Seven Songs From The Seventies

By Less Lee Moore

Japan’s David Sylvian tries to forget.

How to sum up a decade’s worth of music in one list? Bubblegum, country, disco, glam, power pop, punk, post punk, new wave, rock & roll, heavy metal, rap, show tunes . . . the ’70s had all of that and more.

Rather than trying to squeeze in every style that the 1970s presented, I picked seven songs that represent some of the decade’s most compelling—and perhaps unexpected—musical offerings.

The most interesting thing about this list is that I didn’t know about these songs until after the 1970s were over. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad one, but I just followed my instincts.
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Bryan Ferry: Too Classy For Clevehole

Text and all photos by Julie Finley

Playhouse Square, Cleveland OH
October 10, 2011

So, I am standing on the street in Clevehole, waiting for the bus after work. I look across the street, and see demolition and one condemned building still standing (because the owners won’t sell; they think their condemnation is a gold-mine . . . WRONG!). I look kitty-corner, I see two thugs arguing. I look at the other corner, I see constant construction that will probably run out of money before it’s complete. Three of the four sidewalks are closed. Some sketchy guy is eyeballing me. I am grinding my teeth. I see some rusty, piece-of-shit Chevy Cavalier with a booming system cut off three lanes of traffic, and one jaywalker playing virtual Frogger in the midst of traffic.

I think to myself, “This is what Bryan Ferry is gonna see when his tour bus pulls into downtown Cleveland!” I am filled with disgust! Bryan Ferry IS TOO GOOD FOR THIS BULLSHIT . . . and frankly, SO AM I!
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The Stooges: Head On, By Brett Callwood

By Less Lee Moore

The Stooges are legendary, but that word implies events from long ago, where the facts are less important than romantic myths. At this point in time, Iggy Pop is famous, while The Stooges have always been more infamous than anything else. But even if your mom has heard of Iggy Pop, she may not know much about The Stooges. Brett Callwood’s book, Head On, seeks to enlighten those who don’t know much about the untold history of this essential and influential Detroit band who came into being well before the so-called punk movement of the mid-1970s.

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Craziest 1970s Pitchman: When Neil Armstrong Pimped Cars

By Emily Carney

The best visual representation of the madness in 1970s advertising is probably former Apollo astronaut and space hero Neil Armstrong being seen advertising Chrysler automobiles.
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Jaws: The Shark Has Always Worked

By Lisa Anderson

One of my favorite movies was released three years before I was born.

Jaws, the ground-breaking 1975 film by Stephen Spielberg, is one of the movies that I’ve seen more times than I can count. Like The Matrix, it’s also a film that I consider perfect; I can’t think of anything that could be added, altered, or removed to make it better. That’s not surprising, either; Jaws changed the way movies were made and marketed forever.
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Homesick For Sadness: The Night Porter

By Less Lee Moore

As a film exploring the sadomasochistic relationship between a former Nazi officer and a concentration camp survivor, The Night Porter has received its share of controversy. In an article about The Night Porter called “Ideas of Sex,” writer and film scholar Nick Impey describes how its “detractors accused [director Liliana] Cavani of exploitatively using the Holocaust as a backdrop for salacious spectacle.” At times, watching The Night Porter feels less like an erotic journey than a particularly gore-free horror movie. It is frequently almost difficult to watch. Yet, persistence provides evidence that The Night Porter is not “Nazi porn” but an examination of the grey areas in a black and white world.

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Too Much Perfection Is Not A Mistake: Sound And Landscape In El Topo

By Less Lee Moore

Preface

For those who have never seen an Alejandro Jodorowsky film, describing one seems a daunting task. Furthermore, once you have seen a Jodorowsky film, such descriptions prove to be a poor substitute for the experience itself.

At present, Jodorowsky is 82 years old. With a life full of many artistic accomplishments, a description of them all is beyond the scope of an analysis of his films, but some introduction is needed in the hopes of illuminating how his background has informed his art.

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The Holy Mountain: Does Real Life Await Us?

By Less Lee Moore

Preface

For those who have never seen an Alejandro Jodorowsky film, describing one seems a daunting task. Furthermore, once you have seen a Jodorowsky film, such descriptions prove to be a poor substitute for the experience itself.

At present, Jodorowsky is 82 years old. With a life full of many artistic accomplishments, a description of them all is beyond the scope of an analysis of his films, but some introduction is needed in the hopes of illuminating how his background has informed his art.

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That Beatty Touch: Heaven Can Wait

By Less Lee Moore

Although it was released in 1978, Heaven Can Wait was one of my favorite films to watch again and again on HBO in the dawn of the 1980s.

Along with Foul Play, which was released in the same year (and is another fave), it’s a film that’s intended for adults, but which still possesses enough sweetness to appeal to a younger audience.

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Summer Of Grease

By David Speranza

I can’t speak for any adults at the time, but for those of us in our teens when the movie version of Grease hit theaters in 1978, it was more than just the latest in a line of summer-movie blockbusters (a concept that was still fairly new). Imagine, if you dare, two or three Twilight movies condensed into a single summer, with a hit soundtrack by Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift. Grease—with its catchy, inexhaustible pop tunes—represented the crest of the 1950s nostalgia that had been coursing through the decade.
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