While watching TV the other day, I heard another handful of classic songs from the 70s. I know that I've been over this many times in the past, but the fact that 70s music continues to be used heavily in Film and Television must mean something.
It's true, and I understand that every generation feels that it's music is/was the best that has been recorded. But, the music of the 70s was music made in an "inclusive," as opposed to an exclusive style or styles. What I mean by this is that artists of the seventies tried to include things into their music that went beyond genre. More attention was paid to how a song was arranged. For instance, a Rock, R&B, or Country song might have included strings, not so much that it made it less the song that it was intended to be, but added in a way that moved that song across genre lines.
Another trait of 70s music was the adherence to a song form that has become synonymous with Pop Radio, and that's the 3:30 format. The verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus-fade became as comfortable to listen to as your favorite old pair of jeans is to wear. While there were hits that varied that formula, the key was that none of the most memorable songs strayed very far from it. Or, actually some songs played on some other aspect of the song, so that a listener never realized that the song even held to that structure.
And of course, there were these awesome "hooks." Some were riff driven while others were a combination of bass guitar and drum, while still others were driven by some word or words or catch phrases taken from popular expressions of the time. The listener would be drawn in and held there in the song by the repetition of the hook that would repeat several times throughout the song, causing it to get stuck in one's mind.
The only thing left to say about 70s music is that it wasn't music, "for the moment." Inspired songs were cast in the best and brightest light possible and this has allowed them to remain ever present, even within today's Pop culture. In a sense, 70s music has become timeless.
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