1. Political and economic issues at the beginning of the decade
   1. The 1970's are often viewed as a decade of retreat.
      1. Key issues such as the Civil Rights movement, the peace/antiwar movement, and environmentalism were not resolved. The "New Left" in some respects lost its will to fight.
      2. Although society did not undergo a radical transformation as hoped or expected, some incremental changes remained.
      3. "Minority constituencies" did not lose the voices that they had gained.
   2. "The music industry, like the population at large, had been swept up in the political currents of the 1960s, as popular music was used to fuel every impulse from explorations of awakened sexuality and flights of psychedelic fantasy to furious discharges of political spleen. But the industry never lost its footing as an enduring capitalist enterprise." - (Garofalo, pg. 239)
      1. Contradictions between culture and commerce, music and markets, and authenticity vs. commerciality have always been present in rock.
      2. As a form of popular music, rock has always been bound to the music business.
   3. By 1973, the music business had become a $2 billion/year industry (approximately the size of the film and sports industries combined). Mergers, joint ventures, and distribution deals expanded the music business and consolidated the economic power. By 1974, the top four record companies accounted for over 50% of all records and tapes sold.
   4. Companies were diversified, both internally and externally.
      1. The same company might own several record labels, recording studios, pressing plants, distribution companies, record clubs, retail outlets, and even musical instrument companies.
      2. Technological advances in communications and electronics were often tied to the military, a connection which became problematic for artists. When Keith Richards of the Stones found out that Decca had diverted profits from the sale of the Rolling Stones records to chips used by the military, he said, "We found out, and it wasn't years 'til we did, that all the bread we made for Decca was going into making little black boxes that go into American Air Force bombers to bomb . . . North Vietnam. They took the bread we made for them and put it into the radar section of their business. When we found that out, it blew our minds. That was it. Goddamn, you find you've helped to kill God knows how many thousands of people without even knowing it. I'd rather the Mafia than Decca."
   5. Rock music has almost always been a mixture of stylistic elements.
      1. The incorporation of jazz, "classical," world music, and electronic sounds greatly expanded the boundaries of the genre.
      2. "Progressive rock" became a term for music that extended the boundaries.
      3. Initially, all these forms could be heard on the same radio stations, but gradually the industry began to target specific demographic groups.
2. Technological advances in the 70s
   1. FM Radio
      1. Early development of FM coincided with television - both use the VHF frequency range.
      2. The FCC eventually assigned FM the frequency range between 88 and 108 megacycles (between television channels 6 and 7); At the time, no transmitters or receivers were equipped for that range, and FM was effectively discarded for a time.
      3. In 1961, the FCC authorized "multiplexing," a process that allows 2 seperate signals to be broadcast simultaneously on the same channel. This allowed FM stations to broadcast in stereo.
      4. In 1965, the FCC ruled that FM programming in cities with a population of over 100,000 had to differ from AM programming at least 50% of the time. This facillitated the development of the AOR format, which promoted playing songs longer that the 3-minute AM top 40 standard.
      5. As particular FM stations became popular, however, they typically fell victim to marketing pressure to "play it safe."
   2. Synthesizers
      1. Initially built for laboratory/studio work, the early pioneers gave little thought to portability or even ease of use.
      2. Entrepreneurs such as David Van Koevering saw the potential for marketing "hard-wired," commercial synthesizers.
   3. 8 & 16 track recorders created new recording techniques and changed the established recording procedures.
   4. the "Rockman"
3. New styles of Rock
   1. Hard Rock - Led Zeppelin
   2. "Classical" rock - ELP, Yes, Alan Parsons
   3. A "Sweeter" soul - Stevie Wonder
   4. Fusion - Miles Davis, BS & T, Chicago
   5. "Pop" - Elton John
   6. Singer/Songwriter - Joni Mitchell
   7. Funk - Parliament, Funkadelic, Brothers Johnson
   8. Disco - Commodores, Donna Summer, Bee Gees
   9. Steely Dan, Heart, Doobie Brothers
4. The "Me" Decade
5. Rock as Art Music

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