Pablo Cruise! "Whatcha Gonna Do!"

Wow! Now this song brings back some memories of my childhood! The year was 1977! I was 11 years old but I remember it as if it was yesterday. All the trends that were going on at the time: Farrah Fawcett layered shag/flicked“wings” hairdo, bell-bottoms, platform shoes with the zipper on the side, sideburns and huge moustaches, and the dreaded short-sleeved t-shirts with personalized iron-ons!

I was just starting to appreciate music when Pablo Cruise, a pop band from the San Francisco Bay area hit it big in the late 1970s with, “Whatcha Gonna Do!” Just listen to the guitar solo!

Initially, there were tons of fans who wondered who Pablo Cruise really was. When they were asked the question, the band, which was a quartet, would answer, "he's the guy in the middle." When asked what Pablo Cruise meant, the band would say that "Pablo represents an honest, real, down to earth individual; and Cruise depicts his fun loving and easy going attitude towards life.”

Nice! I wish I still had my parent's 6 foot long Wooden Stereo Console with 8-Track System that had that mechanical click when switching programs! :)

The Bee Gees! "Nights on Broadway!"

It's sad that the huge success of “Saturday Night Fever” caused people to assume that the Bee Gees were nothing more than a shallow creation of a mass marketing ploy. The hit song, “Nights on Broadway” (1975) demonstrates that the Bee Gees had a lot of talent for which they never received proper credit for until recently. Of course, their 70’s hair styles didn't help. You know, if you look at a recent picture of Tom Brady; he could actually be a Bee Gee. 

Reunion here we come!

All kidding aside, while recording “Nights on Broadway”, Producer Arif Martin asked if one of the Bee Gees could do some screaming during the main chorus to make the song more exciting. In response, Barry Gibb began singing higher and higher, eventually singing it in falsetto that was unexpectedly powerful. He had never known he had such an ability. That was the start of Barry’s falsetto becoming the trademark sound of the Bee Gees we know today. Barry Gibb recalled in an interview: “Arif said to me, “Can you scream?” I said, “Under certain circumstances.” He said, “Can you scream in tune?” I said, “Well….I’ll try.” Arif said, “So, you know, give us an ad lib or a scream at the end.” So, from screaming, it turned into the part, “Blaming It All!”

Pretty cool, huh??

Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive!"

When I think of the 70’s, I have to say that one genre of music really made a huge impact on me. Yes, I’m going to say it….are you ready? DISCO! There, I said it and I’m proud of it!

Gloria Gaynor took Disco to a whole other level when she released her Album, Love Tracks in 1978 with her song "I Will Survive". The lyrics of this song are written from the point of view of a woman, recently dumped, telling her former boyfriend that she can cope without him and doesn’t want anything more to do with him. The song has become something of an anthem and is still a staple of office parties and karaoke nights.

Interestingly, "I Will Survive" was originally the B-side of a song called "Substitute", when a Boston Disco Radio DJ, Jack King, turned the record over and recalls being stunned by what he heard. "I couldn't believe they were burying this monster hit on the B-side", says King. "I played it and played it and my listeners went nuts." This audience response forced the record company to flip the songs, so that subsequent copies of the single listed the more popular song on the A-side.

By the way, this video was a promotional video filmed in 1979 at the New York discothèque called Xenon. Sheila Reid-Pender of Harlem, NY is the featured skater in this video from the skating group, The Village Wizards.

For me, here’s the most interesting thing about Gloria Gaynor.

In 1982, having looked into a wide variety of faiths and religious movements, she became a Christian and began to distance herself from a past she considered to be sinful.

In 1983, she released an album entitled Gloria Gaynor . The album contained a new version of "I Will Survive". In this new version of "I Will Survive", she changed the lyrics of the song in order to advertise her new conversion to Christianity. The words "It took all the strength I had not to fall apart" were changed to "Only the Lord could give me strength not to fall apart".

Just listening to this song, makes me want to go to the local skating rink, turn on the Disco lights with the Disco Ball and skate till I get blisters! Oh what fun!

This beat has “Got to Be Real”! Cheryl Lynn’s Bass thumping Disco Hit!!

I just heard this song on the radio the other day and I have to say this has got to be one of the best bass grooving tunes I have ever heard! Cheryl Lynn's, “Got To Be Real” was released in 1978 and it still moves me as much as it did the first time I heard it.

Cheryl Lynn’s career started in 1976 when she taped an episode of the Gong Show in early 1976. She went on to win the competition while singing Joe Cocker’s, “You Are So Beautiful” and Lynn later told Dick Clark during her appearance on American Bandstand that after the episode aired, record industry executives were knocking down her door to sign her!

She signed to Columbia Records after Atlantic Records couldn't make their initial meeting (bummer for Atlantic!). “Got To Be Real” was her first and biggest hit which was actually written by Toto keyboardist David Paich, David Foster, and Lynn. Ray Parker Jr. also played guitar on this song.

It doesn’t get any better than Cheryl Lynn or this song!. So, get out those 6x9’s and turn up this classic Old School hit! All I can say is, this girl can sing! Mariah Carey…eat your heart out!

BOOM BOOM CLAP! BOOM BOOM CLAP!!

For all of you music fan’s, I’m sure it didn’t take you long to figure out my title!

"We Will Rock You" was written by Brian May, guitarist for Queen. This song and the song that usually follows it, "We Are the Champions" were written in response to an event that occurred during Queen’s 1977 British Tour. The band had played a gig at Stafford's Bingley Hall, and Brian May stated that they did an encore and then went off stage, and instead of the crowd continuing to clap, they sang "You'll Never Walk Alone" to them. They were just completely knocked out and taken aback and it was quite an emotional experience for them. Brian said he thinks these “chant things” are in someway connected with that.

The stomping effects in the song were created by the band overdubbing the sounds of themselves stomping and clapping many times and adding delay effects to create a sound like many people were participating. The durations of the delays were in the ratios of prime numbers, a technique now known as non-harmonic reverberation.A tape loop is used to repeat the last phrase of the guitar solo three times as opposed to Brian May playing it three separate times on the recording.

Remember, when you crank this song up, it will be the 2 most important minutes of your musical life!

Remember this One-Hit Wonder? “Pilot of the Airwaves”!

In 1980, I had this 45 and played it over and over and over again on my little blue and red hand held turn table (it actually would fold up like a suitcase and I could carry it anywhere)! “Pilot of the Airwaves”, an ode to an unknown DJ by Charlie Dore is a perfect example of a One-Hit Wonder. It literally “flew” in and out like a flash but when it hit, it hit BIG! Although this song would be considered her only personal hit, Charlie wrote other hits for Celine Dion, Sheena Easton, Tina Turner and Barry Manilow.

Funny, I hadn’t actually heard this song on the radio literally since the early 80’s! I must confess though, it still “sounds good to me” after 30 years!

Chicago's 25 or 6 to 4 Live at the Greek!

This version of "25 or 6 to 4" (written by Chicago’s Keyboardist/Singer Robert Lamm) is one of the best live versions I have ever heard! It features Chicago and Earth, Wind & Fire playing live at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles in 2004

Chicago fans have long argued about the meaning of this song. Lamm himself says that the title is just a reference to the time of day, and that the song is about writing a song. The time of day in reference is 3:35 AM (or 3:34 AM), which would then be 25 (or 26) minutes to 4 AM.

Lamm explained that he was living with a group of guys up above Sunset Strip in the Hollywood Hills where he could look out over the city late at night. He wanted to describe the process of writing the song he was writing. So, “Waiting for the break of day, searching for something to say, flashing lights against the sky”, (there was a neon sign across the street). That song came from the fact that it was 25 or 6 to 4am in the morning when he looked at his watch. He was looking for a line to finish the chorus. The rest as they say, is history!

"I looked out this morning and the sun was gone....."

"More Than a Feeling" by Boston, was released as the lead single from their self-titled debut album on Epic Records in September 1976. It was Boston's biggest hit and it took writer/guitarist Tom Scholz five years to complete. This track has become a staple of Classic Rock and in 2009, it was named the 39th Best Hard Rock song of all time by VH1. Ranked in the top 10 by yours truly.  Go ahead, it's ok. Get out of your chair and play that air guitar!