Revisiting the Music of the 1970's
The Woodstock Music and Art Fair, also known as An Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace & Music, held in Bethel, New York on August 15,16 and 17, 1969 has been called both the end of the 60’s and the beginning of the 70’s.
I suppose that both of these can be true, but I feel as an event it was more of the beginning of the 70’s with the Moon Landing a few weeks earlier being the end of the 60’s.
Mid-April had a couple of songs from the Broadway Play Hair on the Charts. The 5th Dimension
was number one with “Aquarius / Let The Sunshine In”, a medley of two songs from the play. The recording won both the Grammy Award for Record of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Group that was issued in early 1970. They held the Number 1 spot for 6 weeks.
Also on the charts in the Top 10 was the play’s title song “Hair” by the Cowsills.
A few weeks later on the May 10th Charts, the songs would be Number 1 and 2.
As December was ending one could see the beginnings of the Music of the ’70’s
Marvin Gaye’s “I Heard it on the Grapevine” topped the Pop Charts during the final weeks of December 1968 and January 1969. Gaye was one of the Motown acts of the ’60’s that transitioned into the ’70’s with what many feel was his greatest album What’s Going On.
Creedence Clearwater Revival’s second Album “Born on the Bayou” was on the verge of being released. It would hit the stores during the beginning of 1969. 1969 and 1070 were the group’s best years. They released 5 singles that reach Number 2. They never had a Number 1 hit though. There were 3 others Top 10 hits and 5 Top 10 Albums of which 2 hit number 1 including what many consider their best Album “Cosmo’s Factory” released in the Summer of 1970.
Other groups that would be considered acts of the ’70’s that were coming into their own in late 1968 include Led Zeppelin, Three Dog Night and Chicago.
In England future members of Yes, Emerson Lake and Palmer, and Genesis were coming together to create music that in the early 70’s would be termed as Prog.
The Who was working on Tommy, often called the 1st Rock Opera. The album would be a big factor of them transforming from an British Invasion singles band to one of the leading bands of the 70’s.
In a few months a man would walk on the moon, a counter culture leader would lead his group to commit grisly murders, and a half million people to go to an outdoor concert that in many ways was the event that bridged the 60’s and 70’s.