Friday, July 25, 2025

Media Rants Interview With Dr. Chu May Paing

 

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Friday, July 11, 2025

New Media Rants Interview: Menasha, WI Mayor Austin Hammond

Tony talks with Austin Hammond, who in April of 2024 became the youngest Mayor in the history of Menasha, WI as well as the first Native-American to get elected to that office. Tony and Austin talk about youth involvement in politics, as well as responsibilities of local government and the challenges that make it difficult to meet them. More information about Menasha: https://www.menashawi.gov/

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Tuesday, July 01, 2025

Celebrating the Music of 1975, Part 2

Back in April I identified 25 albums worth celebrating, all of them now 50 years old. Most of these artists and albums I listened to at the time they were released, a time when the general excellence of FM radio empowered record labels to take risks on artists daring to challenge the conventional 2-3 minute pop song format of the AM dial. The purpose of these celebrations is not only to relive my youth, but to expose younger generations to artists and albums that represent the foundational sounds at the root of today's music. Here are links to prior entries in the series: 

And now 25 more albums from 1975:  

#25 Earth, Wind & Fire: That's The Way of the World. Soul giants Earth, Wind & Fire in 1975 gave the world an album that can be described accurately as almost 40 minutes of pure joy. The band's signature song, "Shining Star" was so popular that it overshadowed almost everything else on the album, including the epic title song. "Shining Star" had a resurgence in 1996, when Seinfeld's Elaine Benes created the iconic little kick dance. The song's core message is something that should be taught to children as early as possible: 

You're a shining starNo matter who you areShining bright to seeWhat you could truly be



#24 The Who: The Who By Numbers. Not the best Who album of their classic period, nor even one of my personal favorites. What's special about it is the fact that it is guitarist/songwriter Pete Townshend's attempt to come to grips with his alcoholism and other personal demons. After writing two epic albums about tortured characters ("Tommy" and Jimmy from "Quadrophenia"), Pete finally concluded that his own torture was worthy of artistic treatment. 



#23 The Eagles: One Of These Nights. This was the last Eagles album to feature the band's country-rock sound. The next year guitar hero Joe Walsh would join and send the band in a new, grittier direction. "One Of These Nights" includes "Lyin' Eyes," the late Glenn Frey's greatest song IMHO. 



#22 Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes: To Be True. It's difficult to believe that there was a time when FM rock radio actually played soul groups. The song "Bad Luck" from "To Be True" got extended play on FM rock radio, at least in New York City where I was living at the time. Teddy Pendergrass, whose voice could stop a train, was one of the greatest vocalists in the history of recorded music.  



#21 Elton John: Captain Fantastic & The Brown Dirt Cowboy. Here we get Elton John nearing the end of his classic period. As with so much early 1970s rock-pop, the album is highly autobiographical and personal. Includes the epic "Someone Saved My Life Tonight." 



#20 Joni Mitchell: The Hissing of Summer Lawns. In the early 1970s Joni Mitchell moved beyond her folk-rock foundation and ventured into jazz and other unconventional sounds for 1960s icons. The Hissing of Summer Lawns did not spawn any major radio hits, but it is extraordinarily creative throughout. "The Jungle Line" is one of her most underrated songs. 



#19 Bob Seger: Beautiful Loser. Even though this was Seger's 8th album, it did not break him into the mainstream. That would not happen until the next year's release of "Live Bullet," which featured energetic concert performances of many of the songs on "Beautiful Loser." 



#18 Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow. When guitar giant Blackmore announced in 1974 he was leaving legendary metal band Deep Purple, the expectation was that his next project would be something substantially unlike a Purple jam. Surprisingly, Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow debut album in 1975 featured tunes that could have easily been on a Purple album. What makes the album important in rock music history, though, is that it placed singer Ronnie James Dio on the international metal map. A case could be made that Dio is the greatest metal singer in the history of the genre. 



#17 ZZ Top Fandango. In vinyl terms, this album featured a live sidc and a studio side. One of the major records that reminded listeners of the blues roots of rock-and-roll. Helped to establish conclusively that Billy Gibbons was right up there with Hendrix, Clapton, Beck, and Page as the great blues-rock guitarists of the era. 



#16 The Grateful Dead: Blues For Allah. I was never the biggest Dead fan in the early 1970s, but thanks to the heavy play this album received on FM radio, I ended up getting into the band's entire catalogue. "Franklin's Tower" from Blues For Allah remains as one of my all time favorite songs. 



#15 Renaissance: Scheherazade and Other Stories. Just a classic example of the "progressive rock" of the times, which (I know I have written this many times) was only able to be heard because of the excellence of FM radio at that time. Annie Haslam sang with a kind of urgency that you don't hear very much these days, while the band blended classical, jazz, folk and other genres to come up with something unique. "The Vultures Fly High" would be a good resistance anthem for modern anti-fascist movements. 



#14 War: Why Can't We Be Friends? A soul-pop classic. The title song, which should probably be revived in our polarized era, was actually beamed to outer space during a meeting of American and Soviet astronauts. I also remember it being played at Yankee Stadium when legendary manager Billy Martin would come out and kick dirt on an umpire. 



#13 Stanley Clarke: Journey To Love. One of the greatest bass players of all time, Clarke is a foundational figure in jazz fusion. My favorite piece on this amazing album is "Hello Jeff," featuring Clarke's thumping bass and the blistering guitar of Jeff Beck. 



#12 KC & The Sunshine Band: KC & The Sunshine Band. The breakthrough album from one of the most iconic disco bands of the era. In 1974 I was probably too cool to admit to liking this music, but given how modern dance music pretty much all sounds the same, KC somehow sounds fresher fifty years later. 



#11 Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention: One Size Fits All. In 1975 Frank Zappa released two of his all time greatest albums. "One Size Fits All" featured a new Mothers Of Invention line-up, including elite musicians like keyboardist George Duke and percussionist Ruth Underwood. The epic song "Inca Roads," in classic Zappa fashion, is kind of a like a satire of the progressive rock of the era. 



#10 Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention: Bongo Fury. Vaclav Havel, the Czech playwright and dissident who eventually became president of the Czech Republic, told Zappa that his music was a lifeline when his country suffered under totalitarian rule. He also told him that Bongo Fury was his favorite album. The album is filled with typical Zappa satire, and his guitar solo in "The Muffin Man" is one of the greatest in rock history. Of all the rock stars who have left the Earth, Zappa is the one I most wish was still with us to help resist Trumpism. 



#9  Peter Frampton: Frampton. Guitar hero/vocalist Peter Frampton would attain international superstar status the next year, with his "Frampton Comes Alive" album.  But 1975's "Frampton," which largely flew under the radar, is for me a masterpiece of rock-pop. I especially loved it in 1975 because it seemed to be inspired by the best rock of the 1960s while also revealing a completely original sound. 



#8 Bad Company: Straight Shooter. I would like to dedicate this one to the late guitarist Mick Ralphs, who passed recently and who was one of the shining lights of Bad Company. My favorite song on this album, "Shooting Star," could be about Mick. It's also hard to imagine a rock singer better than Paul Rodgers. 



#7 Donna Summer: Love To Love You Baby. Given the sexual excess of so much modern music, it's difficult to appreciate how racy and scandalous Donna Summer's music was in the 1970s. Literally every dance music star since then owes a debt to Donna. 



#6 The Kinks: Schoolboys In Disgrace. I was not totally into this album when it came out (probably because it deals extensively with boy/girl school relationships and I was in an all boys high school), but have come to look on it very fondly. Ray Davies--guitarist, vocalist, and leader songwriter for the Kinks-- in the 1970s wrote a number of provocative tunes filled with social commentary. "Schoolboys in Disgrace' I think should be given all members of Generation Z as a kind of pop culture evidence of what school was like before cell phones and artificial intelligence.  



#5  Steely Dan: Katy Lied. A transitional album for Steely Dan, written and recorded after Donald Fagen and Walter Becker made the decision to stop touring and instead focus on perfecting the art of studio recording--which allowed them to work with the best session musicians in the world. Katy Lied establishes the sound that, in my view, the band would bring to perfection in the 1977 "Aja" album.  

The song "Throw Back The Little Ones" on Katy Lied includes one of my all time favorite lyrics: "Hot licks and rhetoric don't count much for nothing." As someone who has been teaching Rhetoric for 40 years, that line always hits home! 

My favorite song on Katy Lied has to be "Doctor Wu," which for me is the definitive Steely Dan sound of the period. 



#4 Patti Smith: Horses. Punk rock of the 1970s came to be defined by loud guitars and defiant lyrics. But in the 1970s there was also an "artistic" punk that tried to revive the innovative, bohemian style of 1960s groundbreakers like the Velvet Underground, the Doors, and early Bob Dylan. Patti Smith was in the vanguard of the artistic punk movement, and "Horses" is a foundational recording in the genre. 



#3  Black Sabbath: Sabotage. The last truly great album by Black Sabbath, in my opinion. Features all the original members, and some of Ozzy Osborne's best writing. I have no proof, but I am convinced that literally every song ever recorded by Metallica and other "Nu Metal" bands of the 80s and later was inspired by "Symptom of the Universe." 



#2 Bob Dylan: Blood on the Tracks. Somewhat of a comeback album for Dylan in 1975, though much more deeply personal than anything he had released to that point. When I assign students classic albums to review in my "Rhetoric of Rock and Roll" course, "Blood on the Tracks" is one that often becomes a revelation to the student assigned it. I think that's because the idea of love as a source of great joy and great pain--a theme embedded in Blood on the Tracks--is something that always has and always will connect with youth. 



#1 (Tie) Pink Floyd: "Wish You Were Here" and Kraftwerk: "Radioactivity."  In terms of sheer impact on future music, these two albums would have to be the best of 1975. "Wish You Were Here," which is informally dedicated to the band's founding and troubled member Syd Barrett, is the archetype of the tribute album. Filled with amazing melodies, brilliant instrumentation, thoughtful lyrics. 

As for Kraftwerk's "Radioactivity," it's hard to minimize the influence it had on future music. Modern music fans think that electronic music is a digital era phenomenon. Not so. Kraftwerk did it all--and did it better--50 years ago. 



 
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