Pop Culture Podcast
Popspotting #108: “Songs of 1972” (Aug. 17, 2011)
You want more music shows? You’ll get more music shows! As Jen celebrates yet another 29th birthday, we arbitrarily choose the year 1972 to highlight with a top five list. Then, we share some music recommendations from our listeners. Here’s the playlist:
- Sylvia’s Mother (Dr. Hook)
- I Saw the Light (Todd Rundgren)
- Coconut (Harry Nilsson)
- School’s Out (Alice Cooper)
- Still In Love With You (Al Green)
Plus:
- Barton Hollow (The Civil Wars)
- John Prine (Illegal Smile)
- Dark Blue (Jack’s Mannequin)
We’d love to feature more picks from our listeners, so please don’t hesitate to share your favorite tunes and artists! Just keep sending them in… we’ll figure out a theme later.
Photo by Neokrisys.
1972 was such a great year for music.
I was in high school at that time (oops, there I go giving away my age) and here are five songs that really resonated with me during that calendar year, in no particular order:
You’re So Vain (Carly Simon) – I remember picking up Mick Jagger’s voice in the backing vocals long before I ever heard anyone on the radio talking about it.
Rocket Man (Elton John) – Does it make a lot of sense? Who cares? It’s a true classic.
Stuck In The Middle With You (Stealers Wheel) – In which we were introduced to the genius of Gerry Rafferty, though we wouldn’t really know who he was until years later.
Lean On Me (Bill Withers) – I’m not generally big on message songs, but this one really works for me, and I thought the Season 1 Glee cover of the song was excellent.
Take It Easy (Eagles) – one of three 1972 hits from The Eagles first album, one of the best debut albums of all time.
I could easily name ten more songs that are highly memorable from 1972, but at this point I will cede the floor to other commenters.
Al Green AND Todd Rundgren AND The Civil Wars! A great playlist for a great (Pinoy) morning like this one. 🙂 I could totally go on and on with this.Â
*goes to car, sings “Can We Still Be Friends?” while backing out of the driveway*Â
All I can think about when I hear “Stuck in the Middle With You” is that scene in Reservoir Dogs. Shudder.
Great! Now that ear worm is stuck in my head, Ryan!!!
LOL
Aloha from Waikiki;Comfort Spiral   >                     >
Thank you Jen. Love TR. Something Anything is one of the best albums of the ’70s. “Hello It’s Me”, “It wouldn’t Have Made Any Difference”.,etc.
He had a great run in the 70s. Mixing genres, ballads,etc. Supremely talented.
If I remember correctly, 1972 was a very big year for the Carpenters. perhaps their best year…
Led Zeppelin, stairway to heaven
Stevie wonder, superstition
Don McLean, American pie,
Roberta Flack, first time I ever…
Angie, Rolling Stones
I shot the Sheriff, Eric Clapton
Also, Dan Fogelberg,
Ha! Shout out!
Now tell us your Top 5 from 1987.
Considering you both are also Friday Night Lights fans, I was wondering if you all have had a chance to check out Explosions in the Sky. The band did the soundtrack to the original movie, and a lot of music from their early albums was featured prominently in season 1.
Can’t say I’m moved by the latest album, “Take Care Take Care Take Care”, but the one before it, “All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone” is stellar.
The second volume of the FNL TV soundtrack also includes W. Snuffy Walden’s Explosions-like theme song, plus a whole bunch of rustic alt-country that I think might appeal to you both.
And from the Musicwhore.org Favorite Edition 2011 list, might I recommend:
— Abigail Washburn, “City of Refuge”. She’s a banjo player in the style of Dr. Ralph Stanley
— The Decemberists, “The King is Dead”. How much more R.E.M. can this band get? None. None more R.E.M.
— Duran Duran, “All You Need Is Now”. Mark Ronson set out to help the band make the follow-up to “Rio” it never recorded, and I think he did it.
We did enjoy the “Explosions in the Sky” album I bought that time I visited you in Austin. It was the perfect sound for my noise-cancelling headphones during the long flights home.
Thanks for the additional recommendations. Though I think @twitter-17203:disqus did give that Duran Duran album a listen, and wasn’t a fan.
I grew up on music from the 1970s… so your 1972 top 5 music show struck a chord here. While I may not have put these songs in my top 5, all of them are memorable and were vary radio active for that year. In those days most of the top 40 hits were played on AM radio. My top 100 songs from 1972 is at the following link URL, where you can also listen to a random sampling of 20 songs there.
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http://macpro.freeshell.org/music/1972.html