Rank and File: My Favorite Year...

Redartz:  Greetings all! For this week's discussion; we're going to update / expand upon a post I did several years ago at Doug and Karen's fondly remembered Bronze Age Babies. That post was dedicated to choosing a favorite summer, and sharing the reasons why. Here's a link to that original post (with thanks again to Doug and Karen):  http://bronzeagebabies.blogspot.com/2016/06/open-forum-your-favorite-summer.html#links

As our title above indicates, today we are tweaking that subject to select a favorite year. The characteristics of your favorite year will, of course, be subjective; it's your year, you pick the reasons why. Maybe it was the comics, maybe the television, perhaps it was something more personal. Whatever your reasons, what year do you look back upon with the most warmth?

In that previous BAB post, I named 1975 as my favorite summer. For favorite year, I'm sliding back a year to 1974. My reasons: 

Primarily, that was the year I 'returned' to comics.  I say 'returned' because in one sense, I never left- but 1974 was when my junior high pal convinced me to pick up some Marvel (and later DC) books after several years of Archie and Charlton reading. And that reunion with comics lasted, in one form or another, to this very day. 

But 1974 has more to offer than just that personal milestone. Man, what a year to start reading:

 


Marvel brought out the Giant-Size books, and the Treasury Editions,DC had the 100 page giants.  Gerry Conway and Ross Andru had Spidey fighting Molten Man, Jackal and Mysterio. Thomas and Buckler had the Fantastic Four tackling Sub-Mariner, Dr. Doom, Frightful Four and the Silver Surfer. The Avengers were dealing with the Celestial Madonna and Kang (repeatedly). Steve Gerber and Mike Ploog were doing Man-Thing. There were Marvel Value Stamps (yes, I was one of those who clipped them out; mea culpa). Just so much comics fun; it was mind-shattering. 










Ah, but 1974 also knocked me out musically. That was also the year I started following pop music, specifically Casey Kasem and American Top 40; and learned there was something called a "Billboard Hot 100". Some of my all-time favorite singles emanated from that halcyon year. Gordon Lightfoot's "Sundown". 

Hues Corporation's "Rock the Boat". Wings' "Band on the Run". MFSB's "TSOP".

 Ray Steven's "The Streak". Steely Dan's "Rikki Don't Lose That Number". Carole King's "Jazzman". 

And that merely scratches the surface. Every week tuning in to AT40 was like magic that year.

So there it is, my testament to 1974. What year gets your vote?

Riding the Retro Metro: Destination Wednesday July 7, 1971

Redartz: Hello fellow time travellers! Off we go again, back to the very early Bronze age. Early July 1971, to be exact. The U.S. continues to pull troops out of Viet Nam amidst protest marches, preparations are underway for the launch of Apollo 15 to the moon, and the world is shocked by the death of Doors singer Jim Morrison. Much is going on in the world, but for the kids among us, the focus is on pop culture. And it has much to offer today:

Tops on the Billboard U.S. Pop Chart:  Carole King, "It's Too Late"

Rounding out the top five: 
2. The Raiders, "Indian Reservation (The Lament of the Cherokee Reservation Indian)"
3. Cornelius Brothers and Sister Rose, "Treat Her Like a Lady"
4. Carpenters, "Rainy Days and Mondays"
5. Hamilton, Joe Frank and Reynolds, "Don't Pull Your Love "


The Osmonds have a couple songs in the top 40, which really appeals to my sister. Not to me so much. I'm really liking the new John Denver song, "Take Me Home Country Roads". Heard it on the radio during our very recent family vacation trip. And many of the other songs listed here I'm hearing on the radio in our cabin: I'm at summer camp, and "Indian Reservation" is everywhere.

Tops in the UK:  Middle of the Road, "Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep"

Now let's see what tv has to offer us tonight (of course there's no tv here at summer camp, but for the folks at home, here it is:
 U.S. Television Schedule:

 

ABC: The Courtship of Eddie's Father, Room 222, The Smith Family, Love on a Rooftop, The Immortal, NFL Action



 














CBS:  Adventure, To Rome With Love, Medical Center, Hawaii Five-0

 

NBC:  The Men from Shiloh, Kraft Music Hall, Four-in-One (McCloud, San Francisco International Airport, Night Gallery, The Psychiatrist)


BBC1:  Mission:Impossible, Paul Temple, The Fifties, News, Frost Over America, 24 Hours

BBC2:  Newsroom, Man Alive, One in Ten (Gordon Lightfoot), Stage 2: Trelawny of the 'Wells'

The Courtship of Eddie's Father is regular viewing at our house; a warm, engaging show with young Brandon Cruz and Bill Bixby as his father. And it has Harry Nilsson singing the theme. 
My father likes watching Medical Center with Chad Everett,  and Hawaii Five-0 with Jack Lord, and so do I.  Both have cool theme songs (these theme songs seem so important to a kid , don't know why).  Then there's the Smith Family. A family drama starring Henry Fonda, also with Ron Howard (seems he was just on Andy Griffith). It seems many film actors are getting tv series these days, such as Fonda, Doris Day, Dean Martin and Debbie Reynolds...

 One thing we do have at camp is comic books! Many of us have them under our bunks or in our duffel bags. Looking around we  might find some of these:

There's some pretty heavy hitters there. Amazing Spider-Man 100, with it's classic cover and shock ending. Green Lantern/Green Arrow tackling drugs. Jack Kirby's New Gods. Those books are still a few years off for me, but that John Stanley "Little Lulu" book accompanied me all summer. Probably the "Scooby Doo" as well. 



An interesting time to visit: the 60's still influencing much of pop culture, but elements of the 70's are standing out already. It was a great time to be a kid. Of course now the present calls us back from our retro reveries. But fear not, it won't be long until we again climb aboard the Metro and head baaaaack...