The 70’s and 80’s, in my opinion, gave us some of the best bands and produced some of the best music. With pop came artists like the Bee Gees, Michael Jackson, The Beach Boys, Madonna, Queen, Prince, and Whitney Houston. Rock hit hard with Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Aerosmith, AC/DC, Guns N Roses, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Styx, and so much more. Most people don’t think about country in the 70’s and 80’s, but there was Alabama, Willie Nelson, George Strait, and Randy Travis.
Just for fun, here are a few interesting facts about 70’s music;
- The 70’s was when disco became popular
- Vinyl records were popular
- Technology started giving artists the ability to experiment with their music
- Deejays started mixing songs on turntables
- In 1977, the movie Saturday Night Fever with John Travolta helped spread the disco craze.
Some interesting facts about 80’s music;
- Michael Jackson’s Thriller is the biggest selling album of all time
- CDs (Compact discs) were first introduced in 1983
- Wham! was the first pop group to perform in China
- MTV was playing as many as 300 music videos a day
- Cyndi Lauper sang the theme song for Pee Wee’s Playhouse.
See, music back then had meaning and it didn’t all sound the same like it does today. I’d say the music downfall started around 2005. People used to put their heart and souls into their songs, while now it seems they can just repeat a few notes and use auto tune to get a hit. I’m not saying that there aren’t any good songs out today, it just seems like there’s so much technology that a majority of the “artists” can just throw stuff together like a last minute project. I’m lucky enough to have had a family who introduced me to so many amazing genres and eras of music. I may have missed the opportunity to see all of the bands in concert, but their CD’s will live on.
Some of the most well known songs from the 70’s are:
- American Pie (Don McLean)
- Stayin’ Alive (Bee Gees)
- Stairway to Heaven (Led Zeppelin)
- Free Bird (Lynyrd Skynyrd)
- Bohemian Rhapsody (Queen)
As for the 80’s:
- Girls Just Wanna Have Fun (Cyndi Lauper)
- Livin’ on a Prayer and Don’t Stop Believin’ (Journey)
- Jesse’s Girl (Rick Springfield)
- I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Whitney Houston)
- Sweet Child O’ Mine (Guns N Roses)
- pretty much any Michael Jackson song
