1970s – Page 9 – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

Pet Rocks

Sometimes pop culture takes a turn so bizarre, so ridiculous, that you can’t help but admire it. Why can’t I think of something like this? Gary Dahl did and became a millionaire.

The pet came in a box with holes…of course, so the Rock could breathe and have a nest. They were $3.95 each, and each box contained “One Genuine Pedigreed” Pet Rock…A 32-page manual was included on how to take care of your special pet. The timing was perfect. In a post-Watergate America, cynicism was in, and irony was king. People were ready to buy something utterly meaningless just for the hell of it.

You want to understand the ‘70s in a nutshell? Forget disco and mood rings, look at the Pet Rock. It was the perfect gag gift in a world suddenly obsessed with kitsch, sarcasm, and pop irony.

More than a million people bought Pet Rocks as Christmas gifts in 1975. Gary Dahl, of Los Gatos, California, had the idea while joking with friends about his easy-to-care-for pet, a rock.

This pet ate nothing and didn’t bark or chew the furniture. Pet Rocks were sold with a funny manual that included tips on how to handle an excited rock and how to teach it tricks. By 1976, Gary Dahl was a millionaire, and Pet Rocks were the nation’s favorite pet.

By 1977, the fad had already burned out. Sales dropped. The joke wore thin. The world moved on. But like most pop phenomena, the Pet Rock was never really about longevity. It was about the moment. And it absolutely nailed it. He later referred to the Pet Rock craze as “a good joke that got out of hand.”

Here is the first part of the manual. I will not list the 32 pages of care…at the bottom is a very short old news report on this novelty item. Kids today don’t know what they are missing…they have iPhones….we had Pet Rocks.

Item 1.
Your new rock is a very sensitive pet
and maybe slightly traumatized from
all the handling and shipping required
in bringing the two of you together.
While you may look in on your new
pet from time to time, it is essential
that you leave your rock in its box for
a few days. It is advised that you set
the box in an area of your home
that is to become your PET ROCK’S
“special place”. Some PET ROCK
owners have found that the ticking of
an alarm clock placed near the box
has a soothing effect; especially at
night.
It takes most PET ROCKS exactly
three days to acclimate themselves to
their new surroundings. After seventy-two
hours have passed you may remove
the rock from its box and begin
enjoying your new pet.

Yes, I do have a pet rock and the box somewhere in storage.

Warren Zevon – Werewolves of London

He’s the hairy-handed gent who ran amuck in Kent
Lately he’s been overheard in Mayfair
Better stay away from him
He’ll rip your lungs out, Jim
I’d like to meet his tailor

I’ve heard this song so many times, but it does not get old to me. Zevon was one of the darkest songwriters I’ve ever heard, but kept a sense of humor about it. His vocal delivery is more spoken than sung, dry as gin and twice as sharp. The way he tosses off lines like “I saw a werewolf drinking a piña colada at Trader Vic’s — and his hair was perfect” is pure poetry.

Warren Zevon was a very clever songwriter. He went where other songwriters don’t often go. This song was off his critically acclaimed album Excitable Boy released in 1978. The song peaked at #21 on the Billboard 100, #18 in Canada, and #87 in the UK. It’s simply a great album with tracks like this one, Excitable Boy, Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner, and one of my favorites, Lawyers, Guns, and Money.

Zevon was working with the Everly Brothers in their backup band. He had just hired Robert “Waddy” Wachtel on guitar. The song started as a joke. Phil Everly tossed out the title during a casual songwriting session, half-daring Zevon to write a song called “Werewolves of London.” Phil had just watched Werewolf of London and thought Warren could make it into a dance craze.

Zevon thought about it and took it up with his musicians, guitarist Waddy Wachtel and bassist Leroy Marinell. When Wachtel heard the idea, he mimicked a wailing wolf, “Aahoooh,” which became part of the howling chorus. What came out of that session was a Frankenstein’s monster stitched together from old horror flicks.

This track was produced by Jackson Browne. The songwriters were LeRoy Marinell, Waddy Wachtel, and Warren Zevon. John McVie and Mick Fleetwood played on this song.

Werewolves of London

I saw a werewolf with a Chinese menu in his hand
Walking through the streets of Soho in the rain
He was looking for a place called Lee Ho Fook’s
Gonna get a big dish of beef chow mein

Aaoooooo!
Werewolves of London!
Aaoooooo! (Repeat)

If you hear him howling around your kitchen door
Better not let him in
Little old lady got mutilated late last night
Werewolves of London again

Asoooooo!
Werewolves of London!
Aaoooooo! (Repeat)

He’s the hairy-handed gent who ran amuck in Kent
Lately he’s been overheard in Mayfair
Better stay away from him
He’ll rip your lungs out, Jim
I’d like to meet his tailor

Aaoooooo!
Werewolves of London!
Aaoooooo! (Repeat)

Well, I saw Lon Chaney walking with the Queen
Doing the Werewolves of London
I saw Lon Chaney, Jr. walking with the Queen
Doing the Werewolves of London
I saw a werewolf drinking a pina colada at Trader Vic’s
And his hair was perfect

Aaoooooo!
Werewolves of London!
Aaoooooo! (Repeat)
Draw blood…

Chris Smither – Love You Like A Man

First, I want to thank M.Y. for suggesting Chris Smither to me. M.Y. is one of my best commenters, and thank you again! She told me about Smither a while back, and I’ve been listening to his music since. When she first told me, I thought he would be a typical singer-songwriter like James Taylor. No, he has some serious guitar skills, and that comes off immediately. His music has a nice edge to it. I’ve heard this one before because Bonnie Raitt covered it in 1972.

Chris Smither is a singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is best known for his music that blends folk and blues. Smither grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana, which influenced his musical style. He was inspired by blues artists like Mississippi John Hurt and Lightnin’ Hopkins, as well as folk musicians such as Bob Dylan. That is a great combination.

He made his way up north in the ‘60s, just as the Boston folk scene was humming. And while Dylan acolytes were everywhere, Smither had something different. There was a quiet place in his songs, built on John Hurt’s fingerpicking and Lightnin’ Hopkins’ style, but laced with the lyrics of the blues. This guy should have been noticed more over the years.

If you are looking for a combination of New Orleans soul, Delta blues, and folk club music, Smither’s your man. This song was on his debut album, I’m A Stranger Too! released in 1970. Chris has released 19 studio albums, including one in 2024 called All About Bones.

Love You Like A Man

All these men you’ve been seein’
They’ve got their balls up on a shelf
And you know they could never love you, baby
When they can’t even love themselves
You need someone who can
I could be— you know I could be your lover man
Come on, believe me when I tell you
I love you like a man

‘Cause I’ve never seen such losers
And I bet you never tried
To find a man that can take you home
Never takin’ you for a ride
If you need someone who can
I could be— I bet I could be your lover man
Come on, believe me when I tell you
I love you like a man

Yeah, you’re comin’ home sad
You’re laying down to cry
You need a man to hold you
Not some fool to ask you why
Yeah, you know you need someone who can
Come on, believe me when I tell you
I love you like a man
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Yeah, ’cause they all want you to rock ’em
Like their back ain’t got no bone
What you need is a man who can rock you like your backbone was his own
You need someone who can
I could— I think I could be your lover man
Come on, believe me when I tell you
I love you like a man

Yeah, ’cause all these men that you’ve been seein’
Got their balls up on their shelves
And you know they could never love you, baby
When they can’t even love themselves
You need someone who can
And I could— I bet I— I think— I know I could be your lover man
Believe me when I tell you
I love you like
I love you like
I love you like a man

…

Lynyrd Skynyrd – Mississippi Kid

This is the first studio album, other than a greatest hits package, that I listened to by them. What makes Mississippi Kid so good is that it feels lived in. It’s loose without being sloppy, gritty without being too intense. This was unplugged before unplugged. This is no bombastic song from the band that had many of them. After the release of their first album, they opened up for The Who on their Quadrophenia tour. Pete Townshend, who rarely paid attention to opening bands, was backstage and stopped mid-sentence and told someone…They’re really quite good, aren’t they?

This song is a deep-fried sleeper on a record that didn’t exactly lack for well-known songs. Mississippi Kid is Lynyrd Skynyrd unplugged, a country-blues song tucked away on their 1973 debut album (Lynyrd Skynyrd (Pronounced ‘Lĕh-‘nérd ‘Skin-‘nérd)) like some Southern back porch blues the band just happened to catch on tape. It’s the kind of song that makes you picture a jug of moonshine on a wooden table and a dog asleep under the porch.

It took me a while to get used to them because it seemed that people thought every southerner should like them like a requirement. I don’t like those terms, so I stupidly stayed away from them for a long time because I hate following a crowd. They sound like late sixties and early seventies British rock. Free and Cream were their biggest influence around this time. It makes sense because they were probably more popular in the UK than in the United States til the mid-seventies.

The mandolin was courtesy of the producer and founder of Blood, Sweat, and Tears, Al Kooper. He also famously played the organ on Bob Dylan’s Like A Rolling Stone. He would go on to produce their first three albums and also signed them to MCA Records. He found them in a bar and offered to sign them after a few nights. Right after that, someone broke into their van and stole all of their equipment. Van Zant called Al Kooper and asked him if he could help them out. Kooper said yes, of course, and sent the band $5000, and Van Zant told him…“Al, you just bought yourself a band for five thousand dollars.”

They only released 5 albums in their career before the crash. Of those 5 albums, 3 were great and legendary, and 2 were really good.

At the time of his death, Ronnie Van Zant was trying to plan an album with Merle Haggard. I think they would have sounded great together. It’s a shame they never got to do it.

Mississippi Kid

I got my pistols in my pocket boysI’m, I’m Alabama boundI got my pistols in my pocket boysI’m, I’m Alabama boundWell, I’m not looking for no troubleBut nobody dogs me ’round

Now, well I’m going to fetch my woman, peopleTri-Cities, here I comeOh, well I’m going to fetch my woman, peopleTri-Cities here I come

‘Cause she was raised up on that cornbreadAnd I know that woman’ll give me someGive me some baby

Oh, when this kid hits Alabama, peopleDon’t you try and dog him ’roundNow when this kid hits Alabama, peopleDon’t you try and dog him ’round‘Cause if you people cause me troubleLord, I’ve got to put you in the ground

Well, I was born in Mississippi, babyI don’t take any stuff from youThough I was born in Mississippi, babeAnd I don’t take any stuff from youAnd if I hit you on your headBoy, it’s got to make it black and blue

Ah, well, I’m going to Alabama got my pistols out by my sideHmm, yes, I’ll ride to Alabama with my pistols out by my sideCome down in Alabama, you can run, but you sure can’t hide

…

Peter Green – In The Skies

I like to post on the weekends because I get to expand my musical palette so to speak. I love finding new/old music that I missed in real time. Peter Green’s solo work is new to me. I will continue to go through his albums. I listened to this album this week, but not like I usually do because of time or the lack of. I listened and took the two that stood out. The instrumental Slabo Day and the title cut of the album In The Skies. His guitar tone is beautiful and clear on these songs.

This is not the Peter Green of Oh Well or The Green Manalishi here. No unhinged guitar howls or walls of feedback. In the Skies is mellow, reflective, and fluid. Peter released 6 solo albums from 1970 to 1983. In The Skies was released in 1979. After what he went through, it’s a miracle we have anything from him. When I listen to it, I get the feeling he wasn’t trying to make a hit; he just wanted to play and record again after 9 years.

Green had all but disappeared from the public eye after the early ’70s, battling mental health issues and withdrawing from rock and roll entirely. So when In the Skies was released in 79, his first studio album in nearly a decade, it was a re-introduction of him, if anything.

I liked the title cut because there’s an almost spiritual quality there, something you’d expect from someone who went through what he did. I did listen to his next album Little Dreamer. It’s a bit more focused to me and not as free flowing as this one, but I like this one as well. He was getting back into the game with this one and was loose.

The album peaked at #32 in the UK and #12 in New Zealand in 1979.

In The Skies

Oh, there’s a way to keep the dark from the lightAnd there’s a way to take the cold out of the nightAnd when I see its glowThe sun and moon are shadowedBy the everlasting day

When I reach up my handTo the loving son of manThe bread of life will keep my soul alive

There’s a place where rivers flow in the streetWhere fruit and healing leaves are seen on a treeWhere emerald walls shine clearAnd golden streets run far and nearBehind the gates where his angels names appear

When I reach up my handTo the loving son of manThe bread of life will keep my soul alive

And he will wipe away the tears from our eyesAs we watch this old world fade when it diesAnd a new one shall comeAnd it will be heavenAnd it’s waiting for us there in the skies

In the skiesIn the skiesIn the skiesIn the skies

…

Hollies – He Ain’t Heavy (He’s My Brother)

What a soulful song this is coming out of the Hollies. After Graham Nash left the group, they started to change into more of a 70s rock band.

The Hollies may be best known for their chiming guitars, close harmonies, and pop feel on songs like Bus Stop or Carrie Anne, but in 1969, they took a hard turn straight into emotional overdrive with this song. This wasn’t your typical British Invasion earworm. This was a slow-burning ballad with a title that sounded like scripture. The star of this song is Alan Clarke’s lead vocal. A gut-wrenching vocal that makes Clarke sound like he lived the song.

It was released in 1969 and was written by Bobby Scott and Bob Russell. A young Elton John played piano on the song. It peaked at #7 on the Billboard 100, #11 in Canada, #3 in the UK, and #7 in New Zealand. It was used in a commercial in 1988 and in that year went to number 1 in the UK charts. I always thought the song had a spiritual sound to it.

Speaking of the songwriters, Bobby Scott was a jazz pianist, and Bob Russell was writing these lyrics while battling terminal cancer. The phrase “He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother” came from a story involving a Scottish orphanage and a child being carried on another’s back. Back in 1918, a boy named Howard Loomis was abandoned by his mother at Father Flanagan’s Home for Boys, which had opened just a year earlier. Howard had polio and wore heavy leg braces. Walking was difficult for him, especially when he had to go up or down steps. Soon, several of the Home’s older boys carried Howard up and down the stairs. One day, Father Flanagan asked Reuben Granger, one of those older boys, if carrying Howard was hard. Reuben replied, “He ain’t heavy, Father… he’s my brother.”

Tony Hicks: “In the 1960s when we were short of songs I used to root around publishers in Denmark Street. One afternoon, I’d been there ages and wanted to get going but this bloke said: ‘Well there’s one more song. It’s probably not for you.’ He played me the demo by the writers [Bobby Scott and Bob Russell]. It sounded like a 45rpm record played at 33rpm, the singer was slurring, like he was drunk. But it had something about it. There were frowns when I took it to the band but we speeded it up and added an orchestra. The only things left recognizable were the lyrics. There’d been this old film called Boys Town about a children’s home in America, and the statue outside showed a child being carried aloft and the motto He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother. Bob Russell had been dying of cancer while writing. We never got, or asked for, royalties. Elton John – who was still called Reg – played piano on it and got paid 12 pounds. It was a worldwide hit twice.”

He Ain’t Heavy(He’s My Brother)

The road is long
With many a winding turn
That leads us to who knows where
Who knows where
But I’m strong
Strong enough to carry him
He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother

So on we go
His welfare is of my concern
No burden is he to bear
We’ll get there

For I know
He would not encumber me
He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother

If I’m laden at all
I’m laden with sadness
That everyone’s heart
Isn’t filled with the gladness
Of love for one another

It’s a long, long road
From which there is no return
While we’re on the way to there
Why not share

And the load
Doesn’t weigh me down at all
He ain’t heavy he’s my brother

He’s my brother
He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother, he ain’t heavy

Sweet – The Ballroom Blitz

In the early seventies, I noticed a single that my sister had. It was on Bell Records, a band called The Sweet, and the song was Little Willy. The more I heard their hits, the more I couldn’t believe it was the same band. This song is explosive, yes, but it’s also tight, controlled chaos.

It kicks off like a scene from a glam rock horror movie. “Are you ready, Steve?” Andy Scott answers, “Uh-huh,” and one by one, they check in like a gang about to knock over a ballroom. Then BOOM, you’re punched with that guitar riff, drums, and the Sweet launch into one of the most over-the-top rock singles ever recorded.

This song was inspired by a real onstage attack. The Sweet were playing at the Grand Hall in Kilmarnock, Scotland, when the crowd went into an almost riot and started hurling bottles at the band. Most acts might’ve run for cover or written a moody ballad. The Sweet? They wrote a glam rock anthem with more drama than a Saturday night punch-up at a neighborhood pub.

This band seemed to sound like a different band on many of their singles. They were rock, glam rock, pop, some disco, and bubblegum rock. This song has been covered by several different artists. I first heard the song by Krokus in the 1980s. The song peaked at #5 in the Billboard 100 and #2 in the UK in 1973. Their other well-known songs were Little Willy, Fox on the Run, and Love is Like Oxygen.

This was written by Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman, who wrote many glam songs. They also wrote Sweet’s Blockbuster, Suzi Quatro’s Devil Gate Drive, and Tony Basil’s Mickey.

The Ballroom Blitz

Are you ready, Steve? Uh-ha!

Andy? Yeah!

Mick? Okay.

All right, fellows, let’s go!Oh, it’s been getting so hard

Livin’ with the things you do to me, ah-ha

My dreams are getting so strange

I’d like to tell you everything I see, mmOh, I see a man at the back as a matter of fact

His eyes are red as the sun

And a girl in the corner, let no one ignore her

‘Cause she thinks she’s the passionate one

Oh yeah, it was like lightning
Everybody was frightening
And the music was soothing
And they all started grooving
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

And the man at the back said: “Everyone attack”
And it turned into a ballroom blitz
And the girl in the corner said: “Boy, I wanna warn ya”
It’ll turn into a ballroom blitz
Ballroom blitz
Ballroom blitz
Ballroom blitz
Ballroom blitz

Oh, I’m reaching out for something
Touching nothing’s all I ever do
Oh, I softly call you over
When you appear, there’s nothing left of you, ah-ha

Now the man at the back is ready to crack
As he raises his hands to the sky
And the girl in the corner is everyone’s mourner
She could kill you with a wink of her eye

Oh yeah, it was electric
So frantically hectic
And the band started leaving
‘Cause they all stopped breathing
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

And the man at the back said: “Everyone attack”
And it turned into a ballroom blitz
And the girl in the corner said: “Boy, I wanna warn ya”
It’ll turn into a ballroom blitz
Ballroom blitz

Oh yeah, it was like lightning
Everybody was frightening
And the music was soothing
‘Cause they all started grooving
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

It’s, it’s a ballroom blitz
It’s, it’s a ballroom blitz
It’s, it’s a ballroom blitz
Yeah, it’s a ballroom blitz

Mahavishnu Orchestra – Birds of Fire …album review

We are taking a different path with this band today. It’s not the music I usually post, but I never post something I don’t like. I had the flu this week, and I listened to this band with headphones while recovering. This band really moved me in a lot of ways. It’s totally different for me, maybe you will be impressed like I was. Just pure music, and it takes you down a long, winding river.

I tried picking out a song from this album and tried a few other songs from different albums, but it didn’t work. To write up this band, you have to listen to the complete album. First of all, I’m out of my pay grade here. When I first listened to these guys, I was overwhelmed. I guess you could call this progressive, but I don’t buy that with this band. That is too easy a tag. After I listened to this album, I went through a couple more, and it affected me quite a bit.

You don’t listen to Mahavishnu Orchestra, you pretty much surrender to it. The first time you hear songs like Meeting of the Spirits (from their debut album) or Birds of Fire, it doesn’t matter if you’re coming from artists like Zeppelin, Rush, Miles Davis, or Ravi Shankar. What hits you is the raw voltage of their music. This is fusion played with the intensity of a rock band, but the complexity of a classical symphony. I think that sums it up. I compare it to being led into many different hallways in a huge mansion and visiting a new room at every turn.

I’ve been telling other people about them. I’m not sure I can put this in words, but listening through headphones feels like I’m seeing the music. It’s like I’m seeing molecules for the first time, making up the whole. Listening to them, I hear things and figure out things I have never done with music before. Why does a beat fit here but not there? They have some of the most perfectly constructed music I’ve heard. I normally like music raw and imperfect, but I do make an exception with this band. The reason is that they keep an edge, and it doesn’t get boring.

Another thing I like about the songs is that they keep them the right length, and you don’t have any 30-minute songs. You can tell each song was part of something bigger. Each song is like another brick in this structure

A couple of weeks ago, I saw a clip of John McLaughlin live at a Jeff Beck Tribute. His playing was beyond great. I started to look at some of the bands he has been a part of. In the past few weeks, I’ve brushed up on my bass playing by dragging a bass out while listening to rockabilly. The Mahavishnu Orchestra is way above my level but yet I’ve picked up a few things.

After playing with Miles Davis on fusion albums like Bitches Brew and In a Silent Way, John McLaughlin formed the Mahavishnu Orchestra in 1971. The name “Mahavishnu” was given to McLaughlin by his spiritual guru, Sri Chinmoy, reflecting the band’s philosophical, spiritual, and musical ambitions. Their albums were always evolving; they never just stayed put.

This album seeped into the mainstream. It peaked at #5 in Canada, #15 on the Billboard Album Charts, and #20 in the UK in 1973. Their membership was fluid through the years. They were together from 1971 – 1976 and from 1984-1987. John McLaughlin was the one constant member. On this album, it was McLaughlin on guitar, Rick Laird on bass, Billy Cobham on drums, Jan Hammer on keyboards, and Jerry Goodman on violin.

In closing, yeah, this is different from what I usually post and what you listen to and read about here. Some unknown critic at the time described this album as …Miles Davis jamming with Led Zeppelin on a Himalayan cliffside. So put that way…it fits.

If you want the complete album on YouTube.

…

Tom Petty – American Girl

She couldn’t help thinkin’ that there
Was a little more to life
Somewhere else

This song builds tension throughout using Mike Campbell’s guitar and Tom’s urgent voice. As you all know, I love dynamics in songs. That is why I like Bruce Springsteen and others. They know how to build it in songs.

This song and The Waiting are the two songs that really won me over to Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers. The ringing 12-string that introduces it with the Roger McGuinn-like vocals…it’s hard not to like. The story that Roger McGuinn tells is that the first time he heard the song, he thought it was an old Byrds song he had recorded and forgotten about. Roger liked it so much that he covered it.

Tom Petty wrote this song in 1976 while living in an apartment near the University of Florida in Gainesville. Despite now being a classic song, it wasn’t a hit here on release. The song got a boost in the early nineties. In Silence of the Lambs, it’s played in the scene where the character Catherine Martin is singing along in her car before being kidnapped.

The song peaked at #40 in the UK and #68 in the Cash Box Top 100. Even though Petty and his band were from the US, this caught on in England long before it got any attention in America. As a result, Petty started his first big tour in the UK, where this was a bigger hit.

One urban legend is that the song is about a University of Florida student who committed suicide by jumping off the Beaty Towers dormitory. Tom Petty denied that on separate occasions.

Mike Campbell: “We cut that track on the 4th of July. I don’t know if that had anything to do with Tom writing it about an American girl.”

Tom Petty: “‘American Girl’ doesn’t really sound like The Byrds; it evokes The Byrds. People are usually influenced by more than one thing, so your music becomes a mixture. There’s nothing really new, but always new ways to combine things. We tried to play as good as whoever we admired but never could.”

Tom Petty: “I wrote that in a little apartment I had in Encino. It was right next to the freeway and the cars sometimes sounded like waves from the ocean, which is why there’s the line about the waves crashing on the beach. The words just came tumbling out very quickly – and it was the start of writing about people who are longing for something else in life, something better than they have.”

Here is Roger live in 1977…Roger McGuinn doing Tom Petty doing Roger McGuinn…cool!

American Girl

Well she was an American girl
Raised on promises
She couldn’t help thinkin’ that there
Was a little more to life
Somewhere else
After all it was a great big world
With lots of places to run to
Yeah, and if she had to die
Tryin’ she had one little promise
She was gonna keep

Oh yeah, all right
Take it easy baby
Make it last all night
She was an American girl

It was kind of cold that night
She stood alone on her balcony
She could the cars roll by
Out on 441
Like waves crashin’ in the beach
And for one desperate moment there
He crept back in her memory
God it’s so painful
Something that’s so close
And still so far out of reach

Oh yeah, all right
Take it easy baby
Make it last all night
She was an American girl

Angels – Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again

Many of you who have read this blog for a while know I have a soft spot for bands that never got their full due, especially the ones who could torch a stage and turn a riff into a mountain. Australia’s The Angels (or Angel City, depending on which record bin you’re digging through) are exactly that kind of band.

If you were hanging around an Aussie pub in the late ’70s, there’s a good chance you heard a blistering set from The Angels. Imagine a little the of Bon Scott-era AC/DC, the attitude of punk, and the tension of a film noir, and now picture that exploding from the back of a sweaty pub in Adelaide. That’s The Angels. As the old saying goes, they took no prisoners.

The Angels began as the Moonshine Jug and String Band in 1970, a folk/jug band formed by brothers Rick and John Brewster. But by 1974, they swapped their washboards for electric guitars and rebranded as The Keystone Angels. The real turning point came when they were spotted by AC/DC’s Angus Young and Bon Scott, who were impressed enough to recommend them to their label, Albert Productions.

Like many Australian acts, The Angels took a swing at the U.S. market, but there was already a band called Angel over here, all makeup and white spandex. So, The Angels became Angel City in the US and released several albums under that name, including Dark Room (1980) and Night Attack (1981).

They had the songs. They had the live chops. But they never quite cracked America the way INXS, AC/DC, or Men at Work would. This was their first single back in 1976, and it peaked at #58 in Australia. It was on their debut self-titled album. Band members John Brewster, Rick Brewster, and Doc Neeson wrote this song.

They did have one song that peaked at #35 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Charts called Underground. Underground was released in 1985. They also covered The Animals We’ve Gotta Get Outta This Place in 1986, which peaked at #7 in Australia and #13 in New Zealand.

When the band plays it live, fans start to answer the chorus with an expletive-laced chant, and it became part of the show. “No way get f*****, f*** off.” It’s become, unofficial part of the song. They are still together, releasing albums.

Here is another song by the Angels…Take A Long Ride

Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again

You may recognise yourselves here

Went down to Santa Fe, where Renoir paints the wallsDescribed you clearly, but the sky began to fall

Am I ever gonna see your face again?Am I ever gonna see your face again?

Tram cars and taxis, like a waxworks on the moveCarry young girls past me, but none of them are you

Am I ever gonna see your face again?Am I ever gonna see your face again?

Without you near me, I’ve got no place to goWait at the bar, maybe you might show

Am I ever gonna see your face again?Am I ever gonna see your face again?

I’ve got to stop these tears, that’s falling from my eyeGo walk out in the rain, so no one sees me cry

Am I ever gonna see your face again?Am I ever gonna see your face again? Yeah

Can’t stop the memory that goes climbing through my brainI get no answer, so the question still remains

Am I ever gonna see your face again?Am I ever gonna see your face again?

Am I ever gonna see your face again? (No way, get fucked, fuck off)Am I ever gonna see your face again? (No way, get fucked, fuck off)Am I ever gonna see your face again? (No way, get fucked, fuck off)Am I ever gonna see your face again?

Am I ever gonna see your face again?Am I ever gonna see your face again?Am I ever gonna see your face again?Am I ever gonna see your face again?

Hey, I wanna see your face, your sweet smiling faceI wanna see your face, see your face again ‘n’ again ‘n’ again, again, oh

…

Temptations – Papa Was A Rolling Stone

This song is just about the coolest song ever. It was a long way from My Girl a few years earlier. That innocent sound is gone, replaced with hardness and grit, not to mention strings and a wah-wah.

The song was written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong. The first recording wasn’t by The Temptations, but by The Undisputed Truth, a psychedelic soul group also produced by Whitfield. Released in May 1972, their version had a rawer, less refined sound and was under four minutes long. It charted but not huge, peaking at #63 on the Billboard Hot 100.

The Temptations version peaked at #1 (of course) in the Billboard 100, #14 in the UK, and #12 in Canada in 1972. This was the last big hit recorded in Motown’s famous Studio A, located in a two-story house in Detroit. Most of Motown’s studio work had moved to Los Angeles by then, but The Temptations still recorded in Detroit.

Whitfield reworked the song for The Temptations. By 1972, they had transitioned from smooth Motown pop to a grittier sound under Whitfield’s guidance in what some called psychedelic soul. The intro alone runs nearly four minutes in the full album version, which is a lot for a mainstream soul song. The band initially hated the long instrumental sections, feeling like it sidelined them, but the track’s success changed their minds.

The B side to this single was Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone (Instrumental). Both sides of the single won Grammy awards. The A-side won for Best R&B Vocal Performance By A Duo, Group Or Chorus, and the B-side took the award for Best R&B Instrumental Performance.

Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone

It was the third of September
That day I’ll always remember,
Yes, I will
‘Cause that was the day that my daddy died
I never got a chance to see him
Never heard nothin’ but bad things about him
Mama, I’m depending on you
To tell me the truth
Mama just hung her head and said, “Son,..

Papa was a rolling stone.
Wherever he laid his hat was his home.
And when he died, all he left us was alone.
Papa was a rolling stone, my son.
Wherever he laid his hat was his home.
And when he died, all he left us was alone.”

Hey, mama!
Is it true what they say that papa never worked a day in his life?
And, mama, some bad talk goin’ round town sayin’ that papa had three outside children and another wife,
And that ain’t right
Heard them talking papa doing some store front preachin’
Talked about saving souls and all the time leechin’
Dealing in debt and stealing in the name of the Lord
Mama just hung her head and said,

Papa was a rolling stone, my son.
Wherever he laid his hat was his home.
And when he died, all he left us was alone.
Papa was a rolling stone.
Wherever he laid his hat was his home.
And when he died, all he left us was alone.”

Hey, mama,
I heard papa called himself a “Jack Of All Trades”
Tell me is that what sent papa to an early grave?
Folks say papa would beg, borrow, steal
To pay his bills
Hey, mama,
Folks say papa never was much on thinking
Spent most of his time chasing women and drinking
Mama, I’m depending on you
To tell me the truth
Mama looked up with a tear in her eye and said, “Son,..

[Chorus]
Papa was a rolling stone (well, well…)
Wherever he laid his hat was his home
And when he died, all he left us was alone
Papa was a rolling stone
Wherever he laid his hat was his home
And when he died, all he left us was alone.”

I said, “Papa was a rolling stone (yes, he was, my son)
Wherever he laid his hat was his home
And when he died, all he left us was alone
My daddy was (papa was a rolling stone), yes, he was
Wherever he laid his hat was his home
And when he died, all he left us was alone.”

Underdog Is Here!

There’s no need to fear…Underdog is here!

Thanks, Keith, for hosting this and coming up with this great idea! Today, we go back to Saturday mornings. This was when we sat in front of the TV with our favorite cereal and watched hours of cartoons. So I asked my guests to write about their favorite cartoon or cartoon character growing up.

When I was growing up, we kids had two prime times for cartoons. Saturday mornings were our Super Bowl, packed with classics from Warner Bros. and Hanna-Barbera. Even Land of the Lost—though live-action—was a can’t-miss favorite. But not all the best cartoons aired on Saturdays. Every weekday morning, from 6 to 7 a.m. before school, we had another dose of animated fun, with shows like Rocky and Bullwinkle and Courageous Cat and Minute Mouse keeping us entertained.

Underdog debuted October 3, 1964, on the NBC network under the primary sponsorship of General Mills, and continued in syndication until 1973 (although production of new episodes ceased in 1967, for a run of 124 episodes.

Underdog’s secret identity was Shoeshine Boy. He was in love with Sweet Polly Purebred, who was a news reporter. I would watch this cartoon before going to school in 1st and 2nd grade. Underdog would use his secret ring to conceal pills that he would take when he needed energy. NBC soon put an end to that.

For many years, starting with NBC’s last run in the mid-1970s, all references to Underdog swallowing his super energy pill were censored, most likely out of fear that kids would see medication that looked like the Underdog pills (red with a white “U”) and swallow them. Two instances that did not actually show Underdog swallowing the pills remained in the show. In one, he drops pills into water supplies; in the other, his ring is damaged, and he explains that it is where he keeps the pill—but the part where he actually swallows it was still deleted.

The shows introduced such characters as King Leonardo, Tennessee Tuxedo, Commander McBragg, Klondike Kat, and more. Underdog was voiced by Wally Cox. Underdog always talked in rhyme and I’m a sucker for that in this and Dr Seuss. Two of the villains every week were Simon Bar Sinister and Riff Raff.

W. Watts Biggers teamed with Chet Stover, Treadwell D. Covington, and artist Joe Harris in the creation of television cartoon shows to sell breakfast cereals for General Mills. The shows introduced such characters as King Leonardo, Tennessee Tuxedo, and Underdog. Biggers and Stover contributed both scripts and songs to the series.

When Underdog became a success, Biggers and his partners left Dancer Fitzgerald Sample to form their own company, Total Television, with animation produced at Gamma Studios in Mexico. In 1969, Total Television folded when General Mills dropped out as the primary sponsor (but continued to retain the rights to the series until 1995; however, they still own TV distribution rights.

Underdog became a pop culture icon, with reruns airing for decades. The character was featured in toys, comics, and even a 2007 live-action film starring Jason Lee as the voice of Underdog. The theme song remains one of the most recognizable in cartoon history.

Neil Young – Down By The River

This song and Like a Hurricane are high on my list of Neil’s songs. I also like the live versions of this song, which can stretch into 15 minutes at times. He keeps it interesting.

Young traded licks with Danny Whitten of Crazy Horse, Neil wrings every drop of feeling out of a few simple chords as he always does. He has always been one of the best at getting everything out of one simple note. That is why he is one of my favorite guitar players. He doesn’t do it with technical brilliance or flash, just total feel. He can sit on one note and make it scream.

This song was on the 1969 Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere released in 1969. Crazy Horse was on the album also…Crazy Horse included Danny Whitten – guitar, Billy Talbot – Bass, and Ralph Molina on drums. The album included Cinnamon Girl and Cowgirl in the Sand. This was the first album of many to feature Crazy Horse.

Neil Young wrote Down by the River and Cinnamon Girl in 1968, reportedly during a bout of high fever and delirium while bedridden with the flu at a house in Topanga Canyon, California. That is a great day’s work, sick or not. Young used a Gibson Les Paul nicknamed “Old Black,” run through a small Fender amp cranked to overdrive for a natural distortion.

The album peaked at #32 in Canada and #34 on the Billboard Album Charts in 1970. Down by the River didn’t chart, but Cinnamon Girl did peak at #25 in Canada. With the chorus of “I shot my baby down by the river,” this song gets your attention. In a 1970 interview, Neil Young cleared it up: “There’s no real murder in it. It’s about blowing your thing with a chick. See, now in the beginning, it’s ‘I’ll be on your side, you be on mine’. It could be anything. Then the chick thing comes in. Then at the end it’s a whole other thing. It’s a plea… a desperation cry.”

Neil Young: “I’d like to sing you a song about a guy who had a lot of trouble controlling himself, he let the dark side come thru a little too bright.” The explanation goes on the describe the murder, the killer’s arrest and, finally, the guilt he feels as he realized what he’s done.”

Neil Young: “I’m trying to make records of the quality of the records that were made in the late Fifties and the Sixties, like Everly Brothers records and Roy Orbison records and things like that. They were all done with a sort of quality to them. They were done at once. It’s just a quality about them, the singer is into the song and the musicians were playing with the singer and it was an entity, you know. It was something special that used to hit me all the time, that all these people were thinking the same thing, and they’re all playing at the same time. It happens on a few cuts, you can hear it. I think “Cinnamon Girl,” “Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere,” and “Round And Round” has that feeling of togetherness, although it was just Danny and me and Robin Lane.”

Down By The River

Be on my side I’ll be on your side, baby
There is no reason for you to hide,
This much madness is too much sorrow,
It’s impossible to make it today,
Hey, hey, ooh-ooh

She could drag me over the rainbow,
Send me away.

Down by the river
I shot my baby
Down by the river,
Dead, shot her dead.

You take my hand, I’ll take your hand,
Together we may get away.

Thin Lizzy – Cowboy Song

This song starts off slow, and then it really kicks the door in. They had bigger hits such as The Boys Are Back in Town and Jailbreak, but this song is really good. It’s always been at the top of my Thin Lizzy song list. It has a cinematic feel to it. I like this one because of a great moment after the bass break, and Phil kicks it in full force. I love dynamics when they are done right, and this is.

What a groundbreaking band Thin Lizzy was at the time. You had a black Irish singer-bass player, Phil Lynott, who reminded people of Van Morrison singing and a little of Springsteen in some of his writing…all in a harder rock format. I always liked Thin Lizzy because of two things. The brilliant Phil Lynott and the dual guitar lead that this band made popular.

The song was written by Phil Lynott and drummer Brian Downey, tells the story of a drifting cowboy longing for love. It was released as a single in 1976 and peaked at #77 on the Billboard 100. The song was on their Jailbreak Album. The album peaked at #18 on the Billboard Album Charts, #5 in Canada, and #10 in the UK.

The members of Thin Lizzy were bassist and singer Phil Lynott, Drummer Brian Downey, guitarist Brian Robertson, and guitarist Scott Gorham. Gary Moore was a member for a few months and also Them’s keyboardist Erix Wrixon but Moore and Wrixon didn’t stay long.

I first heard the song on the Live and Dangerous album that was released two years later.

Scott Gorham: “Cowboy Song” originally began as a joke. During a writing session, Lynott half-seriously suggested they try to write a “cowboy song.” But as the ideas started flowing, it took on a life of its own… one of the best songs we ever did.

Phil Lynott biographer Mark Putterford: “a cross between Clint Eastwood and Rudolph Valentino, with a bit of George Best thrown in for good measure. Philip strode into the sunset of his own imagination and always, of course, lived to fight another day.”

Cowboy Song

I am just a cowboy, lonesome in the trail.
Starry night, campfire light, and the coyote calls where the howlin’ winds will.
So I ride out to the ol’ sundown. I am just a cowboy, lonesome on the trail.
Lord I’m just thinking about a certain female.
And the nights we spent together, riding on the range.
Looking back, it doesn’t seem so strange.

Roll me over and turn me around. Let me keep spinning ’til I hit the ground.
Roll me over and let me go, riding in the rodeo.

I was took in Texas, I did not know her name.
But Lord all these southern girls, they seem the same.
But down below the border, in a town in Mexico,
I got my job busting broncs for the rodeo.

Roll me over ans turn me around, let me keep spinnin till I hit the ground.
Roll me over and let me go, running free with the buffalo.

Roll me over, and I’ll turn around.
And I’ll move my fingers up and down.
Up and down.

It’s ok amigo, just let me go.
Riding in the rodeo.

Roll me over and turn me around, let me keep spinning till I hit the ground.
Roll me over and let me go, riding in the rodeo.
Roll me over and set me free, the cowboy’s life is the life for me.

Steely Dan – Dirty Work

I’ve always liked Steely Dan, and this song is at the top of my list. You don’t hear this one as much as Hey Nineteen or others, but I love it. It sounded different than many of their other songs, and there is a reason for that. Donald Fagen and Walter Becker wrote the song, but it was sung by David Palmer. Palmer left the band soon after.

Palmer was brought into Steely Dan as a vocalist because the label, ABC Records, had concerns about Donald Fagen’s unconventional singing style. Palmer handled lead vocals on a few tracks from Can’t Buy a Thrill, including this song and Brooklyn (Owes the Charmer Under Me). Fagen eventually took over all lead vocals as Steely Dan evolved into more of a studio band than a touring band.

Fagen and Becker had a reputation and were infamous for requesting take after take, pushing musicians to their breaking point. I love reading some of the stories about this band. It probably was a pain for some of them, but it worked well for Steely Dan.

This song came off the 1972 Can’t Buy a Thrill album. It’s a song about an affair from the man’s point of view. Palmer did a great job on the song and helped Steely Dan build an audience. The song is well known, but it did not chart because it wasn’t released as a single here.

Becker and Fagen debated leaving the song on the album. It has since also been recorded by other artists, including The Pointer Sisters, Iain Matthews, and Melissa Manchester.

Dirty Work

Times are hard
You’re afraid to pay the fee
So you find yourself somebody
Who can do the job for free
When you need a bit of lovin’
Cause your man is out of town
That’s the time you get me runnin’
And you know I’ll be around

I’m a fool to do your dirty work
Oh yeah
I don’t want to do your dirty work
No more
I’m a fool to do your dirty work
Oh yeah

Light the candle
Put the lock upon the door
You have sent the maid home early
Like a thousand times before
Like the castle in its corner
In a medieval game
I foresee terrible trouble
And I stay here just the same

I’m a fool to do your dirty work
Oh yeah
I don’t want to do your dirty work
No more
I’m a fool to do your dirty work
Oh yeah