‘75 Truly Was A Bad Year For Music
Today, I want to expand upon a theme I was able to discuss only briefly in my all-“Feelings” column of two weeks ago.
That theme is this: “1975 Was The Worst Music Year of All Time.”
It has been said that most people’s artistic tastes and opinions are formed in their late teens and early 20s. This is why, if you ask most people to name their favorite album, or their favorite movie, they almost invariably pick something they first heard or saw in those impressionable years.
Well, I was 21 in 1975 and I still think it was the worst year for music of all time. Imagine how much I would have hated this year if I had been 68 in 1975. The mind boggles.
The hit songs: No year, not even 1994, can claim such a sheer quantity of bad hit songs. I listed some of them in in my all-“Feelings” column, but let me just refresh your memory with a few titles: “Mandy,” “Convoy,” “Jive Talkin’,” “Rhinestone Cowboy,” “The Hustle,” “I Write the Songs” and “Kung Fu Fighting.”
The Top Ten of 1975: I’ll bet you’re saying “That’s not fair. You can pick out a bunch of bad songs from any year. Why don’t you look at the Top Ten songs of 1975? I’ll bet they’re not all bad.”
All right, here are the Top Ten songs of 1975, as listed in the “Rock On Almanac”: “Bad Blood,” by Neil Sedaka; “Fame,” by David Bowie; “Fly Robin Fly,” by The Silver Convention; “He Don’t Love You (Like I Love You),” by Tony Orlando and Dawn; “Island Girl,” by Elton John; “Love Will Keep Us Together,” by the Captain and Tennille; “One of These Nights,” by the Eagles; “Rhinestone Cowboy,” by Glen Campbell; and “Sister Golden Hair,” by America.
OK, you’re right, I’ll admit it. That Eagles song was OK.
Debut artists: This year also has a lot to answer for when it comes to debut artists. Here’s a short list of the artists who burst onto the scene that year: The Bay City Rollers, The Captain and Tennille, David Geddes, Ambrosia, Hot Chocolate, Eric Carmen, Leo Sayer, Nazareth, Mike Post, Jessi Colter, Roger Whittaker, Ace, and Cledus Maggard and the Citizen’s Band.
Some of these artists were gone from the charts by 1976, but others, such as the Bay City Rollers, went on to plague the charts for what seemed like forever, that is, until 1977.
Bad titles: I submit that no year had so many weird, goofy and just plain dumb song titles, including: “The Bertha Butt Boogie,” “Harry Truman,” “No No Song,” “I Wanna Dance Wit’ Choo,” “El Bimbo,” “Snookeroo,” “Tush,” “Mr. Jaws,” “Sweet Sticky Thing,” “Love Rollercoaster,” “Fanny (Be Tender With My Love),” and “The Last Game of the Season (A Blind Man in the Bleachers).”
Songs from legends: Even the legends of music had a slump in 1975. This is what the following artists came up with that year: Elvis Presley - “T-R-O-U-B-LE.”
George Harrison - “Ding Dong, Ding Dong.”
Ringo Starr - “Oo-Wee.”
However, it is even more alarming to see how many legends were just plain absent that year. The following went hitless for the entire year: Barbra Streisand, Frank Sinatra, Eric Clapton, Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, The Rolling Stones and Billy Joel. Wow. When Billy Joel doesn’t have a hit or six, it must be a slow year.
The Grammys: The 1975 Record of the Year, the song that the music industry chose as the year’s most outstanding example of musical artistry, was: “Love Will Keep Us Together,” by the Captain and Tennille.
Mitigating circumstances: On the other hand, 1975 did have some good things going for it. Bruce Springsteen appeared on the cover of both Time and Newsweek. Linda Ronstadt released “Heart Like a Wheel.” Paul Simon released “Still Crazy After All These Years.” Bob Dylan released “Blood on the Tracks.” Cher released absolutely nothing.
So maybe there were worse years. I don’t know. Call me at 459-5493, or write me at P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, 99210, if you want to nominate a different year.
The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Jim Kershner The Spokesman-Review