Celebrating the Music of 1974, Part 2

Back in April I released Part 1 of my celebration of the 50th anniversary of some notable musical releases of 1974. In the United States 1974 was a pivotal year, as Richard M. Nixon became the first (and to date only) president to resign the office. As a 13-year-old at the time I remember being transfixed by the Watergate hearings that hastened Nixon's downfall, which led to social isolation because I could not find other kids my age who cared all that much. 

What occupied a weird 13-year-old consumed with Watergate? Books, comic books, and music of course! Before even starting high school I found myself taken with the satirical brilliance of Kurt Vonnegut, the mysticism of Herman Hesse, and the bleak plays of Sam Shepard. For some reason I enjoyed comic books with mystery and horror themes. (Maybe I saw them as a metaphor for the national nightmare that was Watergate.).  

Record albums were fairly inexpensive in the 1970s, but I was unemployed, budget-less, and did not have my own room with my own turntable to retreat to. Thankfully, FM radio was still in top form in 1974, and even the top-40 AM stations were (unlike today) more than listenable. For example, the top-ten hit songs on the Billboard charts for the week ending June 15, 1974 were: "Billy, Don't Be a Hero" by Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods; "You Make Me Feel Brand New" by The Stylistics; "Sundown" by Gordon Lightfoot; "The Streak" by Ray Stevens; "Band on the Run" by Paul McCartney and Wings; "Dancing Machine" by the Jackson 5; "Be Thankful For What You Got" by William DeVaughn; "The Entertainer" by Marvin Hamlisch; "For the Love of Money" by the O'Jays; and "Midnight at the Oasis" by Maria Muldaur. Not one awful tune in the bunch. 

I've decided to organize Part 2 of the notable albums of 1974 into 5 categories: Timeless, Groundbreaking, Iconic 1970s, Transitions, and Metal Mishmash. Hopefully the reasons for each will be clear as we proceed. Let's get started! 

Category 1-Timeless Albums

In this category I include albums that, while readily identifiable as 1970's creations, are not stuck in that time period. Lyrically, thematically, and musically, these records maintain a fresh quality capable of attracting new audiences in any time period. They include: 

26. Dolly Parton, "Jolene": I've always found Dolly Parton to be a remarkable entertainer and humanitarian, but it wasn't until her induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2022 that I started listening to her recordings that date back to the 1960s. I came to the realization that she's been a prolific songwriter. The "Jolene" album is one of her best, packed with tunes that have been covered by numerous other artists. 

Dolly Parton: I Will Always Love You

25. Steely Dan, "Pretzel Logic": The third album by one of the most unique and innovative bands of all time; dudes with jazz and blues chops who could somehow write and perform commercially appealing music without giving off even a hint of selling out. What I personally like most about "Pretzel Logic" is the great Donald Fagen's vocals, which fill up the speakers in a way more distinct in comparison with the band's first two albums. 

Steely Dan: Rikki Don't Lose That Number

24. Bob Marley and the Wailers, "Natty Dread":  Reggae never quite caught on in the United States, but "Natty Dread" was a definite breakthrough. Watching and listening to Bob Marley get White Europeans and Americans to connect with pan-African, anti-colonialist, pro-revolution themes was something that later got me to understand the magical power of this thing called Rhetoric. 

Bob Marley: Them Belly Full But We Hungry

23. The Grateful Dead, "From the Mars Hotel": The Dead famously disliked studio recording, but this album featured a number of songs that remained in their live playlist for decades (most notably "U.S. Blues," "Scarlet Begonias," and "Ship of Fools.")  One sign of an album's timelessness is a 50th anniversary release. According to rock journalist Michael Gallucci: 

Grateful Dead will celebrate the 50th anniversary of their Mars Hotel album with a three-disc "Deluxe Edition" that includes bonus tracks.

In addition to the remastered original LP from 1974, the expanded 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition includes two demo recordings from the era and a complete, previously unreleased concert from that year's tour in support of the album.

The Grateful Dead: U.S. Blues 

22. John Denver, "Back Home Again": If it's true that John Denver wrote "Annie's Song" (one of the greatest love songs in all of recorded history) in ten-and-one-half minutes while riding on a ski lift to the top of Aspen Mountain, the lesson is that when the heart's on fire one doesn't need much time to create a timeless classic. John Denver = Legend. 

John Denver: Annie's Song 

21. Gordon Lightfoot, "Sundown": This was the Canadian singer/songwriter's ninth album, but the first and only one to reach #1 on the USA charts. At 13-years-old I had absolutely no idea what romantic relationships were all about, but I remember hearing the title track "Sundown" for the first time and thinking something like, "He's not getting along with his girlfriend right now." Years later I found out that Lightfoot wrote the song in a pissed off mood, angry that he was home alone writing songs while his girlfriend was out at the bar with friends. Thankfully the next song on the album, "Carefree Highway," is about learning to chill when you think your romantic partner has let you down. 

P.S. This line from Sundown:  "Sometimes I think it's a shame/when I get feelin' better when I'm feelin' no pain" is how I really want to answer when people innocently and kindly ask, "How's it going?" 

Gordon Lightfoot: Sundown

Category 2-Groundbreaking Albums

This category includes albums that were not necessarily the best or even most well known works of the artists in question, but had cutting-edge qualities that impacted later music. They include: 

20. Kraftwerk, "Autobahn": In the mid-1970s the German electronic band Kraftwerk looked like nerdy college professors. No one could have predicted that the wizardry of their techno-music brand would inspire compositions in virtually every popular music genre to follow. 

Kraftwerk: Autobahn

19. Sparks, "Kimono My House": Profoundly original group founded by the brothers Ron and Russell Mael, Sparks were known for producing quirky, danceable tunes that--for better or worse--became the prototype for what came to dominate Music Television (MTV) in the 1980s. 

Sparks: This Town Ain't Big Enough For Both Of Us

18. 10 CC, "Sheet Music": One of the most underrated albums by one of the most underrated bands in rock history. 10 CC were musically adventurous, in a way that inspired better known artists like Queen, David Bowie, and scores of others. The adventurous quality of "Sheet Music" can be found later in the British New Wave of the late 1970s, much of the MTV pop of the 1980s, the indie-rock boom of the 1990s,  and the Britpop wave of the 1990s and 2000s. 

10 CC: The Worst Band In The World

17. The Bee Gees, "Mr. Natural": This might be the least well known recording in the entire Bee Gees catalogue, mostly because it yielded no hit singles. Its significance resides in it having inspired the "Blue Eyed Soul" genre of pop that normalized the idea of White musicians performing Black soul music. Later in the 1970s the Bee Gees would evolve further down this road with the soul/disco classic "Saturday Night Fever" soundtrack. "Mr. Natural" was the first step on that path, a path that scores of White artists have followed ever since. 

The Bee Gees: Mr. Natural

16. Frank Zappa and the Mothers, "Roxy and Elsewhere": What I always loved about Frank Zappa was his ability to mix musical chops and comedy. That mix reached its zenith on "Roxy," an album that remains as a testament to the idea that it is possible to compose and perform musical compositions that are sophisticated, provocative, and comic. The contemporary artist most closely resembling Zappa on these fronts is Father John Misty, who told The New Yorker magazine in Zappaesque fashion that he seeks to be "authentically bogus rather than bogusly authentic."  

Frank Zappa: Cheepnis

Category 3 - Iconic 1970s

These are records that SCREAM "1970s" as soon as they blast through your speakers or headphones. 

15. Average White Band, "Average White Band": In the 1970s you could get five White guys from Scotland playing Black music while announcing themselves as the "Average White Band" and have the result seen and heard as a form of cross-cultural unification. Musically, this first album by AWB was anything but average, and the hit "Pick Up The Pieces" remains as one of the ultimate funk classics. 

AWB: Pick Up The Pieces

14. David Bowie, "Diamond Dogs": Bowie's last album in the ultra-1970s "Glam Rock" genre, lyrically inspired by the writings of George Orwell and William S. Burroughs. The '70s was a time when a substantial audience actually gave a shit about those kinds of influences in art. This album actually got me into Orwell, whose writing style I've been trying to imitate for almost 50 years now. 

David Bowie: 1984

13. Mott The Hoople, "The Hoople": Speaking of glam rock, Bowie acolytes Mott The Hoople released an absolute masterpiece of the genre in 1974. The song "Marionette" IMHO is one of the great achievements in rock history, a terrific metaphor for all who pay the price for resisting the corporate hegemony that reduces us to mindless puppets. 

Mott The Hoople: Marionette

12. Randy Newman, "Good Old Boys": In the early 1970s, thanks to the influence of the Beatles, the Who, and other classic rockers of the 1960s, it was common for artists to release "concept" albums in which the entire 35-40 minutes of vinyl explored a theme. At its best, the concept album genre gave us provocative and intelligent music like Randy Newman's "Good Old Boys." The album is an observation on the Deep South in the United States. Newman's classic song "Rednecks" laments the persistence of racism and the legacy of slavery in the south, but it also lambasts Northern hypocrisy. (The song references a famous appearance by racist Georgia Governor Lester Maddox on the Dick Cavett Show.). 

Randy Newman: Rednecks

11. Aerosmith, "Get Your Wings": There are some amazing jams on this, Aerosmith's second album. But its lyrical misogyny and sexism has a distinct early 1970s feels to it, a prototypical example of the pre-#metoo era garage rock genre. Still, Aerosmith's cover of "Train Kept a Rollin'" is the definitive version of that great old tune originally recorded by R & B artist Tiny Bradshaw in 1951 and remade as a rock tune by The Yardbirds in the 1960s.  

Aerosmith: Train Kept A Rollin'

Category 4-Transitions

In this category we have artists at the end of a phase in their career; albums clearly recreating the artists' familiar formula--but just as clearly signaling a desire to move on to something different. 

10. Cat Stevens,  "Buddha and the Chocolate Box": British folk rocker Cat Stevens had been on an obvious spiritual quest for several albums preceding this one, and not too long after "Buddha and the Chocolate Box" he would leave the music business entirely, returning years later as the Muslim missionary "Yusuf." 

Cat Stevens: Oh Very Young

9. The Rolling Stones, "It's Only Rock and Roll": By 1974 the Stones were in somewhat of a musical midlife crisis. Their previous album "Goats Head Soup" was the most poorly received in the history of the band, and so "It's Only Rock and Roll" became somewhat of a "return to our roots" effort with "Satisfaction" style riffs and a few "Ruby Tuesday" style ballads. But the most important song on the album was "Luxury," a reggae-inspired tune that symbolized the band's desire to move in new directions. 

The Rolling Stones: Luxury

8.  Bob Dylan, "Planet Waves": Even though he was only in his 30s, by 1974 Bob Dylan was treated as the elder statesman of popular music, an image that never sat well with him. When in need of recharging musically, he would seek out help from Robbie Robertson and The Band. "Planet Waves" is a high quality collaboration between Dylan/The Band, but like Cat Stevens in the same time period, Dylan is seemingly searching for something new. By the late 1970s he would be converting to Christianity and flirting with gospel music. 

Bob Dylan: Forever Young

7. Linda Ronstadt, "Heart Like A Wheel": This was Linda's breakthrough album, winning her all kinds of awards and spending extended time on the charts. Yet the album boxed her into the commercial pop music formula, which was beneath her talent. Years later she became more musically adventurous (e.g. recording albums in Spanish, moving beyond folk and pop, etc.) without losing her core audience, and solidifying her reputation as one of the great singers of her generation. 

Linda Ronstadt: When Will I Be Loved

6. Elton John, "Caribou": This album had the misfortune of being the follow-up to "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road," Elton's signature recording and one of the classics in rock history. Anything after that was bound to disappoint. We now know from the biopic "Rocket Man" that Elton was struggling with alcoholism and substance abuse through most of this period, and it would not be until 1990 that he got sober and found a new direction in life and music. "Caribou" is not my favorite Elton John album, but "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me" off the album is probably my favorite EJ song. 

Elton John: Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me

Category 5: Metal Mishmash

Inspired by the "progressive" rock movement, heavy metal bands in the 1970s were moving beyond mere loudness, high pitched vocals, and guitar hero theatrics. This last category features some of the defining metal of the era. 

5. Deep Purple, "Burn":  For Deep Purple fans, the "Mark 3" era featuring David Coverdale on vocals and Glenn Hughes on bass/vocals is as divisive as the Roth/Hagar debate over which version of Van Halen was better. (Mark 2 Deep Purple featured the great Ian Gillan on vocals and gave the world the mega-hit "Smoke on the Water."). Mark 3 Deep Purple did not last very long, but their initial release "Burn" is an important milestone in metal history. Ritchie Blackmore's guitar takes a funkier turn, the rhythm section (bassist Hughes joined by Jon Lord on keyboards and Ian Paice on drums) is as tight as ever, and the vocal back and forth between Coverdale and Hughes is unique in metal history. 

Deep Purple: Burn

4. Blue Oyster Cult, "Secret Treaties": BOC were still a few years away from their monster hit "Don't Fear The Reaper," (the ultimate cowbell song)  but "Secret Treaties" is actually their best album. Just a rocking good time from start to finish, with a style that greatly impacted the New Metal movement of the late 1990s and early 2000s. 

Blue Oyster Cult: Dominance and Submission

3. King Crimson, "Red": Guitarist Robert Fripp, bassist/vocalist John Wetton, and drummer Bill Bruford all had success before this album, but "Red" solidified their status as progressive metal legends. This is one more example of an album that was only able to be heard because FM radio did not suck at the time. "Red" is kind of like the "thinking person's metal." 

King Crimson: One More Red Nightmare

2. Bachman Turner Overdrive, "Not Fragile":  Most people don't realize that BTO, featuring the immensely talented guitarist Randy Bachman, were one of the most popular touring bands of the early to mid 1970s. Part of the attraction was the band's blue collar image, and another part was that they figured out a way to give metal a radio friendly sound that would appeal even to listeners who did not care for metal. 

BTO: You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet

1. Robin Trower,  "Bridge of Sighs": One of my personal favorites, featuring Robin Trower's soaring guitar and James Dewar's supremely soulful vocals. Robin Trower at the time was often brushed aside as being nothing more than a Jimi Hendrix imitator, which was and is utter bullshit. There's clearly a Hendrix influence in his music (spoiler alert: Hendrix influenced ALL guitar based rock that followed him), but what's even clearer is that Trower expanded the reach of the Fender Strat in directions that no one--not even Hendrix--previously traveled. "Too Rolling Stoned" is one of the most incredible blues-metal jams in the history of the universe. 

Robin Trower: Bridge of Sighs

I hope you enjoyed this post! Rock On! 

Ten Bob Dylan Covers

Somehow Bob Dylan is 83(!) years old today. For his birthday, here are 10 of my favorite cover versions of Dylan tunes. 

#10: Patti Smith. A Hard Rains A Gonna Fall.  Patti got so nervous during this Nobel Prize ceremony performance that she had to stop and restart at around the 2-minute mark. Legend. 

 

#9:  Eddie Vedder. Masters of War. It's sad how much we need this song right now. 

#8:  Nina Simone. Ballad of Hollis Brown. Covered at the height of the 1960s civil rights movement, Nina Simone turned The Ballad of Hollis Brown into a movement anthem. 

#7: Dave Alvin. Highway 61 Revisited. Dave Alvin's alt.country style works perfectly for this Dylan classic. 

#6: Joan Bez. Farewell Angelina. Joan Baez covered lots of Dylan songs, and Farewell Angelina is not the best known. It's simply my favorite. 

#5: The Band. I Shall Be Released. The Band's 1967 debut album "Music From Big Pink" featured mostly original songs, but their covers of Dylan songs became extremely popular and led to them touring and performing with Dylan. 

#4: The Byrds. Mr. Tambourine Man. The Byrd's were great at doing folk rock versions of Dylan's songs. 

#3: Dylan, Roger McGuinn, Tom Petty, George Harrison and Others. My Back Pages. Just an amazing performance from classic rockers who all owe a debt to Dylan.

#2: Jimi Hendrix. All Along the Watchtower. Still as powerful today as when it was released in 1968.

#1: Neko Case. Buckets of Rain. If there is a better singer out there than Neko Case, I don't know who it is. 

Campus Protests and Occupation in the Digital Age

In 1996 I was the Democratic Party nominee for Wisconsin's 54th assembly district--the same seat that Lori Palmeri holds today. At that time the district was more solidly Republican, and I faced an uphill battle against an incumbent seeking his fifth term. 

Given my status as a college professor, it seemed natural that I would make education policy one of the cornerstones of the campaign. I frequently wrote up policy statements on what I thought needed to be done for Wisconsin's public K-12 schools and the University of Wisconsin system. All policy statements were sent as press releases to the region's establishment print and broadcast media. Not once did a reporter or editor call to ask for follow-up or do an in-depth story. This was true even for non-university related issues like tax rates, welfare reform, and environmental policy. 

State and local police broke up an encampment at the UW-Madison Library Mall. Picture from the Madison Cap Times 

When I met television reporters that year, I would always ask them what I needed to do to get more and better coverage of what was a very competitive race. All of their suggestions centered on the need to create or be associated with some kind of spectacle: lead a rowdy march that results in police involvement, get into shouting matches, have my supporters protest outside my opponent's private residence, etc. Friends who had experience running for office warned me that mainstream media were more interested in performance art than issues, especially performance art featuring confrontational tones and appearances. Even though by 1996 I had already been a media critic for a number of years, it still shocked me to experience how right those friends were. I was experiencing the truth of the old journalistic aphorism, "When a dog bites a man, that is not news. But if a man bites a dog, that is news." 

I thought about all this recently while watching the crackdown on pro-Palestinian protests at college campuses across the country. According to CNN, since April 18 protesters have been arrested on more than 25 campuses across at least 21 states. More than 1,000 people have been arrested. Republican politicians, who have spent the better part of this century lecturing the nation on how there is not enough free speech on campuses, are now cheering on the arrests of pro-Palestinian students. This has been especially comical in the state of Texas, where governor Greg Abbott, who regularly mocks DEI activists who want campuses to stand up to hate directed at students of color and those identifying as LGBTQ--the same Greg Abbott who four years ago bragged about enshrining free speech protections at the University of Texas--now supports the expulsion of students for participating in what HE calls "hate-filled" pro-Palestinian protests.  On Texas Public Radio, Alex Morey of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression had the perfect response: "What we're seeing here is this hypocrisy of big double standards saying we love free speech, not this speech." 

It is certainly true that pro-Palestinian campus protests have provoked hysterical reactions from Republicans, uncritically pro-Israel Democrats, campus administrators cowed by Congressional bullies, and other "free speech champions for everyone but pro-Palestinians." Yes, each one of these groups of bad faith actors has placed their rank hypocrisy fully on display for the world to see. But revulsion at bad faith actor hypocrisy should not blind us to legitimate questions that can and must be raised about the nature of public protest in our time, and why it is now so common for peaceful assembly to transform so quickly into occupation of public spaces and physical confrontation. 

First, let's remember the words of the First Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. 

The author of the First Amendment, James Madison, was much clearer about his intentions in the original draft: 

The civil rights of none shall be abridged on account of religious belief or worship, nor shall any national religion be established, nor shall the full and equal rights of conscience be in any manner, or on any pretext abridged. 

The people shall not be deprived or abridged of their right to speak, to write, or to publish their sentiments; and the freedom of the press, as one of the great bulwarks of liberty, shall be inviolable. 

The people shall not be restrained from peaceably assembling and consulting for their common good; nor from applying to the legislature by petitions, or remonstrances for redress of their grievances. 

I for one wish that Madison's draft language had become the actual First Amendment, as it is clearly a much more explicit endorsement of the rights to worship, think, speak, write, become informed, and organize to hold the government accountable.  

It is tempting to read the First Amendment as protecting five distinct rights (religion, speech, press, assembly, petition) that operate in isolation from each other, but the truth is that each individual right requires the others in order to remain free from government interference. The press, as the great "bulwark of liberty," has a special obligation to create an information environment conducive to promoting an enlightened citizenry so that religion, speech, assembly, and petition are not dominated by bad faith actors pursuing personal interests above the common good. As noted eloquently way back in 1955 by Elisha Hanson, counsel for the American Newspaper Publishers Association: 

The right to have a free press is the right of the people, not a privilege of a particular segment of our economy engaged in the business of gathering and disseminating information in the printed form. Publishers are but trustees of this right. 

Hanson was concerned chiefly with newspapers, but his comments clearly apply to modern news media platforms--broadcast, cable, and digital. 

I don't think that anyone today can say, with a straight face, that the corporate media today are a "bulwark of liberty" in the sense envisioned by Madison and Hanson. They are bottom line outfits that treat audiences not as citizens, but as bargaining chips needed to negotiate advertising rates. The question for media owners is not how do we best inform the public so as to create and maintain a healthy democracy, but how do we keep the public's eyes and ears glued to content so that we can charge the highest possible rates to producers of automobiles, alcohol, and other products for the privilege of getting access to those eyes and ears. 

Seen in this context, students occupying campus buildings to bring attention to issues and causes makes complete sense. The First Amendment envisions a public sphere in which an independent press plays a critical role in providing accurate, timely information that becomes the basis of peaceful assemblies and petitions. That is not the public sphere we have, unfortunately. Occupying public spaces becomes a kind of performance art necessary to guarantee ANY sustained coverage of the underlying issues. 

Occupation tactics did not begin with pro-Palestinian activists, of course. In the early 1930s, homeless and destitute citizens set up encampments known as "Hoovervilles" to dramatize their plight. In 1932 the United States military was called in to evict the "Bonus Army" of World War I veterans who had occupied Washington D.C. as a tactic to demand their war pensions. And while we watched Columbia University's Hamilton Hall occupied on April 30, we should remember that Columbia students did the same thing to protest the Vietnam War on April 30, 1968. 

Student encampments and arrests at Columbia University

Today's student occupations of campuses have less in common with the 1930s and Columbia '68 than they do with the Occupy Wall Street movement of 2011. The Hoovervilles, Bonus Army, and Columbia '68 protests were all responses to issues (the Great Depression and the Vietnam War) that were well known to all Americans, touched everyone deeply, and were covered extensively by the press. The Occupy Wall Street movement of 2011, in contrast, was designed largely to bring attention to issues marginalized or ignored by the corporate press and sold-out politicians: economic inequality, money in politics, corporate greed, austerity budgets, and big finance. 

Given the state of corporate media today, do pro-Palestinian students really have any viable alternative to occupying and desecrating campus grounds? Has the corporate press shown any willingness to cover Middle East wars in-depth and honestly? Is the role of the United States government in providing the weapons of war used to kill innocent civilians ever covered seriously? Absent an occupation, would the press even bother to explain what divestment means? Answers: NO, NO, NO, and NO. 

For better or worse, occupation protest tactics are the only language the contemporary corporate media understands. The spectacular images get more clicks, shares, and downloads for corporate media's digital arms. Images of police breaking up encampments and arresting protesters also brings more attention to traditional media. 

In short, be wary of explanations for campus occupations that place blame for them on outside agitators, radical professors, narcissistic students, or haters. Pro-Palestinian activists, like activists working on all causes where passions run deep and public opinion is divided, have to operate in a corporate media environment that requires maximum conflict to guarantee at least minimum coverage. I dare say that if mainstream media met its First Amendment obligations, we would not need as much politics as performance art in order to get a hearing for critical issues. 

How Hank Aaron Taught Me "Silence is Consent"

Hank Aaron hit his 715th home run on April 8, 1974. Legendary announcer Vin Scully's real time call of Aaron's record breaking home run has itself become iconic, as Scully recognized the significance of "a Black man getting a standing ovation in the deep south."  Millions of Americans wanted to believe that Aaron's achievement represented some kind of transformational moment for the United States. Just a few weeks later I personally experienced a transformational moment related to Hank Aaron, though it was not the kind of transformation Scully and others would have hoped for. 

In mid-June of 1974 I was living in Brooklyn, NY and was just a few weeks short of my 13th birthday. Some of my friends discovered that the Atlanta Braves were coming into town to play the Mets, so we got on a train to Queens and went to Shea Stadium. There were probably 3 or 4 of us. As was typical, we purchased the cheapest nosebleed seats and then snuck down to better ones. 

Old Shea was an "open air" stadium, meaning that you always felt a cool breeze. I remember that particular day the stadium being really cold even though it was later in June.  Given that the Mets had made the World Series the year before, and given the fact that Hammerin' Hank was coming to town, the stadium seemed close to sold out. In fact it was so crowded that the seats we snuck down to were still kind of nosebleedish. 

I don't remember if Hank Aaron came up in the first or the second inning, but I will never forget what did happen when he finally approached the batter's box. Remember, he had just broken Babe Ruth's record in April. Hank was celebrated in every city the Braves visited that year. When the public address announcer said Hank's name, almost everyone stood up and started yelling: 

LET'S GO HANK! 

LET'S GO HANK! 

LET'S GO HANK! 

As Hank got into the batter's box, the chanting started to subside, but about 30 yards from us there were three men sitting with very angry looks. They looked to be about 50-60 years old.  One of them, with a tone of absolute rage and a look that would intimidate Satan, yelled, "Let's Go Hank. Fuck You N_ _ _ _R!" 

Then the three of them all chimed in at once, as loud as they could: "Let's Go Hank. Fuck You N_ _ _ _R!" 

Not one person confronted these characters. In fact most people seemed to treat it as a joke. There were a few African-American people in the vicinity, but they either treated it as if they could not hear it, or thought better of getting into a scuffle with a few angry, racist douchebags. 

Over the years as a college teacher, some students have told me that they appreciate my approach to racial justice issues, and the fact that I try--as best as I can--to make sure that the examples I use in my classes represent the human family in its entirety. When I've reflected over the years on how I got to be that way as a teacher, that Shea Stadium experience in June of 1974 keeps coming back to me. 

That experience taught me that racism and hate exist as they do in large part because they go unchallenged. As a 12-year-old on that cold day in June of 1974, I suppose I get a pass for not confronting the haters. There were people there much older than me who could have and should have intervened, but did not. 

That day was my introduction to the maxim, "silence is consent."  

Have I always confronted racism and hate as an adult?  No. But I would like to think that I have tried to make choices in my life that help make my community, state, nation, and world live up to their promise of justice for all. Perhaps if we were all simply more mindful of the need to make those kinds of choices, we would be in a better place today as a species. 

Hank Aaron is no longer with us, but on this 50th anniversary of his greatest sports achievement I would like to apologize to him for being silent all those years ago. None of us can go back and erase terrible moments from the past, but we CAN pledge to be better TODAY. 

Thank You Katie Rosenberg

There were a number of disappointing results in this past Tuesday's elections in Wisconsin. In Winnebago County, LaKeisha Haase's loss in the Circuit Court Judge race was deeply disappointing. As she noted in a Facebook post, "The Uihlein funded out-of-state PAC, Fair Courts America, spent tens of thousands of dollars inundating the members of our community with divisive, targeted, and racist mailers and text messages in support of my opponent to prevent me from returning to the bench." The local and state media need to do a much better job of calling out such advertising when it appears.

Another disappointment was the passage of two bogus referendums on "election integrity," both designed to appease Donald Trump's fantasies about the 2020 elections. This too was another media failure: the establishment press needed to do much more to explain to voters the politics behind these referendum questions.

Wausau, WI Mayor Katie Rosenberg lost her reelection bid in a close race. Attack ads funded my dark money from MAGA interests contributed to the results. 

For me the biggest disappointment was the defeat of the great Mayor Katie Rosenberg in Wausau, WI. When Lori Palmeri was Mayor of Oshkosh, I called Katie my "second most favorite Mayor in Wisconsin," and I meant it. There are lots of elected officials who claim to be "progressive" who do not actually have the courage of their convictions. Mayor Rosenberg, an inspiring young leader, actually governed as a principled progressive. Some things I personally admired about her term in office:

• She insisted that Wausau be a welcoming community for ALL people. As such, she did not tolerate attacks on marginalized populations. Everyone targeted for attacks based on their race, or who they choose to love, or their identity, knew that they had a friend in City Hall in Mayor Rosenberg.
• She was, is, and will continue to be a leader in environmental clean up and sustainability. Her leadership in tackling the PFAS issue has been exemplary, and should be a role model for mayors across the state and nation.
• She was an outspoken advocate for public transit and affordable housing, which she understands as key to economic development in the 21st century. During her term Wausau's unemployment rate was 2.3% and the region became known as one of the up and coming places to do business in Wisconsin.

For her efforts, Mayor Rosenberg was attacked nonstop her entire term by far right wing elements. She even suffered anti-Semitic attacks from ignoramuses who saw "Rosenberg" and assumed she was Jewish. Her reelection bid was hurt by the introduction of dark money into the race from MAGA entities.

It's too early after the election for Katie Rosenberg to announce any future plans. I for one would like to see her run for Congress, US Senate, or Governor. Wisconsin needs young, bold leadership that is progressive in DEEDS and not just words.

Thank you Katie Rosenberg for the courageous leadership you showed during your mayoral term. History will show that your term represented a transformational moment for Wausau, WI.

Below is a conversation that Matt King and I had with Katie in 2021:

Celebrating the Music of 1974, Part 1

In what has now become an annual tradition here at Media Rants, I will spend two posts celebrating the 50th birthday of albums released during the 1970s. Prior posts in this series: 

• Celebrating the Music of 1972, Part 1
• Celebrating the Music of 1972, Part 2
• Celebrating the Music of 1973, Part 1
• Celebrating the Music of 1973, Part 2

My motives for these posts are part personal, part professional, and part political. At the personal level, it's fun to go back and listen to music that was--in some cases--highly instrumental (pun intended) in my development as a human being. Even without social media feeds, musical artists of that time period somehow seemed to be communicating directly to their listeners, as if what they had to say might actually MATTER in someone's life. Imagine that. 

At the professional level, I still teach "The Rhetoric of Rock Music" and preparing these posts helps me to do the research that I probably should be doing anyway. It's always fun to rediscover some gems that I had forgotten about--and that might be of interest to today's younger generations. 

Politically, the music of the time period in question reflects that moment in history--especially in the United States--when issues of personal identity and self-expression start to provoke the "culture war" that we are still saddled with and not close to resolving. Later in the 1970s, when disco, hip-hop, punk, and British New Wave enter the scene, the culture wars will start to become nastier and more divisive. 

Without any further ado, let's get to the music! This post will feature 25 albums of 1974, and later this year another post will feature 25 more. 

#50.  Queen: Sheer Heart Attack. The band's third album, and the one that firmly established the sound that would define their huge commercial success later in the decade. The song "Killer Queen" became an international hit and still gets featured on classic rock radio playlists. Other tunes on the album (especially "Brighton Rock," "In the Lap of the Gods," "Stone Cold Crazy" and "Now I'm Here") became fixtures in Queen's live shows and/or influenced generations of future bands with their clever lyrics, Freddy Mercury's theatricality, and Brian May's soaring guitars. 

Queen: Killer Queen 

#49.  Bad Company: Bad Company. The first album by what was essentially a "super group" featuring four artists who had success with previous bands. The album absolutely dominated FM rock radio in 1974, I think in large part because it reminded DJs of the kind of garage rock sound that the Rolling Stones brought to the States in the mid-1960s. If you're looking for deep meaning in music, you won't find it in this album. However, Mick Ralph's gritty guitar and Paul Rodgers' soulful vocals are still worth the price of admission all these years later. The intro guitar on "Rock Steady" has always been one of my favorite pieces of music. 

Bad Company: Rock Steady

#48. Minnie Riperton: Perfect Angel. If you ARE looking for deep meaning in music, the late Minnie Riperton's classic "Perfect Angel" is kind of like a celebration of love and life put to music. Cancer took Minnie Riperton from the world much too early in 1979 (she was only 31), but she left behind a body of work that puts her in the category of one of the all time great soul singers. The song "Lovin' You" became the mega-hit off the album, in part because of Riperton's unique whistle-register in her vocals and the chirping of birds. Every time I hear the song I immediately think of Minnie's daughter (the actress Maya Rudolph), whose name is chanted several times at the end. 

Minnie Riperton: Lovin' You

#47. Rufus & Chaka Khan: Rags to Rufus. Let's stay on the soul/funk theme for a minute. Chaka Khan in the 1970s had an absolutely Aretha Franklinesque ability to give a spiritual vibe to every song she performed. The classic on "Rags to Rufus" was the Stevie Wonder penned "Tell Me Something Good." 

Rufus & Chaka Khan: Tell Me Something Good

#46. Neil Young: On the Beach. One of Neil's most underrated albums and least commercially successful at that time, in part because of its overall bleak tone. I personally prefer Neil when he is at his bleakest, so this record struck a chord with me immediately. The title song "On The Beach" is for all of us melancholy types, with expressions of hopelessness ("The world is turnin,' I hope it don't turn away") and despair ("Though my problems are meaningless, that don't make them go away"). 

Neil Young: On The Beach 

#45.  Joni Mitchell: Court and Spark. Speaking of Neil Young, in 1974 one of his best friends was making a transition from folk-rock to a more jazz inspired sound. That friend was Joni Mitchell, and the transition album was "Court and Spark," which had a number of radio hits but also some introspective tunes that solidified her reputation as a "deep" artist. Taylor Swift claims to be heavily influenced by Joni Mitchell, and listening to "Court and Spark" makes it clear why. 

Joni Mitchell: Help Me 

#44. Bob Dylan and the Band: Before the Flood. This is a live album, featuring energetic versions of classic Dylan songs backed by Robbie Robertson and the Band, and a few tunes by the Band without Dylan. Ironically, my favorite song on the album is Dylan's solo performance of "It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)." I recall that being one of the first songs I ever heard that seemed to be a full-on critique of everything the USA stood for, which was a very appealing message to me at the time. 

Bob Dylan: It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding) 

#43. The Electric Light Orchestra: Eldorado. Probably the breakthrough album for ELO, featuring the great Jeff Lynne. By 1974 lots of former Beatles' fans were in serious withdrawal, starving for the kind of progressive pop the Fab Four produced from 1966-1970. ELO filled that niche for a while in the 1970s. 

ELO: Boy Blue 

#42. Lou Reed: Rock and Roll Animal. Lou Reed was the founder of the influential progressive band The Velvet Underground in the 1960s. Rock and Roll Animal features metal versions of some of the classic Velvet songs, performed with high intensity and energy. Guitar players Dick Wagner and Steve Hunter (who later formed the nucleus of Alice Cooper's band) have never really been recognized as some of the greatest of all time. For me, Rock and Roll Animal by itself should place them in that category. 

Lou Reed: Intro/Sweet Jane 

#41. Rush: Rush. Speaking of metal, in 1974 Canada's greatest heavy metal band released their first album. The first album was the only one they released without drummer and song writer Neil Peart, so the song writing quality is not what it would become after Peart joined. Still, the first album features guitarist Alex Lifeson and bass player/vocalist Geddy Lee at their most raw, and at its best this album kind of out-Zeps Led Zeppelin. 

Rush: Finding My Way

#40. Sweet: Desolation Boulevard. Sweet were a kind of pop-metal band who laid down the foundation for later, more popular bands like Motley Crue and Poison. I find albums like "Desolation Boulevard" fascinating because bands like Sweet were kind of like the real life version of the loveable burnouts that Rob Reiner parodied so well in "This is Spinal Tap." 

Sweet: Fox on the Run

#39. Kiss: Kiss. The first album by the masked wonders, and in my opinion it still ranks as maybe their best. Just about all the songs remain in their live concert set list TO THIS DAY, which is an amazing achievement. Say what you want about Kiss, but they have always been one of the hardest working bands in show business, and their ability not only to maintain the loyalty of their original audience, but attract new audiences over the decades is almost unprecedented in the history of popular music. 

Kiss: Strutter

#38. The Doobie Brothers: What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits. Even if this album sucked, I would love it just for the title. Thankfully it does not suck, and I will always insist that Tom Johnston is one of the greatest singer/songwriters in the history of popular music. This particular album has blues, soul, jazz, folk, and rock elements thrown together in a kind of musical gumbo that few bands pulled off as effectively as the Doobies. 

The Doobie Brothers: Black Water 

#37. Supertramp: Crime of the Century. The breakthrough album for the British progressive rock band Supertramp. Another example of a band and album that only got heard because of the quality of FM radio at the time. Not sure how a band like Supertramp could make it in the streaming era without seriously compromising the artistic integrity of their work. 

Supertramp: Dreamer

#36. John Lennon: Walls and Bridges. "Walls and Bridges" was somewhat of a comeback album for John, as he had been through much personal turmoil, and the previously released "Mind Games" album was widely perceived as his poorest post-Beatles effort. "Walls and Bridges" is not my personal favorite Lennon album, but it does have a number of moments that rank with his best work, 

John Lennon: Steel and Glass 

#35. Todd Rundgren's Utopia: Utopia. One of the classics of the progressive rock era, and another example of a record only possible because of FM radio at the time. All the songs on this album require patience to get through, which is not exactly the dominant value for the majority of listeners in 2024. 

Todd Rundgren's Utopia: Utopia Theme 

#34: Labelle: Nightbirds. An important album in the history of popular music, Nightbirds featured a mix of soul, funk, and rock elements that inspired the disco movement that was still a year or so away. Rolling Stone Magazine has several times placed this album in its list of the 500 greatest of all time.  And of course the hit song "Lady Marmalade" is by itself worth the price of admission. 

LaBelle: Lade Marmalade 

#33. Stanley Clarke: Stanley Clarke. An amazing, jazz fusion instrumental album by one of the greatest bass players in history. Jan Hammer's keyboards and Tony Williams' drums complement Clarke's bass playing in a way that is almost intoxicating. 

Stanley Clarke: Vulcan Princess 

#32. Weather Report: Mysterious Traveler. More jazz fusion! I actually did not become aware of this album until around 1990 when one of my favorite albums of THAT year ("Hell With the Lid Off" by MC 900 Foot Jesus) had a song called "Truth is Out of Style" that samples "Cucumber Slumber" from Mysterious Traveler. Turns out the entire album is high quality, and I speak as someone who is not the biggest fan of jazz fusion. 

Weather Report: Cucumber Slumber 

#31. Parliament: Up For the Down Stroke. Maybe the best funk band of all time, Parliament had a breakthrough with "Up For The Down Stroke." This album features vocalist George Clinton, bassist Bootsy Collins, and guitarist Eddie Hazel. Those three together were generally not capable of producing anything less than iconic. 

Parliament: Up For The Down Stroke

#30. Ohio Players: Fire. Let's go with another funk classic. Like LaBelle, the Ohio Players set the stage for the burgeoning disco movement. The song "Fire" remains as an early funk/disco classic

The Ohio Players: Fire 

#29. Joe Walsh: So What. Any list of the greatest rock guitar players of all time that does not include Joe Walsh in the top ten is probably not worth a low E string. "So What" was one of Walsh's solo albums released in between his stints with the James Gang and the Eagles (where he had his greatest success). The album rocks from beginning to end. Songs like "Turn to Stone" and "County Fair" were in heavy rotation on FM rock radio for years. 

Joe Walsh: Turn to Stone 

#28. The Eagles: On the Border. Speaking of the Eagles, in 1974 they started to move toward a more rock oriented sound with "On the Border," a sound that would become more refined when Walsh joined the band a few years later. "On the Border" had a number of radio hits, including the rockers "Already Gone" and "James Dean" and the ballad "The Best of My Love." 

The Eagles: Already Gone 

#27. Lynyrd Skynyrd: Second Helping. I'm not a big fan of Skynyrd's signature song from this album, "Sweet Home Alabama," but it is a foundational record in the "Southern Rock" genre and should be appreciated as such. Thankfully, that song is not representative of the entire album. That is, the rest of the album is not some kind of half-baked "defense" of "southern pride" that sweeps the racism under the rug. The album in its entirety has a great mix of fast and slow rock songs, with Ronnie Van Zant's vocals at their high point and Gary Rossington establishing himself as one of the best rock guitar players of the era. 

Lynyrd Skynyrd: Sweet Home Alabama 

#26. Stevie Wonder: Fulfillingess' First Finale. Released during Stevie's classic period in the 1970s, this album features a mix of many different genres. "Heaven Is 10 Zillion Light Years Away" is Stevie in his best preacher persona, while "Boogie on Reggae Woman" is a kind of Motown, funk, soul, rock hybrid that was actually popular on rock radio stations. 

Stevie Wonder: Boogie on Reggae Woman 

Later this year I will post about 25 more album from 1974! 

                        

Yes We Have No Menckens

Exactly 10 years ago (March 1, 2014), I released a Media Rant alerting readers to what was at that time the early stages of climate scientist Michael Mann's defamation lawsuit against climate change denialist  trolls whose "critique" of him consisted of character assassination and allegations of research fraud. Thanks to our ridiculously slow legal system, it took literally more than a decade for Mann's suit to go before a judge and jury. In the end, after a contentious four-week trial, the six-member jury unanimously sided with Dr. Mann, awarding him over $1 million in damages. To prevail, Mann had to meet the actual malice standard for public figures charging others with defamation, a high bar that required showing the defendants knew they were making false statements or acted with reckless disregard for the truth. 

H.L. Mencken was an intrepid reporter and pundit for the Baltimore Sun and other sources. Though some of his writings can legitimately be accused of elitism and intolerance, his aggressive confrontations with the demagogic trolls of his time inspired a generation of journalists. 

Climate change activists hoped Mann's lawsuit would put climate science itself on trial. After the verdict, Dr. Mann did argue that the trial results were a "victory for scientists and science." Maybe that is true in a technical sense, but the fact that the mainstream media ignored and/or minimized the courtroom proceedings while they were going on meant that few people knew that the courtroom struggle between climate change science and climate change denialism was even going on. Think of it this way: imagine that the date of the Super Bowl wasn't  announced in advance, and when the game finally got played it wasn't televised. Kansas City might still have "won," but who would care? 

The United States is a global outlier in terms of the number of people who deny climate change is occurring or--even if they do accept the science--do not see it as urgent. The Mann trial featured defendants who typify the trolling style of discourse against climate science that, especially for large segments of the population caught in right-wing echo chambers and algorithms, is typically unquestioned and taken as fact. During the trial, the defendants did not hold back from launching attacks on climate science. Thanks to the limited media coverage, so far there's little evidence that the trial did anything to deter denialism from continuing; perhaps in the future the trolls might not be dumb enough to compare people they disagree with to pedophiles, or accuse scientists of fraud with scant evidence to back it up. Denialism does not require character assassination or accusations of research fraud to be effective; all it requires is unchallenged repetition of falsehoods. 

The tragedy of the Mann trial is that, because of media negligence,  it ultimately was not an event that allowed the public to hear and see  a thorough debunking of climate denialist nonsense. For the trial to be THAT kind of event would have required major news outfits to report from the courtroom every day, like they did with Depp v. Heard, the Alex Murdaugh murder trial, or numerous other celeb and/or sensationalist courtroom clashes. 

What the Mann trial needed was an H.L. Mencken, an intrepid reporter with an ear for bullshit and the kind of acerbic style needed to go toe-to-toe with modern internet trolls. 

I mention Mencken purposely in reference to the Michael Mann trial. In the 1920s science was under attack by Christian fundamentalists who pressed state legislatures and school districts to make it illegal to teach the theory of evolution. Very much like the modern online trolls, the critics of evolutionary theory resorted to absurd arguments to make their case, often preying on the fears and prejudices of religious folk convinced that science and spirituality could not coexist. (Very much like modern critics of climate science prey on the fears of working class people worried about potential job losses that could accompany the transition from fossil fuels to clean energy.). 

The conflict between fundamentalist Christian creationist dogma vs. evolutionary theory came to a head in the famous 1925 State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes trial, called the "Scopes Monkey Trial" by Mencken. Covering the trial for the Baltimore Sun, Mencken in his trademark style employed bitter sarcasm, ridicule, and mockery to call out the attempt to discredit secular knowledge not with reasoned evidence, but with superstition. He was especially bitter toward William Jennings Bryan, the four-time presidential candidate, former Secretary of State, and fundamentalist preacher who led the prosecution's argument against John Scopes. Mr. Scopes' "crime" was teaching the theory of evolution in violation of Tennessee's Butler Act which prohibited such teaching. 

Scopes, represented by the legendary lawyer Clarence Darrow, actually lost the trial. But Darrow masterfully turned the proceedings into a public referendum on what a democratic society should expect from its public schools. Should schools be spaces for expanding minds through rational exploration and discovery? Or should they be indoctrination centers for fundamentalist dogma?  The fact that the trial was covered nationally, and passionately by people like Mencken, allowed the mass media audience of that time (primarily print newspapers and radio) to gain access to a vital debate that still plays out in public school districts across the land--today more typically targeting LGBTQA+ tolerance or Critical Race Theory instead of evolution. 

Michael Mann's lawyers took on the climate denialist trolls in a manner very similar to the way Darrow handled the fundamentalists in 1925. Darrow was condemned at the time by "liberal" media outlets like the New York World for being too mean to the fundamentalists. Mencken's response reads like a blueprint for how to handle modern trolls: 

"What the World's contention amounts to, at bottom, is simply the doctrine that a man engaged in combat with superstition should be very polite to superstition. This, I fear, is nonsense. The way to deal with superstition is not to be polite to it, but to tackle it with all arms, and so rout it, cripple it, and make it forever infamous and ridiculous. Is it, perchance, cherished by persons who should know better? Then their folly should be brought out into the light of day, and exhibited there in all its hideousness until they flee from it, hiding their heads in shame."

In short, Michael Mann and his attorneys did their part. They clashed with the trolls, defended climate science with real evidence, and put denialists on notice that there could be consequences for continuing to choose reckless disregard for the truth and character assassination as debate strategies. 

Mann did his part, but the establishment mass media did not do theirs. A recent study exploring the consequences of climate denialism concluded that, "As a form of knowledge vulnerability, climate denialism renders communities unprepared to take steps to increase resilience." The Mann trial gave mass media the opportunity to broadcast the facts of climate science to a national audience, expose the nonsensical attacks against it, and thus make us all a little less vulnerable against the "knowledge" spewed by bad faith actors who place fossil fuel and other corporate interests above human needs.