For the Record: The 70s

Americans watched a lot of television in the 70s and talk shows were among the most popular shows to watch. Talk shows were the true intersection of music, politics, and culture. This episode will ex…

The heartland is an American region, but heartland rock is not regional. In fact, it can be argued that it is more of a culture than a sub-genre of rock. This episode discusses the origins of heartla…

How did heavy metal change from the 70s to the 80s? This episode examines the birth of "hair metal" and how, for a short but LOUD period of time, heavy metal was one of the most popular genres in Ame…

The roots of country music are black and white. So, why do most people think of country as a white person's genre? This episode considers answers to that question and examines the contributions that …

It isn't easy to write an original Christmas song that stands the test of the time, but artists of the 70s gave us several, such as "Feliz Navidad" by Jose Feliciano and "Step into Christmas" by Elto…

Rock critics may have hated it but millions of music fans loved so-called "soft rock." This episode examines possible theories for this genre's popularity and makes the case that this "safer" version…

Southern rock from bands such as the Allman Brothers and Lynyrd Skynyrd was not just loved by Americans from the South. Southern rock has broad appeal. For many white southerners, though, this form o…

How and why did artists such as John Denver and Olivia Newton-John upset the country music establishment in the 1970s? Country radio has created the country music sound it has wanted since Elvis and …

In just over a two-year span as the 1970s marched on toward the 1980s, John Travolta starred in three cultural touchstone movies: "Saturday Night Fever" (released on December 12, 1977), "Grease" (r…

In 1974, a local Austin PBS station aired the first episode of "Austin City Limits" and, with that, took the first step to showing the entire country how Austin, Texas celebrated and encouraged exper…

The year 1974 shoulder much of the blame for the so-called worst music of not only the 1970s, but the worst of all time. Is this true? While we know that 1974 had much good to offer, is it true that …

Did you watch television in the 70s? If so, it was highly likely that you watched something that was created or produced by Dick Clark. The centerpiece of his entertainment empire was "American Bands…

What could possibly happen to make a music festival be tagged as "3 Days of Sodom and Gomorrah?" How about toilets on fire? Drugs being sold as openly as sex? Young rock fans strolling naked through …

In the 1970s, it was not easy for Canadians to produce and distribute music that would be widely received by American or Canadian audiences. Their was the issue of cost and, maybe even more important…