Rock Evolution – The History of Rock & Roll - 1976 - (page 125)

[threespires]

Walk This Way by Aerosmith was rereleased in 1976 but I checked and it was already on the 1975 playlist. I was going to go completely left field and suggest the theme song for The Scooby Doo Show from 1976 but I can't find it in Spotify and it's not the classic Scooby Doo theme everyone knows and loves

You've just reminded me that in the interest of brevity I took my bit on '76 TV out of the original write up. Some much loved shows came out in 76 - Starsky and Hutch and The Bionic Woman were favourites. Reggie Perrin started his Rise and Fall too.

On the kids TV front Multi-Coloured Swap Shop brought a new format for childrens TV. Rentaghost debuted too as did Noah and Nelly. Spanning all generations was the introduction of The Muppets.

 

[mrbelfry]

You've just reminded me that in the interest of brevity I took my bit on '76 TV out of the original write up. Some much loved shows came out in 76 - Starsky and Hutch and The Bionic Woman were favourites. Reggie Perrin started his Rise and Fall too.

On the kids TV front Multi-Coloured Swap Shop brought a new format for childrens TV. Rentaghost debuted too as did Noah and Nelly. Spanning all generations was the introduction of The Muppets.

Then my second nomination is the Muppet Show Theme. The brass is unmatched

 

[Saddleworth2]

Go on then what's the best?



I thought some of the tracks from the previous years album were big songs in '76 but I've just looked and they weren't even released in the UK. Schoolboy error on my part.

Was Rhiannon not 76?

 

[threespires]

Was Rhiannon not 76?

That's what I thought and it charted in the US in 76 but I can find nothing for the UK at all. It was released (again?) in the UK in '78 and made a bit of a dent.

 

[threespires]

Then my second nomination is the Muppet Show Theme. The brass is unmatched

This works quite well with my argument that '76 laid the foundations for what was to come. The following year the Muppets would have a number 1 album and a top10 hit.

16 studio albums and even an indie/alt rock tribute album of their songs (The Green Album*). They were/are a musical powerhouse.

*It's a very strange album e.g the woman from Evanescence singing Halfway Down The Stairs in a goth/emo style.

 

[OB1]

The studio album that I alluded to when posting my first playlist selection was the debut from a band that I thought were destined for big things but never really went beyond cult status, despite having one of the greatest band logos ever. To borrow a quote, the album's style is characterised by power chord infested, four-on-the-floor riff 'n' roll – a heady mix of hard rock and power pop. The album was produced by the master guitar mixer Jack Douglas, whose main clients were Aerosmith, and Starz were the missing link between Aerosmith Kiss and Sweet, which was like manna from heaven for a 16-year-old Ob1. It’s one of my favourite debut albums. There’s nothing original about it musically but it is done with style and topped off with often entertaining lyrics.

The band comprised:

• Michael Lee Smith: Vocals, former Shakespearian actor and elder brother of US teen star Rex.

• Richie Ranno: Guitar.

• Brendan Harkin: Guitar, contributing to the band's dual-guitar attack.

• Pieter Sweval: Bass.

• Joe X. Dube: Drums.

The track I have chosen is the heaviest on the album and one that gives all the band a chance to show off, the appropriately titled Boys in Action. The boys are the band themselves, and the action appears to be both on and off the stage, given lines such as: "When we cum, it tastes just like a milkshake,". Funnily enough, Motley Crue cite them as an influence!

 

[OB1]

That's what I thought and it charted in the US in 76 but I can find nothing for the UK at all. It was released (again?) in the UK in '78 and made a bit of a dent.

I bought the single in the UK.

Anyway, I included it on the 1975 playlist due to the album it was on being released then.

 

[OB1]

Go on then what's the best?



I thought some of the tracks from the previous years album were big songs in '76 but I've just looked and they weren't even released in the UK. Schoolboy error on my part.

I always say Hendrix's "All Along the Watchtower" is the best cover version.

Van Halen's cover of "You Really Got Me" introduced the mighty Van Halen to the world.

 

[Black&White&BlueMoon Town]

Was Rhiannon not 76?

The single was, but the song was already available from the self titled album released the previous year in 1975.

And for the sake of album cohesion, I'm not going to talk about any singles from the next album, being a purist there. Everything in its right place and all that.

 

[Black&White&BlueMoon Town]

Then my second nomination is the Muppet Show Theme. The brass is unmatched

Very nice nomination.

I think I'll stick with TV too for my next pick as I entered "double digits", I was getting to watch a few more sitcoms.

ABC had the best comedies that year. Happy Days and Laverne and Shirley were aired back to back starting at 8pm on Tuesdays and were the one-two sitcom punch at the top of the ratings. While Happy Days hadn't yet jumped the shark (that would actually happen for the very first time next year), it was the sitcom that spawned off Laverne and Shirley in Jan 1976, and another that we'll keep for later for things from another world.

Another sitcom that started airing in the fall of 1975 and moved to Thursday nights in the 8pm anchor timeslot was Welcome Back, Kotter, starring stand up comedian Gabe Kaplan, and an actor in his breakout role, John Travolta as Vinnie Barbarino. The high school student comedic lines in this show were always classic, much to the chagrin of elementary school teachers who weren't as pleased when their own students (including yours truly) would repeat those famous catch phrases such as "up your nose with a rubber hose".

John Sebastian, formerly frontman of Lovin' Spoonful, was brought in by the TV producer create a theme song like from his prior band for this series. This theme song reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for one week in May of 1976 after only five weeks after being released as a single.

"Welcome Back" - John Sebastian

 

[threespires]

Very nice nomination.

I think I'll stick with TV too for my next pick as I entered "double digits", I was getting to watch a few more sitcoms.

ABC had the best comedies that year. Happy Days and Laverne and Shirley were aired back to back starting at 8pm on Tuesdays and were the one-two sitcom punch at the top of the ratings. While Happy Days hadn't yet jumped the shark (that would actually happen for the very first time next year), it was the sitcom that spawned off Laverne and Shirley in Jan 1976, and another that we'll keep for later for things from another world.

Another sitcom that started airing in the fall of 1975 and moved to Thursday nights in the 8pm anchor timeslot was Welcome Back, Kotter, starring stand up comedian Gabe Kaplan, and an actor in his breakout role, John Travolta as Vinnie Barbarino. The high school student comedic lines in this show were always classic, much to the chagrin of elementary school teachers who weren't as pleased when their own students (including yours truly) would repeat those famous catch phrases such as "up your nose with a rubber hose".

John Sebastian, formerly frontman of Lovin' Spoonful, was brought in by the TV producer create a theme song like from his prior band for this series. This theme song reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for one week in May of 1976 after only five weeks after being released as a single.

"Welcome Back" - John Sebastian

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Not sure Kotter ever made it to our shores unlike the very popular Happy Days. I suppose it's not surprising it ultimately jumped the shark, given that at the height of it's popularity the Fonz had already battled a would be alien abductor, who would of course go on to become a much loved superstar.

I don't think we've, so far, explicitly discussed the TV theme show as part of popular music history. The Ballad of Davy Crockett in ' 55 was probably the first hit theme song, certainly first #1 i'd have thought? Then the Monkees took the intermingling of tv and pop to new level in the,60s ? Since then there's been regular visitors to the charts from TV but the 70s and 80s were probably the golden age; although the 90s did give us the Fresh Prince of Bel Air and a song from a show that if explicitly mentioned would bring one of the album thread posters windmilling in !!