Late Seventies
And doing justice to the
Americans…
Grand Funk Railroad?
Blue Oyster Cult?
Lynyrd Skynyrd, or southern rock
• „Confederate rock”, working class
• Characteristic sound Was I Right or
Wrong?, from 1978 First and last
– Cassette (bonus after Gimme back my
Bullets, 1975)
• Half the band died in plane crash,
1977
• Gimme back my Bullets, from 1976
eponymous album
– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIRZh
_ZqdbI&feature=related
• For your interest, The Last Rebel
from a much later album
– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qr5a
XpeDWNI&feature=related
Was I Right or Wrong
Like a restless leaf, in the autumn breeze
Once I was a tumblin’ weed
Like a rollin’ stone, cold and all alone
Living for the day my train would come
Never cared for school or any golden rules
Papa used to always say I was a useless fool
So I left my home to show ’em they was
wrong
And headed out on the road singing my song
Then one sunny day, the man, he looked my
way
And everything that I dreamed of, it was real
Money, girls and cars, and big long cigars
And I caught the first plane home so papa
would see
When I went home to show ’em they was
wrong
All that I found was two tombstones
Somebody tell me please was I right or wrong
Oh, such a sad song
First I got lost, then I got found
But the ones that I love are in the ground
Papa I only wish you could see me now
Take a listen papa
Whoo, I learnt how to play my guitar
Gonna be a superstar
Play one for momma now
First I got lost, then I got found
The ones I love are in the ground
Won’t you tell me please was I right or
wrong
If there’s any way you can hear what I
say
Papa, I never meant to do you wrong
All the money, girls and cars and all the
world’s long cigars
Papa, I just want you to know they
couldn’t take your place
Kansas, or conglomerate rock
•
•
Recruited from around Topeka, Kansas
Closet Chronicles, from Point of Know Return album
1977 (cassette)
–
•
•
•
•
•
(British?) rock press hostility "a wan and ridiculous
rehash of the bargain-basement exoticism employed by
the British art-rock crowd."
Really masterminded by businessman Don Kirshner?
Talented keyboardist, violinist
Similar bands considered bland, pompous and fake
were Styx, Journey and Canadian Rush
Major hit: Dust in the Wind
–
•
•
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ld3prHzbdY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tH2w6Oxx0kQ
– Beautiful, isn’t it? Baroque rock?
Half the band turned to born-again christianity, Vynil
confessions 1982
Which band do they sound like in this song?
– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bhdgxmii-c
•
Or in this one?
– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q28lZkiWxUU
Closet Chronicles
•
Once carried through the current
And being swept away
The king is in the closet
He's hiding from today
And though he owns all fortunes
This room is where he'll stay
And his world is filled with
darkness, turning grey
Gazing out the window
Of the 42nd second floor
He is separate from all others
No one knocks upon his door
And it might as well be raining
'cause the sunlight hurts his eyes
And his ears will never hear the
children's cries
•
Once proud and full of passion
He fought the cause of man
Many people loved his courage
Many followed his command
He changed the old into the new
And the course of things to come
And then one day they noticed he
was gone
At first it didn't matter
Nobody seemed to care
They all became too busy
To find him anywhere do no one
knew hot even him
Closet Chronicles cont’d
•
The problems he would find
On the day he journeyed deep into his
mind
I close my eyes I go far away
Away from this battlefield
In my dreams well here I will enjoy it
Where innocence plays with all the
laughing children
The kind who are crying right now
A taste of freedom from the pain
Of everything here I see
Life is sweet but I took it all for granted
And now I don't know if I could even
tell you
Just what we permit, we allow
Allow me to forget the life I've made
my own
I've held this nation in my hand
And yet it's not my home
Allow me just one answer just one
reason why
•
•
Why this refugee of the family of
man must die
Tell me why
Daydreams filled his nighttimes
And night dreams filled his days
Confusion and uncertainty
A puzzled mind of haze
You thought he was so powerful
And set upon his ways
Well he left us all to travel through
this maze
I heard the king was dying
I heard the king was dead
And with him died the chronicles
That no one ever read
The closet's fully empty now
It's occupied by none
I'll draw the drapes now destiny is
done
Heart, a West-coast women’s band
• Sisters Ann and Nacy Wilson
– Ann sought satisfaction in music because of
childhood stammer!
• Hard rock, heavy metal and folk music
• Crazy on you, from 1976 debut, Dreamboat
Annie
– cassette
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V44HiAX91Hs
– Full album
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fW34QQuL2gU
• Barracuda, from 1977 Little Queen
– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q74u5Mo4
Onw&feature=related
• Bebe le Strange, from eponymous album,
1980
– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdsA4aq4
HoM&feature=related
– Which band from the course was fairly clearly
their masters?
Crazy On You lyrics
We may still have time
We might still get by
Every time I think about it I want to cry
With the bombs and the devils
And the kids keep coming
Nowhere to breathe easy...no time to be
young
But I tell myself that I'm doing alright
There's nothing left to do tonight but go
crazy on you
My love is the evening breeze touching your
skin
The gentle sweet singing of leaves in the
wind
The whisper that calls, after you in the night
And kisses your ear in the early light
You don't need to wonder, you're doing fine
And my love, the pleasure's mine
Let me go crazy on you
Wild man's world is crying in pain
What you gonna do when everybody's insane
So afraid of fortune, so afraid of you
What you gonna do?
Crazy on you, let me go crazy on you
I was willow last night in my dream
I bent down over a clear running stream
I sang you the song that i heard up above
And you keep me alive with your sweet flowing
love
Crazy, crazy on you,
Let me go crazy, crazy on you
The Eagles, or soft (Californian)
rock
• Very successful band, not always soft,
who could do no wrong in the 1970s.
• No other American band sold more
records.
• Hotel California, from eponymous
album 1976
– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnkJcjB
CG88
• Outlaw Man, from 1973 Desperado
– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_y3tFxtz
e98&feature=BFa&list=AL94UKMTqg9BxkPteGt2eH1Y45r9fl80-
The fifth BBC video sequel
• As you watch, quitetly note down the names of the performers who
invaded the US (again).
• What music was mainstream in America, to be waged war against,
at the end of the 1970s? Backwardness? Long-haired
conventionalism?
• What does it say was the new British invasion?
• Why was it diffcult for Americans to understand punk? What was the
American pretence – as the critic says -- that prevented them from
understanding?
• Why was the Sex Pistols only a trojan horse?
• Why were the Brits frustrated and angry? What was the cause, do
you think, of the seething anger, as the video states?
• What was the role of American radio stations in
maintaining/perpetuating music the new wave Brits thought was
outdated?
• What do we learn about the early days of MTV?
– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UiLnmnil8E
Homework
• Listening to the music identified here
• Lynyrd Skynyrd, Kansas, Heart and
Eagles readings
– Critics critical appreciation
– Comparison with your own insights
• Watching BBC video on previous slide
– Answering comprehension questions.