Fabulous drill-down, Marshall, on a little-peeked-at corner of pop radio! It's amazing how the charts around that time ('77, '78) were filled with the faceless, white bread, non-descript singer/songwriter....you perfectly fingered (sorry!) O'Day and Peter McCann, but there was also the "Bluer Than Blue" Michael Johnson, and the "Sad Eyes" of Robert John in '79! WHO WERE THESE GUYS?! And, we heard very little from them after their one hit here and one, there.
In the days of KISS, and flashy, disco-balled disco, these denim-clad troubadours seem, now, to be incredibly lucky to have gotten seen by 1) labels 2) DJs to the point of garnering airplay, 3) the record-buying public with such dull promotion, pic sleeves, and album jackets!
And, I'm not even talking about songs.....I'm just amazed at the "blah-ness" of the PR of it all....plain dudes, plain names, plain PR.....at some point, I'd think an A&R or label prez would step in and suggest a flashy name change or something!
Great assessment of the time, too! While you were 15, I was 22 in '77, which made me no less susceptible to the lurid lure of the lyrics of the day! Love the paragraph under the "Undercover Angel" video!
And, this especially (and the first part, in particular): "But I didn't hate it because it was music created by black and queer people. I'd say that if anything, many suburban kids were ignorant of the roots of the music, but of course there are always those elements who strive to hold their grip on the lowest common denominator."
I was at a suburban Houston record store by this point, and saw, at ground level, these "suburban kids who were ignorant of the roots of the music"---I can vouch for their existence. If anything, their "not liking" disco or any other music was simply and pointedly just because they couldn't relate to it. They had no entry point to "get," a Sylvester, a Donna Summer, or Village People.
If these record buyers were rockers, or tethered to Top 40 AM, they likely didn't like country, either....none of this makes them racist or any other "....ist." Just a discerning record buyer who likes what he likes....another of the beauties of the long gone '70s those of us who lived it still miss.
Great think piece, again, Marshall, and I love the subject...daring to go where few music writers dare to go....the late-'70s Top 40 landscape!
Fabulous drill-down, Marshall, on a little-peeked-at corner of pop radio! It's amazing how the charts around that time ('77, '78) were filled with the faceless, white bread, non-descript singer/songwriter....you perfectly fingered (sorry!) O'Day and Peter McCann, but there was also the "Bluer Than Blue" Michael Johnson, and the "Sad Eyes" of Robert John in '79! WHO WERE THESE GUYS?! And, we heard very little from them after their one hit here and one, there.
In the days of KISS, and flashy, disco-balled disco, these denim-clad troubadours seem, now, to be incredibly lucky to have gotten seen by 1) labels 2) DJs to the point of garnering airplay, 3) the record-buying public with such dull promotion, pic sleeves, and album jackets!
And, I'm not even talking about songs.....I'm just amazed at the "blah-ness" of the PR of it all....plain dudes, plain names, plain PR.....at some point, I'd think an A&R or label prez would step in and suggest a flashy name change or something!
Great assessment of the time, too! While you were 15, I was 22 in '77, which made me no less susceptible to the lurid lure of the lyrics of the day! Love the paragraph under the "Undercover Angel" video!
And, this especially (and the first part, in particular): "But I didn't hate it because it was music created by black and queer people. I'd say that if anything, many suburban kids were ignorant of the roots of the music, but of course there are always those elements who strive to hold their grip on the lowest common denominator."
I was at a suburban Houston record store by this point, and saw, at ground level, these "suburban kids who were ignorant of the roots of the music"---I can vouch for their existence. If anything, their "not liking" disco or any other music was simply and pointedly just because they couldn't relate to it. They had no entry point to "get," a Sylvester, a Donna Summer, or Village People.
If these record buyers were rockers, or tethered to Top 40 AM, they likely didn't like country, either....none of this makes them racist or any other "....ist." Just a discerning record buyer who likes what he likes....another of the beauties of the long gone '70s those of us who lived it still miss.
Great think piece, again, Marshall, and I love the subject...daring to go where few music writers dare to go....the late-'70s Top 40 landscape!