History of the 1970s. Chapter 71.

[WN9HJW]

Before there was Wikipedia, people had to remember things for themselves.

For example, where did the term "Heavy Metal" originate? Wiki says one thing, but is that how it really happened?

(Fade to Flashback Scene)

OK. So it's 1971 and two leftover hippies are sitting around on bean-bags smoking pot and listening to Uriah Heep (Bird of Prey, to be precise)

(And this was the early Uriah Heep - back before they started putting out that pseudo-Disco crud )

Hippie 1 says: "Wow man, that's like, heavy".
About a minute later, Hippie 2 says: "Huh? What?"
Hippie 1: "Heavy".
Hippie 2: "What's heavy?"
Hippie 1: "That song, man. Heavy."
Hippie 2: "You mean heavy like a piece a metal, man? Metal is heavy, man."
Hippie 1: "Yeah, man. Heavy like metal."
Hippie 2: "Heavy metal. Groovy. Hey, man, you got any Fritos?"

And the rest was history!

Well. I guess you had to be there.


(Yeah. You guessed it. It's 4 in the morning, can't get back to sleep, and I'm bored.)

[WN9HJW]

Has anyone ever wondered what happened to the Disco-zombies of the 1970s? These are the ones who mindlessly line-danced to the Bee Gees (sadly, never realizing that they were actually doing the "Madison" which predated Disco by more than a generation).

If you're too young to know about the dark days of "Disco" that nearly brought down our civilization, go find the old movie "Saturday Night Fever" with John Travolta. It will shock you!

Now, Wikipedia says some stuff about the history of Disco. But back in the 70's, there was no Wikipedia. People had to remember things for themselves.

In fact, Disco started when someone was listening to a Jimi Hendrix LP and the record got "stuck".

"Stuck" records is a phenomenon unique to the 70s. See, music in that era came from black plastic disks with little grooves on them, that would vibrate a needle when it (the disk) was spinning. If the little grooves where damaged, the needle could jump back repeatedly and play the same sounds over and over and over and over resulting in a monotonous, droning sound. This was capable of inducing a state of mental seizure in people of lower than normal brain function (again, watch Saturday Night Fever and you'll see what I mean). The term "Disco" was originally "Disk go bad" which is what people would utter when the disk started skipping but before the zombie seizure fully kicked in. This was eventually shorted to "DiskGo" and then morphed into "Disco".

And then some people started deliberating damaging music records through a process called "remixing" in order to generate more of this abomination!

Disco was like a virus. An insidious, mind-numbing, viral pandemic. A creeping crud that reached mainstream US society in the early 1970s and came to the attention of The Establishment by 1974.

Then "that disco movie" was released in 1977. The public reaction was swift and violent, led by the left-over hippies of the early 70s!! Culminating in the The Disco Riot of 1979! The Disco-zombies disappeared overnight! LPs smashed and burned! By the end of the decade, Disco was stamped out. The world was safe again!

Or was it?

Research has recently turned up evidence that not all the Disco-Zombies converted to Heavy Metal overnight. It was kept underground for decades, until the late 2000s. Then the Disco Zombies got their revenge. How that happened will be covered in the next episode of The History of the 70s!

[N2ADV]

I wasn't born until the late 70's, sorry, lol

(just in time for the REALLY scary 80's... I shudder to think of all the ozone depletion that occurred due to the massive amounts of Aqua Net hairspray utilized in that decade.....)

[WF7A]

A few more '70s "I'm so glad they're history" cultural items:

"Hooked on Classics" records/tapes
Leisure suits

[N5XM]

The heavy part of heavy metal came from the 60s, but I think you're right about the metal part. The precursor could have been Iron Butterfly's "In a God a Da vida" as few things are heavier than iron!

[AD5MB]

I disconnected from The Plug In Drug in 1974, so the only memory I have of TV are the ads you saw any time any TV was on anywhere.

Zamfir and his highly annoying pan flute. people spent money for more of that after hearing it on TV?

[K8MHZ]

I disconnected from The Plug In Drug in 1974, so the only memory I have of TV are the ads you saw any time any TV was on anywhere.

Zamfir and his highly annoying pan flute. people spent money for more of that after hearing it on TV?

They must have been good commercials. I was going to post the same thing!

[W5WN]

Has anyone ever wondered what happened to the Disco-zombies of the 1970s? These are the ones who mindlessly line-danced to the Bee Gees (sadly, never realizing that they were actually doing the "Madison" which predated Disco by more than a generation).

If you're too young to know about the dark days of "Disco" that nearly brought down our civilization, go find the old movie "Saturday Night Fever" with John Travolta. It will shock you!

Now, Wikipedia says some stuff about the history of Disco. But back in the 70's, there was no Wikipedia. People had to remember things for themselves.

In fact, Disco started when someone was listening to a Jimi Hendrix LP and the record got "stuck".

"Stuck" records is a phenomenon unique to the 70s. See, music in that era came from black plastic disks with little grooves on them, that would vibrate a needle when it (the disk) was spinning. If the little grooves where damaged, the needle could jump back repeatedly and play the same sounds over and over and over and over resulting in a monotonous, droning sound. This was capable of inducing a state of mental seizure in people of lower than normal brain function (again, watch Saturday Night Fever and you'll see what I mean). The term "Disco" was originally "Disk go bad" which is what people would utter when the disk started skipping but before the zombie seizure fully kicked in. This was eventually shorted to "DiskGo" and then morphed into "Disco".

And then some people started deliberating damaging music records through a process called "remixing" in order to generate more of this abomination!

Disco was like a virus. An insidious, mind-numbing, viral pandemic. A creeping crud that reached mainstream US society in the early 1970s and came to the attention of The Establishment by 1974.

Then "that disco movie" was released in 1977. The public reaction was swift and violent, led by the left-over hippies of the early 70s!! Culminating in the The Disco Riot of 1979! The Disco-zombies disappeared overnight! LPs smashed and burned! By the end of the decade, Disco was stamped out. The world was safe again!

Or was it?

Research has recently turned up evidence that not all the Disco-Zombies converted to Heavy Metal overnight. It was kept underground for decades, until the late 2000s. Then the Disco Zombies got their revenge. How that happened will be covered in the next episode of The History of the 70s!

So I wonder where the term "discotec" (sp?) came from?

[WF7A]

So I wonder where the term "discotec" (sp?) came from?

Since you asked... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nightclub. Scroll down and there's a paragraph about 1970s discos.

Of course, since we're knowledgeable about these guys:

index.jpg

...anybody who has questions about them can chat with you, the discone tech.

[2E0OZI]

French innit. I was a early teen in the late 70s..oh man. Choppers. Mum and Dad making me wear a polo neck skivvy that was PURPLE. tie-dyed stuff. By the time it was 1980 I was escaping parental fashion control for good (luckily!). I remeber a hit song "What will we be singing in the 80s?" The Moscow Olympics and John Bertrands "leather" medal (4th) that made he such a determined guy in 1983.... The band Skyhooks and thier hit song - "Women In Uniform" ACDC.