheesy and all but their compositions are quintessential examples of beautifully written pop songs with skillfully played and simply arranged instrumentation. They're not rock and I'm fine with that. I think they'll last longer than trash put out by Beyoncé, Justin Timberlake, the Weeknd, Foo Fighters, among others.

[quote]Thanks R124 that’s a great song. Why does it make you cry?

R125, I'm not sure I can explain. I'm wired a little different in that I don't tend to cry over extreme pain or grief, but over joy. If something is overwhelmingly awesome, it just wrings tears out of me (i.e. Evelyn catching Ninny leaving a jar of honey at the cemetery at the end of 𝐅𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐆𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐓𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐞𝐬 (1991) and realizing who she really was; the lightsaber battle between Darths Maul and Sidious in 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐬, S05E16; the Halls of Khazad-dûm in 𝐋𝐨𝐭𝐑: 𝐅𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 (2001)). Those are the kinds of things I cry over.

In the case of 'Out in the Country,' it's the memories that it evokes in me; where I was and how I felt about life in 1970; how much songs like it shaped who I grew into (liberal as all hell), and how much I still feel its message. And as I said, I don't come across the song very often anymore; it's like the voice of an old friend.

Wow, I wouldn’t have had you pegged for a Clone Wars fan, Dragon!

That Maul/Oppress/Sidious fight scene scene is awfully painful to watch, and for that it’s shocking it was left in the final cut of what is essentially (but not exclusively) a kids’ animated show. “I’m not like you, I never was...”, “you have been replaced....” “there can only be Two.”...brrrr. Maul is such a fantastic and likeable character in TCW, which is a shame as far fewer people have seen that side of him as compared with his silent minimal role in Phantom Menace.

It’s also a chilling moment to see Sidious at the apex of his power and control, feeling completely invulnerable throwing two Nightbrothers around like ragdolls and shutting down their syndicate easy as swatting flies. The fact that he doesn’t even bother his ass killing Maul—his deadly and feral apprentice, one he entrusted with knowledge and skill of a seasoned assassin and terr0rist— is chilling, and shows how confident he is in both himself and Anakin as far as destructive Darkside power goes. That this old withered Nazi can just do all that almost singlehandedly is sobering...

As for my TCW bias, I’m a Dooku bitch. The man is so eloquent, collected and highly skilled that he puts everyone else in the universe to shame. He is the one character truly trying to put an end to both the Jedi & the Sith, seeing how much atrocious destruction their ideological war creates.

Did anyone mention Lobo? The lead singer for them pretty much sounds like David Gates.

10CC is another. Should Emerson, Lake and Potter/Powell be on this list? I would think so, but Karn Evil 9 kinda disqualifies them, but Lucky Man is definitely schmaltzy ‘70s.

I totally forgot about "House at Pooh Corner." I'd be secretly devastated if Kenny Loggins turned out to be a giant asshole. He seems like such a "gentle soul" (MARY!!!).

This live performance of Danny’s Song is really beautiful. I ripped the audio of it and have it on a playlist of 70s favorites.

This is probably the most unusual song the Doobie Brothers ever did. It's like half folk, half prog, and sounds like nothing else in their catalog. It's from the last album they did before the Michael McDonald era began.

It got tons of FM airplay, but when they finally got around to releasing it as a single, it bombed. Still one of my all-time favorites by them.

R175 is OUT of the DOOBIES!

Anyone here into the ‘Daryl’s House’ webseries? It ran all through the 2010s, and has some great collaborative performances of classic yacht rock, some covers and some by the original musicians. Daryl set up such a cool space and platform for talented people to come and jam.

The rendition of ‘This Is It’ he and his house band did with Loggins is remarkable. Amazing that these are men in their 70s; they look and sound so great.

Fantastic cover of Player’s “Baby Come Back”

Here it is

Love the Daryl's House collabs. This one is a little faster and funkier than the original and I like it better.

I think the term "yacht rock" is derogatory and unnecessary. That was some great music made by some very talented people.

r181 it is meant to be derogatory, but i really don't give a shit what people think about my musical tastes. if many of the songs/bands i like fall into that category, so be it. i also like some disco, some hard rock, some pop rock, some jazz, some classical, some rap, some folk. My tastes are all over the map.

The Doobies had one style all the way from "Listen To The Music" through "China Grove" and another when Michael McDonald took over. But sandwiched between those two styles was "Black Water", which doesn't sound like either. Very unique, and it hit number 1 to boot.

I found this cover of "Get Closer" by Seals & Crofts 2, I have no idea how these people are related to Seals & Crofts but I am enjoying this cover!

Damn, I really love "Get Closer"!!!

R183 That makes me realize it might've been helpful to list the albums by the Doobie Brothers they owned -- "Stampede," "Takin' It to the Streets," "The Captain and Me," Toluse Street," and "What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits." According to Wikipedia there's just one Michael McDonald-led record in there.

Hall and Oates hold up. He could sing.

Hall and Oates had some great songs.

One thing that's odd about them is that they had hit after hit in the first half of the 80s and then they just seemed to disappear in the second half of the 80s.

Someone on this thread criticized "Sister Golden Hair" by America. It's a GREAT song - mournful, haunting and wanting in it. It's my all time fav song by America and their second song that went to #1 - people, including me, loved it! Still love it!

Jefferson Starship (evolved from Jefferson Airplane) had some good output in the 1970's "Miracles" is a great song and one of their biggest hits. Although they had even more output and bigger hits as Starship in the 1980's. Loved Grace Slick's great lead singing on "Nothing's Going To Stop Us Now."

"Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" is a fucking great song, I don't care what anybody else says. Classic 80s pop.

Finally, r63 mentioned Chicago.

To my older child/early teen ears, the sound of the rythymic horns made me happy, while, at the same time, the lyrics made me kinda sad.

"Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?"

Chicago's 70s stuff is fabulous, it still sounds fantastic. Their David Foster-produced 80s stuff is absolute shit.

the first 2 Chicago albums were great--then it was generally downhill from there.

R184 the guy in that "Seals and Crofts 2" video is Brady Seals.

There are actually 5 members of that same family who hit it big in the music business:

Jim Seals, of Seals & Crofts.

His brother Dan Seals, of England Dan and John Ford Coley (and later a successful country star on his own)

Their cousin Troy Seals, one of the most successful country songwriters of the 80's, who wrote big hits for The Judds, Reba McIntyre, Loretta Lynn & Conway Twitty, George Jones, Ray Charles, etc. etc.

Their cousin Johnny Duncan, a big country star in the mid 70's (he had 10 top ten country hits), around the same time as Seals & Crofts were hitting it big on the pop charts.

Their cousin Brady Seals (the guy in the video), who led a country band called Little Texas that was a big for a few years in the mid 90's. He's now an obnoxious Christian fundie.

The female in the video is the daughter of Dash Crofts, of the original Seals & Crofts. So it's Seals' cousin and Crofts' daughter.

People in the boomer generation, which I'm a part of seem to pride themselves on being musical snobs. All music must sound like whatever they like. Anyone who says they like all kinds of music gets the strange looks thrown at them

Doobie Brothers is my favorite. Michael McDonald is the best singer in all those groups. (I don't know anything by the Burrito Bros.)

Summer Breeze, I heard while driving and started to cry. The lyrics are not 100% simple, there's even a little darkness to the song.

Steely Dan, Aja and Hey 19 era, boomer music. I liked Dirty Work.

Neil Young could have sung "Horse with No Name" (America).

R166 America was my first concert too! I went with my older sister and the whole thing was just so cool. Love their entire songbook, but Ventura Highway the best.

GREAT cover at R184/OP!

r190 In all these years, I never had a clue that the very '80s-sounding "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us" was by the former members of Jefferson Airplane. Thanks for the memories...and the elucidation.

If you are a fan of 70s music (and some early 80s too), check out the Guardians of the Galaxy channel on Pandora. Great mix with yacht rock, Motown, and 70s funk.

r199 Grace Slick was the only member of Jefferson Airplane who was a member of Starship. The others had all left the group in the early 80s.

The bumper yacht theme content is lame but the music is good. Also The Bridge on Sirius is good.

R200 thanks for the Guardians channel recommendation! Good stuff! Of course the first song was Brandy!

Though I listened to the Doobie Brothers' Toulouse Street obsessively in 1972-73, I didn't buy any of their other albums until 1978's Minute by Minute. I just love the song "What a Fool Believes," possibly because I'd played the fool in just that manner two years earlier (and was probably still in love with the guy).

Good as well

This is my favorite because they go deeper and play more than just the same 70s standards

“Horse With No Name” was a popular song among the Manson girls.

Horse With No Name was released at the end of 1971, after all those psycho Manson cunts were already behind bars.

Isley Brothers are sublime, and I say that as a Zillennial. They’ve managed to be cool for sixty years, and that’s hard to do.

My favourite classic cuts of theirs are ‘For The Love Of You’, ‘Voyage To Atlantis’, and ‘Take Me To The Next Phase’ (both parts).

They also do a super-smooth cover of ‘Holding Back The Years’, though I suppose that’s more 80s/90s than 70s.

^^^OT but the Mr. Biggs hiphopera saga that Ron & Ernie Isley did with R.Kelly and various female chanteuses (Angela Winbush, Kelly Price, Chanté Moore, Johnson Sisters, etc.) might be the crowning glory of 2000s r&b. So lyrically clever and true-to-life, campy and overblown yet somehow still absolutely compelling. And Ron never looked or sounded better, despite being in his sixties at the time.

It’s such a shame it all had to be culturally buried, because Kells is such a vile human being.

Due to age related dementia I have no memory of any of these bands, so cannot answer your question, OP.

Yes, the early 70s had some crazy ass lyrics - horses without names, muskrats hooking up

I can’t with the Doobie Brothers. MM’s voice is painful to me.

Bread is cheesy, but they have a couple of songs I like.

No Zeppelin?!

"if i have to hear Yah Mo Be There one more time..." r213

[quote]Grace Slick was the only member of Jefferson Airplane who was a member of Starship. The others had all left the group in the early 80s.

The ones who held on to their dignity and self-respect.

r216 I can't blame Grace Slick one bit for doing the Starship music in the 80s. She was in her forties and knew that her shelf life as a Top 40 artist was supposed to be over but she was very, very lucky that she could still get radio play and MTV exposure as part of the Starship, with the newer and younger members of the band. It was her last shot to make $$$ before she couldn't get arrested in the music business and she took it. She got several hit songs and lucrative concert tours and then retired at the end of the 80s.

For the past 30 years she's lived in the Malibu Hills and has been quite well-off in her very comfortable retirement. Spencer Dryden, Paul Kantner and Marty Balin suffered from financial problems and had to keep dragging their old asses out on the oldies circuit until they dropped dead. Which life would you rather have?

R216 You're hanging on to an urban legend. "We Built This City" was a big #1 smash hit AND a very good song. People loved it, bought it, and so did I.

R214 If you want a serious answer, I didn't put groups like Led Zeppelin in the poll because I know they're worth listening to! This was mostly about the somewhat dated albums by artists they had lots of albums from in the collection.

R189 Naturally, they have a copy of Red Octopus, I might that dust one off too. "Miracles" is a good song.

Everyone I knew hated that fucking song R218

I'm with r220; I disliked that song. It's a "station-changer" song - when it comes on, you change the station as quickly as possible.

I find "America" is usually the best for my sexy times...

"Lala...lalalah...you see I've been through the desert on a horse with no name.."

"alligator lizards in the air..."

Carly Simon is the best...

"My father sits at night with no lights on, his cigarette glows in the dark..."

I saw Supertramp on here, somewhere - they don’t fit into this easy listening category but they definitely don’t get much in the way of respect, either - and they’re one of my favorite 70s groups, very underrated.

R224, though I'm of the age where I could have been buying Supertramp albums in the 1970s, they somehow existed on the musical periphery for me. I was only barely aware of a lot of one-word-name '70s groups (America, Queen, Kiss, Kansas, Journey, Boston, Foreigner, Genesis, Supertramp, Bread). I did, however, come to like them in the late '90s, when I bought a new turntable and started buying records again, this time second-hand.

I especially liked the album with the waitress on the cover, and the song "Take the Long Way Home."

Then there was this album cover. The guys were not hot, but seeing all these shirtless men pressed together did something to me...

I just know "Still the One" . Meh.

I hate, hate, HATE the lead singer of Supertramp's thin, squeaky voice. It's nails on a chalkboard to me. Their songs are fine...some of them I think are really good, but man I find them tough to listen. I remember liking some of the songs I heard by them after that singer left the band.

I agree that they don't belong in a thread about 70's soft rock/yacht rock...but one thing you can count on at Datalounge is the patent inability of DL'ers to stay on topic.

R226 I get it.

For me, it was this Pablo Cruise album.

To make matter worse, I read in an interview that they actually were all completely butt naked for the photo shoot. God, the thought of that was SO hot to 13-year-old me.

Since this thread's almost a total sausage fest - how about a woman from the era who's also now barely remembered?

Jennifer Warnes- Right Time of the Night

And the most recognizable opening bars of a rock song...

Carly Simon's "You're So Vain"

And a reference to Nova Scotia

Also R230, the only rock song to incorporate the word "gavotte"

[quote]"We Built This City" was a big #1 smash hit AND a very good song

Yes, and NO. Lots of shitty songs have been hits nonetheless. It definitely did not hold up through time.

Jennifer Warnes was so bland and boring.

Warnes could sing at a Ronstadt-level, but didn't look as good in hotpants, so she couldn't compete then and certainly not in the MTV video era

Yes, lots of 70s artists suffered in popularity because they weren't MTV-friendly. Christopher Cross's career was over when MTV became popular because he was so unattractive.

Was Christopher Cross always a chub?

R225 that’s my favorite song of theirs too. They have so many good ones.

R230 I had no idea what she ever said there, I thought it was “go vat” - whatever that is. Is gavotte a Jewish/Yiddish word?

R235 Eddie “no money” is another one (I have that nickname for him because about 5/6 years ago when I was at Mohegan Sun we saw that he was playing in one of the lounges - for free).

Eddie Money died somewhat recently. He did have "Take Me Home Tonight" with Ronnie Spector, which was a big hit in the late 80s.

Didn’t he blow most of his money on coke?

[quote]Is gavotte a Jewish/Yiddish word?

It's a French dance, which I first heard of in My Fair Lady.

Eddie Money actually thrived in the MTV era.

He was funny looking, but unlike Christopher Cross, he wasn't fat and he had a full head of hair, so he could kinda-sorta pull off the rock star look.

And he was smart and hired good directors for his videos, which helped him a lot.

Also, remember that, after his first single, "Ride Like the Wind", everything that followed from Christopher Cross was very much in the adult-contemporary vein, a genre that MTV didn't play. In fact, that's how VH1 later came about...as a channel where fans of middle-of-the-road artists like Kenny Rogers, Christopher Cross, Air Supply, etc. could get see videos by the artists they liked.

Eddie Money played the casinos because he could get free drinks and probably got paid in casino chips

R229 My dad's record collection (I should stop calling it "my parents'") is, unfortunately, a sausage fest. According to my inventory, these are the only female artists in the collection (I hope I don't fuck up the formatting, sorry in advance):

- Carly Simon (No Secrets) - Carole King (Tapestry) - Diana Ross (Touch Me in the Morning, Lady Sings the Blues) - Emmylou Harris (Elite Hotel, Pieces of the Sky, Quarter Moon in a Ten Cent Town) - Gladys Knight & the Pips (Imagination) - Janis Ian (Aftertones) - Janis Joplin (Pearl) - Jessi Colter (Diamond in the Rough) - Linda Ronstadt (Don't Cry Now, Hasten Down the Wind, Heart Like a Wheel, Mad Love, Prisoner in Disguise) - Maria Muldaur (S/T) - Melanie (Candles in the Rain, Gather Me, Stoneground Words) - Phoebe Snow (S/T) - Rita Coolidge (S/T, It's Only Love) - Roberta Flack (Killing Me Softly)

There are also quite a few Jefferson Airplane albums, but I'm not sure if they should be listed there. I've always meant to listen to Phoebe Snow, in particular, but I haven't gotten around to it. I love her duet "Gone at Last" with Paul Simon, however.

I was a bit horrified at the lack of Joni Mitchell albums, but I've personally bought a number of her albums over the past year. Herjia is my favorite!

But seriously, thank you all for the discussion and recommendations (and songs to avoid). I'm probably not going to sell any of these records any time soon (as if you'd even be able to get more than $5 for a Bread record, so I might as well hang onto them and give them a chance while I can!).

David Gates and James Griffin split all their albums 50/50 as far as writing songs. But Gates had every single hit for Bread, so that caused hard feelings in the group, leading to it's demise. Ironically, the only hit record Griffin ever wrote was "For All We Know" , by the Carpenters.

R244 David Gates had all the hit singles because his songs were always the A side single, half the B sides were by Jimmy Griffin. The record company made the blanket decision that because the first two hits were my Gates that all should be by him, but Gates influenced that decision. Griffin who co-wrote For All You Know (as Arthur James) won the Academy award for best song in 1971.

Joni Mitchell's later 70s stuff is dreadful. Self-indulgence at its worst.

The music industry of the 70s was a sausage fest, so it's no surprise the collection is also.

Lots of good female albums there. At the top of the list is King's Tapestry. As essential today as it was when it was released.

R247 Yes, I listened to Tapestry for the first time in its entirety on its 50th anniversary and it's a great record! There are actually 2 copies of it in the collection!

I was a big fan of Rod Stewart at the time. I wished he was better looking.

Personally, I like America, but their best is on their Greatest Hits.

Loggins & Messina have some nice tunes.

I liked Seals & Crofts until I learned how fundie they became and how bitterly anti-abortion they became.

The 70s female singer I love is Karla Bonoff, who wrote a good chunk of Linda Ronstadt's songs.

If you have an interest in this era, may I suggest listening to SOMA FM Left Coast 70s. There's an occasional stinker in the bunch (Dire Straits, John Stewart) but often there's some good singer/songwriter stuff.

If you haven't listened to the Linda Ronstadt albums, give them a listen. She didn't write her own songs, but she covered some of the best songs of the era and before that.

I know they're not rock but since were on the subject of the ladies of the 70s, Chaka Khan did amazing work in that decade. All of the Rufus and Chaka Khan albums are pure brilliant soul.

[quote]I've always meant to listen to Phoebe Snow

I found the first (s/t) Phoebe Snow album in a stack of albums someone was giving away a few years ago and it is absolutely wonderful. Sort of in the same jazz/folk universe as Joni Mitchell. Got me through the misery of late 2016 and really made me wonder why I hadn't listened to her before. Her 2nd and 3rd albums are also good, but after that the quality dips. She had to care for a severely disabled daughter and I think she wasn't able to devote enough attention to navigating the music industry, sadly. But I love her voice.

As for the other stuff in the poll: as others have mentioned, Flying Burrito Brothers are the odd man out. Gram Parsons was always a cult figure, basically the country-rock Alex Chilton. Never even came close to having a hit, though he probably did (for better or worse) inspire the Eagles.

The MM-era Doobies had their moments. They were basically Steely Dan-lite (Skunk Baxter was also in both groups). America were to CSNY what the Doobies were to SD, but I unabashedly love "Ventura Highway" and a couple other tunes.

Don't really care much the other bands, but Aretha did a fairly wonderful version of Bread's "Make It with You" on her Live at Fillmore West album. At that point in her career she could make almost anything sound good.

Also, re R119 - someone actually wrote a book about how singer-songwriter soft-rock was born in 1970 as a way to soothe boomers after the trials of the 60s. The linchpin albums were Let It Be, Bridge Over Troubled Water, Deja Vu, and Sweet Baby James.

Dusty Springfield's Make It With You was also sublime.