During much of ’76 I continued experiencing what I felt the previous year: I was lonely in Palatine and desperately missed Chicago. Stevie and Guy moved with their parents to Gore, Oklahoma to open a restaurant and motel. (Why? I never knew…) This loss was a major blow. When I turned 13 in February though I managed to have a small birthday party with two of my Chicago Perkins School friends, Dave and Vince, along with two new friends, John and David.
I was 7 in 1976. In 1975, my uncle hitchhiked across the country to visit and gave my sister and I presents when he arrived. My gift was a copy of Kiss Alive! That kickstarted my love for rock and roll and records (not to mention, all things Kiss!). I remember in 1976 I had saved money from either chores or birthday and I purchased my first two records with my very own cash - Kiss 'Rock & Roll Over' and Aerosmith 'Rocks.' Kiss appealed to my little boy imagination, Aerosmith seemed very rock and roll and quite dangerous (I was fascinated by the photos on the inside sleeve).
Another bangah, Dan! Your '76/8th grade "year of angst" is slamming right into my year 21, when I was doing 7-midnight at my second commercial station, WFMF-FM 102 in Baton Rouge, LA. That comes into play, musically, in a sec, but we coulda been such buds had I been 13 when you were!
I was feeling many of the insecurities and self-doubts (in 8th grade...1968-'69) you're describing....and, if either of us had mustered up the courage to talk to the other, I think we could've helped each other, enjoyed music together, etc! It never occurred to me, though, to skip school. I just did my thing, tried to disappear, came home, locked the door, and lost myself in my promo records from Dad! "Play with friends?" What's that? Putting the needle down on the new Tull, etc was "playing with friends" to me at that point!
LOVED "Daybreak"....all of Manilow, really....I've written quite extensively about him, mainly focusing on the hits he had that were written by other singer/songwriters (based on mix tapes like that I made in the '80s)! You know where to find them!
I also love Carole's "Only Love is Real." Loved that "Thoroughbred" album, too. Back to my radio gig in '76: It was a 'progressive rock' station, so King was not exactly at the top of the format list! Nevertheless, I think I "got away with" playing "Only Love.." a couple times! One song I know I got listener flack from was Wendy Waldman's "Living Is Good"....every time I played it, my phones would light up (I didn't have to answer....after 5, the switchboard closed.....but, I loved punishment!)....."Play 'Free Bird,' man!" They were, at least, kind enough to NOT say, "Get that crap off!"
Wendy was always a favorite....her early-'70s career had a cool connection with Andrew Gold (I bet his "Lonely Boy" pops up on your '77 list.....it did mine!! At 22, then, and I know 13-year-old Brad would've felt some reassurance from it)! I call Wendy "the West Coast Melissa"! Same alliterative names, same mane of brown curls'n'waves, and the same ability to speak to the listener's psyche and emotions with an endless supply of melodies and harmonies.
In case you haven't heard it (and even if you have), my gift to 13-year-old Dan.....Wendy's "Living Is Good" (from her 1976 "The Main Refrain" album)....the harmonies alone!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiSCCxe1QnU
Another heartfelt post. I think we all echo Judy’s comment that we wish we could have been there for you back then. I was teaching high school at the time and like to think that I helped some students through such rough times.
Forgot how great a song Happy Endings is. Great to hear it.
The “silent movie” is a hoot. How cool to have that. Amazing stunts and all! Despite the difficulties then, glad to see you still had a bit of the madcap dancer in front of a camera. Glimpse of hope for the future? We’ll see . . .
The thing about You’re Still The One is that it is a bit of an opposite version of Trying to get the feeling. In Trying … they’ve lost that feeling. In Still the one … they accept that after all this time there’s still a feeling
"I discovered that one could be absent for at least two days before the office would phone parents. "
An incredible unlock, that I also found in 8th grade. I'd ride the bus to school, but never actually go in, instead doing things like going down to Circle K and playing 1943, or just wandering around neighborhoods where I knew no one would recognize me & call my mom (we lived on the fringes of the school district boundary.
1976: the year of Shannon and Teddy Bear (or, as Charlene Darling would say “Don’t play that one, that one makes me cry”)
Also, The year of “Fox On The Run”, which was in one of the Poker Face episodes and I was yelling it to her during the episode when she couldn’t remember the song and connection.
It’s odd to see so many country songs in the Billboard 100 lists but it does explain why I went through a little country music phase: they were being played on top 40 stations … I was hearing them. Do you know when they separated country into its own category? Did that result in them not being played on pop/rock stations?
I used to love getting an album and devouring all the liner notes and what a joy when the album sleeve included THE LYRICS
Phil prefers your ‘76 playlist to mine 🤣 even though he wasn’t familiar with many of the songs on your list either. He did … a little AFTER this year … switch to album cuts instead of top 40.
Okay. Here’s my list. We’re getting into the years where I actually remember the songs I liked. I’m not proud of this list because, clearly, I expected to be put high on a pedestal and worshipped by my partner 😜
I Like Dreamin’ (Kenny Nolan)
* Talk about being fantasy’s best friend😳
Theme from Mahogany (Do You Know Where You’re Going) (Diana Ross)
My Little Town (Simon & Garfunkel)
* the cynicism was NOT lost on me
50 Ways to Leave Your Lover (Paul Simon)
Rhiannon (Fleetwood Mac)
(The “I’ve got issues section of the list”)
Still the one (Orleans)
You are the woman (Firefall)
I only want to be with you (Bay City Rollers)
Weekend in New England (Barry Manilow)
I’d Really Like to See you tonight (England Dan and John Ford Coley)
* key line: “I’m not talking ‘bout moving in and I DON’T WANT TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE”. 🤣
Now if I hadn’t wanted to be truthful and honest about my “put me on a pedestal” fantasy, I would have replaced some of those with Golden Years (Bowie), Boys are back (Thin Lizzie), Summer (War), and Edmund Fitzgerald (Lightfoot)
I’ll post my list next but I do want to say that I hope you do try to publish your memoir to a larger audience eventually. While there has been great strides in bullying it’s still a major issue for a lot of kids and your experiences could very well help kids who are struggling to see the “light at the end of the tunnel”. The Assistant Principal seemed pretty sympathetic … he could have been harsher (which wouldn’t have been unheard of for the time). Virtual hugs to you across the miles.
I don't recognize much on your '76 list... I feel like I must have mostly stopped listening to Top 40 radio by then, but I was just in beginning stages of buying albums, and I was into the history of rock so I was often getting older records. But in singles I had Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald and was kind of into Carry on My Wayward Son and Heart's Magic Man.
I was 7 in 1976. In 1975, my uncle hitchhiked across the country to visit and gave my sister and I presents when he arrived. My gift was a copy of Kiss Alive! That kickstarted my love for rock and roll and records (not to mention, all things Kiss!). I remember in 1976 I had saved money from either chores or birthday and I purchased my first two records with my very own cash - Kiss 'Rock & Roll Over' and Aerosmith 'Rocks.' Kiss appealed to my little boy imagination, Aerosmith seemed very rock and roll and quite dangerous (I was fascinated by the photos on the inside sleeve).
Another bangah, Dan! Your '76/8th grade "year of angst" is slamming right into my year 21, when I was doing 7-midnight at my second commercial station, WFMF-FM 102 in Baton Rouge, LA. That comes into play, musically, in a sec, but we coulda been such buds had I been 13 when you were!
I was feeling many of the insecurities and self-doubts (in 8th grade...1968-'69) you're describing....and, if either of us had mustered up the courage to talk to the other, I think we could've helped each other, enjoyed music together, etc! It never occurred to me, though, to skip school. I just did my thing, tried to disappear, came home, locked the door, and lost myself in my promo records from Dad! "Play with friends?" What's that? Putting the needle down on the new Tull, etc was "playing with friends" to me at that point!
LOVED "Daybreak"....all of Manilow, really....I've written quite extensively about him, mainly focusing on the hits he had that were written by other singer/songwriters (based on mix tapes like that I made in the '80s)! You know where to find them!
I also love Carole's "Only Love is Real." Loved that "Thoroughbred" album, too. Back to my radio gig in '76: It was a 'progressive rock' station, so King was not exactly at the top of the format list! Nevertheless, I think I "got away with" playing "Only Love.." a couple times! One song I know I got listener flack from was Wendy Waldman's "Living Is Good"....every time I played it, my phones would light up (I didn't have to answer....after 5, the switchboard closed.....but, I loved punishment!)....."Play 'Free Bird,' man!" They were, at least, kind enough to NOT say, "Get that crap off!"
Wendy was always a favorite....her early-'70s career had a cool connection with Andrew Gold (I bet his "Lonely Boy" pops up on your '77 list.....it did mine!! At 22, then, and I know 13-year-old Brad would've felt some reassurance from it)! I call Wendy "the West Coast Melissa"! Same alliterative names, same mane of brown curls'n'waves, and the same ability to speak to the listener's psyche and emotions with an endless supply of melodies and harmonies.
In case you haven't heard it (and even if you have), my gift to 13-year-old Dan.....Wendy's "Living Is Good" (from her 1976 "The Main Refrain" album)....the harmonies alone!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiSCCxe1QnU
Another heartfelt post. I think we all echo Judy’s comment that we wish we could have been there for you back then. I was teaching high school at the time and like to think that I helped some students through such rough times.
Forgot how great a song Happy Endings is. Great to hear it.
The “silent movie” is a hoot. How cool to have that. Amazing stunts and all! Despite the difficulties then, glad to see you still had a bit of the madcap dancer in front of a camera. Glimpse of hope for the future? We’ll see . . .
The thing about You’re Still The One is that it is a bit of an opposite version of Trying to get the feeling. In Trying … they’ve lost that feeling. In Still the one … they accept that after all this time there’s still a feeling
"I discovered that one could be absent for at least two days before the office would phone parents. "
An incredible unlock, that I also found in 8th grade. I'd ride the bus to school, but never actually go in, instead doing things like going down to Circle K and playing 1943, or just wandering around neighborhoods where I knew no one would recognize me & call my mom (we lived on the fringes of the school district boundary.
A few more comments
1976: the year of Shannon and Teddy Bear (or, as Charlene Darling would say “Don’t play that one, that one makes me cry”)
Also, The year of “Fox On The Run”, which was in one of the Poker Face episodes and I was yelling it to her during the episode when she couldn’t remember the song and connection.
It’s odd to see so many country songs in the Billboard 100 lists but it does explain why I went through a little country music phase: they were being played on top 40 stations … I was hearing them. Do you know when they separated country into its own category? Did that result in them not being played on pop/rock stations?
I used to love getting an album and devouring all the liner notes and what a joy when the album sleeve included THE LYRICS
Phil prefers your ‘76 playlist to mine 🤣 even though he wasn’t familiar with many of the songs on your list either. He did … a little AFTER this year … switch to album cuts instead of top 40.
Okay. Here’s my list. We’re getting into the years where I actually remember the songs I liked. I’m not proud of this list because, clearly, I expected to be put high on a pedestal and worshipped by my partner 😜
I Like Dreamin’ (Kenny Nolan)
* Talk about being fantasy’s best friend😳
Theme from Mahogany (Do You Know Where You’re Going) (Diana Ross)
My Little Town (Simon & Garfunkel)
* the cynicism was NOT lost on me
50 Ways to Leave Your Lover (Paul Simon)
Rhiannon (Fleetwood Mac)
(The “I’ve got issues section of the list”)
Still the one (Orleans)
You are the woman (Firefall)
I only want to be with you (Bay City Rollers)
Weekend in New England (Barry Manilow)
I’d Really Like to See you tonight (England Dan and John Ford Coley)
* key line: “I’m not talking ‘bout moving in and I DON’T WANT TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE”. 🤣
Now if I hadn’t wanted to be truthful and honest about my “put me on a pedestal” fantasy, I would have replaced some of those with Golden Years (Bowie), Boys are back (Thin Lizzie), Summer (War), and Edmund Fitzgerald (Lightfoot)
I’ll post my list next but I do want to say that I hope you do try to publish your memoir to a larger audience eventually. While there has been great strides in bullying it’s still a major issue for a lot of kids and your experiences could very well help kids who are struggling to see the “light at the end of the tunnel”. The Assistant Principal seemed pretty sympathetic … he could have been harsher (which wouldn’t have been unheard of for the time). Virtual hugs to you across the miles.
I wish I had been home to help you during these difficult timed
I don't recognize much on your '76 list... I feel like I must have mostly stopped listening to Top 40 radio by then, but I was just in beginning stages of buying albums, and I was into the history of rock so I was often getting older records. But in singles I had Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald and was kind of into Carry on My Wayward Son and Heart's Magic Man.