This Saturday morning, my wife and I went to a local bagel place, Java Joes, which, aside from a wide variety of bagels, have many other breakfast and lunch delicacies. And of course, music played over the speakers. What was playing? "Lucky Man" by Emerson, Lake and Palmer, "Strange Magic" by Electric Light Orchestra, "I Saw the Light" by Todd Rundgren, "Crazy Love" by Van Morrison, and several others. What do these songs have in common? Well, they were all from the 1970's. Judging from what my friends constantly refer to, as well as the majority of the music that I hear outside of my home in various public places, you'd swear that this was 1976, not 2021. Not bad from a decade that was pretty much all but "dissed" several decades ago.
I remember listening to a top 40 station in the early to mid-1980's calling the decade of the 1970's "the lost decade in music". Even around 1972 or so, a high school classmate of mine named Bob Dudek wrote an article in the school newspaper about the evolution of rock music from the 1950's onward. Dudek pretty much praised the sixties, but then added that there weren't any new "trends" in the 1969-71 period. Forget Woodstock, Altamont and other events that transpired then.
I guess it's pretty hard to put an era of music in perspective while you're still living it. And to be honest, I agreed with the assessment that the seventies, at the time, were bland, compared to the music of the decade before it, and even cheered the eighties that it brought the excitement of the sixties back. Yes, they did say the seventies were bland, with no trends, and permeated by the fact the much of it was nostalgia for the 1950's. One only needs to look at movies like Grease, American Graffiti, television shows like Happy Days, and even bands like Sha Na Na to think that the 1970's were just either a platform for fifties nostalgia or just a bunch of arena rock corporate bands, or a continuation of the artists that were popular in the sixties.
Well, fast forward to 2021. As I've said many times during the eleven years I've done this blog, that rock has gone so much underground that many people lack the tools to start digging to find good music. I still adore the sixties music, of course. I just saw a post on Facebook that suggested the 1990's were the best rock music decade. Look, I love nineties rock; in fact, I blogged about a concert with three bands from that decade, that I went to a few weeks back. Well, when I posted that blog on Facebook, it got ZERO likes. Does that tell you something? And to be honest, 1980's music, while awesome, didn't have quite the shelf life thirty to forty years later. Maybe the eighties trumped the seventies initially, but the so-called "me decade" has aged very well, thank you.
 |
| British quartet Led Zeppelin was one of the most popular rock acts of the 1970's mixing hard rock, heavy metal and blues. |
Yes, there was arena rock, "corporate", if you wish, with mainstream rock bands filling concert halls and stadiums. But, as Mr. Dudek pointed out, the sixties had many transformations in the genre, from surf, to British Invasion, garage, psychedelic, acid rock, and many others. Well, looking back at the 70's, there were many phases as well. There was "singer-songwriter" (Carole King, James Taylor, Van Morrison, Joni Mitchell, early Elton John), "glam" (Ziggy Stardust-era David Bowie, Mott the Hoople, Queen, Sweet, T. Rex, later Elton John etc), and its cousin "shock rock" (Alice Cooper). Also "prog" (Yes, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, as well as early period Genesis, Santana, Chicago, Journey), country rock (Eagles, Linda Ronstadt, Jackson Browne), southern rock (Lynyrd Skynyrd, Marshall Tucker Band, Allman Brothers, Charlie Daniels), and "heavy metal" (Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath) Then later on, of course, you had the "punk" and "new wave" movements (The Ramones, Sex Pistols, Television, Blondie, Talking Heads, The Police, B-52's, Elvis Costello, and more). And that's not including the R&B-influenced funk, disco and other rhythmic forms (Earth Wind and Fire, Kool and the Gang, Parliament-Funkadelic, and many others). Some of these artists, like Queen, Elton John, and David Bowie, transcended these labeled genres and took on several forms of music during this decade.
And you can see the seventies influences on my SNS 100. ScreenAge's music lends much to 1970's influence; the band in its shows covers songs like "Right Back Where We Started From" and "My Sharona"; Elton John & Dua Lipa's "Cold Heart", though with a current vibe, borrows from Sir Elton's 1972 smash "Rocket Man"; Eddie Testa, St Paul & the Broken Bones, and Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats have that Jersey-oriented heartland sound that harkens back to the early Springsteen and Southside Johnny era; Tim Izzard's very fine Starlight Rendezvous could have been recorded during the Bowie period of glam; Santana is currently on the playlist, and finally, the latest from Smash Palace have the Crosby Stills & Nash / America folk-harmonic vibe to it; very retro, but awesome.
If the seventies were "lost", well, it's definitely been found, fifty years later.
ADELE IS ON TOP: Not directly related to the above, but in the somewhat similar situation, Adele's "Easy on Me" moves to the head of my playlist, becoming her fifth blog #1. That ties her with ScreenAge for the most blog toppers by a female, or female-fronted band. Only The Black Keys, with six, and Fitz and the Tantrums, with twelve, have more in the eleven plus years of Scenes 'n' Soundwaves. "Easy on Me" remains at #1 for a fourth week on Billboard's Hot 100, becoming a rare "double". The last time a song was simultaneously number one on both lists was in August 2019, when "Old Town Road" set a record for #1 longevity (19 weeks) on the Hot 100 and four weeks here. "Easy on Me" is the tenth song to top both lists; four of them---"Rolling in the Deep", "Someone Like You", "Hello" and now "Easy..." are by Adele. The others, besides "Old Town Road" (Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus), are two from Ed Sheeran ("Shape of You", "Perfect"), "Just Give Me A Reason" (Pink featuring Nate Reuss); 'We Are Young" (Reuss's band fun.), and "Royals" (Lorde).
Today I read an article about Adele, whose fifth album, 30, just dropped. The interviewer asked why Adele isn't promoting the album on the TikTok platform, one which is very popular with young teenagers who are responsible for the current spate of popular music---good or mostly bad, I may add. Adele, whose music is vastly different from much of the banal pop which is worshipped by that generation, maintained that her music isn't for them, but for the thirty- and forty-year-olds of HER generation, a group that related to the themes of her songs, which, of course, are extremely personal.
I have to admit, although "Easy on Me" is #1 here, and I haven't yet listened to 30, Adele's early stuff is awesome, but listening to her new album might change my mind. She is more "mainstream" now (more in a reference to her world-wide acceptance, and not really her music), but is pretty much swimming against the tide of current pop music. Still, the production, as I mentioned a few weeks ago, is a throwback to the days before autotune and electronic wizardry dominated music.
"Easy on Me" knocks Halsey's "You Asked for This" to the #2 spot. Adele's next competition will come from either Fleet Foxes (maintaining its bullet at #3), Anna Lavigne (10-4) or ScreenAge (22-5, Impact Award). All of these acts already have a blog number one to their credit this year. With the latter's "Think Again" holding at #20 joining "Like Fine Wine", the Screeners once again have two songs in the Top 20, joining Ed Sheeran, whose "Shivers" joins "Bad Habits" in the upper echelon (both songs are in Billboard's Top 5), and Vivian Girls' two songs which drop out of the top 10 this week.
The big mover outside the top 20 is Anna Lavigne's new song "This Time" (58-33) to get Mover of the Week honors.
INCOMING MISSAL: Donna Missal has the Top Debut this week with "(To Me) Your Face is Love" at #72. The Jersey artist has been one of my favorites since "Keep Lying" hit the top spot in 2018, with her bluesy rock vibe. However, she seemed to be going off the rails (and I was about to jump off her train) with "Sex is Good (But Have You Tried)", which is my vote for worst song of the year, to be honest. Her recent "Happy People" from the Addams Family 2 movie soundtrack was okay at best. Well, her newest isn't a return to rock, but it isn't another Billie Eilish-type song, either. She is definitely continuing her foray into pop (or hyper-pop, as one YouTube listener pointed out). Yes, her voice is auto-tuned, and yes, the instrumentation is of an EDM nature, but guess-what? It's melodic and it works. Perhaps this is sort of a compromise of her old gutsy rock vibe and her new direction. If that indeed is the case, I will take it. This should put her back into the top 20.
London-based duo Babeheaven follow their #12 blog song "Human Nature", with "The Hours". This has a nice easy-going feel-good rock vibe. Lead singer Nancy Anderson has an awesome voice suited for this kind of song...it reminds me of some of Molly Murch's loungy-type songs, but the tempo is upbeat. Another winner. Another band from across the pond, Foals, returns with "Wake Me Up". The band has had success on my blog, scoring a #1 back in 2016 with "Give It All". Their songs have gone all over the map, and have displayed many styles since their blog debut, 2010's "Total Life Forever". The new one has a funk-rock vibe to it, a very rhythmic, pulsating beat that doesn't give up at all. The band seems to head into a different direction each time out, which isn't easy to do. Should at least top their most recent blog song, "Runner" which reached #14 early last year.
Lili Trifilio heads the Chicago-based quartet Beach Bunny, with their new one "Oxygen". Ms. Trifilio's vocals are awesome here in this retro-new wave-ish romp. The band has had some mid-blog charters in the past, this one should do rather well. A nice sound. We go to Scotland for the latest by Franz Ferdinand "Billy Goodbye". The band, around since 2002 and one of my favorites in that decade, come off a top 5 blog song with 2018's "Paper Cages". "Billy Goodbye" is an infectious rock song, again rather rhythmic but very catchy as well, sort of an 80's lane here. The band recently lost original member Paul Thomson, but the band's sound holds up very well. An up-tempo good time here.
It is mid-November so the inevitable holiday songs are about to launch. Out of the gate is Kelly Clarkson who seems to release one as a single every year. While her past few songs in recent years were from her 2013 holiday effort Wrapped in Red, she is releasing a new album this year, When Christmas Comes Round. The new song is "Christmas Isn't Cancelled (Just You)", and the title alone suggests this isn't a cheery song. Actually, it sort of is, but it's about getting rid of a boyfriend (or in this case, maybe her ex-husband?) Will this be a standard alongside "Underneath the Tree" or "Wrapped In Red"? Probably not, at least on first listen. I might add that next week, I will add Shannon Marsyada's "Hear the Angels", which is an awesome hymn-like ballad.
Finally, it's back across the pond to the Highlands of Scotland for the blog debut from Martin Stephenson and the Daintees with "Harajuku Punks". The band has been around since the mid-1980's and have released sixteen studio albums; one of them, Gladsome, Humour and Blue from 1988 reached #39 on the U.K. albums chart. Blog readers here might know Stephenson, however, from producing, co-writing and performing on his partner Anna Lavigne's albums. The song is an up-tempo, jangly romp and has potential to be a blog hit, and is from the band's new album Howdy Honcho.
Scenes ‘n’ Soundwaves 100 Playlist
November 14, 2021
|
This Week |
Last
Week |
ARTIST-Title |
Weeks
on List |
|
1 |
2 |
NUMBER ONE:  Album: 30 |
5 |
|
2 |
1 |
10 |
|
|
3 |
3 |
7 |
|
|
4 |
10 |
5 |
|
|
5 |
22 |
TOP 20 IMPACT OF THE WEEK:  Album: DNR |
3 |
|
6 |
6 |
7 |
|
|
7 |
12 |
8 |
|
|
8 |
4 |
12 |
|
|
9 |
8 |
16 |
|
|
10 |
14 |
10 |
|
|
11 |
11 |
18 |
|
|
12 |
16 |
9 |
|
|
13 |
13 |
17 |
|
|
14 |
5 |
13 |
|
|
15 |
7 |
14 |
|
|
16 |
9 |
14 |
|
|
17 |
15 |
9 |
|
|
18 |
17 |
11 |
|
|
19 |
30 |
8 |
|
|
20 |
20 |
27 |
|
|
21 |
28 |
18 |
|
|
22 |
27 |
11 |
|
|
23 |
34 |
5 |
|
|
24 |
19 |
17 |
|
|
25 |
18 |
13 |
|
|
26 |
29 |
7 |
|
|
27 |
33 |
6 |
|
|
28 |
26 |
23 |
|
|
29 |
32 |
7 |
|
|
30 |
45 |
4 |
|
|
31 |
21 |
17 |
|
|
32 |
25 |
Christina Alessi and the Toll Collectors - Stone Meets the Sea |
15 |
|
33 |
58 |
MOVER OF THE WEEK:  Album: Roses for the Ride |
2 |
|
34 |
23 |
14 |
|
|
35 |
24 |
17 |
|
|
36 |
42 |
5 |
|
|
37 |
41 |
7 |
|
|
38 |
48 |
7 |
|
|
39 |
49 |
6 |
|
|
40 |
43 |
6 |
|
|
41 |
46 |
6 |
|
|
42 |
50 |
4 |
|
|
43 |
51 |
5 |
|
|
44 |
53 |
6 |
|
|
45 |
54 |
5 |
|
|
46 |
31 |
10 |
|
|
47 |
47 |
12 |
|
|
48 |
38 |
23 |
|
|
49 |
35 |
9 |
|
|
50 |
52 |
6 |
|
|
51 |
36 |
11 |
|
|
52 |
37 |
14 |
|
|
53 |
40 |
20 |
|
|
54 |
65 |
3 |
|
|
55 |
63 |
3 |
|
|
56 |
39 |
12 |
|
|
57 |
59 |
10 |
|
|
58 |
67 |
2 |
|
|
59 |
55 |
14 |
|
|
60 |
57 |
25 |
|
|
61 |
74 |
2 |
|
|
62 |
44 |
13 |
|
|
63 |
75 |
2 |
|
|
64 |
60 |
13 |
|
|
65 |
56 |
11 |
|
|
66 |
61 |
14 |
|
|
67 |
68 |
3 |
|
|
68 |
91 |
2 |
|
|
69 |
76 |
3 |
|
|
70 |
72 |
4 |
|
|
71 |
73 |
3 |
|
|
72 |
--- |
TOP DEBUT:  (Single Only) |
1 |
|
73 |
71 |
4 |
|
|
74 |
85 |
2 |
|
|
75 |
--- |
1 |
|
|
76 |
87 |
2 |
|
|
77 |
--- |
1 |
|
|
78 |
66 |
5 |
|
|
79 |
--- |
1 |
|
|
80 |
62 |
14 |
|
|
81 |
--- |
1 |
|
|
82 |
64 |
16 |
|
|
83 |
70 |
8 |
|
|
84 |
78 |
9 |
|
|
85 |
95 |
20 |
|
|
86 |
77 |
19 |
|
|
87 |
80 |
22 |
|
|
88 |
84 |
28 |
|
|
89 |
88 |
4 |
|
|
90 |
79 |
18 |
|
|
91 |
83 |
17 |
|
|
92 |
69 |
8 |
|
|
93 |
81 |
5 |
|
|
94 |
86 |
19 |
|
|
95 |
90 |
3 |
|
|
96 |
--- |
1 |
|
|
97 |
82 |
17 |
|
|
98 |
--- |
1 |
|
|
99 |
89 |
24 |
|
|
100 |
94 |
22 |
|
|
Songs with the greatest increase in
favorite points over the prior week. ●
Songs with
25 or more plays on iTunes/iPods ▲ Songs with 50 or more plays.
As ever, great music, great support from Rob Sheldon. Thank you Rob for keeping us all out there! :-)
ReplyDelete