This page contains trivia pertaining to the seventies that are
sure to bring back a few memories
.
Remember these icons of our youth?
Keep on Truckin', Farrah Fawcett's poster and hairstyle, lava lamps, stingray bicycles,
clackers/click-clacks, 8-track tape players, Clydes Drive In, Pizza's at Sano's, , orange
groves, bad clothes and hairdos, NikNik shirts, patch jeans, leisure suits, platform shoes,
desert boots, disco sucks, Jaws, Star Wars, Saturday Night Live with the original cast, tube
tops, waterbeds, incense, head shops (Adolf's Aardvark and the Infinite Mushroom),
custom vans, no blow dryers, pre-AIDS, pre-crack cocaine, polyester, powder blue
tuxedos, afros, a Beer drinking age of 18 for girls not boys, hot pants, go-go boots, the
original glam rock bands, patchwork clothing, glitter t-shirts, gold and silver lame,
spandex pants, Have a Nice Day, Charlie's Angels, shag haircuts, hair parted in the middle
with wings, curly perms, wearing a scarf to hide a hickey, gas for 35 cents a gallon,
lick-and-stick postage stamps, 10 cent pay phone calls, KC and the Sunshine Band, Grad
Night, "Calculus is a Bummer!", Jack-in-the-Box, Steve Miller Band, Ken's Pizza, Sonic
Drive in, Robert's Hamburgers.
Rocky won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1976.
Movies about the 70s that will take you back if you want to go: Dazed and Confused, Fast
Times at Ridgemont High, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Forrest Gump, Annie Hall,
Almost Famous (all highly recommended); Stoned Age, Dick, Summer of Sam, Detroit
Rock City (can't personally speak for these).
Memorable 70s music: The Eagles, Boston, Elton John, Bad Company, KISS, Lynyrd
Skynyrd, Peter Frampton, The Doobie Brothers, The Beach Boys, Cheap Trick, Bachman
Turner Overdrive, Golden Earring, Ted Nugent, Aerosmith, Grand Funk Railroad,
Fleetwood Mac, Steely Dan, The Who, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Montrose, Deep
Purple (every band that ever played at a dance at AHS in the 70s played "Smoke on the
Water"), Styx, Loggins and Messina, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young (and Neil Young is
still phenomenal).
Significant advancements since 1976: The Internet, e-mail, cellular phones, cable TV, fax
machines (now outdated), digital photography, laptop and desktop PCs, CDs, mp3, MTV,
DVDs, e-commerce, keyless entry, palm pilots, online maps and directions, designated
drivers, non-smoking sections, 3-point shots in basketball, 2-point conversions in football,
paying at the pump, ATM machines, self-adhesive postage stamps, motor voter
registration... so why are we still voting with butterfly ballots and maintaining the electoral
college?!
Other Music Highlights of 1976:
Bernie Leadon, original member of the Eagles since they were organized in 1971, leaves the
group and is replaced by Joe Walsh.
Because of booming record sales in recent years, the Recording Industry Association of
America (RIAA) creates a new platinum award, for singles that sell in excess of 2 million
copies and an album that sells 1 million units. The first platinum single was Johnnie
Taylor's "Disco Lady," and the first platinum album went to the Eagles for their Greatest
Hits 1971-1975.
A Chorus Line opens on Broadway. It would become the longest-running musical in
entertainment history.
Lasers are used in a rock show for the first time, by the Who.
Genesis begins its first tour of America.
Bruce Springsteen, while playing in Memphis, tries to sneak into Graceland to see his idol
Elvis Presley. He is stopped by security guards, who quietly lead him off the grounds,
unconcerned that he is a major star.
Paul McCartney begins his Wings over America tour, from which an album by the same
name would be released a year later and zoom to number one.
Donna Summer's American debut single in 1975, "Love To Love You Baby," smolders up
the charts in 1976 as part of the disco explosion.
Prior to the release of the album No Reason To Cry, Eric Clapton begins a concert tour of
England, his first in years.
Elton John plays for a week at New York's Madison Square Garden. The summertime
concerts smash all attendance records.
The Top 40 Singles of 1976:
"Disco Lady" - Johnnie Taylor (First chart appearance: 3/6/76; Highest position: #1)
"Don't Go Breaking My Heart" - Elton John and Kiki Dee (7/17/76; #1)
"Play That Funky Music" - Wild Cherry (7/31/76; #1)
"Tonight's The Night" - Rod Stewart (10/23/76; #1)
"Kiss and Say Goodbye" - The Manhattans (5/29/76; #1)
"Silly Love Songs" - Paul McCartney and Wings (4/17/76; #1)
"A Fifth Of Beethoven" - Walter Murphy (7/4/76; #1)
"Love Machine (Part 1)" - The Miracles (12/13/75; #1)
"50 Ways To Leave Your Lover" - Paul Simon (1/3/76; #1)
"December, 1963 (Oh, What A Night)" - The 4 Seasons (1/31/76; #1)
"Love Hangover" - Diana Ross (4/24/76; #1)
"Shake Your Booty" - K.C. & the Sunshine Band (7/31/76; #1)
"I'd Really Love To See You Tonight" - England Dan & John Ford Coley (7/10/76; #2)
"Sara Smile" - Hall and Oates (8/14/76; #7)
"Boogie Fever" - Sylvers (3/13/76; #1)
"Afternoon Delight" - Starland Vocal Band (6/5/76; #1)
"Misty Blue" - Dorothy Moore (4/10/76; #3)
"Disco Duck" - Rick Dees and His Cast of Idiots (9/4/76; #1)
"More, More, More" - Andrea True Connection (4/24/76; #4)
"Love Is Alive" - Gary Wright (5/15/76; #2)
"You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine" - Lou Rawls (7/10/76; #2)
"I Write The Songs" - Barry Manilow (11/22/75; #1)
"You Don't Have To Be A Star" - Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis (10/23/76; #1)
"Dream Weaver" - Gary Wright (1/31/76; #2)
"If You Leave Me Now" - Chicago (8/21/76; #1)
"Fly Robin Fly" - Silver Connection (10/25/75; #1)
"Rock'n Me" - Steve Miller Band (9/4/76; #1)
"Get Closer" - Seals and Crofts (6/5/76; #6)
"Bohemian Rhapsody" - Queen (2/7/76; #9)
"Welcome Back" - John Sebastian (4/10/76; #1)
"Theme From S.W.A.T." - Rhythm Heritage (1/10/76; #1)
"Get Up And Boogie" - Silver Connection (4/17/76; #2)
"Hot Line" - Sylvers (11/13/76; #5)
"Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald" - Gordon Lightfoot (9/25/76; #2)
"You Sexy Thing" - Hot Chocolate (12/6/75; #3)
"Let 'Em In" - Paul McCartney and Wings (7/17/76; #3)
"Love Hurts" - Nazareth (1/3/76; #8)
"You Should Be Dancing" - Bee Gees (7/17/76; #1)
"Rubberband Man" - Spinners (10/2/76; #2)
"Take It To The Limit" - Eagles (1/17/76; #4)
Top Albums of 1976:
Breezin' - George Benson
Chicago IX - Chicago's Greatest Hits - Chicago
Desire - Bob Dylan
The Dream Weaver - Gary Wright
Fleetwood Mac - Fleetwood Mac
Frampton Comes Alive! - Peter Frampton
Gratitude - Earth, Wind & Fire
Greatest Hits 1971-1975 - Eagles
History - America's Greatest Hits - America
A Night At The Opera - Queen
A Night On The Town - Rod Stewart
Presence - Led Zeppelin
Silk Degrees - Boz Scaggs
Songs In The Key Of Life - Stevie Wonder
Wings At The Speed Of Sound - Wings
20 Popular Movies of 1976:
Rocky
A Star Is Born
King Kong
Silver Streak
All The President's Men
Marathon Man
Network
The Omen
Taxi Driver
The Song Remains The Same
Bugsy Malone
Bound For Glory
Harlan County, U.S.A.
The Little Girl Who Lives Down The Lane
The Outlaw Josey Wales
The Sentinel
Seven Beauties
The Shootist
Silent Movie
Car Wash
Other movies that were popular with teenagers in the 70s: Jaws, Star Wars, Tommy, The Groove
Tube (isn't this the first R-rated movie you snuck into?), and anything with Cheech & Chong in it
(and don't try to tell me you didn't inhale)
The Top 20 Television Shows of 1976:
Happy Days
Laverne & Shirley
The ABC Monday Night Movie
M*A*S*H
Charlie's Angels
The Big Event
The Six Million Dollar Man
The ABC Sunday Night Movie
Baretta
One Day at a Time
Three's Company
All in the Family
Welcome Back, Kotter
The Bionic Woman
The Waltons
Little House on the Prairie
Barney Miller
60 Minutes
Hawaii Five-0
NBC Monday Night at the Movies
News Highlights of 1976:
Military spending in the world skyrockets to $300 billion a year.
The Winter Olympics are held in Innsbruck, Austria.
Barbara Walters is the first broadcaster to be offered a $1 million per-year contract to cohost the
nightly news.
Racial violence in black townships outside of Johannesburg, South Africa is the worst in 15 years.
Jimmy Carter, a "born-again" Baptist from Georgia, is the presidential nominee of the Democratic
Party.
From coast to coast, the United States celebrates its 200th birthday.
Gymnast Nadia Comaneci of Romania is the darling of the Summer Olympics in Montreal. (Even
the theme music played during her performances, released as a single, goes gold).
In Philadelphia, 28 people die of a mysterious virus dubbed "Legionnaire's disease."
In a close election, Jimmy Carter is elected president over incumbent Gerald Ford.
Austrian Kurt Waldheim begins serving his second term as secretary general of the United
Nations.
Sports Winners of 1976:
Baseball: The Cincinnati Reds beat the New York Yankees 4 games to 0.
Football: The Oakland Raiders beat the Minnesota Vikings 32-14 on January 9, 1977, at the Rose
Bowl in Pasadena, California in Super Bowl XI.
Basketball: The Boston Celtics beat the Phoenix Suns 4 games to 2.
Hockey: The Montreal Canadiens beat the Philadelphia Flyers 4 games to 2.
sure to bring back a few memories
.
Remember these icons of our youth?
Keep on Truckin', Farrah Fawcett's poster and hairstyle, lava lamps, stingray bicycles,
clackers/click-clacks, 8-track tape players, Clydes Drive In, Pizza's at Sano's, , orange
groves, bad clothes and hairdos, NikNik shirts, patch jeans, leisure suits, platform shoes,
desert boots, disco sucks, Jaws, Star Wars, Saturday Night Live with the original cast, tube
tops, waterbeds, incense, head shops (Adolf's Aardvark and the Infinite Mushroom),
custom vans, no blow dryers, pre-AIDS, pre-crack cocaine, polyester, powder blue
tuxedos, afros, a Beer drinking age of 18 for girls not boys, hot pants, go-go boots, the
original glam rock bands, patchwork clothing, glitter t-shirts, gold and silver lame,
spandex pants, Have a Nice Day, Charlie's Angels, shag haircuts, hair parted in the middle
with wings, curly perms, wearing a scarf to hide a hickey, gas for 35 cents a gallon,
lick-and-stick postage stamps, 10 cent pay phone calls, KC and the Sunshine Band, Grad
Night, "Calculus is a Bummer!", Jack-in-the-Box, Steve Miller Band, Ken's Pizza, Sonic
Drive in, Robert's Hamburgers.
Rocky won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1976.
Movies about the 70s that will take you back if you want to go: Dazed and Confused, Fast
Times at Ridgemont High, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Forrest Gump, Annie Hall,
Almost Famous (all highly recommended); Stoned Age, Dick, Summer of Sam, Detroit
Rock City (can't personally speak for these).
Memorable 70s music: The Eagles, Boston, Elton John, Bad Company, KISS, Lynyrd
Skynyrd, Peter Frampton, The Doobie Brothers, The Beach Boys, Cheap Trick, Bachman
Turner Overdrive, Golden Earring, Ted Nugent, Aerosmith, Grand Funk Railroad,
Fleetwood Mac, Steely Dan, The Who, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Montrose, Deep
Purple (every band that ever played at a dance at AHS in the 70s played "Smoke on the
Water"), Styx, Loggins and Messina, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young (and Neil Young is
still phenomenal).
Significant advancements since 1976: The Internet, e-mail, cellular phones, cable TV, fax
machines (now outdated), digital photography, laptop and desktop PCs, CDs, mp3, MTV,
DVDs, e-commerce, keyless entry, palm pilots, online maps and directions, designated
drivers, non-smoking sections, 3-point shots in basketball, 2-point conversions in football,
paying at the pump, ATM machines, self-adhesive postage stamps, motor voter
registration... so why are we still voting with butterfly ballots and maintaining the electoral
college?!
Other Music Highlights of 1976:
Bernie Leadon, original member of the Eagles since they were organized in 1971, leaves the
group and is replaced by Joe Walsh.
Because of booming record sales in recent years, the Recording Industry Association of
America (RIAA) creates a new platinum award, for singles that sell in excess of 2 million
copies and an album that sells 1 million units. The first platinum single was Johnnie
Taylor's "Disco Lady," and the first platinum album went to the Eagles for their Greatest
Hits 1971-1975.
A Chorus Line opens on Broadway. It would become the longest-running musical in
entertainment history.
Lasers are used in a rock show for the first time, by the Who.
Genesis begins its first tour of America.
Bruce Springsteen, while playing in Memphis, tries to sneak into Graceland to see his idol
Elvis Presley. He is stopped by security guards, who quietly lead him off the grounds,
unconcerned that he is a major star.
Paul McCartney begins his Wings over America tour, from which an album by the same
name would be released a year later and zoom to number one.
Donna Summer's American debut single in 1975, "Love To Love You Baby," smolders up
the charts in 1976 as part of the disco explosion.
Prior to the release of the album No Reason To Cry, Eric Clapton begins a concert tour of
England, his first in years.
Elton John plays for a week at New York's Madison Square Garden. The summertime
concerts smash all attendance records.
The Top 40 Singles of 1976:
"Disco Lady" - Johnnie Taylor (First chart appearance: 3/6/76; Highest position: #1)
"Don't Go Breaking My Heart" - Elton John and Kiki Dee (7/17/76; #1)
"Play That Funky Music" - Wild Cherry (7/31/76; #1)
"Tonight's The Night" - Rod Stewart (10/23/76; #1)
"Kiss and Say Goodbye" - The Manhattans (5/29/76; #1)
"Silly Love Songs" - Paul McCartney and Wings (4/17/76; #1)
"A Fifth Of Beethoven" - Walter Murphy (7/4/76; #1)
"Love Machine (Part 1)" - The Miracles (12/13/75; #1)
"50 Ways To Leave Your Lover" - Paul Simon (1/3/76; #1)
"December, 1963 (Oh, What A Night)" - The 4 Seasons (1/31/76; #1)
"Love Hangover" - Diana Ross (4/24/76; #1)
"Shake Your Booty" - K.C. & the Sunshine Band (7/31/76; #1)
"I'd Really Love To See You Tonight" - England Dan & John Ford Coley (7/10/76; #2)
"Sara Smile" - Hall and Oates (8/14/76; #7)
"Boogie Fever" - Sylvers (3/13/76; #1)
"Afternoon Delight" - Starland Vocal Band (6/5/76; #1)
"Misty Blue" - Dorothy Moore (4/10/76; #3)
"Disco Duck" - Rick Dees and His Cast of Idiots (9/4/76; #1)
"More, More, More" - Andrea True Connection (4/24/76; #4)
"Love Is Alive" - Gary Wright (5/15/76; #2)
"You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine" - Lou Rawls (7/10/76; #2)
"I Write The Songs" - Barry Manilow (11/22/75; #1)
"You Don't Have To Be A Star" - Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis (10/23/76; #1)
"Dream Weaver" - Gary Wright (1/31/76; #2)
"If You Leave Me Now" - Chicago (8/21/76; #1)
"Fly Robin Fly" - Silver Connection (10/25/75; #1)
"Rock'n Me" - Steve Miller Band (9/4/76; #1)
"Get Closer" - Seals and Crofts (6/5/76; #6)
"Bohemian Rhapsody" - Queen (2/7/76; #9)
"Welcome Back" - John Sebastian (4/10/76; #1)
"Theme From S.W.A.T." - Rhythm Heritage (1/10/76; #1)
"Get Up And Boogie" - Silver Connection (4/17/76; #2)
"Hot Line" - Sylvers (11/13/76; #5)
"Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald" - Gordon Lightfoot (9/25/76; #2)
"You Sexy Thing" - Hot Chocolate (12/6/75; #3)
"Let 'Em In" - Paul McCartney and Wings (7/17/76; #3)
"Love Hurts" - Nazareth (1/3/76; #8)
"You Should Be Dancing" - Bee Gees (7/17/76; #1)
"Rubberband Man" - Spinners (10/2/76; #2)
"Take It To The Limit" - Eagles (1/17/76; #4)
Top Albums of 1976:
Breezin' - George Benson
Chicago IX - Chicago's Greatest Hits - Chicago
Desire - Bob Dylan
The Dream Weaver - Gary Wright
Fleetwood Mac - Fleetwood Mac
Frampton Comes Alive! - Peter Frampton
Gratitude - Earth, Wind & Fire
Greatest Hits 1971-1975 - Eagles
History - America's Greatest Hits - America
A Night At The Opera - Queen
A Night On The Town - Rod Stewart
Presence - Led Zeppelin
Silk Degrees - Boz Scaggs
Songs In The Key Of Life - Stevie Wonder
Wings At The Speed Of Sound - Wings
20 Popular Movies of 1976:
Rocky
A Star Is Born
King Kong
Silver Streak
All The President's Men
Marathon Man
Network
The Omen
Taxi Driver
The Song Remains The Same
Bugsy Malone
Bound For Glory
Harlan County, U.S.A.
The Little Girl Who Lives Down The Lane
The Outlaw Josey Wales
The Sentinel
Seven Beauties
The Shootist
Silent Movie
Car Wash
Other movies that were popular with teenagers in the 70s: Jaws, Star Wars, Tommy, The Groove
Tube (isn't this the first R-rated movie you snuck into?), and anything with Cheech & Chong in it
(and don't try to tell me you didn't inhale)
The Top 20 Television Shows of 1976:
Happy Days
Laverne & Shirley
The ABC Monday Night Movie
M*A*S*H
Charlie's Angels
The Big Event
The Six Million Dollar Man
The ABC Sunday Night Movie
Baretta
One Day at a Time
Three's Company
All in the Family
Welcome Back, Kotter
The Bionic Woman
The Waltons
Little House on the Prairie
Barney Miller
60 Minutes
Hawaii Five-0
NBC Monday Night at the Movies
News Highlights of 1976:
Military spending in the world skyrockets to $300 billion a year.
The Winter Olympics are held in Innsbruck, Austria.
Barbara Walters is the first broadcaster to be offered a $1 million per-year contract to cohost the
nightly news.
Racial violence in black townships outside of Johannesburg, South Africa is the worst in 15 years.
Jimmy Carter, a "born-again" Baptist from Georgia, is the presidential nominee of the Democratic
Party.
From coast to coast, the United States celebrates its 200th birthday.
Gymnast Nadia Comaneci of Romania is the darling of the Summer Olympics in Montreal. (Even
the theme music played during her performances, released as a single, goes gold).
In Philadelphia, 28 people die of a mysterious virus dubbed "Legionnaire's disease."
In a close election, Jimmy Carter is elected president over incumbent Gerald Ford.
Austrian Kurt Waldheim begins serving his second term as secretary general of the United
Nations.
Sports Winners of 1976:
Baseball: The Cincinnati Reds beat the New York Yankees 4 games to 0.
Football: The Oakland Raiders beat the Minnesota Vikings 32-14 on January 9, 1977, at the Rose
Bowl in Pasadena, California in Super Bowl XI.
Basketball: The Boston Celtics beat the Phoenix Suns 4 games to 2.
Hockey: The Montreal Canadiens beat the Philadelphia Flyers 4 games to 2.
| British-born Peter Frampton established himself as a singer-songwriter-guitarist in two late-Sixties bands, the Herd and Humble Pie. By 1975, though, he was $300,000 in debt and working solo for $500 a night. In desperation, he took the best songs he'd written over the past few years and re-recorded them in concert, hoping to capture some of that in-person excitement on vinyl. The resulting album was a two-record set, Frampton Comes Alive!, which sold over thirteen million copies. Not only was it the biggest double album to that time, but it was also number one for an incredible seventeen weeks. Three hit singles came out of that package: "Show Me the Way," "Baby I Love Your Way," and "Do You Feel Like We Do." The next year, Frampton struck again with "I'm in You" and a remake of Stevie Wonder's "Signed, Sealed, Delivered." In 1978, Peter co-starred with the Bee Gees in the film Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and in 1979 had his last hit of the decade, "I Can't Stand It No More." |
| Kiss -- the most successful gimmick band of all time -- made their television debut as guests on a Paul Lynde Halloween special for ABC. Formed in 1972, the hard rock group decided to call attention to themselves through the use of outlandish effects: explosive devices, snow machines, police lights, rocket-firing guitars, levitating drums, bizarre make-up, outrageous costumes, and a bass player who both ate fire and spit blood. By the mid-70s, Gallup pollsters were reporting that Kiss was the most popular act in teenage America. Ironically, three of the four band members did not even perform on their biggest hit single, a lilting 1976 ballad, "Beth." Only drummer Peter Criss (who wrote the song) showed up for the session, at which he was accompanied by a 26-piece orchestra and a 30-voice boys choir. |
