YOUR GROOVY HOST:
Billy Ingram
The greatest entertainers of the seventies -
especially those you never heard of!
WALTER MURPHY:
The Phantom of the Opera
I loved pop music as a teenager, the early 1970s was the end of the Tin Pan Alley era of of pop, where bubble gum tunes and beautiful melodies sat side by side with disco and soul on the top 40 charts. At the time I thought there was so much to hate about seventies' music but looking back I have a greater appreciation for the diversity.
In the mid-1970s it became very popular to take an old song and give it a Disco arrangement. Strangers in the Night and just about every other standard from decades past was twisting polyestered bodies on the world's dance floors. It got to be absurd listening to the latest dance remake of the week but Disco was the one music that cut across every world-wide cultural divide at the time. You could hear the same dance music in New York, Monte Carlo, London, Egypt or Paris.
Read More About the Obscure '70s Album:
The Phantom of the Opera
Mary Kay Place:
Tonite! At the Capri Lounge,
Loretta Haggers
Mary Kay Place became a television icon on the weeknight syndicated soap opera satire Mary Hartman Mary Hartman (Jan. 1976-May 1977).
As the aspiring country western singer Loretta Haggers she walked away with the show with her exquisitely daffy performance coupled with outrageous storylines like Loretta babbling on about, "the Jews what killed our Christ" on a 'live' Dinah! afternoon TV talk show.
Read More About the Obscure '70s Album:
'Tonite! At the Capri Lounge, Loretta Haggers'
THE GREATEST ENTERTAINERS Bobby Darin may have been the greatest Vegas entertainer of all time and was becoming more and more successful on television with his own variety series on NBC. He was in the midst of a Vegas comeback in the 1970s as well when he tragically died during an operation.
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The dynamic Tom Jones electrified audiences in the 1970s, his TV variety series was shot both in the USA and in Great Britain. His intense song stylings found a receptive home audience that flocked to his Las Vegas and nightclub performances Truly one of a kind!. |
One of the funniest shows of the decade was Fernwood 2Nite, a talk show spoof starring Martin Mull and Fred Willard. One regular guest was Bill Kirchenbauer as Tony Rolletti, the quentinsential lousy lounge singer from the mythical town of Fernwood.
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The music you hear from the 1970s on the radio tends to be the same old tired hit songs they've been playing for decades.
Rarely will an oldies station stray outside of the top ten songs of the decade. That's because there were so darn many - it was the era of the 'one hit wonder.'
Obscure 70s looks at LPs and singles that may not have made the top of the charts but were amazing none the less.
Obscure 70s Looks At:
Walter Murphy's Phantom of the Opera
Mary Kay Place's Tonight at the Capri Lounge
News Regurgitator |
The original 1970s Dark Shadows movies
Gas Prices and the Presidential Elections
Walter Murphy's 1970s
Phantom of the Opera
Television Forever
TV shows on DVD reviews!