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Lionheart 
Forum Senior Member
Joined: December 27 2005
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Points: 106
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 Posted: September 01 2011 at 15:46 |
I can't speak for what it was like in the 60's, but I do remember the 70's.
Radio was a lot more "diverse" back then. This is before record companies and radio stations got bought by media companies (Sony, Universal, etc). The variety of material you would hear in the top 40 was much different than it is now. Everything changed when accountants took over, and record companies were owned by people who didn't really "value" music, but instead just saw it as a plethora of "pretty objects that you could profit from". The creativity was encouraged, and as a result (especially if we are talking about "prog"), records were recorded and released that had major label and radio backing. In other words, "Bohemian Rhapsody" got released and played because the environment (radio, record companies and audience) were receptive to it on a "mass scale".
Since then, if you have accountants running the show, then everything has to be "segmented and marketed" to maximize profit. This really wasn't the case back in the 70's. Major record companies took chances, and a lot of bands wrote, sang and produced their own records, *and* record companies didn't mind, because they would wind up profiting.
As far as record stores, I do remember finding a pretty good variety in local record stores. In order to get the cool foreign stuff, you had to go into the city. I also remember flipping through Goldmine magazine often for that reason. If you couldn't find it in a retail outlet, then you could usually find a retailer in Goldmine that had what you were looking for.
It was a glorious time.
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TODDLER
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Location: Vineland, N.J.
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Posted: September 01 2011 at 12:37 |
In the 70's I watched friends disconnect themselves from the world. They had bad acid trips and were escorted to the Ancora Psychiatric Hospital where I would visit them and make attempts to bring them back. Now for some reason this was very consistent in my life from 74' to 78'. I don't know if it were the times I lived in or just being in the wrong place at the wrong time? 3 of my close friends had studied classical music in Philadelphia when they were age 10 and we all grew together in the music world. As kids....then teenagers. They were very talented and all it took was one dosage of acid. Just 1 trip to destroy their mind. I would visit them and they would sit and pull on their hair or simply deny knowing me and mumble funny words to themselves.
Some of them were converted to Christianity and roamed the streets of Vineland spreading the word of the gospels. After talking to them for a whole of 2 minutes ....I felt angered by the fact that they did not remember what we did as friends. I assume this 1 extreme to the other ....drugs to religion....was happening all over the U.S....but the town I lived in was quite corrupted so maybe that was the more sensible answer in thiscase. It was the 60's casualties thing progressing in the 70's.
A great keyboardist I worked with was taken to the mental hospital because he had taken too much acid and was trying to jump off the roof of his house. When I went to visit him...his name was no longer Norman. Now it was Noah and it's the same pattern over and over. It's complete garbage you know? The scene was a bit over done at times. If you wanted to be yourself and not take drugs....you had to be by yourself to do that. And if you were always off by yourself that gave the schoolboard reason to believe you were on drugs. Every night I was up late studying music with my father and the next day I looked like a vampire in school. They put a lot of pressure on me by calling me to their perfect office with perfect principal to examine my eyes and ask their stupied questions.
There had been a Satan cult killing in town and all these religious fanatics arrived to our community shortly after. They were very persistent in converting everyone to the born again concept. Police patrolled the area day and night as private investigators attempted to prove with circumstantial evidence...that there was the existence of an elderly and wealthy Satan worshippers sect. They had been hiding and conducting service to the Devil in a church. Police had the idea that these people were brainwashing kids my age to perform rituals that derived from Judeo-Christian concepts. I do know that this is all very true, but the school staff was tormenting the kids with this drug reality and it just went into harassment mode after the young man's body was discovered. Police convicted 2 boys who confessed to the crime sending them to Yardville prison while the police continued the search for the older cult which some of them had fled. They interrogated many of them as they spent 2 years trying to locate physical evidence.
For a long time police tried to connect the cult to Barbara Hutton whose family owned the Woolworth five and dime stores. She owned a venue in Pleasantville which was about a 35 minute drive from Vineland N.J. It was designed like a Spanish castle. She was interested in the spirit world and hired a working staff to dress in black cloaks. Black mirrors, strange looking characters, and rock bands performing. They tried to shut her down and the battle raged on for years. The ritual sacrifice of this boy and the idea that more than 50 people were present when his body was thrown overboard gave motive for the police to re-open the case several times. The frustration of the police confiscating materials, literature, and evidence that kids in my school were connected with this group remained a topic of the town's history. Now it remains to be a campfire story from the 70's.
Edited by TODDLER - September 01 2011 at 12:50
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ghost_of_morphy
Prog Reviewer
Joined: March 08 2007
Location: United States
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Points: 2755
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Posted: September 01 2011 at 10:58 |
 lazland wrote:
wjohnd wrote:
When i was at high school, our music teacher played the class ELP - Pictures at an Exhibition. It was a misguided attempt to get us 'kids' interested in classical music by playing some 'popular rock'....
Doubly misguided as the Sex Pistols ' Never Mind the bollocks' was the talk of the class by then |
Yep, same here. My art teacher at secondary modern would play Yes, genesis, ELP, Dylan to us, whilst all the rest of the class wanted to listen to The Pistols, Clash & etc. I got a few beatings for being the only one who appreciated what he put on!  |
My music teacher was a bit more outdated..... He played us Spike Jones.
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TODDLER
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Location: Vineland, N.J.
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Posted: September 01 2011 at 10:52 |
As I have expressed before in other threads smoking was a private activity for me personally until I met a drummer who was deeply into 20th century composers. He would send invitations to us by mail. We would be invited to his Sunday afternoon bash of a 2 hour listening of Edgar Varese. Usually a small gathering of friends would show..maybe 8 or even 10 people. Chairs were set up, the stereo against the wall with giant speakers built by his brother-in-law who was a sound tech. He would pass the pipe around until everyone was up in the ether. Then he would request silence during the run of pieces.
Captain Beefheart, Syd Barrett, Gong, Bartok, GTO's, ....that was all on the agenda at my house with gatherings. One time a few Rocky Horror Picture Show fans stopped over to party and I scared them with Ummagumma and a strobe light. Philadelphia was populated with kids who were crazed over European Progressive Rock. Once you were outside the city (like me), it became a difficult task to cross paths with anyone who had these interests. Local venues were packed with people who came to see prog cover bands, but restrictions at age 15 made things almost impossible for me. I would wait for my parents to fall asleep, sneak out of the house, walk to the "College Inn" where the Devil worshippers hung out and hide in the back woods waiting to hear the "Robert Mule Band" perform "Thick as a Brick".
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cstack3
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Posted: September 01 2011 at 10:51 |
fandrews wrote:
I had to fight for every inch of hair back then (70s) because my dad was in the Army. I was the trailblazer for my two younger brothers--they had it much easier. Even though I was a hippie or as we called them in school back then a "freak.'We had the freaks, the jocks and the nerds. I managed to grow my hair to my shoulders but it wasn't easy because my dad associated the freaks with that crazy music and dope ( of course in my case he was correct). The bars in germany back then --if they had a dance floor played German polka music, top forty and later disco. But I guess I sold out too because I do remember getting a pair of "stacks.' (shoes with a huge heal). Also remember school dance with those oil gell things projected on the wall to trip out to. I also remember slow dancing to Knights in White Satin and A whiter Shade of pale and of course Colour My World. |
A brave man indeed! There was quite a bit of prejudice against the freaks (I was never that much of a freak, with hair only over the collar).
When the Viet Nam war wound down, the air was let out of the balloon I fear. I barely missed that one (having a US draft card). However, the end of the conflict allowed us to concentrate even harder upon partying and progging (if that is a correct term!)
If we had had the internet back then, I'd still be trying to earn my first college degree!!
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fandrews
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Joined: August 30 2011
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Posted: September 01 2011 at 07:28 |
I had to fight for every inch of hair back then (70s) because my dad was in the Army. I was the trailblazer for my two younger brothers--they had it much easier. Even though I was a hippie or as we called them in school back then a "freak.' We had the freaks, the jocks and the nerds. I managed to grow my hair to my shoulders but it wasn't easy because my dad associated the freaks with that crazy music and dope ( of course in my case he was correct). The bars in germany back then --if they had a dance floor played German polka music, top forty and later disco. But I guess I sold out too because I do remember getting a pair of "stacks.' (shoes with a huge heal). Also remember school dance with those oil gell things projected on the wall to trip out to. I also remember slow dancing to Knights in White Satin and A whiter Shade of pale and of course Colour My World.
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octopus-4
Special Collaborator
RIO/Avant/Zeuhl,Neo & Post/Math Teams
Joined: October 31 2006
Location: Italy
Status: Offline
Points: 14550
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Posted: September 01 2011 at 01:07 |
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I stand with Roger Waters, I stand with Joan Baez, I stand with Victor Jara, I stand with Woody Guthrie. Music is revolution
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cstack3
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Posted: August 31 2011 at 23:47 |
Slartibartfast wrote:
Maaaan, it was horrible, we all had to grow long hair, smoke a lot of dope, call each other "man", wear tie-die t-shirts and bell-bottom blue jeans.
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Yeah, it sure sucked!
You're the guy I saw at King Crimson at the Kinetic Playground in 1973, who was standing up & playing air-violin along with David Cross, while the rest of the audience yelled & threw stuff to make you sit down!!
Damn hippy! Fripp was REALLY pissed at the commotion too, it was priceless!!
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Atavachron
Special Collaborator
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Joined: September 30 2006
Location: Pearland
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Points: 65603
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Posted: August 31 2011 at 22:34 |
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^ but you were there, that counts
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Ivan_Melgar_M
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Location: Peru
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Posted: August 31 2011 at 21:49 |
I was 6 when the 70's started and only got into Prog around 1976, so didn't reached the golden era.
Iván
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jammun
Prog Reviewer
Joined: July 14 2007
Location: United States
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Points: 3449
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Posted: August 31 2011 at 21:14 |
Enjoying this you guys. I remember my dad taking me to a drive-in (remember those?) to see A Hard Days NIght (the movie) when it came out. I got to go see Help on my own. This was obviously in the early-/mid-60's. Anyone here from the Midwest/Rockies? Then you'll remember KOMA out of Oklahoma City. That station had incredible reach, 500-600 miles each way. That's where I first heard The Beach Boys and The Beatles. We moved about that time and I listened to some station in Denver. This was during the heighth of the British Invasion. I'd still put that era up against any, though music was to only get better, at least for a while. The Beatles, The Kinks, The Yardbirds, The Animals, The Zombies. Of course, this era was more innocent times. I was maybe 12 years old. I went to visit a cousin in Houston when I was about 14. This would have been in 1967, I suppose. That's when I first heard FM radio, playing stuff I'd never heard, the one standout being Traffic's Dear Mr. Fantasy. And I'm referring to the album, which they had no problem playing in its entirety. My cousin turned me on to (because that's what we did in those days, "turn someone onto something" ) Jefferson Airplane, not to mention 13th Floor Elevators. We had an already common interest in Zappa. He was dabbling in drugs. I was having none of that... Until the next year. But that's another story altogether.
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Can you tell me where we're headin'?
Lincoln County Road or Armageddon.
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moshkito
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Joined: January 04 2007
Location: Grok City
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Posted: August 31 2011 at 20:51 |
TODDLER wrote:
Slartibartfast wrote:
Maaaan, it was horrible, we all had to grow long hair, smoke a lot of dope, call each other "man", wear tie-die t-shirts and bell-bottom blue jeans. |
Oh God I hated that stuff. Except for the hair. I didn't mind having long hair in the early 70's. However the Baptist did. During the 70's they created a vision of Hell for me. Hell was the place you went if you had long hair, smoked weed, and listened to what was better known then as "Hard Rock".
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It was not really that bad ... and I think that Slart was having fun with the image, which I like to do as well. And yep ... I'm 60 and proud of it and my legacy is trying to legitimize the Woodstock generation as not a bunch of frunken and stoned idiots that can only go ... far out man ... and go see music because they are stoned, and it doesn't mean sh*t to them!
But you already know that part!
And in many ways all this is no different today when one has to aggree with the voting in this board? ... yeah ... still have to be a part of the "inn" crowd!
Let's see ... long hair ... I cut mine when we arrived in California in the fall of 1971 from Madison, Wisconsin ... long hair was a fad in California and I didn't like socialist fads!
The tie-die t-shirts ... there is a lady here at work that has done me a bunch of them on long sleeve t-shirts and I wear those ... modified tie-die, not as bright but still very cool looking and very me.
Bell bottoms I miss a lot ...they were nice. But today the fascist fashionistas of Kmart, WallMart and Sears and all the other stores do not believe that people can dress up and have to look avbsolutely the same so they can get their profits ...
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Todd Rundgren, during the time he was in Woody's Truckstop used to visit my guitar playing friend Steve Laury.
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You mean he wasn't throwing punches at that other guy? (Ted Nugent!)
Edited by moshkito - August 31 2011 at 20:51
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Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told!
www.pedrosena.com
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moshkito
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Points: 18064
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Posted: August 31 2011 at 20:36 |
Catcher10 wrote:
Totally agree with moshkito, especially with the bit on FM radio in SoCal......KMET 94.7 was the dial spot for longer, prog type material. KLOS 95.5 was more mainstream hard rock, BTW I still have a bunch of the KLOS rainbow stickers they would give out at concerts.....I have Rush, Styx, Scorpions from KMET.....and a few from the US Festival ... '83. Below KMET and Rush stickers from I think the Moving Pictures tour at the LA Forum 1981. ...
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Thanks Catch ...
I updated the information on my post ... I forgot Led Zep ... the darling of both KMET and KLOS ... both fighting to get interviews all the time!
Would love to tell you a joke about Mary Turner, from Joe Collins ... (he was in Santa Barbara also at KTYD doing a jazz show on Sunday Nights that prefaced Space Pirate Radio for at least 6 years!) ... thread on SPR is on another section in this board although it got sad for a few paragraphs.
Edited by moshkito - August 31 2011 at 20:39
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Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told!
www.pedrosena.com
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Slartibartfast
Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator / In Memoriam
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Posted: August 31 2011 at 20:17 |
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From a music and prog standpoint, I didn't really get started until the later '70's. Actually about the time prog was going into a bit of decline, but it was a good time to do so because there was plenty that had been recorded out there to explore. Some prog did actually make it's way to commercial radio: Round About, Carry On Wayward Son, Hocus Pocus, etc. and that lead people into prog. A lot of it was also spread by word of mouth and going into a record store and hearing something interesting being played. It was pretty much an LP and cassette world for me. The LP being the touchstone and cassette copies bringing the portability. 8 tracks were well on their way out. 78's went before that. You had your reel to reel enthusiasts. We had a brief flirtation with quad, the forerunner of surround sound. There were LPs made for that format.
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Released date are often when it it impacted you but recorded dates are when it really happened... 
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presdoug
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Posted: August 31 2011 at 20:08 |
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fascinating thread! thanks to all of you for your stories
I'm 48, so was too young to really connect with things in the sixties and early to mid seventies-as i was growing up, i was faced with things like disco,punk and new wave-all of which continue to turn my stomach even just being reminded of them
as i expanded my experience of music, i developed an affinity with the early to mid seventies period, which has never left me-first the heavy rock, then jazz rock and progressive rock
i like to think of myself as "58", when it comes to musical taste, and in rock or jazz type music, i am still mainly in the early to mid seventies-don't need the fashion or the drugs, man, it is the great music that counts!
saw some great and memorable concerts in the mid to late seventies in my high school and in the Ottawa Civic Center, but would have preferred to have been a bit older to take in the early seventies
it is great how even really obscure and foreign recordings are within reach, and i listen to a lot of seventies music that i had not known of then
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Jake Kobrin
Prog Reviewer
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Posted: August 31 2011 at 17:57 |
Slartibartfast wrote:
Maaaan, it was horrible, we all had to grow long hair, smoke a lot of dope, call each other "man", wear tie-die t-shirts and bell-bottom blue jeans. |
I still do this! Minus the wardrobe.
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wandererfromtx
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Points: 41
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Posted: August 31 2011 at 16:23 |
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Wow, I like this thread, it has brought back so many great memories.
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Cloud Hidden Whereabouts Unknown
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wandererfromtx
Forum Groupie
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Posted: August 31 2011 at 16:14 |
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In 75 or 76 I can't remember which, we had the band Ethos play at our High School dance. It was great being able to sit almost on the stage, and then meet the band after the show. Several of my friends and I helped them pack up the equipment.
http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=547
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Cloud Hidden Whereabouts Unknown
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jean-marie
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Posted: August 31 2011 at 16:10 |
abit like this.....
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presdoug
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Location: Canada
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Points: 8737
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Posted: August 31 2011 at 15:54 |
TODDLER wrote:
Sometime in 76' (I think?), I saw YES with Patrick Moraz at the J.F.K. Stadium. Mostly material that night from Relayer and Topographic. They were very good and extremely tighter as a unit from what you hear on Yesssongs where maybe Alan White produces some bloopers and the band is un-sure of themselves. At age 17 I was listening to Topographic and Relayer everyday and enjoying it , but in my sub-con I still longed for the return of The Yes Album, Fragile, and C.T.T.E. However as sour of a Yes fan I was at times......they were very solid and very very tight as a unit. When they played "Soundchaser" it was utterly mind blowing! They were different this time round because they were more schizoid nature with material on Relayer and softness of Topographic. During "Ritual" I noticed a row of seats were on fire. The wind was blowing and the fire spread rapidly covering half of the stadium. But YES played on and the kids tripping on acid screaming .....jumping up and down. The Fire department took about 5 minutes to arrive and controlled the situation well.
In late 70's I saw a band called Sea Level open for Jefferson Starship. It was a seated concert at the Spectrum in Philadelphia. Sea Level played this kind of soft melodic jazz/fusion that built up to higher volumes with intense playing.
Spooky Tooth I saw open for Frampton's Camel and Mahavishnu Orchestra. Spooky Tooth entered the stage playing new material from "The Mirror" and music from previous albums. They were dark and not a typical 70's rock band. |
Interesting post-love the early Sea Level, the first two albums, self-titled from 77 and Cats On The Coast from 78, i think-cool that you saw them back in the day!
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What was it like in the 60's and 70's?
