Radio Music in 1971

[Bobbert]

(I know this should be in the music section but it doesn't get much activity)

I've been thinking back 50 years to 1971 when I was at the very impressionable age of 12. My FM radio kept me great company.

Early that year, radio included singles like What is Life by George Harrison, Take Me Home Country Roads by John Denver, How Can You Mend a Broken Heart by the Bee Gees, and (maybe biggest of all) Joy to the World by Three Dog Night.

Then things really kicked into gear with singles and album cuts from Layla by Derek and the Dominoes, Sticky Fingers by the Rolling Stones, Every Picture Tells a Story by Rod Stewart, Mud Slide Slim by James Taylor, Tapestry by Carole King, Aqualung by Jethro Tull, The Yes Album by Yes, The Allman Brothers live album, Who's Next by the Who, and Ram by Paul McCartney.

Autumn began with Imagine by John Lennon, and the year ended with Led Zeppelin 4, Madman Across the Water by Elton John, A Nod is as Good as a Wink to a Blind Horse by the Faces, and "American Pie" by Don McLean.

I'm doing this all from memory so I've probably missed some other great music. I think that was also the year of What's Goin' On by Marvin Gaye.

I was listening to WNAP in Indianapolis that year. I'd imagine that in Detroit the experience was even better.

[lidoshuffle]

"Who's Next" is still their best work....

[Mega Hertz]

https://youtu.be/ESmPADLLEd8

Here's a sample of what Detroit was hearing in 1971. I don't know how much music is in here, but there is some backselling. We all remember the big stuff but not everything was Who's Next and Aqualung. I can't even imagine how much stuff got airplay that nobody remembers!

[matt1]

ABC "This Is The Place To Be...." (1971)

[Bobbert]

https://youtu.be/ESmPADLLEd8

Here's a sample of what Detroit was hearing in 1971. I don't know how much music is in here, but there is some backselling. We all remember the big stuff but not everything was Who's Next and Aqualung. I can't even imagine how much stuff got airplay that nobody remembers!

Thanks. A few others I later remembered were L.A. Woman by the Doors, Pearl by Janis Joplin, and Cry of Love by Jimi Hendrix. Which makes me remember the cloud of death that hovered over 1971 music—Hendrix and Joplin dying in late 1970, Jim Morrison dying in the summer of 1971, and Duane Allman dying in the fall of 1971.

Nice to hear Jerry Lubin again. He helped me discover Detroit radio when my family moved here in 1977.

[Mega Hertz]

2 great Alice Cooper albums in "Love It To Death" and "Killer", and Black Sabbath's "Paranoid" and "Master of Reality". I'm fairly certain there was a 1971 ELP album, but I could very well be wrong on that. That was when you could get two albums per year from some artists. A lot of that stuff is fading from popular conscious. And that blows.

[G G]

2 great Alice Cooper albums in "Love It To Death" and "Killer", and Black Sabbath's "Paranoid" and "Master of Reality". I'm fairly certain there was a 1971 ELP album, but I could very well be wrong on that. That was when you could get two albums per year from some artists. A lot of that stuff is fading from popular conscious. And that blows.

I wouldn't have been caught dead listening to those two transvestites back in the 1970s. You probably like Jethro Tull.

Genesis had a good album back in '71.

[Bobbert]

2 great Alice Cooper albums in "Love It To Death" and "Killer", and Black Sabbath's "Paranoid" and "Master of Reality". I'm fairly certain there was a 1971 ELP album, but I could very well be wrong on that. That was when you could get two albums per year from some artists. A lot of that stuff is fading from popular conscious. And that blows.

Yeah, that was the year Alice Cooper really established himself, and Sabbath probably reached their peak.

Like someone else implied, both bands contributed to the theatrical weirdness of rock, along with David Bowie, whose contribution to 1971 was the great "Hunky Dory". One of the most bizarre rock reviews in history was Rolling Stone's review of "Paranoid":

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/musi ... id-107132/

[Mega Hertz]

2 great Alice Cooper albums in "Love It To Death" and "Killer", and Black Sabbath's "Paranoid" and "Master of Reality". I'm fairly certain there was a 1971 ELP album, but I could very well be wrong on that. That was when you could get two albums per year from some artists. A lot of that stuff is fading from popular conscious. And that blows.

I wouldn't have been caught dead listening to those two transvestites back in the 1970s. You probably like Jethro Tull.

Genesis had a good album back in '71.

I like transvestites from Northville.

[Bobbert]

2 great Alice Cooper albums in "Love It To Death" and "Killer", and Black Sabbath's "Paranoid" and "Master of Reality". I'm fairly certain there was a 1971 ELP album, but I could very well be wrong on that. That was when you could get two albums per year from some artists. A lot of that stuff is fading from popular conscious. And that blows.

Another 2-album artist in 1971 was Elton John with "Tumbleweed Connection" and "Madman Across the Water". Also, Yes released "The Yes Album" and "Fragile" in 1971 although I've always thought of "Fragile" as an early 1972 album.

And we can also throw in Grand Funk Railroad with "Survival" and "E Pluribus Funk."

[Bobbert]

Some other albums that came to mind:

• Surf's Up by the Beach Boys—probably their best post-Pet Sounds album

• The self-titled "Tan Album" by the Carpenters, with three great singles ("For All We Know," "Rainy Days and Mondays," and "Superstar")

• Survival by Grand Funk Railroad, with a great version of "Gimme Shelter"

[Turkeytop]

1970s music is one decade I prefer to forget.

[kc8yqq]

1970s music is one decade I prefer to forget.

Especially disco

[moldyoldie]

The third in the classic consecutive album tetralogy from the Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers with its equally classic radio single "Brown Sugar".

[Bobbert]

The third in the classic consecutive album tetralogy from the Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers with its equally classic radio single "Brown Sugar".

Listening to that now as a memorial tribute to Charlie Watts.