Man, we had Soul Train on tv, Casey Kasem on the radio, bell bottom jeans and flowered button up shirts. Fat Elvis was still wowing audiences, Vietnam was in the rear view mirror, and I was coming out of my shell as a kid.
My older siblings were listening to Doobie Bros and the Rolling Stones on hard the get FM radio stations, mine was a cheap AM radio that played "the hits". I think a 10oz non returnable pop was still a nickel. Maybe a dime that year. I know in one summer they went from a nickel to fifteen cents in just a short period.
My oldest sibling successfully changed me over from a soul music fan to rock fan when Frampton Comes Alive hit the airwaves like an atomic bomb. But to me disco music was just soul music done by white people. The OJays, Earth Wind & Fire, Barry White, and other great bands with orchestas in the background. Franki Vali and ELO were also high on my list of musicians the dames liked but my breathan on the baseball diamond denied liking.
I just liked music. I played a coronet in school. Not well but I tried. Teachers got upset I didn't learn to read music. I didn't need to. I heard it once and I could play it if I liked it. Disco had horns, and violins, and percussion instruments like bongos and bells. Peer pressure dictated I be against disco, so I enjoyed it when nobody was around. I never bought any disco albums but did have some 45's. But back then there was so much great music on the radio, one minute it's a disco song playing, the next minute Elton John belting out a Beatles cover, Doobie Bros, Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, and the like.
By 77 I was into a new Elvis. Elvis Costello. And Iggy Pop, had seen Aerosmith and Foghat live. I was a full on rock & roll fan. I did see Pablo Cruise at Lion Country Safari (now Kings Dominion) that year. Still a lot of variety of great music on the am radio though. But my skateboard bretheran were into a new wave of tunes from bands most had never heard like Ultravox, XTC, Talking Heads and yes Elvis Costello. A lot of the skateboarders were military brats from Califonia and Hawaii. So they had nice cars with nice, loud stereos belting out music while we were "kickin' out the jams" on skateboards. By then I was on my 3rd or 4th KISS album and KISS Alive had been released. My older siblings haaaaaaaaated KISS, which kinda made me like 'em more, really.
By 78 the KISS thing was a fad gone by. Yeah I bought the solo albums. But the Cars, DEVO, Blondie, Police, the Clash and a whole crop of west coast favs were playing on my record player. Never mind AM radio. It was FM for me. By then I had my older brothers hand me down MCS all in one stereo system with Pioneer speakers. The FM radio could pick up the radio stations at the beach on clear, cool nights so I got to hear the newest of the new wave numbers. I'd stay up all night listening to those stations with my hand me down headphones on.
Here's one I'd never let them know I liked
But ya gotta admit it's pretty catchy.
And for you weird Al fans