Redartz: Welcome, all, to another eclectic excursion on the Retro Metro! Today we slip back 40 years to 1977: disco is heating things up at the clubs, Jimmy Carter is mellowing out the White House, and comics are now 35 cents US (so now you can no longer get three for your dollar, bummer). Your humble host is a busy high schooler, but not so busy as to lose track of the current pop culture. To wit:
A widely watched show these days is "Starsky and Hutch", a kind of buddy cop show. One of the stars is actor David Soul, who is adding to his resume as a pop singer. And, I might add, a successful one:
Billboard Number One Pop Hit: David Soul, "Don't Give Up on Us"
2. Thelma Houston, "Don't Leave Me This Way"
3. Glen Campbell, "Southern Nights"
4. Eagles, "Hotel California"
5. 10cc, "The Things We Do for Love"
With the exception of 10cc, each song in the top 5 this week will end up hitting the number one position.
It seems every one of my friends has the Eagles' "Hotel California", either on record or 8 track (which is how we usually hear that song, as we cruise around our small mid-western town after school). Great song, and a great album.
Across the Atlantic, another terrific song is getting a lot of airplay. I'm wishing ABBA had the popularity here that they seem to have everywhere else on earth...
Tops in the UK: ABBA, "Knowing Me, Knowing You"
And now we turn our attention to tonight's tv offerings. We grab our dog-eared copy of TV Guide , open it up and find:
US Television Schedule:
ABC: Welcome Back, Kotter; Three's Company, Barney Miller, The Tony Randall Show, Westside Medical
CBS: The Waltons, Hawaii Five-O, Barnaby Jones
NBC: The Fantastic Journey, NBC's Best Sellers
BBC1: Tomorrow's World, Top of the Pops, The Rockford Files, Taste for Adventure, She's Our Queen Too, You Know; Omnibus
BBC2: News on 2 Headlines, Having a Baby, Newsday, Shepherd, Who Was Jesus?
Three's Company draws a lot of viewers, and I watch from time to time. Yet it seems a bit cheesy to me. On the other hand, Barney Miller is always a winner. Excellent ensemble cast.
My folks always tune in Hawaii Five-0 and Barnaby Jones; I will sit in with them sometimes. Barnaby does have a catchy theme song.
Now that show on NBC, The Fantastic Journey: never seen it. Which is a bit surprising, it appears to have some sci-fi aspect...
One of the shows scheduled this evening is Welcome Back, Kotter. By coincidence, that is also represented on the comic spinner rack this week. Let's wander over and see what else is out today:
That Avengers issue is yet another fine effort from Jim Shooter and George Perez. How that book can keep up such a level of quality is beyond me. Great stuff (and an amusing cover). Daredevil has a pretty solid issue this time around, sadly Spider-Man kind of left me cold.
A first issue of note this week is Star Wars. Apparently this will be released as a movie soon by George Lucas (the fellow behind "American Graffiti"). The comic is pretty sharp; one wonders if the film will make much of a splash...
And with that pondering note, we bid goodbye to 1977 and return to the digital age. Hope you enjoyed the trip today; keep your ticket stub for the next ride on the Retro Metro!
17 comments:
By a strange coincidence I was listening to David Soul on BBC Radio 4 Extra (a digital station) just yesterday - he was on a show called "Great Lives" (repeated from 2008) and he was talking about Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German pastor who was executed by the Nazis in the last days of World War II. Of course the show's presenter, Matthew Paris, also mentioned Starsky & Hutch and David Soul's two (yes TWO) UK #1 hits - "Don't Give Up On Us" and "Silver Lady" (which was the better of the two in my opinion).
"Knowing Me, Knowing You" was the fifth of Abba's nine UK #1 hits but in April 1977 they had their only American #1 - "Dancing Queen" (I think it was #1 in the week previous to this one).
According to BBC Genome, the programme called "She's Our Queen Too, You Know" was about the Queen's relationship with the British Commonwealth - invented to replace the Empire so we could still pretend we were important in the world. In April 1977 we were building towards the Queen's Silver Jubilee on June 7th which was a huge event at the time.
On TV I loved "The Fantastic Journey" which was about a group of travelers lost in the Bermuda Triangle who were trying to get home - unfortunately it was cancelled after just nine episodes. One of the episodes was on YouTube so I watched it and I enjoyed it after all these years :)
While not my thing the US Top 5 for this week included a strong set of songs standing the test of time.
And British TV looks so boring at this time. No videos or DVDs either. So no wonder youth culture invented punk rock. And no wonder too that I was reading these marvellous, glamorous, American things called Marvel comics.
A question. Just how much of a turning point was Star Wars for the wider culture? I'm especially curious about the difference it made to design and fashion as the early/middle 70s becomes the later 70s...?
Joanna Lumley's hairstyle on The New Avengers (called the "Purdey" after her character) became very popular among young women in the mid-'70s - but Princess Leia's hairdo enjoyed zero popularity so Star Wars had no impact on that aspect of fashion lol.
Hello! I don't recall Star Wars having any impact on fashion and I was 16 at the time it was released. However not that many years later I remember that new wave British invasion of the United States having a huuuuge influence on youth fashion! Bigly!
I hope my next question is not a dumb question! But how does one pronounce Colin? Is the "o pronounced long? Or like "ah"? Sometimes I have trouble with names like frank giacoia. It was 50 years before I learned how to pronounce that name correctly .
Perhaps 'fashion' was the wrong word (lol) I was thinking more the design aspects and overall 'feel' of the later 70s. But I guess the soon-to-come new wave scene was much more important. And Devo took the futuristic route but it was a retro-futuristic look rather than a Star Wars influenced look. Just thinking aloud here :)
'Colin' - I think I can speak for Colin Jones in saying we answer to the short 'o' as in 'drop'...
Ahh, those last 2 months before 'Star Wars' premiered..., 'Who woulda thunk..?'
I was still mourning the passing of Space:1999, which effectively took me out of comic collecting for the rest of the 70s, at least to the large degree I was collecting ('73/'74). Abba was simply a fantastic phenomena, polished productions, excellent hook lines, at least to musicians, we can really appreciate the exciting quality of their work.
I was also enjoying 'Starsky and Hutch' quite a bit.., but I personally wouldn't call David Soul a 'successful popstar'. Besides all the hype in Teen Beat and his exposure on S&H, he was little more than a one-hit wonder. I was planning on getting both his and Paul Michael Glaser's autographs at the recent Chicago Hollywood Show I attended, but they both dropped out a month prior (RATS..!!).
It was a fun time..., and as I always quote David Tennant, 'All my love to long ago...'.
And Noooooo disrespect to any devout David Soul fans meant.
Forgot to mention, LOVE Barney Miller, the missus and I catch reruns whenever we can on weeknights. Just a splendid ensemble production, sorry to say I missed seeing Ron Glass a year before he died; he was on the bill for that Galactica con I attended in Seattle a few years back. Rest in Peace, Sgt Harris.
Interesting choice for today's flashback ... I actually reviewed those JLA, LSH, and Batman comics a few weeks back on my blog.
I loved Welcome Back Kotter (though it went downhill fast after Barbarino left), Three's Company, and Barney Miller (my mom thought Jack Soo was the funniest guy on the show). I liked Starsky and Hutch too, but don't recall many episodes. My parents watched Hawaii Five-O, but it was on too late for 5 year old me to see it.
I too enjoyed Barney Miller. That was a great show.
Regarding the comics, it is strange that I don't recall ever seeing that Captain America cover. Don't know how I missed that one.
And the coloring on the Star Wars cover always mystified me. The green Darth Vader was odd. Pretty obvious the colorist and editor didn't see the movie before working on that.
What? You all weren't sporting Leia's hairstyle???? I definitely had Luke's bowl cut for a while.
For me, the TV highlight of the day was, "White Horses," a show I recall nothing about other than that it was Yugoslavian and had an awesome theme tune that was a Top 10 hit single. According to Wikipedia, "The Penguin Television Companion," claimed it to be the best television theme in history.
It was one of a raft of European children's shows that used to show up on the BBC throughout the 1960s and 70s. The most notorious of those shows was, "The Singing Ringing Tree," an East German children's show, based on a fairy tale, which was like one long, nightmarish acid trip from start to finish. It's amazing that East German children didn't all end up in therapy.
"Tomorrow's World," was broadcasting a discussion about what agriculture would be like in the year 2000. It's a safe bet that all the talk was about soya beans. "Tomorrow's World," was obsessed with soya beans and constantly declared that, within twenty years, we'd all be living on a diet made up entirely of soya beans. To this day, I've still never knowingly eaten anything containing soya beans.
I too recall, "Fantastic Journey." It starred Roddy McDowall and featured a gang of Bermuda Triangle victims travelling from lost city to lost city and thwarting evil locals before heading off again in search of a way home. Think of a cross between, "Star Trek," and the, "Logan's Run," TV show and that gives you some feel for what it was like. It wasn't great but it was entertaining enough.
ABBA really were gigantic in Britain, having a Beatlesque level of success. "ABBA Gold," is the second biggest-selling album of all time over here and still re-enters the Top 40 album chart from time to time, even now.
Looking at the UK singles chart for the week, apart from ABBA, the higher reaches of the chart don't really thrill me. The songs I do like are further down the chart and are as follows:
20 - Elkie Brooks, "Pearl's a Singer."
22 - Andrew Gold, "Lonely Boy."
27 - Bonnie Tyler, "More Than a Lover."
29 - Peter Gabriel, "Solsbury Hill."
36 - ELO, "Rockaria."
38 - The Eagles, "Hotel California."
There are two oddities on the chart. There's Berni Flint at Number 5, with, "I Don't Want To Put A Hold On You." He got his big break by winning a TV talent show for a record-breaking twelve weeks running, had a hit single on the back of it - and was then never heard of again.
The other is Brendon at 14, with, "Gimme Some." Much as I hate to diss Brendon - who I'm sure is a lovely man - he's one of the most notoriously hopeless acts ever to appear on, "Top of the Pops," and is a bit of a legend amongst fans of bad, "Top of the Pops," performances.
Overall, the chart does have a feeling of, "Waiting for Punk to take off."
Imported US comics were now 12 pence each, which equated to 21 cents, meaning that, if you'd hopped over from America, you'd have been able to get four for a dollar and still have had money left over for a Marvel UK comic as well - and still have had 6 pence left over even after that. Admittedly, the air fare would have wiped out your profit...
Oh, failed to mention, I did happen to pick up that Avengers 161 issue, such an awesome cover.
For us Pym fans, it was quite a 'return-to-form' for our beloved Antman and his powers (when used decisively...).
If someone could explain how the UK swerved from ABBA to Punk to New Wave in 3 years and then invade the USA??? I mean, maybe it was even less than 3 years?
Steve, Colin J, Colin B - You chaps have been an endless source of valuable info on this subject! Help???!!!
Hotel California - 10 years ago I start carpooling with a friend, switching weeks. He owns 1 CD - Eagles Greatest Hits. He plays only one thing coming and going (35 minutes each way) - Eagles Greatest Hits. This went on for two years. I figured I heard that album literally 200 - 250 times over 2 years. Mercifully he found another job. I do suffer PTSD from that.
Charlie, that's a question I've spent most of my life attempting to answer.
My take is in two parts. First, Abba and punk itself were made up of two wildly different crowds. My wife would concur since her childhood and youth was ALL Abba while I eventually became a hardcore punk. We would never have met socially as teenagers.
But I do think that the new wave (or perhaps in the UK what became post-punk and also the new romantics) was a partial meshing of punk with aspects of Abba to break America. The new romantics in particular (Duran Duran etc.) took from punk their love of Bowie, dressing up, an acute sense of style and an inner confidence. At the same time they also incorporated elements that made Abba popular - a pop sensibility and an appreciation for chart success. Then simply add MTV and mix...
It is genuinely baffling. In the space of five years, between 1976 and 1981, we worked our way through Pub Rock, Punk Rock, New Wave, Synth Pop, Ska, a Mod Revival and New Romanticism, with diversions into sub-divisions like Goth. There were also crazes for Northern Soul, Rock and Roll revivalism and Disco. At the time it just seemed normal for that much to be going on but, in retrospect, it's a rate of musical change that seems positively freakish. All I can assume is it was fed by four forces; economic/political turmoil, increasing multi-racialism, nostalgia and new technology, each individually pushing music into different directions from each other and creating a kind of musical Big Bang.
Charlie, as Colin B says - we pronounce Colin with a short 'o'. When General Colin Powell became well-known over here it seemed odd that he was called Coe-lin Powell - it had never occurred to me to pronounce Colin like that.
Colin J- thanks for filling us in on the details of the BBC programming there; and thanks to you and Steve for enlightening me about "Fantastic Journey".
Colin B- I like your take on the progression from ABBA to New Wave. I was right in there too, sometimes I think I was born on the wrong continent...and good point about the pop sensibility of the New Romantics. The lyrics and melodies of ABC and Duran Duran, for instance, rank with the best of anyone.
david_b- well said; I was being a bit generous describing David Soul. Although, to be fair, he had one more pop hit than I had...
Steve Does Comics- you've piqued my curiosity about "White Horses". Another to hunt down on youtube. And interesting comment about the relative prices of US and UK comics at the time. Perhaps it would have been worth the air fare! And again, nice discussion of the progression of musical taste. A post on New Wave music is definitely on the horizon...
I remember that week so well. It was the first time my family and I were able to travel more than a couple miles from our home after to the devastating flood that had nearly decimated our neighboring town of Pineville, Ky, came with in inches of flooding our town of Barbourville, and had flooded the main highway both north and southbound. Comics came out twice a week then (remember?) so I had like 4 deliveries worth of comics to catch up on (yeah, that and getting out of school for nearly a month--oh, and having to get water from an out-of-town delivery truck because the local water distribution plant was underwater, as well)were my main concerns (I was a kid, gimme a break). This is also the time when I created my very first comicbook (Heros--an Adam Warlock rip-off) on typing paper with pencil crayons. I still have that thing around here somewhere...I remember getting Cap, Spidey, Avengers, Daredevil, Star Wars, and JLA--the last three are still waaaaaay up on my favorites list. My mom listened to the local country station all the time (keeping up with the news on the flood)and Kenny Rogers' Lucille was still in strong rotation along with Campell's Southern Nights. Wow, 40 years doesn't seem so long ago right now!
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