Behind the Myth

[Purple Haze]

Do you ever watch these "documentaries" on VH1, you know the in-depth stories on anybody that ever made a record? Once in a while I'm drawn to it because a lot of the music makers featured here had hits during my formative years. I just wish they would showing such little snippets of things and maybe show like the whole concert sometime, instead of the constant interuptions from talking-head experts telling you why you're supposed to think they're so cool.

Sometimes it seems like all of these artists had the same story line. Band begins in the basement, band struggles for years, band gets record deal, band has hottest record of all time, band does cocaine, band spends all of its money, band is not hot anymore, band goes back to the car wash, band goes to rehab, band reunites, band is old and ugly and on the comeback. Insert different footage, photos and dialogue, but keep the same "experts" in the same chair, the same day, the same drama.

Meanwhile, I just wanna see the rest of that film of Heart in concert in the seventies.

Last night "Behind the Music" was all about "Saturday Night Fever" and it's sociological impact on everything from mood rings to Swiss cheese. I'll admit, I had the record, who didn't? I saw the movie, who didn't?

The younger generation watching these shows must think highly of us old codgers, according to this and other "documentaries" of yore:

1. Everybody had a closet full of Disco suits, it was cool.
2. Everybody wore eight-inch platforms, that's why cars were bigger.
3. We didn't walk, we did the "Hustle" all the way to our '73 Torino
4. We didn't have jobs, we did cocaine and had orgies.
5. We were overjoyed that radio stations played "You Light Up My Life" every hour on the hour.
6. "Happy Days" made us howl.

 

[Madame Pandora]

Daddy was a cop...the east side of Chicago...

Back in the USA...Back in the bad ole' days...

In the heat of a summer niiiiight....

In the land of the dollar bill....

Mp

 

[Purple Haze]

Oh god, now that song is in my head.

 

[Isabella Thorne]

Qu'est-ce que c'est?

I just wish they would showing such little snippets of things and maybe show like the whole concert sometime, instead of the constant interuptions from talking-head experts telling you why you're supposed to think they're so cool.

Oh yes, I see cheri ... it was a documentary about David Byrne, n'est-ce pas?
_____________________
Pour Toi Purple

I can't seem to face up to the facts
I'm tense and nervous and I
Can't relax
I can't sleep 'cause my bed's on fire
Don't touch me I'm a real live wire

Psycho Killer
Qu'est-ce que c'est
fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa far better
Run run run run run run run away
Psycho Killer
Qu'est-ce que c'est
fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa far better
Run run run run run run run away

You start a conversation you can't even finish it.
You're talkin' a lot, but you're not sayin' anything.
When I have nothing to say, my lips are sealed.
Say something once, why say it again?

Psycho Killer,
Qu'est-ce que c'est
fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa far better
Run run run run run run run away
Psycho Killer
Qu'est-ce que c'est
fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa far better
Run run run run run run run away

Ce que j'ai fais, ce soir la
Ce qu'elle a dit, ce soir la
Realisant mon espoir
Je me lance, vers la gloire ... OK
We are vain and we are blind
I hate people when they're not polite

Psycho Killer,
Qu'est-ce que c'est
fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa far better
Run run run run run run run away
Psycho Killer,
Qu'est-ce que c'est
fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa far better
Run run run run run run run away

oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh....

~Talking Heads~

 

[Madame Pandora]

Liiiiiife is a rock
But the radio rolled me....


MP

 

[Purple Haze]

Gotta find a woman, gotta find a woman,

My wife hates it when I go to rummage sales, I always bring home cheezy old 45's from my childhood, and play them really loud. I gasped in sweet surprise when I found "Troglodyte."

"Her name was Bertha,"

(poundin' funk groove)




"Bertha Butt"

(poundin' funk)





"Wun-uv-thuh Butt Sistahs"




(like Flip Wilson) "I'll sock-it-to-ya Dadday"

 

[Purple Haze]

Great moments in '70s Television

Damn, I missed that too? Speaking of Bill Cosby, did you ever see Richard Pryor's variety show? In one skit, they panned down to his naked crotch and there was no genitalia? I think he was kicked off the air after that.

 

[Ambrosious]

AAAAAAAAA-AAAAAAAAA-AAAAAAAAA
Afternoon deeee-light!

 

[MinkSoul]

*Runs screaming from the thread

 

[Dillinger]

I remember all those... but my favorite all time variety show was the Smother's Brothers. They were hysterical!!! And, of course, got kicked off the air too...

 

[DarlingBri]

When...

...was Soul Train?

I do remember that

 

[Dillinger]

Soul Train started in 1970 (I was 13)... believe it or not... its still on the air!

And the Soul Train chapter of the Charlie's Angels' movie is hysterical!

http://www.soultrain.com/

The Soul Train Story: http://www.soultrain.com/st/story.html

http://www.soultrain.com/dancers2/traceyshem.jpg

 

[Purple Haze]

http://www.midnightspecial.com/images/midnspec1.gif

We used to stay up late for this show, I remember seeing David Bowie host the show once. He was way too strange in those days.

I found this cool link (kind of a long load):

http://www.midnightspecial.com/

 

[cymbidia]

Most of the '70's was rock n' roll. At the beginning of the decade, we (American society in general and my generation in particular) were still very innocent and idealistic. Protest music was still alive. The Vietnam war wasn't really over until mid-decade. The dissonance of punk was still a smear on the horizon. Disco, with its horrifying clothing choices, came along in just the last couple years of the '70's. At the end of this decade, though, we were jaded and cynical.

Here's a few lines from very popular songs of the 70's. How many of these prompt the music immediately? (All of them, for me. I was 16 in 1974.)

"Hey, Mister, can you tell me,
where a man might find a bed
He just grinned and shook my hand,
"No" was all he said"
The Band

"Oh, give me the beat, boys, and free my soul
I want to get lost in your rock and roll
And drift away"
Dobie Gray

"I was captured by your style
But I could not catch your eyes
Now I stand here helplessly
Hoping you'll get into me"
Atlanta Rhythm Section

"And the sign said long-haired freaky people need not apply
So I tucked my hair up under my hat and I went in to ask him why"
Five Man Electrical Band

"He's got this dream about buying some land
he's gonna give up the crack and the one night stands
and then he'll settle down
in some quiet little town
and forget about everything"
Gerry Rafferty

"Open up your window,
let some air into this room
I think I'm almost chokin'
from the smell of stale perfume"
Three Dog Night

"We take all kind of pills to give us all kind of thrills
But the thrill we've never known
Is the thrill that'll get you when you get your picture
On the cover of the Rolling Stone"
Dr Hook

"If I had a box just for wishes
And dreams that had never come true
The box would be empty
Except for the memory
Of how they were answered by you"
Jim Croce

I could go on (and on and on and on) but better not. Don't want to bore the natives...

 

[CreamyLady]

I never saw Saturday Night Fever. Ever. I'd rather have died.

I never did cocaine, either, though I sampled other substances.

And, the worst part of all, I recall the music in snippets, since I'm not the kind of person who has music going all the time, and can't remember it anyway. The only song I remember with any clarity is Diamond Girl, and that only because my then-boyfriend started calling me Diamond Girl.

He then want on to say it was because I was brilliant, cold and hard. End of boyfriend.

 

[cymbidia]

I never did cocaine, either, though I sampled other substances.

Had to get rid of the original post.
(-;

[Edited by cymbidia on 04-10-2001 at 01:31 PM]

 

[Skibum]

He then want on to say it was because I was brilliant, cold and hard.

I believe the brilliant part, but "cold and Hard"? NO WAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

His loss is my gain!