Video: 1971 Woolworth TV commercial for LPs
This awesome ad showcases just how terrible mainstream music has always been, even back in the groovy early seventies, just two years after Woodstock. Baby Boomers all like to pretend everybody was separating their weed on copies of Rolling Stone and listening to “real music” like Led Zeppelin and the Stones, but that’s far from reality. What were people actually listening to? Herb Alpert, Petula Clark, and the Association. At least they only had to pay $1.57. Nice to know that almost 40 years later you can still pick up near-mint copies of any of those records for the exact same price at your local Goodwill store.
Via Boing Boing.
FTC Disclosure: Glorious Noise didn’t receive a damn thing from any artist, label, or publicist for writing this.
That sounds suspiciously like Eric Idle doing a piss-take American accent…
“you can still pick up near-mint copies of any of those records for the exact same price at your local Goodwill store.”
And you should! Frankly, I’ve heard enough Led Zeppelin for a while, but The Association and Petula Clark still sound pretty fresh!
Ha! I hear you, Ron. It was more of a swipe at Baby Boomers’ revisionist history of how “cool” things were back in the day.
God knows I think the middle vocal harmony section in the Association’s “Never My Love” is one of the greatest moments in any song EVER.
Actually, I think that the 70’s still beats the present day as far as diversity goes in the Top 40.
1971:
Smokey Robinson & The Miracles
Charley Pride
Janis Joplin
Cat Stevens
Joan Baez
Ike & Tina Turner
2009:
Britney Spears
Nickelback
Pink
Lady GaGa
Beyonce
Coldplay
Ok, I admit I’m a fogey, but it seems like the 2009 bands and artists could pretty much play each others material without sounding terribly different. By contrast, in ’71 you had both ‘Eighteen’ by Alice Cooper and ‘Soul Power’ by James Brown on the charts. Pop has gotten pretty bland and homogenous IMO.
Nailed it, Shecky.
You think Lady GaGa is bland and homogenous? Granted, she’s not as weird as she wants us to think, but she’s still pretty freaky for mainstream. And while she, Pink, Britney, and Beyonce might all share the same pool of producers du jour, they’re still making some kooky sounds.
And if you’re looking for diversity in the mainstream, look at this week’s Hot 100. In the top 20, you’ve got Taylor Swift, Black Eyed Peas (of course), Owl City, Kelly Clarkson, Jay-Z… Not saying any of those artists hold a candle to Smokey Robinson, but there is still real diversity today.
Of the six artists Shecky listed from 1971, you’ve got three soul outfits (incl Janis), two folkies, and a country singer.
And for the record, neither Nickelback, Pink, nor Coldplay have had a 10 ten single on the Hot 100 in 2009, according to Wikipedia. You’re so 2008!