1976
The bicentennial in America and everything that wasn’t nailed down was painted Red, White, and Blue. It was the first year I remember becoming aware of news and popular culture. In 1977 I would start watching the news and following baseball.
I always liked the imagery of this song.
When Phil Lynott was a kid his mother Philomena ran an illegal drinking den in Manchester, England. Phil was often with his mother in this den. Some of her most frequent returning customers were members of the Quality Street Gang (a group of criminals operating in Manchester, England, in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s).
He would spend his time observing the gang, their mannerisms, the way they talk, and the way they fight. All of this observation eventually inspired him to write a song about them called “The Boys Are Back In Town.”
I always liked this song by Seger. This song is a staple on classic radio and I still listen to it when it comes on. Seger has great imagery in this song.It took Seger around six months to write this song. Along with “Turn The Page,” this was one of just two songs Seger ever wrote on the road. Night Moves was a breakthrough hit for Seger, introducing the heartland rocker to a much wider audience. He had been very popular in Michigan ever since his first album in 1969… which had the hit Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man. That song went to #17 on the Hot 100, but over the next few years, he struggled to make a national impact.
Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Freebird was originally released on the (Pronounced ‘Lĕh-‘nérd ‘Skin-‘nérd) in 1973 but the live version is what hit in 1976 with a single released off of One More From The Road. This is when the song became a legend. Personally, I like the studio version of it a lot but live it was unbeatable.
It’s become so ingrained that people will shout this out at concerts. In 2016 someone shouted this out at a Bob Dylan concert…guess what? Bob and his band went into the ending of the song where it rocks.
This is the band at Knebworth in 1976.
Punk was around in the UK and in America, we had the Ramones.
The Ramones were no frills and to the point. No long solos (or any) or instrumental breaks. Just 2-minute rock songs full of energy. This was the song that helped launch the Ramones.
The song never charted but is probably their best-known song because of the many movies, TV shows, and commercials it’s been in. The song was mainly written by drummer Tommy Ramone, while bassist Dee Dee Ramone came up with the title (the song was originally called “Animal Hop”). Dee Dee also changed one line: the original third verse had the line “shouting in the back now”, but Dee Dee changed it to “shoot ’em in the back now.”
This song still sounds fresh today. Got To Get You Into My Life was on Revolver released in 1966. It was not released as a single at the time. Any other band would have released it as a single.
In 1976 it was released as a single and peaked at #7 in the Billboard 100…not bad for a song that was 10 years old. It was released off of the horribly packaged compilation album Rock and Roll Music. Capital Records seemed to forget The Beatles represented the 60s, not the 50s that the album cover represented.
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