THE GREAT 70s PROJECT: 1970/71 Revisited

Between May and July 2017, Real Gone embarked on an ambitious audio project.   A huge library of streaming audio, ‘The Great 70s Project’ became one of the year’s most popular features.

The plan was to delve deep into the decade’s music, but dig much deeper than revisiting the hits.  We hoped that by presenting the hits alongside some fabulous album cuts and neglected b-sides, our look at the decade would create new favourites and also encourage listens to long neglected albums.

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The Great 70s Project: 1979

Looking back, the three years between the disco and pop oriented sounds of 1976 and the majestic jumble of influences that fill 1979 are a huge gulf. By 1979, disco was on it’s last legs, punk had firmly given airtime to what we now think of as new wave and the pop music of the day was about as strong as it had been since 1975.

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The Great 70’s Project: 1978

1977 saw a change on the UK music front as punk made a fairly grand entrance.  It wasn’t the giant new broom that revisionists will have you believe, as disco and pop still had a strong grip and the prog rock bands remained a fixture in the album charts.

Perhaps the greatest thing the punk movement brought was the idea that such energy could be used to create great three minute songs. In 1978, utilising the energies of punk and a firm grasp of radio friendly pop choruses, bands like Blondie and The Jam went from strength to strength.

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The Great 70’s Project: 1977

On December 1st 1976, UK TV history was made.  On Bill Grundy’s Today show, the Sex Pistols and a couple of their associated chums shocked a nation.  Their behavior was quickly seen as inappropriate for most of the 1970s public and by the time their interview concluded with Steve Jones calling Grundy “a fucking rotter”, things had moved from merely “inappropriate” to “causing outrage”.

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The Great 70s Project: 1976

The mention of 1976 for most people over a certain age in the UK will invariably invoke remembrances of one of the hottest summers on record. There’s more to the year than just drought, though. There’s disco, classic rock and pop.

It was also the year that punk broke into the mainstream.  A whole new world of music was born.

It was the year we checked into ‘Hotel California’ for the first time…and with it becoming a radio staple, true as the song’s tale, we never really left. Queen followed their ambitious ‘Night At The Opera’ with the equally grand ‘A Day At The Races’ and Jeff Beck continued his voyage into fusion with ‘Wired’.  As Real Gone’s Great 70s project reaches 1976, we take a dip into those classic albums and far more besides.

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