Friday, January 10, 2025: It's "Mid-Decade" Week - 1995

1995. 

There is this dark, depressed, cynical corner of my spirit that wants to tell you that these are the last of the good years.  That the post 9/11 world is really the dumps, and the world never really recovered.  There was a darkness that covered the land after that event, and it hasn't got any better.  It's just, maybe, our eyes have adjusted. 

1995 isn't only pre-9/11, it's pre Internet Revolution.  Or, at least, ground zero.  Microsoft released Windows 95, which revolutionized personal computing with its user-friendly interface.  Netscape Navigator became the leading web browser, popularizing the Internet for mainstream users.  Online retail began to take off, eBay was founded that year, and the Digital Versatile Disc (DVD) format was introduced, promising higher quality video and storage capabilities, eventually replacing VHS tapes.

It will still be many years away that we lose ourselves in our phones.  

1995 is, really, at it's heart, the last of the "before" times. 

Obviously, it was not a perfect world we lived in then, the Oklahoma City Bombing targeted the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, killing 168 people and injuring hundreds.  That was the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in U.S. history, and was also just the most recent link in a chain that went back to Waco, and Ruby Ridge before that. 

The Bosnian War, the first Gulf War, the Tokyo Subway Sarin Attack, hell, the OJ Trial were all part of the 1990s landscape.  But, still. 

At least we had the X-files, ER, Friends, Seinfeld and Twin Peaks.

How does that song go?

"Rose tint my world,
Keeps me safe from my trouble and pain."

Thanks for doing the Time Warp with me.  Again.

Thursday, January 9, 2025: It's "Mid-Decade" Week - 1985

1985. 

If you were there, you know.

If you weren't, then grab someone who was, and offer to by them a coffee.  

And then listen.

We have stories.

Wednesday, January 8, 2025: It's "Mid-Decade" Week - 1975

1975. 

In 1971, Jim Morrison sang the lyrics, "Let's change the mood from glad to sadness."  No turn of phrase better personifies that transition from the height of the 1960s, through to the middle of the 1970s. Turn out the lights, indeed. 

The Vietnam War officially ended on April 30 with the fall of Saigon. North Vietnamese forces captured the city, leading to the unification of Vietnam under communist control. But, as we well know, there were many who never stopped fighting that war.

August 8, 1974, President Nixon resigns. January,  1975, former chief of staff H.R. Haldeman, former domestic policy advisor John Ehrlichman, and former attorney general and Nixon campaign manager John Mitchell are tried and convicted of conspiracy charges arising from Watergate. In total, 41 people will receive criminal convictions related to the Watergate scandal.

Global Recession sets in, with the effects of the 1973 oil crisis lingering, and high inflation and unemployment affecting many parts of the nation, and the world.

The Malaise era, indeed. 

The upside, as always, is the music.  We are starting to see the birth pangs of Disco start to ring out, with hits like "Love to Love You Baby" by Donna Summer, and the above Patti LaBelle scoring big.

Punk rock and all its offshoots were emerging as a response to the perceived excesses of progressive and arena rock. Bands like The Sex Pistols and The Clash loom just over the horizon.

Led Zeppelin were arguably the biggest band on the planet.  And rightly so.

Southern Rock bands like Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Allman Brothers Band, and ZZ Top continued to gain traction and influence, Glam Rock was still thriving, with David Bowie, Elton John, and T. Rex making sure the music looked as good as it sounded. Hard Rock and Proto-Metal bands like Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, and KISS kept hard rock and heavy metal surging forward.  Meanwhile, folk rock artists and influences like James Taylor, Joni Mitchell and the Eagles were making sure everyone, at the end of the day, were having their own peaceful easy feelings.

Hot damn, 1975 was a pretty great year for music.

 

Tuesday, January 7, 2025: It's "Mid-Decade" Week - 1965

1965.  Wars, civil rights demonstrations, dramatic political developments, cultural milestones, and groundbreaking technological achievements.

It's all starting to kick off, now.

From the Selma to Montgomery marches, through to the U.S. dramatically increasing its involvement in Vietnam, from Bob Dylan going electric at the Newport Folk Festival, to the open salvos of the British Invasion, the blueprint for much of the movement and rhythm and upheaval of the late 1960s is starting to solidify. 

Don't forget the miniskirt, as worn by British Model Jean Shrimpton at the Melbourne Cup Carnival in Australia.  It's a gas, baby!

Musically, Rock and Roll hadn't been the same since The Day The Music Died, February, 1959.  And then Elvis left to enlist for the Army.  The void was filled, somewhat, by a group of nice, clean cut young men straight outta Hawthorne, California called The Beach Boys.  Surfing was boss, sure, but by 1965 it was clear that another group of lads were storming the shorts of America.  

What did Elton John sing?

"But the years went by and the rock just died,
Susie went and left us for some foreign guy"

That's exactly what happened.

 

Monday, January 6, 2025: It's "Mid-Decade" Week on CSOTD!

2025. Officially one quarter of the way through the 21st Century.  And half way through the Roaring 20s.  Well, the SECOND Roaring 20s, anyway.

Mid-Decade years are always interesting, they're that hump we cross over knowing that soon we'll be picking up a great head of steam rolling on towards the end of these ten year cycles. 

They are usually transitional years, but not in very obvious ways.  It's the end years, or the early years, of the decades that get all the glory.  1939.  1977.  1999.  2001.  But, I would argue, it the mid-decade  years where all the good views come into focus.  Thinking on that theme, this week we will be going through the mid-decade years of the 2nd half of the 20th Century, starting with the landmark year of 1955.

1955 was a transformative year, laying groundwork for major societal changes, technological breakthroughs, and cultural shifts that would shape the second half of the 20th century.  On the world stage, we saw the Cold War dominate geopolitics with The Warsaw Pact forming a mutual defense alliance among the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc countries to counter NATO.  The Soviet Union also launched Luna 2, the first spacecraft to reach the Moon, signaling a heating up of not only the Cold War, but ramping up the space race as well.

Here in the States, Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat to a white passenger in Montgomery, Alabama, on December 1. This act of defiance led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a pivotal moment in the fight against racial segregation.  The Civil Rights Movement would begin to rise to the forefront of the nations conscientiousness when Emmett Till, a 14-year-old African American boy, was brutally murdered in Mississippi in August.

In pop culture, 1955 was owned by Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, James Dean and Marilyn Monroe's iconic white dress from The Seven Year Itch. 

It wasn't the exact startling line for Rock and Roll, but it's on it's first lap around the track. It wasn't the peak of the Cold War, but it was putting all the pieces in place.  It wasn't the height of the Civil Rights movement, but it was laying the groundwork for everything that would be coming to light in the next few years. 

Sure, I could post Rock Around The Clock by Bill Haley & His Comets, but it's still a Monday, and I'm feeling more like I owe my soul to the company store than I am about rocking around that clock. 

And, as always, I'd love to be brought a dream.  Wouldn't that be swell?

Here's to 1955.

 

 

Wednesday, December 25, 2024: Band Aid - Do They Know It's Christmas?

1984.  

Forty years. The more things change, I guess.

Obviously, it's a product of it's time.  Yes, it's all white dudes singing the leads.

Yes, it's opportunistic and fairly condescending.

Yes, it accomplished almost nothing.

But, it certainly marked a time when thinking globally about issues was really coming to the forefront of peoples attitudes towards the news.  And, also, how people were beginning to think about how their lifestyle affected others on this planet, and lastly, how a global network of sound and vision was just starting to become a major player in how information was processed.  And disseminated. 

And, at the end of the day, at least they tried to affect change.  What have you done today?

Yoda can pound sand, trying matters.  And, here, at least someone started to try to help.

Anyway.  Merry Christmas, everyone.

 CSOTD will be taking an end of year hiatus, and we should be back on Thursday, January 2nd.

 Be safe, be well, take care, and have a great holiday season, everyone!

Tuesday, December 24, 2024: Carpenters - Silent Night

And now, Ladies and Gentlemen, the Carpenters.