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tv   The Seventies  CNN  December 16, 2023 7:00pm-8:00pm PST

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i kind of miss it. oh, it w was so delilicious. five diffeferent flavovors. anyway, archie was sitting at another table with ethel and jefferson pratt. remember him? anyway, archie was trying to get my attention, so first he put two straws in his nose like a walrus. and then he... goldman:n: rock is p probably the most i important cultural e event inin the history of america, and out swarmed a whole generation of freaks. itit's what guguys seemem to get ofoff on, they like this high-energy sort of event. cornelius: and if the sight and sound of soul is your pleasure, you can bet your bottom, we got 'em baby.
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downs: unless you've been living in a sealed cave, you've probably noticed that america's latest craze is disco dancin'. this is punk rock, and its purpose is to promote violence, sex, and destruction, in that order. pure rock k 'n' roll e energ, pure guts, pure stamina. ♪
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rock singeger jimi henendrix didied today i in london,, according to a police source, from an overdose of drugs. reynolds: janis joplin was found dead last night. ththe cause ofof death wasas d to be an o overdose ofof drug. jim morrison, the lead singer for the doors, a rock music group, is dead. he was 27. naftali: the early years of the 70s are sad in music because you lose people. and you lose the beatles. simon: t this small l gatherig on savavile row is only the beginning. the evenent is so momomentous that hisistorians may one e day view i it as a a landmark k in the decee ofof the brititish empire.. ththe beatles s are breakikin. heilemanann: it was s like a dh for r a lot of p people. rock ' 'n' roll, as s we undersrstood it in t the 1960, was s no longer r with us. there cocould never r be anotheher beatles,s, never. [ [ sniffles ] ]
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♪ you know,, i wondnder what i'i'm doing he with n no drummersrs and no nothing like that. well, as you might know, i lost my old band, or i left it. ♪ imagine there's no heaven ♪ [ applause ] ♪ it's easy if you try ♪ asher: for so long you kind of waited for the next beatles album to see where music was going. and we just hoped that the music they wouldld come up w with indidividually w would be ththa. you know, i no longer have to, "oh the beatles need an album, you and paul better go and write 20 songs tomorrow" kind of thing. i just write when i feel like it. ♪ imagine all the people ♪ cavett: you know, yoko, you've even been called "the dragon lady" who brought the beatles apart -- or took them all apart. i have trouble with english, so.. could we please give her the credit for all the nice music that george made and ringo made and paul made and i've made since they broke up. [ applause ] if she did it --
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hanks: the fact is, yoko ono did not break up the beatles. time broke up the beatles, money broke up the beatles, business broke up the beatatle, the e desire to o go off and do theheir own stutuff broke e up the beaeatles. maman: he's a a fleshier,, heavieier beatle t these day, respectably married. and when the kids come to his concerts, they don't scream any more, they listen. the significant thing is t that both j john lennon and papaul mccartntney madede music in theirir own particucular ws that was focused on the fact that they were deeply in love with a woman. ♪ ♪ but i'm not the only one ♪ mccartney went home, made that record where he plays all of the instruments on his own, this kind of cozy domesticity. beautitiful, wondederful, warm musicic. it's gonnana look roughly lilike this. this is our first showing of it. so this is just the mockup, folks. man: the new album with atlantic -- and it's gonna be called "ringo's rotogravure." i sell records, and it doesn't matter if i've been in the beatles or not, if they don't like the record out there, they won't buy it, you know?
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ringo, who, to this day, people dismiss way too much, has tremenendous succecess in t the 70s. and george harrison, who had d been stockckpiling these amazazing songs,s, explododes like a a supernova onon an album m called "a"all things s must pass,s" maybe e the greatetest beatatles solo a album of al. ♪ you d don't need d no passpo♪ ♪ and youou don't neeeed no vi♪ over the y years, you u know, i i had such a a lot of sosongs mounting up that i really wanted to do, but i only got my quota of one or two tunes per album. werere you held d dn byby the otherer fellas? uh... well, very subtly, yes. ♪ by chanting the name of the lord and you'll be free ♪ ♪ thehe lord is a awaiting on you a all to awakaken and s♪ i'd d just like e to thank y yl fofor coming h here. as youou all know,w, it's a s special benenefit conc. ♪ the lord is awaiting on you all to awaken and see ♪ coconnelly: raravi shankarr went to o george hararrison and said, , this terririble thg is hapappening in n banglades,
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what canan we do? and d that creatated the firt majojor superstatar benenefit concerert ever don. hanks: the concert for bangladesh was the granddaddy of all issue-themed concerts. and not t only did y you get george hararrison, manan, you u got eric c clapton. coconnelly: it got d dylan out o of hidin. itit put two b beatles baback on the e stage agaia. it was unpnparalleled d at the e and it mayay still bee unpararalleled. ♪ [ cheers a and applaususe ] a greaeat deal of f music of t s was pepeople who h had succeed in t the 60s fininding new w s to expressss themselveves in t the 70s. man: have you u got any idida why y your groupup particulaly has lasted as long as it has? because we stay together, i suppose. wolcott: you know, for a few years, the rolling stones had taken a lot of casualties. richchards: evenen brian felt that he wasn't gonna be around that long. not evererybody makes s it, you u know? wolcott: they were fighting for like, "where do we secure our foothold now?"
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♪ ♪ babe, you think i'm crazy ♪ ♪ but they're always tryin' to waste me ♪ ♪ make me burn the candle right down ♪ questlove: in 1971, the rolling stones leave e their homeme, for r tax purpososes, toto go live i in france and record thihis record "exilele on main street" inin a very hohot, uncomfofort, muddy-sosounding stutudio. ♪ baby,y, baby ♪ ♪ you got to roll me ♪ ♪ they call me the tumblin' dice ♪ wild: that record is the embodiment of a band making masterpieces on a daily basis. and i remember reading a review sayingng that thisis was like a debabauched albubum. i was lilike, i don'n't even kw whatat debaucheded means, but i gogot to get some of f this debauauchery st. ♪ ♪ baby, i can't stay ♪
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♪ they call me the tumblin' dice ♪ ♪ they call me the tumblin' ♪ wilson: having come out of the 60s, which was its own animal, the 70s had to show a new skin. it had to shed the old one. ♪ ♪ ooh, yeahah ♪ i was s never veryry confidet of my y voice, you see, as a singer. so i thought, rather than just sing them, which would probably bore the pants off of everybody, i'd like to kind of portray the songs. ♪ t then i turnrned myselff to facace me ♪ ♪ but i n never caughght a glim♪ wiwild: david d bowie hahas always b been a gameme ch. he really has taken the promise of rock that t the beatleses kicked o, and d he's takining it all l sorts of i interestingng s for others to follow. ♪ ch-ch-ch-ch-changes ♪ ♪ turn anand face thehe strang♪ ♪ ch-ch-chahanges ♪ ♪ preretty soon, , now, you'u're gonna g get older ♪ ♪ time e may changege me ♪
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♪ but i i can't trarace time♪ ♪ i said ththat time may changege me ♪ ♪ but i c can't tracece time♪
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♪ this yeaear i took some time of from touring and went off on some adventures of my own, and this is kind of a letter back home.
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♪ mm, california ♪ ♪ oh, california ♪ ♪ i'm coming home ♪ ♪ oh, make me feel good, rock 'n' roll band ♪ ♪ i'm your biggest fan ♪ ♪ california, i'm coming home ♪ de passe:: you lolook to the e horizon tt you wawant to moveve toward, and thatat horizon was here i in l.a. flfleetwood: t that's wheree the e record comompanies wer, and there'e's lots of f sun. [ [ chuckles ] ] the e way i got t to califoroa isis just realally simple.. i gogot there inin a '57 chey by skikipping my f finals that year r in collegege. wildld: virtualllly no one was fromom southern n californ. they're e all drawn n to the li, and d the lightt is the t troubadour r club. johnhn: things h happened grgray until we p played the trououbadour clulub in losos angeles,, which holds 250 people. it just happened on the first night.
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every great songwriter i can think of came thrhrough the t troubado. jackson browne, j.d., henley, and frey. linda ronstadt, kristofferson, joni mitchell, james taylor. the big sea change was people writing their own songs anand expressising themselel. is it didifficult to reveaeal yourselflf constany to so many people? why do you have to do this? i feel an obligation to myself and to people to try and share myself, maybe as honestly as i can. ♪ i left my folk and friends ♪ ♪ with the aim to clear my mind out ♪ ♪ well, i hit the rowdy road ♪ ♪ and many kinds i met there ♪ ♪ many stories told me of the way to get there ♪ ♪ ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ so on and on i go ♪
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♪ the seconds tick the time out ♪ ♪ there's so much left to know ♪ ♪ and i'm on the road to find out ♪ everyone is just trying to do whatever came into their head. in the e early days,s, paul an, we wananted to bee the goffin and king of england, you know? goffin and king were very big those days. we had no idea who these people were, who o the mystererious mr. k kis who'd writitten all ththese son- you know, "chains" -- that the beatles did, and "i'm into something good," whicich was partrt of the b british invnvasion. we did d discover ththat it wass reremarkable w woman, carorole. carole king made the transition from basically being behihind-the-scecenes womann to a s star in herer own righ. ♪ i feel the earth move under my feet ♪ ♪ i feel the sky tumblin' down ♪ ♪ i feel my heart start to tremblin' ♪ ♪ whenever you're around ♪ wild: carole king is the embodiment of what happens
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because, in the 60s, she is trying to write hit songs for other people. and then i in the 70s,s, with "tatapestry," it's the definition of an album of self-expression -- let me go into my house in laurel canyon and tell you about my life. after church, you always went out for pancakes. if you were lucky y enough to oe inin one of ththe girls' c c, you u know whwhat you're e listening g ? "tapestry." ♪ [ applause ] asher: there were a lot of very important women who were some of the most significant writers and contributotors to m music at ththe time. we're gonna do a song that's written by my friend john david souther who is my favorite california songwriter and one of my favorite singers. it's called "faithless love." she was, in many ways, my greatest collaborator. i memean, i becacame a prprofessionalal songwriter becaususe the bestst voice ofy geneneration wasas doing my y . ♪ f faithless l love lilike a riverer flows ♪
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♪ raindrops falling on a broken rose ♪ asher: for my money linda is still underrated just for sheer singing power and style and emotion. ♪ and the night blows in ♪ ♪ like a cold, dark wind ♪ ♪ faithless love ♪ ♪ like a river flows ♪ there have been a lot of articles and things that identify me with the l.a. sound, me and jackson browne and the eagles. we need some new blood in this town, you know? we're starting to get stale. ♪ nicks: this is a song about a welsh witch. ♪ she rings like a bell through the night ♪ ♪ and wouldn't you love to love her ♪
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the original fleetwood mac was a four-piece full-on blues band. asher:r: they w were an engnglish band t becacame a dual-l-citizenshihip. they were as american as they were british. ♪ allll your lifefe you'veve never knonown ♪ ♪ a woman taken by the wind ♪ we had had an album out about two years previous to joining fleetwood mac called "buckingham nicks" and mick really liked the music and they asked us to join. ♪ rhiannon ♪ fleetwood: "fleetwood mac," first stevie and lindsey album, for sure changed our lives. we h had arriveded. ♪ got a fever ♪ ♪ fever ♪ man: describe being rich and famous in california. thisis is it, kikid. ♪ got a a fever ♪ ♪ fever ♪ ♪ fever ♪ ♪ yeah ♪ ♪ yeah ♪ ♪ taken by the wind ♪
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♪ by the sky ♪ fleetwood: hit records sometimes bore an audience, "oh, well, they're not gonna have another hit." or, "this one isn't as good as that." record companies start frothing at the mouth, and the imaging of the band was becoming a whole thing. so w we were getetting ready to makake "rumoursrs" with everyone falling apart. ♪ lovin' you isn't the right thing to do ♪ ♪ how can i ever change things that i feel ♪ mcvie: the structure of the band is five people, five very independent, quite strong-minded, quite stubborn individuals. ♪ if i could, baby, i'd give you my world ♪ fleetwood: two lovely couples. john and chris married. their marriage was on the rocks.
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and stevie and lindsey might as well have been married. that all was falling apart. ♪ you can g go your ownwn way♪ ♪ go your own way ♪ ♪ you can call it another lonely day ♪ we were testifying, and "rumours" became the church. ♪ [ cheers and applause ]
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♪ ♪ oohoh, ooh ♪ ♪ let me tell you now ♪ graham: we were shocked. because not only were they incredibly talented, but they l looked likeke us. ♪ w when i had d you to mysys♪ ♪ i didn't want you around ♪ ♪ those pretty faces always make you stand out in a crowd ♪ how long have you been singing? three years. see, you went to grab it right away. gonna snatch it right out of my hand there. michael was precocious. he knew he was cute. and ththen you wouould watch h o frfrom that toto commandining ae in front of, you know, 15,000 people. amazing.g. ♪ o oh, baby, g give me one more c chance ♪ ♪ show you that i love you ♪ ♪ won't you please let me ♪ ♪ back in your heart ♪ ♪ oh, darlin', i was blind to let you go ♪ ♪ let you go, baby ♪
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♪ now since i see you in his arms ♪ ♪ i want you back ♪ the only american group to have four consecutive #1 records. ♪ oh! oh! ♪ ♪ oh, i want you back ♪ [ cheers and applause ] for the first time, young black kids had their beatles. hey,y, man, whatat has... five hands... 10 legs... and 11 alphabet letters? you don't know? the jackson five. that's us. that's us. that's us. that's u. and that's no jive. questlove: the jacksons were the last act from the classic motown hitsville system. robinsnson: momotown was a very unique plae because a lot of record companies wewere being r run by busisine. we hadad a music m man at the e. berrrry gordy wawas a songwrwr. he said, we're gonna make music for the world. ironically, here he was trying his best to makake black mumusic that wd crcross over t to the whitite . he ended u up making the greaeatest blackck music e. george: he created a machine wherein you take the artist and polish him up and make them a great package that they can play the ed sullivan show and kill.
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backck in the 6060s, marvin ne wawanted to bebe frank sinina. questlove: he was sveltete, clean-n-shaven, dedebonair. and all of that changed in the 70s. george: marvin wanted to compete on a higigh level. "why can't i make a record like the beatles? i'm selling records like they sell. why can't i have that artistic expression?" ♪ picket sisigns ♪ ♪ d don't punisish me ♪ ♪ with brututality ♪ ♪ talalk to me, honey, so o you can sesee ♪ ♪ o oh, what's s goin' on ♪ ♪ what's s goin' on ♪ ♪ hey, whatat's goin' o on ♪ ♪ tell meme what's gogoin' on♪ ♪ ooh ♪ grgraham: marvin gayaye was veryry much affected b by the vietetnam w. his brother was in vietnam, so he's hearing all these stories about what's going on over there. he's seeing the protest here, and it's changing him. he holds up a mirror to america. "looook at yourselves, a ameri" grahaham: hehe's talkingng about thehe , he's talkiking about p povert,
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changing him as an artist in a way that berry gordy is not super happy about. ♪ motother, motheher ♪ ♪ everybody thinks we're wrong ♪ ♪ they y do ♪ initially y berry gordrdy did d not want m marvin to do "what's s goin' on."." quesestlove: mototown was supposed t to be non-t-threaten. here you now have marvin gaye making a protest record about the war that could potentially ruin good money. you don't lightly talk about the government. ♪ yes, i wawant to knowow ♪ ♪ what's gogoin' on rigight n, people ♪ de passe:: ultimamately when n he agreeso put t out "what't's goin' on" berry tells marvin, "okay, if you're right, i'll learn something. and if i'm right, you'll learn something." and of course, as berry will say, "i learnrned somethihing." ququestlove: every artitist at mototown suddy also wanted to try their chance at freedom. when p people say y ,
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uh, they put you in one category. they say, "he's a soul artist." that's all they expect for you to sing. and that's all they want you to sing. that's not true. soul is being able to express yourself. wild: stevie wonder went to berry gordy and he negotiated his creative freedom, and he used every bit of it. ♪ ♪ very superstitious ♪ ♪ writing's on the wall ♪ stevie wonder making some of the greatest records anyone's ever made in popular music in america, back to baback to back. ♪ ladder's 'bout to fall ♪ questlove: it's the equivalent of shooting a perfect shot from half-court with your eyes closed. "music of my mind"... oh, he made it. he ain't gonna do it again. "talking b book"... "innnnervisions"s"... "fulfillingness' first finalele"... oh, my god, he did it! and thenen, suddenlyly, "sonongs in the e key of lifi"
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♪ when you believe in things you don't understand ♪ ♪ then you suffer ♪ ♪ superstition ain't the way ♪ ♪ yeah ♪ questlove: what the beatles did in the 60s, i feel stevie wonder was the person to do that for r music in t the 70s. ♪ [ cheers and applause ] hi, there, and welcome aboard. you're right on time for a beautiful trip on the soul train. and if the sight and sound of soul is your pleasure and what's your treasure, you can bet your bottom we got 'em baby. ♪ dancin', dancin', dancin' ♪ questlove: "soul train" finally offered america its first view of afrocentricity. it was a new idea to say black is beautiful.l. i would literally run home from church to getet home to s see "soul t " it was the one reliable place to see the artists you loved. de passe: there's no question that "soul train" broke a lot of artists and inintroduced a a lot of aras to audiencnces
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that they had never performed for. ♪ rhyththmatic, acrcrobatic ♪ ♪ she's a dynamite attraction ♪ ♪ at the drop of a coin, she comes alive, yeah ♪ questlove: ten years before he did the moonwalk, michael jackson debuted the robot in 1973 on "soul train." graham: people had done the robot before. but there was a way that he did it. it was faster, it was sharper, and it was street. ♪ i could just see his afro bouncing because there was so much precision to it. ♪ dancin', dancin', dancin' ♪ ♪ she's a dancin' machine ♪ ♪ ah,h, baby ♪
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♪ rock, , the music c that infurud so many pepeople in the 50s and 60s, the music that so many thought too loud, vulgar, and somehow dangerous to our morals. rock has not only refused to go away, it has become an institution. ♪ [ cheers and applause ] connelly: heart was a big deal because in a decade that was dominated by a type of rock 'n' roll that rhymes with "rock" and begins with a "c," but i won'n't go on fufurthe, theyey were willlling to play with t those guyss and succeed on their terms.
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the stuff from the 60s was like, oh, , that's wayay too hippi, now w we have toto up it a n n. anderson: the audiences have come to expect a better standard of performance, better quality of lighting and sound and staging. they've come to expect a show. ♪ if we still have time, we might still get by ♪ ♪ every time i think about it, i wanna cry ♪ naftali: in the 70s, the groups started to become more theatrical. they realized that just giving them the music isn't enough. we've e got to givive them something g to look atat. coconnelly: momore naked p pe, more misbebehavior, more ovever-the-top p stuff going on.. just - -- just morore. ♪ oh ♪ ♪ no time ♪ wilson: playing stadiums was too unreal. it would just be a sea of faces into infinity.
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♪ with yourur sweet flolowing lolove, love ♪ ♪ crazy, crazy, crazy on you ♪ ♪ ooh, crazy on you ♪ stadium tours put a lot of people together to hear mumusic at thehe same t. what they y also do is they y force the e musicias to play to the back of the hall. wild: in the 70s that distance between the performer on stage and that audience grew. george: : if you wenent to ay of the b big arena r rock sho, it was always about the star up here and the audience down here, and this sort of iconography of the rock star as this s huge figurure. ♪ letet me go crarazy, crcrazy on youou ♪ ♪ oh ♪ [ cheers and applause ] chancellor: it was bound to happen, but it comes as a shock nevertheless, in a poll taken by a leading pop music magazine in england,
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the beatles came in second. the most popular rock group in england these days is called the led zeppelin. rollin: in their 20s, they are rich, powerful, temperamental, and pampered. they are the led zeppelin, a rock group on tour. and in the vernacular of the record biz, where to be merely big is nothing, the zeppelin is very big. to get around, the zeppelin uses a chartered 707, the kind of plane president nixon uses. ♪ but the president's plane doesn't have an organ, nor a 15-foot mirrored bar, nor in the private quarters does it have two bedrooms and a fireplace. i'm a bit upset that there's not a pool table onboard. apart from that, i think this is about the best way to travel. culhane: americans are now spending $2 billion a year on music. that's $700 million more than the whole movie industry grosses from ticket sales in one year. about three times the amount of money taken in
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by all spectator sports. i'm telling you that rock 'n' roll basically is no different than ibm, xerox, sara lee, chevrolet. it's supply and demand. it's the same business. wild: rock 'n' roll had been a little, gritty novelty business. it was not the center of the world in the 50s and 60s. and in the 70s it becomes the main event, and that has repercussions in all sorts of positive and negative ways. rudge: thehe total cosost of t this tour i is $3½ m mil. now the gross for the tour is in the region of $11 million. so, you know, it's a living. george: it was so decadent and over the top and money just [whooshes] being thrown against the wall. could be a a bit of a a hypocr, you knknow, if you're consistently evoking the ideas of young people, and bouncing off the ideas of young people, taking young people's money and putting it in your pocket, you know, and really what you are is you're a middle-aged family man. and it's only the hypocrisy that i'm worried about.
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♪ wild: bruce springsteen was trying to reclaim the soul of rock 'n' roll by going back to basics. van zandt: using elements from the past that were kind of being discarded at that point. ♪ in n the day wewe sweat it out onon the streeeets ♪ ♪ of a runaway american dream ♪ george: using a sound that was not what was on the radio and was not what was mainstream rock. ♪ ...susuicide machchines ♪ ♪ sprung from cages on highway 9 ♪ ♪ chrome-wheeled, fuel-injected ♪ ♪ and steppin' out over the line ♪ ♪ whoa ♪ wilson: bruce springsteen created his own counterculture. it just speaks exactly to the american spirit. you couldn't hit it on the head more than bruce springsteen did. ♪ b baby, we wewere born toto ♪ ♪ "born to run" was a towering statement in the middle of the 70s..
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it wasas the coverer of time and newsweek.. van zandt: bruce did not like it at the time. me, on the other hand, i'm like, "my frfriend's on n the cover of titime and newsweek.. this is cocool." ♪ whoa,a, whoa, oh,h, oh ♪ cowie: when "born to run" comes out in 1975, it's a desire to really escape the claustrophobia of the 1970s. it is anan anthem to save e your soul.l. ♪ [ cheers and applause ]
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♪ christgau: i was lucky enough to be invited to david mancuso's legendary space in soho called the loft. i thoughght that wasas one ofof the most t utopian scs i had ever encountered in music. george: mancuso is one of the guys who really took the art form of playing the records and how hehe curated t the reco. ♪ he might play an isaac hayes record, he might play a salsa record. it wasn't so much about a style as it was an aesthetic of dancing. woman: they have all types of people here -- people who dance, people who hop up and down. you can get high, stay here all night.
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crocker: why are people dancing again? i wish i knew. [ laughs ] but t i'm glad i it's happene. ♪ whwhat we now w know as disco really statarts wiwith a band d called thehe t. ththe drummer,r, earl younu, inventnts the idea of four on thehe floor with eightht on the hihi-hat. [ imititating hi-hat ] so everyththing is powow, pow, ! ♪ b burn, baby,y, burn ♪ thatat's the souound of disc. ♪ bururn, baby, b burn ♪ momoroder: i l love disco.. i always l loved dadance music c anyway because e whatever i i did asas a producecer was always danceable. okay, there we go. need the melody. wild: giorgio moroder, working out of munich, put together technology and soulful vocalists, donna a summer being the e ultimate e embodim, and they make some of the biggest records of all time. ♪ oh, love to love you, baby ♪
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♪ oh, love to love you, baby ♪ questlove: "love to love you, baby" was four minutes of singing... [laughing] 14 minutes of.... a lot t of not sininging. ♪ oh, love e to love yoyou, ba♪ ♪ oh... ♪ questlove: and i always wondered for the life of me, like, was moroder just, like, in the booth like, "m"more passioion, more --- give m me..." morodeder: actualllly, i thrw everybybody out ofof the stud, switched the lights off, made sure that the tape is running, and i said, "okay, let's do it." and i think she did it in 10 minutes. ♪ wild: the donna summer records were some of the biggest records of all time, and they kicked off a revolution. ♪ i wanant do it till the s sun comes up ♪
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downwns: unless s you've beeeeng in a seaealed cave,, you probably noticed that america's latest craze is disco dancin', that's "dancing" without the "g." what's discos, bird? oh, snuffy, where have you been? ♪ i want to put on ♪ ♪ my, my, my, my, my boogie shoes ♪ ♪ j just to boooogie with y y♪ rather: the green that discos take in and what they generate with the records, we are talking about an estimated $4 billion -- that's with a "b" -- $4 billion a year. casey: i remember really being upset about this word "disco," itit was r&b m music to mem, and i fefelt like ththey strippt anand gave it t a new namee or w weren't giviving credit wherere i thinkk the crcredit was s supposed to. do it agaiain, secocond half ofof the choru, but bring that sound in. that's great. [ note plays ] -yeah. okay. 1, 2, 3, 4... graham: the bee gees always liked r&b, they always liked soul. i always thought of them as a pop band but that always had r&b leanings.
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george: : the bee gegees did what pop s stars do ---- they realllly got the e zeitget of whahat was going on. ♪ a ah, ah, ah,h, ah, ststayin' alivive, stayin'n' a♪ ♪ ah, ah, a ah, ah, stayin' alali-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-♪ rarather: thisis is the scsce outstside a new w york disco called studio 54. this is the place that's in with the disco crowd. i have been to goat ropings and space shotots. i've beenn in a l lot of strarange placs and d seen a lolot of stranange things, but t nothing ststranger than studio 54 at the height of its popularity in the 70s. ♪ it's where you come when you want to escape. it's really escapism. george: the front door of that spot was insane. i sometimes would just walk by to watch people not get in. 'cause thahat was fun n too. oh, you'u're not shaved, there's no way in a million years you're gonna get in.
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it doesn't matter, if you're not shaved -- listen, just go home. you had to be selected. you had to be chosen to get in. we can't l let in everybody who wants to come in. i wish we could. ♪ aah, freak out ♪ ♪ le freak, c'est chic ♪ ♪ freak out ♪ graham: the great chic, led by bernard edwards and nile rodgers, go to studio 54 to get in, and they don't. so they write a song. ♪ have e you heardd about t the new dance craze? ♪ ♪ listen to us, i'm sure you'll be amazed ♪ graham: it was kind of a dis to studio 54 for rejecting them. the part where they say "freak out" actually b began asas somethingng else. ♪ aah, freaeak out ♪ ♪ le freak, c'est chic ♪ ♪ freak out ♪ it went from something "off" to "freak off" to beieing "freak k out." ♪ just come on down ♪ ♪ to the 54 ♪ ♪ find a spot out on the floor ♪ ♪ aah, freak out ♪ ♪ le freak, c'est chic ♪ ♪ freak out ♪
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graham: that's probably the best thing that ever actually came out of studio 54, was that song.g. [ chucuckles ] wild:: disco wawas a revolulutionary f. funk marries disco, and it leads to hip-hop. ♪ questlove: it's 1979. i heard chic's "good times" come on, and i just kept hearing someone talk over the song. ♪ i said a hip hop, ththe hippie, , the hippie ♪ ♪ to the hip hip hop and you don't stop ♪ ♪ rock it out, baby bubbah, to the boogie, the bang bang ♪ ♪ the boogie to the boogie the beat ♪ ♪ now what you hear is not a test ♪ ♪ i i'm rappin'n' to the bebe♪ ♪ and me,e, the groovove, and mymy friends ♪ ♪ are gonna try to move your feet ♪ what's great about this song is thahat's where e hip-hop gets itsts name fromom. questlove: we didn't k know ththe name of f the song was cacalled "rapppper's delig" the e next day i went t to the recocord stor, like, "yo,o, y'all gotot 'hip h" "hm?m?" grgraham: so w when peoplele k about the song, they go, "what't's that hipip-hop song" and it w was the firirst hip-p song t to crack ththe top 40. it changeded everythining.
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heheilemann: "rapper'r's delight"t" in 199 opens ththis incredidible dor to the lasast new amererican arart form, whwhich is hipip-. ♪
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♪ kikick out thehe jams, mother[bleleep] ♪ detroit, 1969 is where punk was originally born.
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♪ ♪ it's all right ♪ the mc5, the motor city 5, and iggy and the stooges release two pioneering albums that indicate that there's a new style of music coming back. it's a garage rock, it's minimalist, it's aggressive, it's loud, and it's very often obnoxious. ♪ let me kick out the jams ♪ ♪ yeah, kick out the jams ♪ ♪ i got to kick 'em out ♪ punk rock was so f'ing scary to us because e here we arare withth our big m majestic sos, and hehere comes p punk wiwith their l like... ♪ connelly: the ramones get started as a reaction to everything else that's going on. people see them and they go, "this is the answer." ♪ h hey, ho, lelet's go ♪ ♪ hey, ho, let's go ♪ i had to see how great rock 'n' roll is s supposed toto be done.. woman: hohow should i it be done?e?
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no pyrotechnics, no phony showmanship, justst pure rockck 'n' roll l e, pure guts,s, pure stamamina. ♪ they're piling in the back seat ♪ ♪ they're generating steam heat ♪ ♪ pulsating to the back beat ♪ ♪ the blitzkrieg bop ♪ it's just real and raw and there's no crap involved. as opppposed to ththe standad schlocock we hear r on the top. the ramones were one part of a wider new york scene. where yoyou had peopople likeke patti smimith. i'i'm an artist. rorock 'n' rololl is my. the new york dolls. dodon't [bleepep] wit, sweetheart. the dead boys. in r rock 'n' roroll, ananybody can n play. anand richard d hell. this n next number is cacalld "i b belong to the blalank generatation." mattttson: richahard hell was one e of the firirst to cutut his own h hair. hehe was rippiping his clolos and thenen safetyty-pinning t them togeth. he w was the kining of the p p. the safefety-pin thihing, fofor instance, is his. it's pretty clear that he invented that. ♪ hey, ho, , let's go ♪ punk in the united states is a music elaboration,
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a statement of sorts about what music is and how it ought to be played. in england, punk rock is not a musical statement, it is a social one. if punks have a home territory, it is here on king's road in the middle of london, the same street that launched the miniskirt and the look and mood of the swingin' 60s. king's road belongs to punk rockers. king's road belongs to us! -what's society done for us? -nothing. it ain't got me a job. there isn't any future for a kid now. i mean, there isn't. mattson: there is an indigenous anger and frustration that drove a lot of punk on and got a lot of young people behind it. ♪ londodon callingg to thehe faraway t towns ♪ ♪ now war is declared and battle come down ♪ you've been said to be a political group. yeah, they have said it. yeah, it's true. if there was jobs, maybe we'd be singing about love and kissing or something. graham: the clash, musically is the best of the lot. it doesn't sound like traditional punk,
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but it doesn't sound like anybody else but ththe clash eieither. ♪ but i have no fear ♪ ♪ 'cause london is drowning, and i ♪ ♪ i live by the river ♪ ♪ i never felt so much alike ♪ mattson: punk was, i think, a kind of wide umbrella, and that wider scene included people who werere a little e bit momore complexex in their musical performance style. people aren't gonna buy something that you call punk. they might buy it if you call it new wave. man: you hear r a lot of t that punknk rock thesese days. can we have your thoughts on that? i think it's better just to call it new wave, really. i think by defining it as punk, you're automatically putting a boundary around what's possible. and i think bands like talking heads are excellent. connelly: the talking heads was the ultimate college band and they did sophisticated, spiky music that reflected who they were. and it particularly reflected the fascinating individual ththat david b byrne woululd emerge t to become. i thought i'd write a song about urban guerillas from the point of view of their daily lives,
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instead of from the point of view of their politics. ♪ heard of a van that's loaded with weapons ♪ ♪ packed up and ready to go ♪ this area of new wave music is where the stars of the 1980s are going to come from. questlove: what makes the 70s so special is that there is still a sense of naiveté. the innocence that music could really make a difference in your life. ♪ this ain'n't no partyty, thisis ain't no o disco ♪ ♪ this ain't no fooling around ♪ ♪ this ain't no mudd club or cbgb ♪ ♪ i ain't got time for that now ♪ you pick any genre you like and i will tell you thatat the best t music madede t genre wawas made in n the 197. anand you'll h have a hardrd e proving meme wrong. wiwild: what w was great about a a "me" decadade is thahat it allowowed the grert artists ofof our timeses to do some of their greatest work because they were really exploring. that is as deep as popular art ever gets.
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♪ . ...work in n the nightttt♪ ♪ i might not ever get home ♪ ♪ this ain't no party, this ain't no disco ♪ ♪ this ain't no fooling around ♪ ♪ i'd love to hold you, i'd love to kiss you ♪ ♪ but i ain't got time for that now ♪ ♪ trouble in transit, got through the roadblock ♪ ♪ we blended in with the crowd ♪ ♪ we got computers, we're tapping phone lines ♪ ♪ i know that that ain't allowed ♪ ♪ ah, make me shiver, i may feel tender... ♪ we'll be doing for tv what fm did for radio. man: there are some that have accused your videos as being soft porn. we like to call them tastefully smutty. a group that's never h had any prproblems saying how they feel, u2!

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