March 1978 – Music at a Crossroads, or Stuck in a Dead End?

PLAY THE SHOW

 

            In the early part of 1978, music fans were confronted with circumstances that forced them to question their own taste in music. Do you really like the music you are listening to, or does it feel stale? Do you feel the need to try something different, or are you satisfied with the way things are? Before 1978, most people latched onto one of the rock and roll ‘branches’. Some latched onto the ‘Led Zeppelin branch’, which included bands like Queen and the other ‘progressive’ acts. Others latched onto the southern rock circuit, which included the Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd and country rockers like the Eagles. In between these two ‘extremes’ were blues-based acts like Eric Clapton, and the singer-songwriters like Jackson Browne. This combination of artists provided virtually all of the fodder for FM radio in 1978. Most rock fans professed hatred for disco, but that supposedly despised style continued to spread like a virus, infecting the other styles of music until it became difficult to tell whether a band was selling out, or simply changing with the times.

The punk rebellion had little direct impact in America, but the after effects lingered, and it began to creep into the mainstream. Of the above-mentioned styles, virtually none of them retained a direct correlation with real rock and roll at its rebellious, energetic best. They had grown bloated and self-important. The new punk bands and their descendents sounded drastically different from everything else. To some, it was stupid, brash crap without any artistic merit. To others, it was a fresh start. Either way, it caused us to question the fundamental elements of our selected taste in styles. Did rock and roll music have a future? In March of 1978, every fan of rock and roll was silently asking themselves some form of this question.

Today’s show features a select list of albums, all released in March 1978, that represent the various elements of this stylistic battle. Here’s a list of tracks from today’s show;

1)    Fat Man in the Bathtub – Little Feat (“Waiting for Columbus”)

2)    London Town – Paul McCartney (“London Town”)

3)    Nutted By Reality – Nick Lowe (“Pure Pop for Now People”)

4)    I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass – Nick Lowe (“      “)

5)    Take Me I’m Yours – U.K. Squeeze

6)    Fast Cars – The Buzzcocks

7)    Sixteen – The Buzzcocks

8)    Kaya – Bob Marley & the Wailers (“Kaya”)