Break-ups of the 1970s

Many bands got their foot in the door in the 70s while many bands also broke up; the list of break-ups is lengthy, so I chose to cover The Beatles, The Monkees, and Simon & Garfunkel.

The Beatles
The Beatles caught the world by a storm. They began in Britain in the 50s and were popular by the 60s. The name actually came from a dream Lennon had where a man stood on a flaming pie and told him that they were "the Beatles with an 'A.'" They gained the acceptance of the British pop world with fervor and played hundreds of UK concerts then traveled across Europe, creating fans as they went. The Beatles moved on to US concerts, where they were also incredibly famous. Each concert was less than 30 minutes long and attracted a fan-base that no other band could compete with.

Known by all and respected because they remained easy-going and friendly once they were rich, they were the first band to play at a baseball stadium, an act which drew a record-setting number of fans. The fans at all their shows were crazy-- the crowd was usually so loud that most fans couldn't even HEAR The Beatles! Loved, respected, admired, the band went into the studio to record (what became) their last album.

As they entered the studio, the band realized that many of their songs were separate. They were their own individual works, which meant they could record at their leisure and didn't need the rest of the band there. They were moving in different directions. Sadly, the group disbanded, much to the disappointment of all their fans. McCartney and Lennon each got married, Harrison moved across the world, and Starr was writing his own songs and gaining respect as an actor and drummer. The official break-up was in 1970, though the band is still wildly popular today and plans to release their personalized Rock Band game on August 9th, 2009.


The Beatles had many hits. This song, "Hello Goodbye," is now featured in advertisements for Target.

For more information on The Beatles, click here.

The Monkees
This band actually began as a TV show on NBC in 1966. It was a comedy about a 4-person band of slightly out-there guys. They used their real names as the characters and all had musical experience before the show. To promote the show, they released an album, "The Monkees," which was hugely successful (especially the song "Last Train to Clarksville"). The band went on tour before the show even began and performed all music themselves.

Their second album, "More of the Monkees," was produced without their knowledge. It became the top album of 1967, but they demanded that they control their product, especially since some music fans criticized them for not helping with the 2nd album.

They released "Headquarters" where they changed the musical sound plus the nature of their tv show. The show lost steam and ended production at the end of the second season. Because their fame had basically been handed to them, they had few connections in the music industry and were hit pretty hard. They broke up and went their own ways in 1970.

In 1986, MTV ran a 24-hour Monkees marathon with episodes from their TV show, which stirred up a revival tour and record until 1989. The group received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame then broke up again.

This song was recently re-done by Smash Mouth for the movie Shrek.


"Last Train to Clarksville" was one of The Monkees first big hits.

For more information on The Monkees, click here.

Simon & Garfunkel
Made up of Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel, the group was together from 1964 until 1970. They were folk rockers who showed the world that folk rock was a true genre. The duo met in middle school in Queens, New York and eventually began recording together. They became famous with the high school girl crowd and made demos which caught the eye of a recording producer. For these acts, they were named Tom & Jerry. They never found equal success to what their first song had received so they split-- Art went to college to study mathematics and Paul worked as a songwriter, musician, and producers.

Both tried solo acts, but never found success. In 1963 they recorded again, this time under the name Simon & Garfunkel. They created the album "Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M." in New York City, but it had low sales so they split once again. Art returned to college, while Paul traveled to Europe. There he learned the nature of English folk songs. Intriqued, he wrote deeply lyrical songs that followed the English folk song pattern and found enormous success in British clubs.

Under the impressions of a producer, Simon & Garfunkel used Bob Dylan's method of in-studio back-up band to create more upbeat music and reproduced an earlier song ("The Sound of Silence") which became very successful. Paul returned to the US where they went on tour. Although they used this back-up band sound in studios, on tour they used only Paul's acoustic guitar. Still, people loved and revered them. They found superstardom when they contributed the music for a movie, The Graduate.

Unfortunately, by 1969 they began having problems. Both men were tired from so much touring and Art was getting into acting, something he had always dreamed of. Cast in the film Catch 22, Art was rarely around since filming was in Mexico. Paul was busy working on the album "Bridge Over Troubled Waters" and Art recorded his parts when he was on breaks from filming. In 1970, the album was released and won Grammys for the album, title song, and numerous others. There was a short, successful tour for the album and then both pursued solo careers. They did, however, record two more songs together.

Basically, Simon & Garfunkel are the couple that never really break-up... the ones who have their little differences and often break-up but never stay apart for very long. They got back together in the early 80s but perrsonal problems caused another split. Paul traveled to South Africa in 1985 and brought back jive music. In 1993, they toured again with old songs then split peacefully again in 1994. Since then, both have worked on albums and various other projects. They are still friends, but have different goals musically.



For more information on Simon & Garfunkel, click here.

The 1970s brought many new bands and styles of music, but also said goodbye to many bands that were popular in the 60s and early 70s. Three of these bands, The Beatles, The Monkees, and Simon & Garfunkel, influenced music for today and have broken up but their musical legend lives on.

The Beatles picture URL
The Monkees picture URL
Simon & Garfunkel picture URL

A couple popular albums of the 70s

Here is a list of the Top 15 Albums of the 1970's (found here)

15. Sticky Fingers-- The Rolling Stones
14. Imagine-- John Lennon
13. L.A. Woman-- The Doors
12. After the Gold Rush-- Neil Young
11. The Wall-- Pink Floyd
10. Raw Power-- The Stooges
9. Hunky Dory-- David Bowie
8. Hotel California-- The Eagles
7. Born to Run-- Bruce Springsteen
6. The Dark Side of the Moon-- Pink Floyd
5. What's Going On-- Marvin Gaye
4. Exodus-- Bob Marley
3. Blood on the Tracks-- Bob Dylan
2. Who's Next-- The Who
1. Led Zeppelin IV-- Led Zeppelin

It's pretty insane to think that Pink Floyd had two masterpieces in one decade, so I reviewed both below:

The Wall
Interestingly enough, this album provoked a movie The Wall which came out in 1982 featuring the main character, Pink. The film is inspired by this 1979 album, with the plot line of a rockstar who is so exhausted by the business and by life's hardships that he can only perform with the help of drugs. This information and more can be found here.

Rolling Stones magazine reviewed the entire album here.

Off the album, my two favorite songs are Another Brick in the Wall and Comfortably Numb. Both of the songs follow Pink Floyd's typical chill, soothing sound and they're really good for relaxing (Dan mentioned Comfortably Numb in his post on songs that influence moods) and thinking. Both of them are on my "Chill" playlist on iTunes. Also, after reading reviews (the Rolling Stones one I linked above was the most in-depth review I found) I learned that The Dark Side of the Moon was released only 7 years before. To have two hugely successful albums-- and successful enough to make a Top 15 of the DECADE list-- is incredible. It shows just how big of an impact Pink Floyd had on the 70s, and many people today still wear the t-shirts or have the wall hangings. Pink Floyd's legend will be a hard one to forget.

The Dark Side of the Moon
Released in March of 1973 (and re-issued in 2003 for the 30th anniversary) this album found huge success everywhere in the world. It was on the US charts at #1 for a week (and at other spots for much longer), #2 on the UK charts, and #3 on the Australian charts, and on the charts in countless other countries. The album is in the Guinness Book of World Records for being on the charts for longer than any other album in history! It was on for 591 CONSECUTIVE weeks and 741 weeks total!

Those facts may sound crazy, but the craziest part to me is that the entire album (the music AND lyrics) was written in only 7 weeks. Pink Floyd was starting a tour soon and they wanted to include new songs on it, so The Dark Side of the Moon evolved in a short period of time. It definitely made a name for itself and people still debate over whether or not the music and lyrics correlate with the story in The Wizard of Oz (by starting the album at the MGM Lion's 3rd roar). Pink Floyd says that the film did not impact their recording.

Random fun Australia fact: An Australian radio station held a vote in the 1990s for the best album to have sex to. The Dark Side of the Moon won.

A full review from Rolling Stones magazine can be found here.
All the information above and more is here.


Dark side of the Moon image URL

The Wall URL

The Walkman - Music in everyday life

The invention of the first cassette Walkman TPS-L2, forever changed the way consumers listen to music.

The original Walkman released by Sony, was launched in Tokyo on June 22, 1979. Journalists were treated to an unusal press conference where they were taken to Yoyogi (a major park in Tokyo) and given a Walkman to wear. According to Sony, "The journalists listened to an explanation of the Walkman in stereo, while Sony staff members carried out various demonstrations of the product. The tape the journalists were listening to asked them to look at certain demonstrations, including a young man and woman listening to a Walkman while riding on a tandem bicycle."

Invention of the Walkman

The walkman has evolved over the years, to the portable CD player, and more recently to the MP3 player, and comes in a variety of sizes, capacities, colours. Apple announced in April 2007 that the 100 millionth iPod has been sold. Apple claims the iPod is the fastest-selling music player in history.



The walkman paved the way for portable personal music, and changed the way and context in which music is used in everyday life.

Genre's of the 1970's

The increase in new media promoted changes in the form of genre to the history of music. Music of the 1970s saw the rise of experimental classical music and minimalist music by classical composers. Funk, disco, art rock, progressive rock, hard rock, glam rock, and punk music were also popular. Emerging genres included jazz-rock fusion, 'chamber jazz', reggae and hip hop. See here for further information.

Funk: To some funk “is the soul of all Black music, past, present and future.” An authority on funk said that “funk is probably the most positive expression that we have had in a long time, not only about our music…but ourselves as a people. Funk epitomizes the successful end to the civil rights struggles of the 1960’s and signaled the dawning of a new beginning for Black folks in the 1970’s.” The upbeat and rich sounds of funk produced a feeling of positive strength, power and humanity in the black community.

Disco: Disco music is a blend of soul music and funk, set to 4/4 time syncopated rhythm, making it easily danceable. Early disco of the 1970's didn't have the synthesizers that 80's disco is renowned for. Whenever 70's disco is mentioned you will usually find the Bee Gees name included in the definition.

Art Rock & Progressive Rock: Art rock and progressive rock are closely related. Both forms are known for their technicality and composition characteristics that vary from the traditional structures of rock. Art rock and Prog Rock peaked in popularity around the mid 70's with the ability to create full albums.

Glam Rock: The genre of Glam Rock is characterized by male performers wearing outrageous clothes, makeup, hairstyles, and platform-soled boots. One of my favourite artists from this genre and the 1970's is Alice Cooper.

Punk: Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed the perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock. They created fast, hard-edged music, typically with short songs, stripped-down instrumentation, and often political, anti-establishment lyrics. Punk embraces a DIY (do it yourself) ethic, with many bands self-producing their recordings and distributing them through informal channels.

Although the debate about "which is the best genre" will forever be a hot topic, its interesting to refer the the writing of White, Daniel, Music and Art Aesthetics: Is there such a thing as perfect taste in music? Skytopia Website, 2002 who argues that Most 'Styles/Genre's' (if done well) can contain the all important aspects of what makes music good - melody and structure. Obviously, some 'styles' are biased against melody/harmony and other styles are biased against rhythmic variety, so those styles aren't so good (....the best music combines both).

Music is only pigeonholed into genres in the first place because of reasons such as:
a: The cultural habit to imitate what already has been done.
b: The limitations and advantages of certain instruments (e.g. orchestral) and techniques.
c: The biases of different music creation software to make music in a certain way (which obviously isn't necessarily the best)
d: Simple luck that a particular set of instruments ended up with a bias towards certain chord or rhythmic progressions in the initial stage. This piece or set of pieces might then be stylistically imitated by other people (see a)