Quote:
Originally Posted by Screen13
I was just speaking about the Pop Chart in comparison to what what everyone complains about now, following on the OP of this thread. I lived in a small town and actually l discovered a lot of good music at the local library or late night TV show as I hardly got in the FM Rock Stations in the cities far away or if I had the luck to get in WGPR (Soul Station) on the AM - even CKLW was getting too lame . I was a kid stuck in Nowhere with a cheap radio and a parent who listened to the AM radio.
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Maybe I should have threw in the years I was talking about.
I was from "Back in the day." A kid in the Mid-70's. I don't think AM Radio has much music anymore. CK-AM as it was went away around the Mid 80's I think.
Life in Small Town Pre-MTV USA was seriously very bland with the occasional Rocker and hipster making it bearable for me as a major music listener. The great music then was mainly known in the Cities and Colleges. As a kid back then, I WISHED I was where the action was, but I only got it through the occasional record, good (usually low-rated) radio station, or Late Night TV show. Back then, the US Music Industry found a way to sell to the Small Dots through MOR, where the numbers and dollars were, with the Mid 70's being the time when it was really full power in the mainstream - The FM Rock stations followed suit in the Late 70's once they really knew how to play the game and had the bands to go with.
For all of the complaining MTV gets, and deservedly so, you have to admit that the early years (The equivalent of the early days of FM Rock, in my opinion) upped the volume for Pop in the US. Certainly not the IQ levels, but at least the attitude.
(* - In other parts of the world, there were certainly a lot of good happenings. I also wished that I was there as well, but sadly my parents were never the world-traveling type)
(** - Also, you have to admit that at least that US Exploitation Cinema had some very groovy and cool soundtracks that at least were successful. In a way, the small towns and rural areas had their dose of hipness at the small theaters and Drive Ins of the day before the era ended by the Early/Mid-80's.)