Expressive
Creativity Comes with Personal Freedom
The 1970s erupted in decadence, personal freedoms, and expressive
creativity. Oh wait … let me rephrase that … it reminded us of all those
expressions. We’ve enjoyed them in various degrees of inanity and insanity,
every decade since the inception of our
country.
Truth
be told, much of those movements resurfaced in the late 1960s, but we embraced
and honed their definitions in the ‘70s. Enjoying a modern-day Renaissance of
sorts, art permeated every aspect of life, from ornate and “mod” fabrics,
to elaborate scrollwork
jewelry, even adorning the music charts of our Rock and Roll radio stations
…
50 Years
Ago this Month ~ MAY 1970
Let’s
face it, the major market stations and neophyte wannabes played the same songs,
over, and over, and over … but in all fairness, we did request them. Our voices
gave structure to the order of songs’ appearance in any given week and various
geographical radio markets, reflected in Radio music charts.
The point being, we could drive across the country and still
hear the same songs. So why choose one station over another in our local areas?
From coast-to-coast In May 1970, stations took 1960s’ pop art, added a little elaborate Art Nouveau, and leaned heavy into the psychedelia, to adorn their surveys and
grab our attention. Many were quite unique in creative designs, if not in their
top 40 tunes.
Traditional scrollwork blended with swirls and curlicues
that flowed into celestial details, punctuated with “Outasight” and “Righteous”
exclamations. And often, they inserted “let’s-see-if-they’re-really-reading-this”
text into the art, with amusing or outlandish statements like, “Under 1 billion
listeners.”
The stations’ artistic music charts reflected life around us
in carnival mirror images. We were treated to ornate artistry reminiscent of
the past like—KOL/ Seattle,
Washington, May 29, 1970—while others capitalized on the ‘70s popularity
of futuristic space travel, astronomy and astrology like—KADI/St. Louis, Missouri, May 6, 1970.
Establishing an identity with art
was not a priority for others, though. Take the plain-Jane chart for KSLY/San
Luis Obispo, California’s “Famous Fourteen” list, May 1, 1970.
It got the job done, listing the top 30 tunes, without all the hoopla.
On
Your Tinny Transistor Radio ~ MAY 1970 (radio/music & DJs)
With
the songs all the same, it took outstanding musicality to grab our attention
with a tune. Calling all memories! What songs stood out for us in this spring
month, oh so long ago? While your reminiscences bubble to the surface, let me
ask if you recall …
“Everything
is Beautiful” by Ray Stevens … apparently
we thought so (and still do). This upbeat, truly righteous tune hit several
stations’ top 20 about the same time, as it climbed into the top 10 for a nice
run. It marked Stevens as a serious songwriter, after a run of novelty songs. Did
you hear him a year earlier in the top 10, without a serious bone in his body,
belting out, ♪ Gitarzan he’s a gitar
man ♪ in a thin disguise defining
the music industry’s “jungle”?
Two of this month’s showcased surveys carried “Cecilia” in the top 10.
Seattle’s KOL only got it up to #29 by the end of the month. Simon & Garfunkel outdid
themselves again, with another hit song from their much-touted Bridge Over
Troubled Water album. Rumor has it, the title pays tribute to the Catholic patron saint of music … but Simon reportedly wrote
the lyrics with a deceitful paramour in mind … two very conflicting concepts. ♪
Celia, you’re breaking my heart … ♪
Ya know what can make one vintage music survey more
collectable than another? Misprints & misspellings. For instance, two of
the three survey charts for the above radio stations gave “Cecilia” the
common name spelling of “Cecelia.” Only KOL spelled it properly
for the patron saint.
Featured
Radio Survey: KADI/St. Louis, Missouri, wins
the coveted Featured Radio Survey spot for this month. It’s colorful, fun, and
truly “Déjà Vu” (C.S.N.&Y.,
aka, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young), as the song tops the chart. … 50
Years Ago this Month in Rock &
Roll Radio! Where were you that groovy day when
your radio played … ♪ We have all been
here before ♪
Celebrate MAY 1970 and … Rock On!
Share on Twitter: @BlastFromPastBk
LinDee
Rochelle is a writer and editor by trade, and author by way of Rock &
Roll. She has published two books (of three) in her Blast
from Your Past series, available on Amazon (eBook and print): Book 1 – Rock & Roll Radio DJs: The First Five Years 1954-1959; and Book 2 – Rock & Roll Radio DJs: The Swinging Sixties. Coming soon … The Psychedelic Seventies!
Note: FYI – All links in the BFYP site are personally
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discretion.
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