Summer Songs of the '70s

Being a teenager in the 1970s was so very different from today. There was alot of the hippy culture; drugs, sex and rock and roll. There was also alot of innocence and a deep belief that you could change the world.

Summer was about cruising in the evenings, drive in movies, and hanging out in the local parking lot with your radio blasting. If you had a job you might even have an 8-track in addition to the radio.

Smoking was cool. More than likely you would be sitting in your high backed bucket seats, listening to Kiss, and wearing your levis and Panama Red T shirt while puffing on a Marlboro to look older and more mature.

What music would you be listening to? Read on.

The 60s were past. The war in Viet Nam was still plastered on the news every night and the Beatles were still together. The songs you would have been listening to in the summer of 1970 were:

• Lola by the Kinks: How many of you irritated your parents by walking through the house singing "She talked like a woman but walked like a man....my Lo-la...L-O-L-A Lola..."
• Close to You by the Carpenters: The sweet sounds of first love. "Just like me...they want to be" (all together now) close "to you..."
• Bridge Over Troubled Water by Simon and Garfunkle:The perfect song to comfort the girl that got dumped by her boyfriend, and pick her up in the process...

1971 took us further away from Kent State and alot of violence the country wanted to just forget. Rod Stewart was belting out his goodbyes to Maggie May in that sexy, gravelly voice and John Lennon asked us to Just Imagine. Motown was gaining popularity with songs by the Temptations, Barry White, and Marvin Gaye.

Other song that blasted from the stereo were:

• Just My Imagination The Temptations
• Mercy Mercy Me, Marvin Gaye
• Joy to the World, Three Dog Night

In 1972 we were all for giving peace a chance. Long straight hair parted in the middle was still in style. We wore high waisted baggies, sprayed on Sweet Honesty cologne and tried to look like Susan Dey.

Lou Reed encouraged us to Take a Walk on the Wild Side, as if we weren't all ready. Bill Withers entreated us to "Lean on Me" and Stevie Wonder assured us that "You are the Sunshine of My Life". Other songs we sang along to were:

• If You Don't KNow Me by Now, Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes
• Smoke on the Water, Deep Purple
• Me and Mrs. Jones Billy Paul
• Rocket Man Elton John

1973 was a turning point. The Viet Nam war was over and soldiers began to come home. POWs were released and many of us were allowed ot take off the POW bracelets we had been wearing in rememberance. It was the summer of Watergate and the summer that Pink FLoyd released Dark Side of the Moon.

The Beatles had broken up but Paul McCartney was going strong with Wings. His song, Live and Let Die, echoed through the night. Other songs were:

• Free Bird, Lynard Skynard

• Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Elton John
• Piano Man, Billy Joel
• Let's Get It On, Marvin Gaye

The Watergate Scandal more or less left the news for the first time in a year when President Richard Nixon left office. Many of us can remember what we were doing when he gave his farwell speech. Music was entering a new phase as Motown began to evolve into disco. Bachman Turner Overdrive let us know in no uncertain terms that "You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet" and Ray Stevens made Streaking into a household word with his song, The Streak. Don't look, Ethel!

Songs took on a different beat with:

• Lady Marmelade, La Belle

• Radar Love, Golden Earring
• Waterloo, Abba

1975 was the year of Rocky Horror Picture Show (You have no neck!), Tommy (baked beans anyone?), and Hot Chocolate singing You Sexy Thing. We stood in line for hours outside of theaters dressed as transvestite aliens just so we could talk back to a movie. We paid a whopping 36 cents a gallon for gas and tried cruise en masse to save gasoline. Sort of a teen car pooling thing.

KC and the Sunshine Band taught us, That's the Way I Like It before we knew what "it" was. Kiss encouraged us to Rock and Roll All Night and we were ready. Big chevy vans with scenery painted on the sides were the teen status car for obvious reasons. What WERE our parents thinking?

We made out to songs like:

• I'm Not in Love, 10cc

• Love to Love You Baby, Donna Summer
• Chevy Van, Sammy Johns

Paul McCartney and Wings did the WIngs Over America Tour, which was incredible. Music was increasingly going disco and styles were changing. Layered hair, like Farrah Fawcett's, was all the rage and we spent hours with the new fangled blow dryer thing making it happen. Shiny lip gloss, smoky eyes and sculpted cheeks created a glamourous look on chubby adolescent faces...or so we thought.

Frampton offered to Show Me the Way, while Thin Lizzy informed us that the Boys are Back in Town. Starland Vocal Bandencouraged a little Afternoon Delight.

We made out to songs like:

• More Than a Feeling, Boston
• Night Moves, Bob Seger
• Dancing Queen, Abba

Elvis died. That was significant to many people, but for those of us who were dyed in the wool fans of disco it was less important than whether our Brittania jeans were properly creased. Yes, creased.

Disco was still the top of the charts but punk had started to creep in. The Bee Gees were Stayin' Alive while Leo Sayer let us know, You Make Me Feel Like Dancin'. Almost noone could actually sit through that song. The Eagles reminded us to stay away form the Hotel California, long before Stephen King wrote The Shining.

Other songs we were moving too were:

• Brick House, Commodores

• We are the Champions, Queen
• Best of My Love, Emotions

Disco was dying out and 1978 was a year of change. Not that hte discos weren't still full, they were, but contemporary country was coming on the scene with artists like WIllie Nelson and Waylon Jennings gaining popularity among the disco crowd. Their combined effort in recording, Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cowboys, had many of us singing with a country twang.

Donna Summer wanted us to save the Last Dance, while Meatloaf assured us that Two Out of Three Ain't Bad. Styx invited us to, Come Sail Away. We should have taken him up on it because by 1979 everything had changed.

• I Will Survive, Gloria Gaynor
• Always and Forever, Heatwave
• Don't Look Back, Boston

In 1979 a group called The Knack had the first song in over a year to make it to number one that was not disco or a ballad. It was a catchy tune by the name of My Sharona and it stayed at the top spot for six weeks. If that wasn't a sign that disco was over, a Chicago rock station staged a Disco Demolition night where they blew up disco records with a bomb.

Chic tried to keep it going with Good Times and Donna Summer reminded us of Hot Stuff. Blondie moved us into a new era with Heart of Glass.

We said goodbye to the last summer of the 70s with:

• Babe, Styx

• Knock on Wood, Amii Stewart
• My Life, Billy Joel

There were so many more song that floated through the sultry summer nights. Songs that made you move, songs that made you laugh, and songs that made you fall in love.

Violence was not a concern, there just wasn't that much. We were still very much children of the peace generation, the little kids that had been influenced by the flower children of the 60s. Our rebellion was minor in comparison, and getting good grades still important.

We lived in a world before computers in the house, before microwaves, and before Wii. We entertained ourselves by throwing frisbees, wearing halter tops to get the "looks" we wanted, and parking little Le Cars in odd places.

We really thought that we would bring enlightenment ot the world, we thought we would be sexy forever, and that we would be the first generation to never grow old.

We were wrong.

The music is full of memories for many of us. It is startling to hear it in grocery stores and elevators, and more startling to see Paul McCartney , Billy Joel, and other stars who have so obviously aged. Worse than that is thinking of the ones that never aged past the 70s but were killed or killed themselves.

70s music has a strange combination of all that we were. Sexually forward, yet innocent. Drugged, yet health concious. The songs will always take us back, if only for a few moments.