As dramatized in the 1977 movie Saturday Night Fever,
disco was an escape (really an unreachable exit) for the bleak world of malaise, which included families, finances, and neighborhoods going downhill. The move featured the dark side of the 1970s, but what most Americans from that decade remember is John Travolta’s pose in the movie poster, which led to most people not taking the 1970s very seriously as time moved on.
The prevailing perceptions of the 1970s was that it was the “Me Decade”, an era of narcissism and selfishness, personal awareness instead of political awareness. Many pundits (and some historians) characterized the decade as a reaction to the Tumultuous 1960s, a betrayal of the passion and idealism of the 1960s. What these pundits missed is that the passion/idealism/tumult of the 1960s spurred high creativity in the arts, movies, televisions, movies, and books during the 1970s. In effect, the most memorable cultural products of the decade raised the middle finger at traditional authority, such as the White House, movie studios, and record companies.
The rebellious streak in the 1970s was very jaded, circumspect, and knowing, no loner having the utopian naivete of the 1960s. During the 1970s, those that stood in revolt didn’t run away from Mommy & Daddy as the Counterculture did in the 1960s, but was engaged in a tough-minded confrontation with the dark powers of the decade. These 1970s rebels blended outrage & resignation, passion & black humor, forging a distinctive and skeptical style.
disco was an escape (really an unreachable exit) for the bleak world of malaise, which included families, finances, and neighborhoods going downhill. The move featured the dark side of the 1970s, but what most Americans from that decade remember is John Travolta’s pose in the movie poster, which led to most people not taking the 1970s very seriously as time moved on.
The prevailing perceptions of the 1970s was that it was the “Me Decade”, an era of narcissism and selfishness, personal awareness instead of political awareness. Many pundits (and some historians) characterized the decade as a reaction to the Tumultuous 1960s, a betrayal of the passion and idealism of the 1960s. What these pundits missed is that the passion/idealism/tumult of the 1960s spurred high creativity in the arts, movies, televisions, movies, and books during the 1970s. In effect, the most memorable cultural products of the decade raised the middle finger at traditional authority, such as the White House, movie studios, and record companies.
The rebellious streak in the 1970s was very jaded, circumspect, and knowing, no loner having the utopian naivete of the 1960s. During the 1970s, those that stood in revolt didn’t run away from Mommy & Daddy as the Counterculture did in the 1960s, but was engaged in a tough-minded confrontation with the dark powers of the decade. These 1970s rebels blended outrage & resignation, passion & black humor, forging a distinctive and skeptical style.
The movies, books, and music of the 1970s repeatedly featured a common theme, which was that of a battle between powerful established authority vs. its opponents (the rebels), and often enough, that story line played out in the real world as well. Before the 1970s, movie studios controlled the movie-making process, but during the 1970s, directors came to the forefront, freed from the all-controlling studios; a cinematic renaissance occurred during the decade.
This “New Hollywood” featured such directors as Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Brian de Palma,
Martin Scorsese, Robert Altman, etc. These directors, and their movies, resisted authority of the still-powerful studios. For example, the director started to become in charge of casting, not the studio, and the director also had the power of what the movie was going to be about. Examples: In Chinatown, the audience went to the core of Los Angeles society, and found it rotten; Taxi Driver tapped into the same area of discontent, in that if Travis Bickle was a hero, then what is wrong with the US? Hostility to Mainstream America and its values was a common theme in the movies during the 1970s, and it was not limited to dramas, in that comedies explored the very same terrain (e.g. Fun With Dick and Jane).
This “New Hollywood” featured such directors as Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Brian de Palma,
Martin Scorsese, Robert Altman, etc. These directors, and their movies, resisted authority of the still-powerful studios. For example, the director started to become in charge of casting, not the studio, and the director also had the power of what the movie was going to be about. Examples: In Chinatown, the audience went to the core of Los Angeles society, and found it rotten; Taxi Driver tapped into the same area of discontent, in that if Travis Bickle was a hero, then what is wrong with the US? Hostility to Mainstream America and its values was a common theme in the movies during the 1970s, and it was not limited to dramas, in that comedies explored the very same terrain (e.g. Fun With Dick and Jane).
Even though there was a tremendous amount of independence in the “New Hollywood”, the studios reorganized the movie-making landscape by being absorbed into international conglomerates: United Artists, Warner Brothers, and Paramount were all taken in by much larger corporations. The goal of these newly reorganized studios was to produce blockbusters, formula movies, sequels - the kind of movies that would reach mass audiences and rake in the money. The first such move from this reorganization was 1975’s Jaws, which was the first movie to earn over $100m during its initial theatrical run (not adjusted for inflation). Jaws set the pattern for these mega-studios for pursuing future blockbusters, which included what would soon be called merchandizing.
Popular music also showed the same iconoclasm (David) vs. authority (Goliath) in the 1970s. By the middle part of the decade, major corporations such as Gulf-Western and CBS controlled the recording industry. The institutions that were part of their systems network, such as “The Top 40”, chain record stores, and television’s American Bandstand, were faced with a market that was starting to fragment into many niches during the 1970s.
Popular music also showed the same iconoclasm (David) vs. authority (Goliath) in the 1970s. By the middle part of the decade, major corporations such as Gulf-Western and CBS controlled the recording industry. The institutions that were part of their systems network, such as “The Top 40”, chain record stores, and television’s American Bandstand, were faced with a market that was starting to fragment into many niches during the 1970s.
Marketing-inspired excess was the blueprint for the major record studios, which became know as “Corporate Rock”. Examples: KISS, eventually Alice Cooper, and perhaps the most clearly with “Frampton Comes Alive” in 1976. A&M records “discovered” a mediocre talent in Britain and packaged Peter Frampton as something-for-everyone: Guitar Hero, part Heavy Metal, part Punk, part Bluesman. That live album, like the other corporate rock productions, didn’t have any soul/message, and no recognizable quality that set it apart from what came before. Even so, “Frampton Comes Alive” became one of the highest-selling albums of the entire decade.
The success/influence of corporate rock led to a response which became known as Alternative Music, which took place at the grassroots level, e.g. clubs, college campuses, and independent record stores/labels. The Punk scene in the US was scaled-down compared to the class-warfare Punk scene in Britain, where the Clash advocated open rebellion against authority. That being said, American Punk was still outrageous, never hesitating to offend. The music was basically unproduced and raw compared to corporate rock, and instead of theater (e.g. KISS), American Punk performers wore jeans, leather jackets, and ripped t-shirts, which signified that the wearer didn’t give a damn.
The success/influence of corporate rock led to a response which became known as Alternative Music, which took place at the grassroots level, e.g. clubs, college campuses, and independent record stores/labels. The Punk scene in the US was scaled-down compared to the class-warfare Punk scene in Britain, where the Clash advocated open rebellion against authority. That being said, American Punk was still outrageous, never hesitating to offend. The music was basically unproduced and raw compared to corporate rock, and instead of theater (e.g. KISS), American Punk performers wore jeans, leather jackets, and ripped t-shirts, which signified that the wearer didn’t give a damn.
If American Punk had a political message, it was anti-corporation, rejecting the systems network of the recording corporations and recording on independent labels. From American Punk came New Wave, which was a kinder-and-gentler style of Punk for educated middle-class-or-above college kids, of which the Talking Heads was an example. New Wave sounded different than American Punk, and the musicians typically wore suits and thin ties, but the message remained the same.
In addition to asceticism and anti-corporate messaging, irony was part of the mix as well. The 1970s featured more-and-more artists that saw thing for what they were without romantic illusions. In books, movies, and music a double-identity was featured, in that what was created was a parody/satire, but it became something in-and-of-itself in the process: derivative-yet-original. Americans that came of age during the 1970s were far more realistic than idealistic.
In addition to asceticism and anti-corporate messaging, irony was part of the mix as well. The 1970s featured more-and-more artists that saw thing for what they were without romantic illusions. In books, movies, and music a double-identity was featured, in that what was created was a parody/satire, but it became something in-and-of-itself in the process: derivative-yet-original. Americans that came of age during the 1970s were far more realistic than idealistic.