MM-Why do you think 70s music is so fascinating?
Alan- Well, I always say certain songs give one a sense of déjà vu, and many songs of the '70s do that, a lot of music was obviously affected by the '60s movement, Vietnam and everything and in the early '70s so many stles became apparent. One thing many people tried for was the 45. There are tons of great, well-known pop 45s of the era as are unknown ones .Although I like a lot of punk and experimental music, there is something unique about '70s pop music that is so innocent and has a certain charm. Folks who were kids in the '70s like us can relate as well as people who were adults then,too. Great music conjures up great ideas which effects all aspects of life, social., political, spiritual, etc. 70s music also conjures up images ~ rainbows, Frisbees, ice cream, boomerangs, lollipops, blueberry pie, slurpees, moonbeams, monster cereals, count chocula, Land of the Lost, Hare Krsna, Wonderbug, picture collages, sunshine, flowers, ........................
Early Musical Memories
The two biggest hits in our school seemed to be "Kung Fu Fighting" by Carl Douglas and "Smokin' In The Boys Room" by Brownsville Station. A couple of years later "Seasons In The Sun" by Terry Jacks and "Saturday Night" by the Bay City Rollers seemed to be favorites at our school. I liked all those songs a lot back then and still do. I can also recall when the Sex Pistols were making headlines in the news in '77 and '78 when I was still a kid.
MM-Where do you find all this stuff?
Alan-Well, when I began to search out really hard to fund music I was in my teens. A friend and I would visit every thrift store in our hometown and back then I was always reading through those hard to find music magazines of the 70s, like certain issues of Creem and Trouser Press, and later Bomp. When we discovered the Internet back in '98, we began to find out about bands we had been searching for for years, that's when everything began to fall in place.
MM- Some of it is really obscure. Do you set out to do research a particular band or type of music, or is your M.O. more informal?
