Pop Culture 1974 - A Rumble in the Jungle
Above: In what has been called “the single greatest sporting event of the 20th Century”, The Greatest of All Time, Muhammad Ali overcame underdog 4-1 odds to defeat the then undefeated, heavy hitting George Foreman. The first is famous for the introduction of Ali’s acclaimed “rope-a-dope” tactic. It was watched by over 1 billion viewers, becoming the most watched live television broadcast ever at the time and earning over $100 Million gross.
Billboard’s Year-End Hot 100 Singles of 1974 (Top Ten)
- “Come and Get Your Love” - Redbone
- “Bennie and the Jets” - Elton John
- “Born to Run” - Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
- “Fox On the Run” - The Sweet
- “Jungle Boogie” - Kool & The Gang
- “Dancing Machine” - The Jackson 5
- “Hooked On a Feeling” - Blue Swede
- “You’re Sixteen (You’re Beautiful, and You’re Mine)” - The Beatles
- “The Joker” - Steve Miller Band
- “Waterloo” - ABBA
News in Music, Through the Year
January 3rd - The Beatles, The Band, and Elton John kick off a monumental U.S. tour. Elton’s singles “Crocodile Rock” and “Bennie and the Jets” were Apple Records’ biggest selling in years. Queen, another group of major rising stars at Apple, will join the tour in April.
February 10th - Legendary record producer Phil Spector and his wife, Ronnie Spector, are walking near their home together in Los Angeles when all of the sudden Ronnie is struck by a car and tragically killed. She was only thirty years old.
RIP Ronnie Spector (1943 - 1974)
February 16th - After two years of bitter litigation and court battles, American rock band Grand Funk Railroad finally managed to retain the right to use their name over their former manager, Terry Knight. Knight did however, receive a hefty cash settlement.
February 18th - Yes sells out two shows at New York’s Madison Square Garden without doing a single bit of advertising. That same day, KISS release their self-titled debut album.
February 20th - Cher and Sonny Bono file for divorce after ten years together.
March 1st - Canadian band Rush release their self-titled debut album. Original drummer John Rutsey would soon be replaced by prolific lyricist and rock icon, Neil Peart.
March 12th - On a late night bender after a sold out show at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, John Lennon of the Beatles gets into an altercation with a photographer outside of The Troubadour Club in Los Angeles. Onlookers at the scene recall seeing Paul McCartney call Lennon “a fucking idiot” and drag him with help from Ringo Starr and Elton John into a cab to get him back to the hotel.
April 6th - 200,000 Music fans attend the California Jam Rock Festival. Artists performing at the event include Emerson, Lake & Palmer; Black Sabbath; Deep Purple; Chicago Transit Authority; and the Eagles. This same day, ABBA launches their international career when their song, “Waterloo” wins the Eurovision contest.
April 17th - Queen play their first North American show in Denver, Colorado, opening up for fellow Apple Records stars, Elton John and the Beatles. Their finale of “Seven Seas of Rhye” earns a ten minute standing ovation.
April 25th - Jim Morrison and his longtime companion, Pamela Courson are found dead in their Hollywood apartment. She, seemingly from a heroin overdose, he from a gunshot wound to the head. It would later be found that rather than call the police, Morrison committed suicide when he saw his Pam was gone.
RIP Jim Morrison (1943 - 1974)
RIP Pam Courson (1946 - 1974)
May 7th - Led Zeppelin announces it will found its own record label, Swan Song Records to help promote their own material more independently and to provide bands who would otherwise not be signed by a label a chance to make music. Singer Robert Plant attributes the band’s decision to the prolific success of the Beatles’ Apple Records.
May 11th – The New York Police bagpipe band performs shortly after midnight at the Portsmouth, RI Ramada Inn, in connection with a National Police Week event, prompting a drunken spree lasting until dawn by at least a dozen off-duty members of the Boston Police Department, who ran naked through the motel, "smashing chairs and tables, soiling rugs, discharging fire extinguishers, exploding firecrackers, setting off a burglar alarm, disconnecting a security camera, slashing automobile tires and throwing pictures into the motel courtyard", causing an estimated $1,027.75 in damage, including liquor stolen from a locked cabinet and unpaid breakfast bills.
May 25th - Twenty years after it was first recorded, “Rock Around the Clock” by Bill Haley and the Comets returns to the
Billboard Top 40, thanks largely to its use in George Lucas’ film
American Graffiti.
June 5th - Patti Smith’s release of her cover of “Hey Joe” arguably marks the first Punk single in music history.
October 5th - AC/DC play their first official show with new lead singer Bon Scott.
November 2nd - The Beatles conclude their North American tour with a sold-out performance at Shea Stadium, ending their set by playing “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” together with Elton John and Freddie Mercury, of Queen. As they prepare to vacate the stage, John Lennon calls out New York Governor Jim Buckley (R) and tells the assembled fans to “Vote the bastard out!” Buckley would go on to narrowly lose his reelection bid to Congressman Hugh Carey (D).
December 31st - Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks join Fleetwood Mac. The third annual edition of Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve airs, moving from NBC to ABC. Performances include Herbie Hancock, The Beach Boys, Chicago Transit Authority, Olivia Newton-John, and the Doobie Brothers. Elvis and Ann Margret Presley’s second child, another daughter named Anna Regina, after Ann’s mother is born.
1974 in Film - The Year’s Biggest
Blazing Saddles - Satirical western. Directed by Mel Brooks and starring Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder, the film was written by Brooks, Andrew Bergman, Richard Pryor, Norman Steinberg, and Al Uger, and was based on Bergman’s story and draft. Satirizing the racism obscured by myth-making Hollywood accounts of the American West, the film’s hero is a black sheriff in an all-white town. Though critical reactions to Blazing Saddles at the time of its release were mixed, it has since come to be regarded as a comedy classic and was the highest grossing film of the year. Another Brooks/Wilder project, Young Frankenstein would be among the top 10 grossing films of 1974 as well.
The Godfather, Part II - Crime Drama, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, adapted from a screenplay co-written by Mario Puzo, and starring Robert De Niro, who reprises his role as Don Michael Corleone and Al Pacino, who plays a younger version of Michael’s father, Vito, during flashback sequences. The sequel to one of the most highly acclaimed films of all time,
Part II features parallel dramas: one picks up the 1958 story of Michael Corleone, the new Don of the family, protecting the business in the aftermath of an attempt made on his life, and another set near the turn of the century, which shows Vito Corleone’s childhood and founding the criminal family. Some have even deemed the sequel the superior to the original, though
Part II did not perform quite as well at the box-office upon initial release.
Chinatown - Neo-noir thriller. Directed by Roman Polanski and starring Jack Nicholson and Jane Fonda. Inspired by the California water wars,
Chinatown would often be referred to be by film buffs as “Polanski’s revenge” for his wife, Sharon Tate’s infidelity scandal with Senator Ted Kennedy. Polanski and Tate would divorce in September of this year, followed in short order by Kennedy and his wife, Joan. The Senator and Tate would thereafter marry each other the following year. The film, Polanski’s most successful yet, would be nominated for 11 Oscars, eventually winning 2: Best Director for Polanski and Best Original Screenplay.
The Longest Yard - Sports comedy. Directed by Robert Aldrich and starring Elvis Presley. The film follows a former NFL player (Presley) recruiting a group of fellow prisoners and playing football against their antagonistic, overly cruel guards. It features many real-life football players, including Green Bay Packers legend Ray Nitschke. Showing Presley’s comedy chops as well as his developing acting talent,
The Longest Yard, and
Walking Tall established Presley as one of Hollywood’s preeminent “tough guys” in cinema.
News in Television and Film, Throughout the Year
January 6th - CKGN-TV begins broadcasting in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
January 31st - CBS airs a multi-Emmy-winning adaptation of Ernest J. Gaines' novel
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, which follows the 110-year life of a former slave from the Civil War to the Civil Rights Movement. Nichelle Nichols portrays the title role, winning much acclaim for her performance.
March 13th -
The Execution of Private Slovik airs on NBC. A made-for-television film, it told the story of Pvt. Eddie Slovik, the only American soldier to be executed for desertion since the Civil War.
March 18th - President of Desilu Productions, Lucille Ball and
Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry officially announce that pre-production on
Star Trek: Phase II has begun in earnest. Details will begin to emerge that Roddenberry hopes to have the show up and running for the fall of 1976, to honor the 10th anniversary of the original show.
April 5th -
The Dean Martin Show spins off to a ten year run of
The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast.
April 6th - “Waterloo” by ABBA of Sweden wins the Eurovision song competition, launching the band’s international superstardom.
Throughout the Summer - Tom Baker’s Fourth Doctor on
Doctor Who becomes beloved by the fan base for his portrayal of the Doctor as a whimsical, yet sometimes brooding individual whose enormous personal warmth is at times tempered by his capacity for righteous anger. Baker would play the role longer than any other actor to date.
September 10th - The controversial TV movie
Born Innocent, starring Linda Blair, airs on NBC. The film, which involved a fourteen-year-old being sent to what the television preview deemed a women's prison (when in reality it was a reform school), drew heavy criticism due to an all-female rape scene, the first ever seen on American television. The scene was deleted in subsequent re-airings after a group of girls assaulted an eight-year-old with a pop bottle, influenced by the scene in the film.
October 6th -
Monty Python’s Flying Circus, the world’s most popular sketch comedy show airs its final episode in the UK. A week later, reruns begin to be shown in syndication across the United States.
October 13th - Beloved American television variety show host Ed Sullivan passes away at age 73.
1974 in Sport
Super Bowl VIII - Miami Dolphins win 35 - 7 over the Minnesota Vikings.
Baseball
January 16th - Yankees Legends Whitey Ford and Mickey Mantle are inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. Mantle becomes only the seventh player to make it on his first try. His 536 career home runs with the Yankees were third all time behind Willie Mays and the immortal Babe Ruth, and he played in more games overall than any other pinstriper, including “The Iron Horse”, Lou Gehrig.
April - On opening day, Frank Robinson becomes Major League Baseball’s first African-American Manager. “The Greatest Living Ballplayer”, Joe DiMaggio moves from the the Los Angeles Dodgers to become the batting coach for his old team, the New York Yankees. His wife, Marilyn Monroe, and their adopted child, A. Percival Monroe move with him to the Big Apple.
The World Series - The Oakland Athletics, led by Outfielder Reggie Jackson, defeat Roberto Clemente’s Los Angeles Dodgers, 4 games to 1.
NBA Finals
The Boston Celtics win out over the Milwaukee Bucks 4 games to 3.
Hockey - The Stanley Cup
The Boston Bruins win 4 games to 2 over the Philadelphia Flyers.
- King Faisal of Saudi Arabia, acknowledged in the wake of the Oil Crisis of 1973 - 1974, caused by the Saudis withdrawing their oil from the world market in protest of western support for Israel during the Yom Kippur War.
Other Headlines, Through the Year
On September 20th the sixty-seven members of the Native American Kootenai tribe, headed by Amy Trice, declares war on the United States government as a final effort to gain attention to the tribe's loss of land and subsequent troubles. The war was peaceful and mainly involved charging tolls to pass through tribal lands near Bonners Ferry, Idaho along US Highway 95. They also distributed information to those passing through detailing the problems of the tribe. The war gained a lot of publicity for the Kootenai tribe and the US government gave the Kootenai 12.5 acres of land to end the war.
A nationwide 55 mph speed limit is imposed across the United States in order to conserve gasoline.
The Sears Tower in Chicago is finished - becoming the world’s largest building.
The Global Recession deepens, as inflation hits record highs as well.
The Global Population reaches 4 Billion people.
U.S. Ally India, under PM Indira Gandhi, successfully tests its first Nuclear Weapon.
Work begins on the 800 Mile Long Alaska Oil Pipeline.
Isabel Peron of Argentina becomes the World’s First Female President.
Next Time on Blue Skies in Camelot: The Iberian Peninsula Tastes Freedom Once More
I always appreciate when inaccuracies or errors are brought to my attention. I apologize for not being very thorough in my thinking and research for this topic.
