1975 in Pop Culture - Is This The Real Life; Is This Just Fantasy?
Above: Her Majesty, Queen set the world on fire by becoming one of the hottest rock acts in history with their third studio album, A Night at the Opera this year.
Billboard’s Year-End Hot 100 Singles of 1975 (Top Ten):
- “Annie’s Song” - John Denver
- “Kung Fu Fighting” - Carl Douglas
- “Fox on the Run” - The Sweet
- “Bohemian Rhapsody” - Queen
- “Ballroom Blitz” - The Sweet
- “Dollar Bill Blues” - Townes Van Zandt
- “Killer Queen” - Queen
- “Stand By Me” - The Beatles
- “Rock & Roll All Nite” - KISS
- “Boogie On” - Stevie Wonder
News in Music
February 21st - The Beatles released their fifteenth studio album,
Photograph, to mixed reviews but wide commercial success. Critics praised Ringo and George’s increased contributions, including the album’s hit title track, but accused John and Paul of “phoning it in on this one”. Given John’s increasingly political attitude and Paul devoting most of his time to family life with wife Jane Asher and their children, as well as running the increasingly powerful Apple Records, many question whether it is time for the Beatles to call it quits and move on to other projects, though they predict a “lucrative career” for Ringo and George if this does happen.
Track Listing - Title - Songwriter(s) - Lead Vocalist
- “Photograph” - Harrison/Starr - Ringo
- “Jet” - Lennon/McCartney - Paul
- “You” - Harrison - George
- “Mind Games” - Lennon/McCartney - John
- “Whatever Gets You Thru the Night” - Lennon/McCartney - John & Paul
- “Tired of Midnight Blue” - Harrison - George
- “Always on the Run” - Lennon/McCartney - Paul
- “Scared” - Lennon/McCartney - John
- “You’re Sixteen” - Cover - Ringo
- “World of Stone” - Harrison - George
- “Nightmare #9 (This One is Real)” - Lennon/McCartney - John & Paul
- “Stand By Me” - Cover - John
March 2nd - Paul McCartney and his wife, Jane Asher, welcomed their second child, a daughter named Penelope or “Penny”, into the world.
March 21st - Beginning in Detroit, Michigan, Alice Cooper introduces an elaborate horror stage show to promote his album, Welcome to My Nightmare. It becomes an overnight sensation.
April 7th - Ritchie Blackmore plays his final live show with Deep Purple before joining with singer Ronnie James Dio to form a new band, Rainbow.
April 24th - Former Creedence Clearwater Revival frontman and lead guitarist John Fogerty has his first major solo success with the single “We the People” - a politically charged protest song criticizing the Bush administration for its harsh economic policies. The single even reaches the coveted #1 spot on
Billboard, something CCR had never managed.
May 1st - The Rolling Stones open their North American tour in Baton Rouge, LA. The show marks their first official live show with new rhythm guitarist Chris Dreja, formerly of the Yardbirds.
May 10th - Stevie Wonder performs for 125,000 people in front of the Washington Monument as part of the Human Kindness Day festivities.
June 20th - The Artistics, a new art rock group led by David Byrne and Chris Frantz, play their first show in New York City.
June 30th - Cher and KISS frontman Gene Simmons are married in a Las Vegas hotel suite. That same day, the Jackson 5 left Motown for CBS Records, but are forced to change their name to “The Jacksons” as Motown owns the “Jackson 5” name. Jermaine Jackson remains with Motown as his brothers break their contract, causing him to be replaced by youngest brother, Randy Jackson on bass.
July 4th - The Senate of the State of Texas declares the Fourth of July “Willie Nelson Day”, as more than 70,000 fans visit Liberty Hall for the third annual picnic and country rock show headlined by Texans Townes Van Zandt and Willie Nelson himself.
August 4th - Robert Plant, lead singer of legendary rock band Led Zeppelin and his wife, Maureen, are tragically killed in a car accident while vacationing on the Greek island of Rhodes. Stunned, the world of Rock pays tribute to the fallen icon and the remaining three quarters of Led Zeppelin are forced into an early retirement due to the loss. They were only days shy of Robert Plant’s 27th birthday. Nonetheless, his status as a “God of Rock” would only grow in the decades following his death, and gather a cult following around him and the band he left behind.
RIP Robert & Maureen Plant (1948 - 1975)
September 15th - Pink Floyd release their eighth studio album,
Wish You Were Here. Though the title track was actually written for Syd Barrett, their friend who tragically lost his mind through over-experimentation with LSD, Roger Waters added a last minute dedication to the album’s press - “In loving memory of Robert Plant - a dearly departed friend.”
October 7th - Elvis Presley releases “Promised Land”, a funky Rock cover of Chuck Berry’s hit song from 1965, scoring himself yet another number one hit. He, Ann Margret, and their daughters Lucille Marie and Anna Regina are named “America’s Family” in a headline story by Life Magazine.
October 9th - KISS earn free publicity for themselves by playing the homecoming dance of Cadillac High School in Cadillac, Michigan.
October 11th - Bruce Springsteen appears on the covers of both
Time and
Newsweek on the same week.
November 6th - The Sex Pistols play their first concert at St. Martin’s School of Art in London, UK.
December 25th - Heavy Metal Bassist Steve Harris forms the band Iron Maiden, taking their name from a medieval torture device mentioned in
The Man in the Iron Mask.
December 31st - Elvis Presley breaks the record for largest indoor concert attendance as he fills the Pontiac Silverdome and plays a concert attended by more than 78,000 screaming fans.
Rolling Stone declares, “Even as he nears his 41st birthday, Presley still cannot help but ooze sex appeal, charisma, and a seemingly endless stream of top quality Rock N Roll. Long live the King!”
1975 in Film - The Year’s Biggest
Jaws - Thriller. Directed by Steven Spielberg, based on Peter Benchley’s 1974 novel, and starring Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, and Mark Hamill. The film which practically invented the modern Hollywood notion of a “blockbuster”,
Jaws was also the film which launched Steven Spielberg’s career, arguably making it possible for him to direct 1977’s Superman and thereafter spawn the Superhero film as we know it.
Jaws redefined the way movie goers saw special effects, was renowned for its score by the immortal John Williams, and confirmed Mark Hamill’s status as one of the premiere rising stars in the film business. A hit in its most straightforward form,
Jaws quickly became the highest grossing movie of all time; it would not hold this distinction for long...
The Rocky Horror Picture Show - Musical/Horror/Comedy; Directed by Jim Sharman and starring Tim Curry and Susan Sarandon. The cult classic to define all forthcoming cult classics, Rocky Horror is a hilarious, beautiful tribute to the Sci-Fi and horror films of the 1930’s, 40’s, and 50’s, while also being a film about fluid sexualities, Rock N Roll, and doing the Time Warp, again. Though initially deemed “too explicit” for mainstream audiences, it nonetheless became the year’s second highest grossing picture and would be a mainstay of midnight viewings across the world for decades to come.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest - Comedy/Drama. Directed by Milos Forman, based on the 1962 novel by Ken Kesey, and starring Will Sampson as “Chief Bromden” and
Star Trek alumnus Leonard Nimoy as Randle McMurphy, a role he originally played onstage during the play adaptations broadway run in the late 60’s and early 70’s. Though Nimoy was initially seen as an “unusual” choice for the part, Father-son producers Kirk and Michael Douglas were won over by his screen test, in which he managed to shatter his “type casting” as a reasonable, logical character, like Spock. The film became one of the defining performances of Nimoy’s career, and made him one of the most celebrated actors in the country. The film would eventually sweep at the Oscars, winning 5 Academy Awards: Best Adapted Screenplay; Best Lead Actress for Louise Fletcher (who played the infamous Nurse Ratched and beat out Ann Margret, who was nominated for her role in
Tommy); Best Director; Best Picture; and Best Lead Actor for Leonard Nimoy.
Monty Python and the Holy Grail - Independent Comedy. Written, Directed, and Performed by the Pythons (Graham Chapman, Terry Jones, Terry Gilliam, John Cleese, Michael Palin, and Eric Idle);
Holy Grail would initially not be too big of a deal at the box office. Its legacy however, is undeniable. In the decades since its initial release, the film has become one of the most popular comedy films of all time, and served as a gateway for the Pythons and Gilliam especially into the world of feature length cinema.
News in Television and Film, Throughout the Year
January 3rd - The original run of
Jeopardy! Ends after almost 11 years and 3,000 episodes on NBC.
January 6th -
Wheel of Fortune airs its inaugural episode on NBC’s daytime schedule with host Chuck Woolery and assistant Susan Stafford.
March 26th - The film version of The Who’s
Tommy premieres in London.
May - Having begun working on a script for
Star Wars, a space fantasy film he hoped would be his masterpiece just after wrapping up
American Graffiti in 1973, Director George Lucas formed Industrial Light and Magic with his wife, Marcia. The company is designed to handle special effects for the new film as it enters development.
September 30th - The Muhammad Ali - Joe Frazier title fight from the Philippines (“The Thrilla in Manila”) is sent via satellite to the United States and shown on HBO.
October 21st - NBC broadcasts the now legendary 12-inning long sixth game of the 1975 World Series between the Boston Red Sox and the Cincinnati Reds. The game ends with Red Sox catcher Carlton Fisk's home run to send the series to a climatic seventh game. In what has now become an iconic baseball moment, the NBC left-field camera caught Fisk wildly waving his arms to his right after hitting the ball and watching its path while drifting down the first base line, as if he was trying to coax the ball to "stay fair". The ball indeed stayed fair and the Red Sox had tied the Series. (According to the NBC cameraman Lou Gerard, located inside the left field wall scoreboard, cameramen at the time were instructed to follow the flight of the ball. Instead, Gerard was distracted by a rat nearby, thus he lost track of the baseball and instead decided to capture the image of Fisk "magically" waving the ball fair). The game would go on to be ranked Number 1 in MLB Network's 20 Greatest Games of all time.
November - Sony introduces the Betamax video recorder in the United States, which comes in a teakwood console with a 19" color television set and retails for approximately $2,500.
November 23rd - Sneak Previews premieres in the United States, launching the careers of Film Critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert.
1975 in Sport
Super Bowl IX - The Pittsburgh Steelers, led by Quarterback Archie Manning go 28 - 7 against the Minnesota Vikings.
The following section was provided by
@AndyWho:
The Shift of the Draft
Ask where the fates of two of the NFL’s most notorious franchises (as well as many others) had their fates changed, and one would simply look back to the 1970 NFL Draft to chart the beginning.
The talk of the town that draft was over the top quarterback prospect in Terry Paxton Bradshaw (of Louisiana Tech) and out of the many teams with poor records, the Pittsburgh Steelers and Chicago Bears were tied 1-13 each. Settling the matter, the NFL Commissioner decided to leave the fate of the first overall pick to a coin flip. Other teams, ranging from the Green Bay Packers to the New Orleans Saints (Bradshaw’s fan team) attempted to cash in draft picks for a shot at the top pick (In a last second twist of fate, the Saints rescinded their trade of the 1973 1st round pick in exchange for further second rounders, along with the already offered 1st round picks).
With the stage set, the two teams chose their side; the Bears with heads, the Steelers with tails. Ed Rooney, upon allowing the decision to be called mid-air, thought he had the flip in the bag.
And then…
heads.
The Bears, elated with the realization, would go first overall and pick up the blonde bombshell from Shreveport (thanks to the shift, they would also pick up offensive guard Doug Wilkerson) and go on to set up a quiet, but promising season with Bradshaw sitting out the season while Jack Concannon. Following that 6-8 season, Bradshaw would begin for the Bears in 1971 to a decent, but sacked start of tied seasons, record sack numbers for Bradshaw, and some struggles of 7-7, 6-8, 5-9, 4-10, and 4-10 again. While the defense-strong team has been helped to that end, the addition of RB Walter Payton has given life for the Bears, posting a 8-6 record in 1975 and, with the build of pieces from OT Lionel Antoine to FB Roland Harper, begin a strong push for the Chicago Bears around their rocket arm QB in the hunt for the 1976 season.
The Steelers, devastated at the sudden turn of luck, would look ahead for the season as they traded the second overall pick to New Orleans in exchange for some trades, picking up CB Mel Blount, WR Ron Shanklin, and S Jake Scott. However, thanks to the ‘70 trade, the Steelers would get a starting QB in Archie Manning and FB John Riggins in a back-to-back draft pick in the first round alone. With the stability and team unifying around Manning, the hard-luck Steelers went from 3-11 in 1970 to 5-9 in 1971 and then, by 1972 (after gaining FB Franco Harris), going 11-3. While a stunning team, the Steelers seem to have suffered a bout of hard luck in the 1972 AFC Divisional when a perceived touchdown by Harris was instead ruled an illegal reception and a turnover to Oakland. The game, forever regarded as the “Immaculate Deception” was the cause of the Three Rivers Riot in Pittsburgh that saw damage and several injuries, but became the chip on the shoulder for the team as they would grow in 1973, 1974 and 1975. Much like Bradshaw, 1976 seems to be the year for Manning to finally overcome and win Pittsburgh a title. Even if it meant to getting some shine on TV alongside his DE Ed O’Neil.
As for the Saints, they would make a small victory in the end after finding tanking seasons under Phipps. Trading the QB to Houston, the Saints would make good on the effort with drafting hometown star Bert Jones and G John Hannah, but would have a long way to go with a team that found themselves still stuck in a rut and a stable, but flailing offensive line.
All in all, the day of the draft in 1970 would forever change the fate of two key franchises and set up one on a different path. Now, with Terry Bradshaw and Archie Manning in altered fates for the both of them, the two quarterbacks may end up in the Super Bowl before too long.
OOC: Thank you to AndyWho for this wonderful addition to the TL!
Baseball
World Series - In what is widely described as “the greatest World Series of all time”, the Boston Red Sox barely edge out the Cincinnati Reds in Game 7 to break the “Curse of the Bambino” and win their first championship in 56 years.
NBA Finals
The Golden State Warriors win 4 games to 0 over the Chicago Bulls.
Hockey - The Stanley Cup
The Buffalo Sabres defeat the Philadelphia Flyers, 4 games to 2.
Time Magazine’s Person of the Year - “American Women” - Represented by First Lady Barbara Bush, Associate Justice Carla Hills of the Supreme Court, Billie Jean King, Carol Sutton, Susan Brownmiller, Shirley Chisholm, and Senator Shirley Temple Black. With the ratification of the ERA as the 27th Amendment and naming of the first female Supreme Court Justice, it seems that women are finally on the road to equality.
Other Headlines, Throughout the Year
The Suez Canal re-opens for the first time since the Six Day War.
The “Green March” Occurs in Morocco.
350,000 unarmed Moroccans crossed the border into the Spanish controlled area of the Western Sahara demanding the return of Moroccan Sahara Desert following the death of Spanish Dictator Francisco Franco.
Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is convicted of electoral corruption, but Remains in Office due to her widespread popularity.
Inspired by Bill Gates and Paul Allen of new company Microsoft, Atari technicians Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak join up with Xerox to work at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, known as Xerox PARC. There, they will develop the world’s first modern personal computer in 1976.
Motorola Obtains a Patent for the first portable telephone.
Next Time on Blue Skies in Camelot: To Boldly Go to a Galaxy Far, Far Away...
