Old-school news, just in time
by Kevin Burton Looking back, The Bee Gees’ “Jive Talkin’” seems like an obvious, inevitable number one smash. In its day, it was anything but. Fifty years ago today the song was in a two-week run at the top of the Hot 100. It pretty much saved the Bee Gees. There was …
Continue reading ““Jive Talkin’” Saved The Bee Gees In 1975”
by Kevin Burton Pet rocks I remember. Mood rings, yep. Little sawed-off Gremlin cars. Yeah, I remember those. I was part of the 70s. I was on the scene baby! I watched the Jackson 5 cartoon. Didn’t dance much but I sang a lot of disco. I remember the bicentennial and staying up …
by Kevin Burton This song was headed for the top. No two ways about it. It was d-d-destiny, to borrow a stuttered word from the lyrics. The first time The Knack played “My Sharona” at MCA Whitney Recording Studios, producer Mike Chapman told the band it was going to be a number …
by Kevin Burton How would music history be different, had an invitation sent in 1972 been received favorably? The acrimony surrounding the Beatles’ breakup was not as fevered as Beatlemania itself – nothing else in music has ever been – but it was white hot. But some two years after the split, John …
Continue reading “Lennon’s 1972 Peace Overture To McCartney”
by Kevin Burton There would come a time, in a year or so, when you could not escape disco. But at its inception 50 years ago, you couldn’t have seen it coming. “Disco snuck up on America like a covert operation,” wrote Alice Echols in her book “Hot Stuff, Disco and the Remaking …
by Kevin Burton Found another story last week on the animosity toward disco from rock and rollers in the 1970s. This one contained a little surprise. The story was under the headline, “Surviving the 70s: 12 disco songs even rock fans enjoy.” It was written by Greg Brodsky on the Best Classic bands …
by Kevin Burton Their gospel wailing and harmonies brought out the emotion from listeners in their native Chicago. People confided as much to their mentor/father Joe. That’s why when the singing Hutchinson sisters needed a new name for the group, they called themselves The Emotions. Forty-five years ago, their “Best Of My …
by Kevin Burton There have been many theories to explain the rise and fall of disco music. Here’s a new one for its rise: Disco music exploded in the mid-70s as a direct result of “Alone Again Naturally” by Irish singer-songwriter Gilbert O’Sullivan. OK, so I can’t prove I’m right, but you …
by Kevin Burton Musical eras, like chocolate bars or ice cubes, are fluid before they are solid, shaped by the temperature of the times. We can’t always distinguish them day to day. Historians declare them later, according to their differing standards. But for me there is something momentous about looking at the …
by Kevin Burton Silly me, I was just listening to the music. I was young for sure, but not that young. Still, I had to have it all spelled out for me, after the fact. The first person I ever heard utter the phrase “disco sucks,” years later turned out to be …
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