The MT Alternative Podcast
The MT Alternative Podcast is where music nostalgia meets sarcasm, humor, and the occasional political rant. Mike and Tom revisit the past, argue about the present, and never take themselves too seriously.
The MT Alternative Podcast
When America Turned 200: The Soundtrack of a Nation
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Step into a time machine to 1976, when America celebrated its bicentennial, bell-bottoms were wide, and the musical landscape was experiencing a revolution unlike any other. This vibrant year saw rock music expanding to fill stadiums while punk kicked down the establishment's door and disco seduced reluctant dancers across the country.
Mike and Tom share their personal connections to this transformative year with palpable enthusiasm, exploring how Boston's groundbreaking debut album, Queen's operatic masterpiece "Bohemian Rhapsody," and the Eagles' mysterious "Hotel California" created the soundtrack to their formative years. Their genuine excitement bubbles over as they recall discovering Kiss at age 9-13, marveling at Steven Tyler's vocal range on "Dream On," and forming air bands with friends to perform Bay City Rollers hits.
Beyond music, the hosts paint a vivid picture of 1976 America – a nation draped in patriotic red, white, and blue everything (including toilet paper!), where CB radios connected truckers and civilians alike, and innovations like Apple Computer were quietly changing the world. The conversation weaves through cultural touchstones from Rocky to Charlie's Angels, creating a rich tapestry of nostalgia.
The hosts don't just catalog songs; they reveal how these tracks became intertwined with their personal experiences, from first crushes to childhood dreams of rock stardom. Tom's confession about using country music and Dr. Hook to get through lonely summers on the farm stands alongside Mike's memories of cutting guitar shapes from wood – authentic moments that show how deeply music shapes our identities.
Ready to rediscover the year when Queen, the Ramones, and Donna Summer somehow shared the same cultural moment? Join us for this joyful deep dive into the music that defined 1976 and the people who loved it. Leave a message on our website at mtalpod.com – we'd love to hear your musical memories!
America's Bicentennial Year
Speaker 2Ah, yes 1976, america turned 200, people were still roller skating with actual enthusiasm and your dad was probably rocking a moustache that could shelter a small family of birds. Gas was cheap, bell-bottoms were wide and somehow, somehow, everyone was either listening to Queen, the Bee Gees or the Ramones, possibly all at once. It was the year rock went stadium size, punk kicked the door in and screamed and disco snuck in the back room with a glitter ball and a polyester suit whispering you will dance even if you hate yourself for it. Meanwhile, boston released one of the best-selling debut albums of all time, stevie Wonder dropped a masterpiece and people actually bought a single called Disco Duck on purpose. So today, mike and Tom are digging into the glorious chaotic mixtape. That was 1976, when FM radio ruled, record stores smelled like vinyl and incense and nobody knew what a TikTok was, because people actually talked. So turn up the dial, polish your platform shoes and get ready to argue about whether Hotel California is genius or just six minutes of rich guy problems.
Speaker 3It's 1976, and this is the MT Alternative Podcast all right, guys, before we start this uh podcast, tom and I would like to make a couple corrections. I myself don't know why I kept saying I was 13 years old last time, when I was 12 you're in a hurry to grow up.
Speaker 3I guess I was, but just wanted to say that 1975, Mike was only 12. Yep, so I just wanted that in. I repeated I was 13 many times. Hey, drugs are a strange thing, man. Tom, you wanted to make a correction A little more serious note than mine.
Speaker 4I did. The best friend I was talking about the last time it was uh, I said, was killed in a car accident, and I don't know why. I said that because and he wasn't killed in a car accident, he was killed uh ground trying to save a bunch of kids, uh as a police officer okay, okay, yeah. That was it. There's a big difference here, yeah, big difference and we just do a lot of different things during our podcast. That cause us to do some things, but Me forgetting my age.
Speaker 3What year? But anyways, folks. Well, back to our regular podcast. Yes, sir, welcome back to the MT Alternative Podcast. Tom, what the hell's going on?
Speaker 4bud. Not much, Mike. I'm excited about being here today.
Speaker 3It's 1976, my friend, it is. Wait a minute, you missed some what happened.
Speaker 4Did I take the brown acid? I believe you did. They told us not to.
Speaker 3Yeah, well, you.
Speaker 4Well, it was too late.
Speaker 3You were warned.
Speaker 4Yeah, that's right, I ate them before I ever paid for them.
Speaker 3That's all right, Sorry guy. As Cheech and Chon once said, or Tommy Chon once hope you're not busy for about a month, man, You'll be fine.
Speaker 4So anyways, here we are again, bud Yep 1976, bicent bud Yep 1976. Bicentennial year.
Speaker 3Bicentennial year 200th birthday of this great nation of ours. Hell yeah, america, america, america.
Speaker 4Yeah.
Speaker 3Right, good, great freaking music, tom. I'm going to be honest this pretty much. I loved all the music we've done up to this. Right. A lot of memories, different kind of memories but, as we were speaking earlier, 76 to probably 82, 83, pretty much the soundtrack of my youth. Those songs, these songs have a lot of memories, especially this year with you have to understand our.
Speaker 4our mental capacity grows as we do and the music that we're around just molds into us, and that makes us who we are.
Speaker 3That's what music is all about.
Speaker 4Like I said before, music is a universal language.
Speaker 3Absolutely Tom.
Speaker 4So I mean, everybody knows music.
Speaker 3Everybody loves music. Everybody loves music. Even if you have somebody or know somebody you don't really like, I guarantee you'll compromise on a song.
Speaker 4Or hear me out, if you've ever been watching Les Stroud, the guy that does Survivorman. He goes to these far off countries in the jungles Okay Well, they don't even know English, they don't know anything. But what do they do At the night? They light a big fire, right, music, music, it's all music.
Speaker 3All about music.
Speaker 4Yeah, even people who are away from our culture know about music.
Speaker 3Music. It's a universal language.
Speaker 4Yeah, see, see, that's what I told you.
Speaker 3Well, first of all work.
Speaker 4And see, but I do want to uh.
Speaker 3Well, first of all work. And yeah, you were.
Speaker 4I was trying to stay away from that, but okay you were a little sick this week.
Speaker 3Yeah, and I came up with a name when you left softy, that darren seems to like darren. Oh my goodness so darren softy when I told him that can I call him, that I go, I wouldn't. And then I said go ahead and call him. And he did, he shouted it out to you. He shouted it right out at me, didn't he?
Speaker 4You got to admit that was funny. That was kind of funny Coming from Darren.
Speaker 3I couldn't resist. Yeah, we're not going to talk about anything else at work. Was it that bad? You were a little worn out. It was a little hot.
Speaker 4Well, Monday and Tuesday, you know, this week I pulled probably more boxes than I've ever pulled before they had. There were so many different trucks sitting on the floor, Were you a little worn out, I was a little worn out.
Speaker 3Is that an understatement?
Speaker 4Yeah, but I made it through. I pecked away.
Speaker 3Yeah, the boxes do suck.
Speaker 4Well, I like them better rolls.
Speaker 3Yes, it's easier to dig those boxes out. Sure it is. I need that roll on the bottom there under these rolls that weigh 100 pounds.
Speaker 4Yeah, oh boy, anyway, yeah.
Speaker 3But back to our podcast. Hey, the music Bicentennial. I do want to talk about the bicentennial, Of course. What do you remember about it? We had on July 4th weekend 1976, I was at my uncle and aunt's camp. They were at Cedar Lake in Sturbridge, Mass Right, and I remember being there and a bunch of I hate to say it me and my friend Tim floating around in a little rubber wrap we had bought. Right yeah, my cousin in a bikini. I know that sounds weird.
Speaker 3But hey, I was what 13 years old people Give me a break? How?
Speaker 4old was he who, your cousin she, oh, oh, oh.
Speaker 3The bikini. This isn't 2025. I'm talking about.
Speaker 4This is the normal days.
Speaker 3Oh yeah, back in the 70s. I think about it now and I'm like what the hell was I doing? Looking at my damn cousin.
Speaker 4Well, I know what you were doing, because I was doing the same thing. Pretty sad.
Speaker 3But anyways, I remember the birthday parties it's the only people we knew being 13 and the music that came out. There was a lot of events. Everything was red, white, blue, marketing at the time. Oh man See, why can't we have that?
Speaker 4pride again, commodory.
Speaker 3I don't get it. Is that what it?
Speaker 4said Commodory.
Speaker 3Commodory, commodory.
Speaker 4Now you got me saying it wrong, yeah.
Speaker 3Well, anyways, you know what we mean, folks, yeah.
Speaker 4The togetherness.
Speaker 3Now let's get to the meat of the podcast, the music Brought meat. Yeah, that comes later.
Speaker 4Wait a minute. This happened before Dream. I'm not going there again. Wait a minute. Okay, I saw this on an episode of Criminal Minds.
Speaker 3Criminal Minds yeah, it's a different episode. So, first of all, if I want to read the music that defines 76, this is by some research I did and combined a bunch of different things, right, different sites. First we got Hotel California. Not in particular order, I'm just reading them this way Right, right, right. You had Hotel California by the Eagles. That was released in December. It captured the essence of 70s excess and disillusionment, which is obviously true. Bohemian Rhapsody, tom Hanging around. Great frickin' song.
Speaker 4Did we not talk about this last time? Yep.
Billboard's Top 40 Hits of 1976
Speaker 3They released it in 75, but that song was still kicking in 76. It's amazing, just wild. It came in late 1975, but it charted in 76.
Speaker 4But let's talk about what it really talks about.
Speaker 3I mean, it's a system and we're not going down this road again, are we? No, no, okay, I was a little nervous.
Speaker 4No, I'm just saying the fact that he sang a song that was about a certain thing, that just lasted and just tore people's hearts.
Speaker 3I believe it's your first rock opera.
Speaker 4Yeah, opera, opera.
Speaker 3That's the key word here. It could basically be a play.
Speaker 4Because you've got to think about plays. You know, every play has Every play. Every play has a death. Look at Romeo and Juliet. Romeo and Juliet, yeah, play has a death Like. Look at Romeo and Juliet.
Speaker 3Romeo and Juliet yeah that was tragic. Dancing in the light.
Speaker 4Yeah, I remember those. Hey, this is about music, it is, but you have to think about things that happened back in the day that you know that were tragic. All these plays were about tragic. Yeah, a lot of them, yeah. All right let's move on to how it stood out.
Speaker 3Don't Go Breaking my Heart by Elton John and Kiki D. That was a big hit. They played that a lot on the radio.
Speaker 4They did.
Speaker 3Disco Donna Summers yeah, donna Summers. The Bee Gees yeah, pretty much, just pretty much. Next year we'll be talking about Saturday Night. Fever came out, the Bee Gees. Saturday Night Fever and Disco was big then. I even remember these little disco plays. I wasn't going to them then popping up everywhere, even where we lived. We had Punk Rock, the Ramones. They released their debut album in April of 76.
Speaker 4What was the big song for them?
Speaker 3There's a lot of good songs, but they're all. I like the Ramones. I'm not going to lie, I always liked the Ramones, simple.
Speaker 4Three chords Yep.
Speaker 3They rocked, they had the Sex Pistols dropped. Anarchy in the UK Big song.
Speaker 4Can we say that?
Speaker 3Then America's bicentennial band Boston released their self-titled debut album one of the best-selling debut albums of all time and of course I'll be discussing that later in the podcast Right, one of my favorite albums ever. Right Pretty much started off my soundtrack to my life. But from there, what are your thoughts? And this isn't our list, people. No, this is something we pulled up A bunch of different sites all put it together for us.
Speaker 4I just have to.
Speaker 3I mean, they're all good. Everything we talked about here Exactly. Whether you like the Sex Pistols or not, they had some good songs. Yes, strange Band, yes, sure, they did Real punk too.
Speaker 4But the main thing I take away from this opening segment is the bicentennial year. It was everything, even toilet paper. Toilet paper was red, white blue, twinkies, red white blue, yep, yep and just everything. Beer packages.
Speaker 3I mean everything.
Speaker 4Yeah. Yeah, it was just an amazing year Because we Now you were what? Nine years old, I was nine, nine, I was nine. A lot of things happened when I was nine, you know. Do tell Well there are certain things that you're. You have older brother, baby no.
Speaker 3No, no, I am the oldest.
Speaker 4You're the older brother. Okay, so I'm talking to you.
Speaker 3I had a friend of mine that was a little older than me. That was my big brother. Oh, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4But you had a younger brother. Yes, okay, remember what you used to do to him. Yes, here, try this. Well, my brother Believe it a lot.
Speaker 3I was a lot nicer.
Speaker 4My brother, who was born in 1960. Okay, okay, so he was seven years older than I was, and when he was 16 and I was nine, oh, he was only 16. Well, yeah, he was. But you have to understand, I was around him a lot because you know, we ran together and when his friends and they got out, they were teenagers.
Speaker 4They had the little brown paper bags, if you know what I mean Right right and so I was interested and they thought it was funny and so that was my first introduction to any kind of herbal I gotcha I gotcha, yeah, yeah I was a little later.
Speaker 3Yeah, maybe was smoked a few butts and had a few beers at this age of 13. Won't lie about that.
Speaker 4But yeah, we had a great time in 76. It was just something that you remember when you're growing old.
Speaker 3Now, any of these groups or songs that I brought up, you got a jingle. Is there any songs that? Of course, we're still going to be talking music and we're going to be fluctuating back and forth with nostalgia, right, right, right.
Speaker 4But anything that you want to talk about as far as music and, well, the hotel california thing, was great, it was just something. Great album. Okay, you have to understand. At nine years old, when this came out, right, I heard it because of the people I was, I was around, but when you're nine, you don't understand the words and why it is.
Speaker 3All you hear is you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth.
Speaker 4Nobody understands the words coming out of my mouth, thanks, but anyway, you get into this thing and things mean more to you when you're older than they do when you're younger. So we didn't get the full concept of the song until I was older. I didn't. Okay, you know, right, hotel California. Then you get the concept of the song when you're a teenager and you're like, wow, now we're getting into this music. But that'll come later. But this is what you think about when you're nine. You know you hear, stab it with their steely knives, but they can't kill the bees.
Speaker 3It scares you. Well, the part that scares me is you can check out any time you want, but you can never leave. Yeah, like that what I want to do now, quickly. Okay, I'm just going to read the top 40. Gotcha, we don't have to elaborate on it. I just want to talk about the read the top 40.
Speaker 4Sure, is there anything that you want?
Speaker 3to talk about in here. We'll do that. That's fine, but just to. I mean we've been doing the top 40 for every other year, yeah.
Speaker 4We might as well do it here.
Speaker 3So let's start from 40 and work backwards. Okay, all by myself, eric Carman.
Speaker 4Eric Carman. No, not Carman. Oh okay, no South Park, yet Cartman.
Speaker 3Lonely Night, angel Face Captain and Tennille. Turn the Beat Around Vicki Sue Robinson.
Speaker 4Oh yeah, there's that disco.
Speaker 3Yeah, there it is Dream Weaver Gary Wright. Freaky song as I got a little older and was doing other things that song kind of spaced me out.
Speaker 4Well, that's what it was for. Let your.
Speaker 3Love Flow the Bellamy Brothers.
Speaker 4Bellamy Brothers yeah, Good song Good song, good song.
Speaker 3They got a lot more that I never knew, that you told me about. We got Dr Hook Only 16 at 35.
Speaker 4That's one of my songs this week.
Speaker 3Moonlight Feels Right. Starbuck at 34. Golden Years, David Bowie at 33. You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine. Lou Rawls, you Should Be Dancing. They're the Bee Gees. Yeah, you Should Be Dancing. Love, Roller Coaster. Ohio Players Also, let's see, I think, Chili Peppers.
Speaker 4Chili Peppers. Yeah, I kind of did a version yeah.
Speaker 3Theme from Swat Rhythm Heritage. Right back where we started, from Maxine Nightingale Sweet Love Commodores.
Speaker 4Shake, Shake, Shake, Shake your Booty Casey and the Sunshine Band, yeah, yeah guys.
Speaker 3Great song Take it to the Limits, eagles.
Speaker 4Oh, the Eagles yeah.
Speaker 3Get Up and Boogie. That's right. Silver Convention. I remember them. Love Hurts Nazareth, you Sexy Thing. Hot Chocolate, I'd Really Love to See you Tonight. England Inn, john Ford Colby.
Speaker 4Which we were just talking about, Every day one of the good songs of theirs.
Speaker 3Boogie Fever. The Silvers, misty Blue, dorothy Moore, bohemian Rhapsody Queen.
Speaker 4One more more.
Speaker 3Andrea, true Connection. How do you like it? More, more, more, get Closer Seals and Crofts. Love Hangover Is Get.
Speaker 4Closer Seals and Crofts Love Hangover. Is that anything like a hippie hangover?
Speaker 3Kind of close. I think they go together. Hippies.
Speaker 4Love, yeah, Fly.
Speaker 3Robin Fly Silver Convention Up Up to the Sky.
Speaker 4I Write the Songs. Barry Manilow, that was my theme song for many years.
Speaker 3Yeah, you thought you wrote all the songs.
Speaker 4I do write all the songs.
Speaker 3Afternoon Delight and Vocal Band hey.
Speaker 4So we're moving on Sarah Smile, daryl Hall and John Oates.
Speaker 3That got me that surprised me A Fifth of Beethoven, walter Murphy and the Big Apple Band. Love is Alive, gary Wright. I just want to read these. Right, let's see. Gary Wright, 50 Ways to Leave your Lover. Paul Simon. Love Machine. Part One, the Miracles. Kiss and Say Goodbye to the Manhattans. Play that Funky Music. Wild Cherry, december 1963, oh what a Night. The Four Seasons that Was a Good Song. Disco Lady. Johnny Taylor, number 2, don't Go Breaking my Heart, elton John and Kiki D and Number 1, silly Long Song Wings. Now, this was all based off Billboard at year end Hot 100 singles chart, not our songs, right? This is from Billboard Question. Okay now.
Speaker 4Silly love songs first.
Speaker 3Okay, the Wings, Paul McCartney.
Speaker 4Was it Paul McCartney and Wings, or just Wings?
Speaker 3It might have been just Wings at this time.
Speaker 4Might have been.
Speaker 3Yeah. Okay, I was just wondering because it doesn't mention Paul McCartney. No, no, it does usually say Paul McCartney Wings, but that's something I didn't think.
Speaker 4And the other thing that got me was coming from a past that I did. I mean, I knew everything, but I didn't realize that Daryl Hall and John Oates were out before 80s.
Speaker 3That's because you were still a young lad? Yes, I was, and you probably didn't hear those songs besides Maneater.
Speaker 4Must have been because of my brother introducing me to the herbal essence when I was so young.
Speaker 3You were young I was nine. Yeah, you were probably listening to the wrong music at nine.
Speaker 4There was no wrong music at nine.
Speaker 3No, nah, none at all.
Speaker 4Well, disco Duck kind of was wrong, but Right, don't you agree?
Speaker 3Stupid.
Speaker 4Well, there you go.
Speaker 3Wild Cherry was funny because I think that story's hilarious when they're playing some funky music. White boy somebody yells from the crowd. So the guy took that, went home, wrote a song. There it is. Imagine that that's pretty fucked up. Somebody yells at you. Play some funky music, white boy, you know what? I think I'll make up a song for that. Their only hit.
Speaker 4I'm going to make a hit.
Speaker 3That's some good music there. Good top 40. Of course you and I have there's a couple on there we both like but you and I have some difference in what we picked.
Speaker 4Well, of course you know, and everybody knows, that Bohemian Rhapsody stands out.
Speaker 3It doesn't matter what kind of music you like. If you didn't like that back in the day you got something wrong with you. You have definitely something wrong with you.
Speaker 4But you mentioned one of my favorite songs from that era, which was Only 16, by Dr Hood. Yes, but once again, I remember out on the farm the only thing I had was eight-track tapes and myself and of course I pretended like I was in a big concert and singing and all that stuff and I was part of the band. You know how you do.
Speaker 3I used to cut shapes of guitars out of wood, put a board on it and have to come playing a guitar in front of a mirror until I actually got a real guitar. But anyways, I did stupid shit like that, you know. Let's get into the fashion and culture.
Speaker 4I don't want to.
Speaker 3Yeah well, we were having fun with this outside. So let's see, we had bell bottoms and platform shoes. We're still in the radio. I've had bell bottoms, not platform shoes.
Speaker 4I've had both.
Speaker 3Yeah, that's ridiculous. Well it was. Why would you wear platform shoes?
Speaker 4Because it made me look a lot taller. Number one and number two I looked like those kids on Fout Albert the kid with the big platform shoes, the bell-bottoms.
Speaker 3I thought they all wore pretty much bell-bottoms. Hey, hey, hey, alright. Bicentennial fashion, red white, hey, all right, bicentennial fashion. Red, white and blue designs became part of everything from socks to leisure suits. Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 4Even toilet paper.
Speaker 3Toilet paper. Yes, yes, yeah, red, white and blue ass.
Speaker 4Well.
Speaker 3No, yeah, well, it could stain.
Speaker 4Well, it could you?
Speaker 3they use the wrong ink.
Speaker 4Well, speaking of ink and assholes, did you see the picture of?
Speaker 3Tiger King, let's not go there, let's not go there. All right, mood rings and pet rocks are still lingering from 75.
Speaker 4I remember a mood ring.
Speaker 3Yeah, those are goofy as fuck.
Speaker 4Yeah, well.
Speaker 3They still sell those.
Speaker 4I bought my mother one that's oh. So I could always tell what kind of mood she was in when I came to ask her shit. I'd look at the ring and I'd be like ooh.
Speaker 3Not a good time. Not a good time. Cb radios are massive yeah they were, they rise their trucking culture. Smoking the bandit.
Speaker 4CW McCall. I had a handle on the CB when my dad had a CB in his car. Cb when my dad had a CB in his car.
Speaker 3What was your handle?
Speaker 4Blue deer, you blew a deer.
Speaker 3No, oh wow, that's like an Indian name or something. We call you blue deer.
Speaker 4Yeah, blue, you blew a deer. No blue as in the color. Oh Color blue, okay, deer. My dad, he was blue goose and this is why.
Speaker 3Funny story. I want to say something so bad? No, but out of respect for your dad, I will not. Well, I respect my dad, I'm getting ready.
Speaker 4Nope, nope, nope, blue Goose, I respect my dad so much I'm going to tell you this story when he was in prison.
Speaker 3Okay, your dad was in prison For a while. Jail or prison. Okay, your dad was in prison For a while. Jail or prison. Prison oh Jesus Tom.
Speaker 4Yeah, well, anyway, that's another story. But there was a bus that hauled the camp around and it was called the Blue Goose. What camp? The prison camp, you mean?
Speaker 1it hauled they hauled them to wherever they had to work that day, okay, okay.
Speaker 3And it was called the Blue Goose, so my dad said his CB handle was the Blue Goose.
Speaker 4He brought that with him, I guess, but funny story.
Speaker 3Now it's your turn to tell a humiliating story. I have no humiliating stories, you don't? They were all great. Yeah, I remember what we were going to bring up.
Speaker 4But you said we're not bringing that up. So I'm not going to Remember. Earlier in the week we were talking and you said, no, we're not bringing that up.
Speaker 3I said I'm going to bring it up. I did. I looked at my cousin.
Speaker 4That was it. Was it that was a story? No, there's more to the story than that.
Speaker 3Do tell.
Speaker 4Wasn't there. Yeah, anyway, refresh my memory I thought your cousin was a guy when you told that story. No, it was my cousin, she's a girl. Okay, you said bikini.
Speaker 3I wasn't sure. I told you there was 76, not now, oh, okay.
Speaker 4Not this time. Anyway, back to the story.
Speaker 3I mean, is there something else that remind me?
Speaker 4if there's something else that I said, oh, no, no, no, no, I was just going back.
Speaker 3Oh, okay, I was just going back, I might have said something at work, I don't know.
Speaker 4No, no, I don't remember anything other than that. I just I had forgot. You already mentioned the cousin.
Speaker 3That was my weird little thing. It's like I said my cousin, what the hell? Yeah, sorry. Anyways, technology and innovation, all my cousins were boys, sorry, Apple Computer Company was founded in April 1976 by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. Apple Computer released retailing for 666.66.
Speaker 4That's no joke. Well, of course it did. It had a symbol of the first sin.
Speaker 3Why the number of the beast?
Speaker 4Well, because it had the symbol of the first freaking sin on it with the apple, the apple got the bite taken out of it. Eve did it. She ruined the world. Women, weirdos, man, nope, let's back up.
Speaker 3Let's edit that. How about NASA's Viking 1 successfully landed on Mars and sent back the first clear images of the Martian surface? Not a man was on Mars, a machine Right People go. We were never on.
Speaker 4Exactly.
Speaker 3We can get into all those conspiracy theories.
Speaker 4Another time the moon landing, blah, blah, blah.
Speaker 3The Concorde jet remember that, yeah, jet freaking began. Passenger flights. Supersonic commercial travel became a reality. I don't even think they're in service anymore now.
Speaker 4No, they're not.
Speaker 3I don't believe, so I think they had some problems yeah well that big Scotland airplane crashed. Okay, I thought that was shot down, maybe Well they thought yep, they thought maybe.
Speaker 4Okay, but that's what happened to the Concord.
Speaker 3That's what happened then.
Speaker 4No.
Speaker 3Okay, how about politics and social change? Jimmy Carter was elected president November 1976.
Speaker 4Gerald Ford, wasn't he Defeating Gerald Ford? Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3Jimmy Carter, Poor guy, Ended up being a lame-deck president man because of that fucking hostage crisis and all that shit.
Speaker 4Yeah, he got a bad one and he had old Billy Billy Beer. I had a six-pack of Billy.
Speaker 3Beer Friends of mine had that shit too.
Speaker 4I kept one can for like eight weeks.
Speaker 3And you couldn't resist, you had to open it.
Speaker 4I had to open it and it was skunk, you had to dump it out. Chunky had to dump it out, damn it.
Speaker 3So you didn't refrigerate it or keep it cool it was Billy Beard.
Speaker 4You shouldn't have had to.
Speaker 3Let's see we had post-Vietnam and post-Watergate era. Americans were skeptical but also idealistic, especially during the Bicentennial. See again, the Bicentennial brought people together man it did.
Speaker 4Everybody was together.
Speaker 3I miss that shit.
Speaker 4I do that shit.
Speaker 3I do too. Feminist movement, not to be confused with what they call the feminist movement now. The women back then had a right to whatever.
Speaker 4Still growing.
Speaker 3Discussion of equal rights amendment and more women entering public life.
Speaker 4Sure, they wanted to work, let them work. They wanted to vote Let them vote Exactly.
Little Dudes Segment
Speaker 3So let's see we could continue on. Or do you think now we should take a little break? Let the little dudes in and I'm with you.
Speaker 3Because I got more to say after. But I mean we could do this whole podcast. We could do it. Yeah, I figure we'd give it some space. Let the little dudes come in. We'll discuss more of our music. Sure, if folks, we're going to take a little breaky-poo, we're going to let the little dudes come in. Hopefully we hear something good out of them Decent. I know Pip will be a little prepared Squeak, he's a mess. I don't even know if Troy's brought him in.
Speaker 4We really don't never know what Squeak might have coming.
Speaker 3I did hear the helicopter earlier.
Speaker 4Well, one of them showed up, then At least.
Speaker 3You know Pip takes that Uber. He loves his Uber. But anyways, folks, we'll be right back. Tom and I got to do a little porch time and hope you enjoy this episode.
Speaker 4Thank you.
Speaker 1Hello, squeaky. What's up? What's up, Pip? Not much. What have you been up to? Oh, about four foot two. Oh, what do you think of this episode? This time, I think this is kick-ass. Man, what episode?
Speaker 11976 music, I mean, oh, 1976. Oh, yeah, well, well, we weren't around then, but that was some good music. That was good music, all right. Okay, what's the problem? No problem. Well, you sound like there's a problem. Well, I have a question. Okay, what's the problem? No problem. Well, you sound like there's a problem. Well, I have a question. Okay, go ahead.
Speaker 1How do you make music on a CB radio? It was just a song Squeak. It was the most popular song in that show. Exactly why? Because it was different. Yeah, because you want to break the law with a big old truck. No, no, cb radios were big. You know, there's a reason. What? Why do you get a fine fault with everything? There's a reason that they're outlawed. You have to have different stuff now to have a radio.
Speaker 1Okay, what about Smokey and the Bandit? They used CBs. They were outlaws. They were just trying to get beer somewhere. Yeah, that didn't have beer. Well, people wanted their core's beer. Yeah, south of the Masonics line. What's wrong with that? I don't think so. It was against the law. Oh, but moonshine was okay. No, it wasn't okay. Oh well, they let it be, they didn't let it be, they just couldn't find it. Oh, that's the difference. Well, obviously they couldn't catch Smokey and the Bandit either. Well, did you see that dumbass that was chasing him? I mean Bandit, not Smokey, was chasing Bandit, you know what I mean Did you see that dumbass that was chasing him?
Speaker 1What a smart sheriff. I'm a son of a bitch. What about his son? Yeah well, he was getting married. Remind me, when we get home I'm gonna slap your mama. Yeah, the son was an idiot. Yeah he was a dumbass, but okay.
Speaker 1Besides that, what was the problem with the episode? An episode, is that what you're calling it? I think Mike and Tom did a spectacular job, okay. Well, let's just talk about some things at a time. Whoever the hell heard about stealing parts from a car dealership? Johnny Cash did. He was in prison. Okay, so he knew people. Well, he shot somebody just to watch him die. That's pretty funny. Well, it's funny. It might be, but it's scary. Why I don't want to be the guy he wants to watch die? Well, you know what? That tells me. Fuck around and find out. See, that's what happens. Well, see, okay. Well, there you go. That tells me Fuck around and find out. See, that's what happens. Well, see, okay. Well, there you go.
Speaker 1There's no problem, it's a song. Squeak, okay. Well, it's just a damn song. It was scary. What are you scared of? You're never scared of anything. Speaking of, how was the helicopter ride, were you in the chopper or out of the chopper? He let me in because it was raining. When was it raining Up in the sky? Where else would it rain? There's no rain here, no, but when I came in, it was raining. I took a ride in a beautiful Uber convertible.
Speaker 2It was awesome.
Speaker 1Did you the sun was shining? Yeah, sky was blue. Did you the sun was shining? Yeah, sky was blue. Birds were singing. Then ATF came around the corner and busted all y'all. No For soliciting sex, probably Cadillac. What are you talking about? I've been in those before. I know what movie you're talking about. I wasn't a movie. I was in an Uber, yeah, driving to the studio. That's not what the name of the movie was, but I remember. But I wasn't in a movie. You got a free ride.
Speaker 2Are you tripping?
Speaker 1Nope, I'm just saying you got a free ride. We all know how. Uh hey, uber, you're insinuating something I don't like. Yeah, well, I don't like helicopter rides either, but I bring one every day. Listen, you bitched, you had to drive here. You bitched about the gas prices. Now you're going to chop a ride in Troy's. Very nice to do that. I still don't know why. Troy, troy. Yeah, I went to his daughter's wedding. No, no, no, no, no. Um, I don't believe this. Yeah, last weekend his daughter got married. Wait, a minute, I went there. I don't remember Mike and Tom talking about that. That's because they weren't involved. How were they not involved? They worked for Mike and Tom. Well, there's certain situations where we have Wait a minute, wait, stop, stop, stop, stop. I asked you a couple weeks ago. I said you guys are best friends and you said nope, we're acquaintances. Yeah, nobody invites an acquaintance to a wedding, especially their daughters. Sure, they do. No, no, no, no, no, no. I don't like this. I don't like where this is going.
Speaker 1Okay well, anyway, anyway. Okay, he asked me to sing a song at his daughter's wedding.
Speaker 2Oh my God, this is getting worse.
Speaker 1Yeah, well, at his daughter's wedding. Oh, my God, this is getting worse. Yeah, well, at his daughter's wedding. And so I sang, never mind. Anyway, he wasn't happy about what I sang. I want to know what you sang. Squeak, what do you mean? What did you sing? I sang a song. Oh, it was a song. Well, it was his daughter's wedding, right, and evidently he took, he took offense with the song. What was the song? Please don't tell me. It was heard it from a friend.
Speaker 1Nope, can't always get what you want. Anyway, that was a good song. I know that song. That's not a good song for a wedding, but I can sing good song. I know that song. That's not a good song for a wedding, but I can sing that song really good. Think about it. Think about it. Sit back for a minute, don't say anything. Think about what you sang and where you were at. Okay, okay, I sang. You can't always get what you want. Why would you sing that at a wedding? Because I'm good at it. Okay, at a wedding, people love each other. Getting married, that's stupid. You're saying to somebody Well, first off, first off, first off. Why would you be getting married to somebody so sensitive that they don't want me to sing. Can't always get what you want it, it, it it does. And, and furthermore, I don't understand why the police were called. I didn't get that part. Wait a minute. So all this happened and Troy still gave you a ride here, today.
Speaker 1Well, sure, troy understands everything. No, no, no, no, something happened. What did you do with Troy? What do you mean? What happened to Troy? Nothing happened to Troy. Troy would have. No, you did that at his daughter's wedding. He would not have. He won't forgive you for that, but he wasn't there. It was his daughter's wedding. That was a different thing that we had. I told him we were going to and he went there instead, but it was a misunderstanding. Oh, wow, wow. It kind of got all mixed up. I was there, I helped out. You gave him false information. No, no, no, he misunderstood. I think he did it on purpose. Squeak, what misunderstood. Yeah, I did misunderstand on purpose. I think. What misunderstood. Yeah, yeah, I did misunderstand on purpose. I think I'm going to talk to Mike and Tom and see what the hell's going on here, because, uh, have you talked to them people? They don't have a damn clue what's going on.
Speaker 2All right.
Speaker 1I understand Tom and Mike might be a little slow. Well, they don't listen to the right music.
Speaker 2I thought all their music was excellent.
Speaker 1One piece at a time didn't cost me a dime. But you damn cheapskate, go out and buy a car, don't steal it, maybe. Over the years, maybe because he was in jail, he didn't have money. How are you going to steal a car from jail?
Speaker 1He got out of jail and then stole a car. No, no, no, he didn't steal a car. He stole parts and built the car. That's different, one piece at a time. What a dumbass. But I wonder how long it took him in all reality? Well, if you listen to the song, it took 45, 55, 55, 65, 65, 65, 85 automobile. You know all that shit. There's more parts than that though. Well, yeah, was he taking more than one piece at a time? Well, sure, oh, okay. Well, his lunchbox would only carry certain. But here's my question how do you fit an engine? Yeah, how do you fit an engine? That's what I want to know. Where do? But here's my question how do you fit an engine?
Speaker 2Yeah, how do you fit a?
Speaker 1damn car door in there. That's what I want to know. Where did the heads go? I think they're lying, cass, yeah, something's up. Where is the Wait? You've got to put the block somewhere.
Speaker 1Okay, so we're understanding that 1976 was a big illusion, right, that song, but it was still a good song. They were all on drugs, everyone, okay, what about that group? Boston? More than a feeling. Okay, well, they hit it right. One group out of the whole damn clan.
Speaker 1Kiss, more than a feeling. Hey, you went and saw mini kiss, what. You went and saw mini kiss, mini kiss. So you like kiss? Well, listen, because I dated a midget, don't mean you can holler oh, you had a mini kiss, oh you what? No, no, you went and saw a mini kiss. Oh, those little fellas. Yes, just like kiss. No, no, you wanted to get on stage with them. I did not go to them. You wanted to be on stage with them and play your air guitar. I did, but they wouldn't let me, so I didn't. Okay, so that's why you're upset. I boycotted them, bitches. So you're upset about that? No, not anymore. I don't know. Squeak, you know, every week it's something with you and I like being something, and I'll tell you right now. I'm going to get to the bottom of this Troy and his daughter wedding thing.
Speaker 2I heard about you getting to the bottom of stuff.
Speaker 1You can make fun of me, all you want. Yeah, with your cousin. Something's not. Leave my cousin out of it. Well, I'm not the one who told him to wear a bikini, it's a her. Oh, and don't confuse me with Mike. Oh, yes, I looked at my cousins too, but that's Mike and this is me. That's different. Okay, two different things. I got you All right, so I guess that'll do it for this episode. Yeah, this episode kind of went south pretty quick. Yeah, always going south with you Squeak. Anyways, folks, until next time later, see ya, see ya.
Speaker 3Until next time later. See ya Squeak. Well, Squeak's always been the issue, Always been the issue. I thought he'd be over this by now, but sometimes he just seems angrier. He has his good moments.
Speaker 4He does. He does when he's asleep, right, he's like an infant.
Speaker 3Yeah Well, you know what Hell with him. Let's get back to what we want to talk about.
Speaker 4Yeah, music, this is about us.
Speaker 3Anyway, you have a list of songs, Tom, that you would like to discuss.
Speaker 4I enjoyed most of the songs that we've talked about already, and I'd like to bring up Dr Hook again.
Speaker 3Not a problem.
Speaker 4Dr Hook was big back then. Yeah, surprise, hey, that's what you're into One of my biggest bands. This is what this is about, yep.
Speaker 3And you're not the only one that's into Dr Hook.
Speaker 4But they did come out with one of the biggest songs in 1976, which was she Was Only 16. We all remember that song.
Speaker 3Yeah, why is an older man singing? She Was Only 16?.
Speaker 4We don't really know how old he was. He sounds older, well he sounds older now.
Speaker 3Is he singing it from someone else's perspective? Probably, I hope so me too.
Speaker 4Okay, yeah, that would make me feel a lot more. That was part of the hippie hangover that would make me feel a lot better about the band, if, if he was singing something else. But yeah, but that was one of my songs and it just takes me back to when I was the summers living with my sister and her husband and out on the farm and I had nothing to do. These are the guys that she had on eight track got you through your day yep, that's what listen to.
Speaker 4That's what this is about. Pretending I was a big rock star and singing I was the only one in the house so I could do anything I wanted and not look like an idiot.
Speaker 3Who cares? But I know what you mean. We have our secret moments.
Speaker 4I probably still look like an idiot, but I don't know that. Anyway, nobody else did either I don't know that.
Speaker 3Anyway, nobody else did either. Well, you're not jumping around playing the air guitar now thinking you're a rock star.
Speaker 4But I don't know what you do at home. What?
Speaker 3Yeah, yeah, okay, okay, so we'll move on.
Speaker 4What else you got. I like my air guitar. I'm pretty good at it. Anyway, here's what really surprised me. What's that? I'm an 80s baby. Okay, you know you get to the 80s?
Speaker 3Oh no, it's at 80s.
Speaker 4Daryl Hall and John Oates. Okay, I was very, very shocked and surprised to find out they had a hit song in 1976. They did. I was nine years old. They were there, was it?
Speaker 3Sarah.
Speaker 4Sarah smiled.
Speaker 3Sarah smiled. You know what's funny. You bring up Hall Oates. You know which one sticks out to me and I believe it's from that year Back Together Again.
Speaker 4Yeah.
Speaker 3Great song by Hall Oates. Here they are Again. I was just turning a teenager Right. Those are the songs that I listened to when I listened to the radio.
Speaker 4I'm used to Wake Me.
Speaker 3Up, so I knew they were.
Speaker 4You know I'm used to the other I mean the other, not Aerosmith but I'm used to the other songs by Daryl Hall and John Oates.
Speaker 3The 80s ones?
Speaker 4Yeah, early 80s yeah, other songs by Daryl Hall and John Oates, the 80s ones yeah those. And we'll get to those later. But I never dreamed that they had a hit song in 76, but here I am learning things.
Speaker 3It's funny, you thought they were just an 80s band.
Speaker 4Yeah, here I am learning things.
Speaker 3What's your any more? I'm sure you've got more.
Speaker 4Oh yeah, I, I have more which is, uh, aerosmith dream on. I spoke of that earlier and I just I think that grabbed a hold of me because I'd never heard anybody hit notes like he did in that song at that point in my life. And I'm like man, if I could sing like that I would be it. Well, of course I would be because he was. But anyway, I'm just saying that's a song that just grabbed me by wow rock. And so then, when we were younger, we developed this air band.
Speaker 3Yes, did you say air band?
Speaker 4air band, not hair band, no, not hair, no that was in the 80s air band when you don't know how to play an instrument, right, it's air, so that's how that goes. But the Bay City Rollers they had a huge hit Saturday night and I remember each one of my buddies we all had this little crate that we'd turn upside down and put a pillow on top of so we could stand up on it and act like we were on stage singing that song. It was weird. Wild, wild, wild ride. That was a wild ride, yeah, saturday night. Then if you flipped it over, if you flip that little single over, yep, the little 45, it was. Did you boogie with your baby? Nope, no it wasn't.
Speaker 4No, you're right, it wasn't.
Speaker 3It was Saturday Night Fever, saturday Night Fever, saturday Night, and the other side was Maralina. Yep, yep.
Speaker 4You were right.
Speaker 3I knew there was a song.
Speaker 4I couldn't think of. But Boogie with your baby is.
Speaker 3Flash Cadillac and the Continental Kids.
Speaker 4We're there. I just had them mixed up, that's all. As we move on, but I have to tell you 1976 was the year that I was introduced to Kiss. I don't know what big Kiss song grabbed me by the hoo-hoo at first. Kind of grabbed you by the woo-hoo, yeah. But I do know that KISS was huge when I was like 19, 11. So I remember.
Speaker 3Well, both of us were talking outside. You brought up the KISS Army was really big back then. It was huge back then. Let's be realistic. Kiss came out with Destroyer early Early early, 76. Yep, and they finished off in November of 76 with Rock and Roll Over.
Speaker 4Right, right, lots of stuff in between.
Speaker 3That's going to be getting into some of the bands I talk about during some of the songs.
Speaker 4But yeah.
Speaker 3Kiss, of course.
Speaker 4But that's what drug me to my rock and roll back, so Kiss got you a little way from the country.
Speaker 3And Dr Hook yeah, because I was always country and Dr Hook.
Speaker 4John Hanover blah, blah, blah.
Speaker 3And that's what surprises me, tom, the music you listen to, and then it's Kiss.
Speaker 4Right and Dr Hill and that's what surprises me, tom, the music you listen to. And then it's Kiss Right and ACDC, and I like Lynyrd Skynyrd and I like oh, lynyrd Skynyrd, I get Southern Rock Right. Which is a lot of Southern Rock, and then Def Leppard. Def Leppard is one of my favorite bands.
Speaker 3Def Leppard, we'll get to them, but Def Leppard to me after Pyromania.
Speaker 4Right, right, it was done. Not the same to me anymore. Yeah, it was done, but.
Speaker 3I'm just saying but yeah we'll discuss that.
Speaker 4As we got to this. But you know we always go to the rock and everything, and I love rock and I do, but there's like you, love all different genres. Nothing wrong with that. I'm the same Johnny Cash. I remember my favorite Johnny Cash song that came out in 1976.
Speaker 3One piece at a time, one piece at a time, and it didn't cost me a dime.
Speaker 4I was nine and that was the most hilarious song, because this guy stole parts.
Speaker 3And the way he goes on in the song yeah, 45, 55, 56, 57, you know no, johnny Cash.
Speaker 4You know it was so much fun to hear that. See, that's one of my favorite country artists and doing research on that song, I realized that the producers of that album actually built a car out of all those parts, and Johnny Cash is sitting in the driver's seat and they take a picture of that car.
Speaker 3It was the coolest thing I ever saw.
Speaker 4Look it up, guys, it's out there. It is out there. That's awesome. I didn't know that either. Yeah, it was cool. It looked funny as hell, but it was there, excellent. But that was one of the songs I enjoyed when I was young.
Speaker 3Anything else that you have, well, of course, like to talk about?
Speaker 4Everybody in the 76 era had a CB radio, did they not?
Speaker 3Ah, are we going down the CW McCall road?
Speaker 4With Convoy Convoy we got a big old convoy rocking through the night.
Speaker 3Come on and join this convoy.
Speaker 4Ain't she a beautiful sight.
Speaker 3What's with the women singing in it?
Speaker 4Well, they always had them. It was kind of like a truck stop. The waitress at the truck stop is in the background singing. That's what it was. Oh, don't forget the tearjerker. What's what it was oh jeez, oh, don't forget the tearjerker. What's that Teddy bear? Remember the little cripple boy that wanted? All he ever wanted was a ride in a truck and a big 18-wheeler.
Speaker 3Who sang that CW?
Speaker 4Red Sovine.
Speaker 3Oh, see another song I don't remember. I don't know if I ever heard it Teddy bear.
Speaker 4Are you sure when the little?
Speaker 3teddy bear gets on, the little boy gets on the.
Speaker 4CB, Just real quick. The little boy gets on the CB and he's like yeah, my mom says I shouldn't get out here and ask this, but I want to ride in a big truck and I'm crippled and I can't do this. And pretty soon his mom comes home from work. She sees all these trucks outside her house all lined up Waiting to give him a damn ride in their trucks and all that that's awesome.
Speaker 3And then they found out he died a few months later. But anyway, teddy Bear, wait a minute, wait a minute Was he alive when they all pulled up. At least, yeah, did he get his ride.
Speaker 4Well, until the last guy took him the ride back. But, it's a long story. Oh damn man, Now look it up. Now you made me sad, Now you make me sad.
Speaker 4I'm sad I'm making shit up now, but that wasn't how it really happened. But the song is a great song. You ought to really look it up and listen to it. It brings you back there. But the other thing I wanted to just touch base on is Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings, the good old outlaw boys. The way they capitalized in that era. Mama, don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys. That was the most great advice in the world. Dallas Cowboys suck. I mean, how would they know back?
Speaker 3then how did we get to the Dallas Cowboys?
Speaker 4Well, that's what they said.
Speaker 3Well, they said Cowboys, they didn't say Dallas.
Speaker 4It's implied.
Speaker 3Oh, okay, never knew that.
Speaker 4I learned something today, folks, cool, cool. But yeah, there was a lot of things and the different, but the one thing that stood out, of course, was Bohemian Rhapsody, how it just stood in test of time and. But I know that you love Boston, I do love Boston, so it brings us to your favorite stuff.
Boston, Kiss, and Rock's Golden Age
Speaker 3Well, before I get into my favorite stuff, I'm just going to kind of talk about the other little things from 76 and then sweep back into that Sure. Alright, so I wanted to go back into what we talked about, certain things that kind of stuck out in 76, Tom Right. So you know we both like snacks, food, Heck yeah, Doritos. There you go. So we have food and snacks that hit big in 76. Pop Rocks the fizzy crackling candy hit the mainstream around this time. Do you remember those?
Speaker 4I do remember Pop Rocks. Hey, remember when.
Speaker 3Mikey died from Pop Rocks and soda or some shit. Yeah, you're supposed to.
Speaker 4Mikey from the light commercial yeah, you're not supposed to drink soda with Pop Rock because the peas would make your belly swell up, blow up. Do you realize how big your belly can get? Pretty big.
Speaker 3Have you seen some people out there?
Speaker 4Yeah, they showed me how big my belly could get.
Speaker 3Jell-O 1-2-3. A three-layer dessert introduced early in the 70s was still what the hell is Jell-O 1-2-3. A three-layer dessert introduced early in the 70s was still what the hell is Jell-O 1-2-3? Okay, wait a minute.
Speaker 4You don't remember that it was like strawberry Jell-O, and then they had the whipped cream and then the strawberry Jell-O and then the whipped cream. Such a different Jell-O. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3All right, let's see Introduced a breakfast menu in test markets. Egg McMuffin started getting you. I love the Egg McMuffin, not going to lie.
Speaker 4Yeah the Egg. Mcmuffin Sausage Egg.
Speaker 3McMuffin. Not a keen person of McDonald's food, but I can eat those all day. Yeah, hey, do you remember Tab Cola, tang Tang, space food sticks? I don't think I remember the space food sticks.
Speaker 4I don't remember the space food sticks, but I do remember Tang.
Speaker 3Yeah Tang. I remember Astronauts drink Tang.
Speaker 4Astronauts drink Tang. My mother used to drink Tab. Well, because it was way conscious. It was a little white Tab in the pink or whatever color, pink and orange and whatever, and here we go.
Speaker 3We talked about this earlier. Bicentennial themed packaging appeared on everything, budweiser cans to Kellogg's cereals.
Speaker 4Yep and toilet paper.
Speaker 3You want to keep throwing that toilet paper. I like wiping my butt with that Toilet paper is very important to you.
Speaker 4It is very important to me. I went like in 2019.
Speaker 3Without toilet paper.
Speaker 4Yeah, we were in a shortage, I think it was 20. Whatever, we were in a shortage.
Speaker 3See, we always stock up on that. It's one of those stupid things I hate going to the store for.
Speaker 4You were the reason we had no toilet paper. You stocked up on it. Yeah, probably, probably.
Speaker 3I'm not ashamed of it. Okay, I do it all the time I'm prepared. That's what it is. I'm prepared, oh, prepared. Yeah, I knew that one day I'm going to have to shit and there'd be no toilet paper. So I said, hey, I'm getting toilet paper.
Speaker 4You know what I said, what there might be one day I have to shit. You know what I'm going to get? A good shower, no, a California burrito. That's not going to help anybody. Well, it'll help me shit.
Speaker 3Yeah, it certainly will. All right, let's see what else we have. We have all kinds of stuff. We do have all kinds of stuff here. Let's see Books. Remember Roots, roots, alex Yep Haley was published, a monumental work in African-American literature in US history. The movie was pretty damn good too. Watch that in school. Yep, stephen King's cool. Yep, stephen King's Carrie Carrie, freaky movie.
Speaker 4Yes, Carrie is a scary movie.
Speaker 3Didn't all the blood at the end bother you? No, not really, is it when she freaked out? No, well, she had blood poured on her.
Speaker 4Okay, wait a minute. Are we talking about Carrie?
Speaker 3or my honeymoon, my honeymoon, miscellaneous cultural trends, oh, roller discos and skating rinks. Now I'm going to be honest I never roller skated. I did Never, never did I roller skate. I did roller skate, I skated, I skated, never roller skated in my life.
Speaker 4I've never ice skated.
Speaker 3But you roller skated, but I roller skated.
Speaker 4But you're from up north, where they ice skate and hockey and all that.
Speaker 3We had roller skating rinks up there. We had Smiley Kansas. We had roller skating rinks.
Speaker 4I don't know why, I just never got into it. We had a Halloween party one time and this girl had a big old party at the roller skating rink. She invited all of us. I remember getting in a fight with this boy. He was a clown. I remember getting in a fight with this boy. He was a clown. I was the Hulk. Was he Charlie Brown? Nope, he was a clown, just a clown, just a regular clown, not Charlie Brown, charlie Brown. Yeah, he was a clown, but not this guy. But I was the Hulk Hulk Hogan or Green Hulk, green Hulk Hulk Hogan or Green Hulk, green Hulk. Okay, and what caused the issue was when we bobbed for apples, I was nobody. I was nobody then because all my green stuff washed off my face and he made fun of me and we got in a fight. So you looked ridiculous, I did, and we got in this fight and, yeah, it was sad.
Speaker 3Sad, yeah, sad. Kasami was in full swing. Ah, yes, we were. The band was everywhere. Well, we just talked about two albums out one year.
Speaker 4Right, and we talked about how they had bubble gum with the little cards that you made a picture of Little Gene Simmons.
Speaker 3If there's anything he can sell, he'll sell it.
Speaker 4Yes, Well, he's Jew Shh. Nope, Can't say that.
Speaker 3We're going to take that out. Yep, all right, you light up my?
Speaker 4life. I'm surprised that I figured that out, but anyway, yes, I do. Well, not you.
Speaker 3It's a song. Oh yeah, sentimental songs and patriotism was woven throughout entertainment. A miniseries format on TV started thanks to Rich man Poor man I remember my mother watched that and Roots, as we just discussed. So that's that stuff We'll get into movies. Let's get to the movies. Now let's get to TV and films, and then I'll get into my music Lonesome Dove. That was later, I know, but miniseries.
Speaker 4It was a miniseries. It was what a bunch of crock. Why would they make something like that, isn't? That Kenny Rogers he is somebody or something, tom Selleck I don't Speaking of. Kenny he had a 1976 pit and the Gambler. That was a good song 1976. That's a good story song.
Speaker 3Bingo. So, anyways, let's go to TV and film moments. Rocky, released in December of 76, it became a cultural juggernaut and won the Academy Award for Best Picture. All the President's Men reflected ongoing national mistrust. Post-watergate Remember that Robert Redford movie? I saw that. Oh yeah, charlie's Angels, ah, the original Charlie's Angels people yeah, not Farrah Fawcett, kate Jackson. And how can I think of the other girl's?
Speaker 4name ever, because she didn't really do anything after that. Well, no, she was hot too.
Speaker 3Well, she was hot, too Well, she was hot, but she didn't do anything after that. Anyways, Laverne and Shirley debuted. They just spin out from Happy Days. Oh, you remember how?
Speaker 4hot they were.
Speaker 3I don't think they were really hot.
Speaker 4Well, why'd you remember them and not the other chick from Shirley's?
Speaker 3age, because I'm looking at their names, it's right there, laverne and Shirley, I got you. It's telling me, I got you. Roots was filmed in 76 to premiere early in 1977. Right, because the book was out in 76. Sure, and this I did not know. The Muppet Show premiered in the UK in 76 and in US syndication the same year. It started in the UK, yeah, that blows my mind.
Speaker 4I wonder if it's because of Mr Snuffleup? Nope, that was Sesame Street. Never mind, never mind. I'm getting my young youth shows mixed up.
Speaker 3Yeah, well, hey, it happens, it was a long time ago. It was a long time ago. Yeah, it was Now. I want to get in some of the music. Well, there's a lot here that I like. I'm not going to elaborate on a lot of them, I'm just going to kind of tell you which ones and why I like your high spots. Boston Yep the whole album More than a feeling when that came out that blew my mind. No exaggeration there either. More than a feeling, something about you, peace of mind.
Speaker 4On, and, on, and on.
Speaker 3Peter Frampton came out. I remember this girl in school talking about a title Frampton Comes Alive. You got to hear it and she's right. The songs on Frampton Comes Alive are awesome. My brother liked Peter Frampton. Peter Frampton, you know good music. I made fun of it for a while, but she got me on the right track.
Speaker 3You made fun of it because your buddies made fun of it, not because you really listened, no, I think because I looked at the guy and I said, really, I kind of looked at him and said, yeah, then, once I heard his guitar playing, I was like okay, Eagles. We talked about this at Hotel California.
Speaker 4Scared shit right out of me.
Speaker 3Life in the Fast Lane. Another good song off that album Aerosmith Rocks. Now, I didn't get into this album in 76. 77, I was at school. Right Bought the album. I told you the story Right Library. You get to go in and study whatever it was. You had a turntable, you could put the album on headphones. You get to go in and study whatever it was. You had a turntable, you could put the album on headphones. You do your school work and sit there and listen to records. 45 minutes of that was awesome. So that's where rock came in and my big one that you'll laugh at, tom Rush 2112. Concept album blew me away. I've never heard stuff like that. Yeah, I know you make fun of it, I still say it away. I've never heard stuff like that. Yeah, I know you make fun of it, I still say it. It's music for nerds. But that album to me, 2112, fly by Night from Rush is good, but 2112 will always be my top album from Rush.
Speaker 4Rush has their moments.
Speaker 3And, like I said, the list goes on. These are the albums that I freaking love. Boys of Coal, Agents of Fortune Don't Fear the Reaper. Come on man, Don't Fear the Reaper. Thin Lizzy Jailbreak my first Thin Lizzy album that I bought.
Speaker 1That came out.
Speaker 3I bought that just because the boys are back in town. That's the only reason I bought that album. Tom Petty, because American Girl was Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Yep, ac, dc, high Voltage. I didn't listen to that until the year after. But again, bon Scott, awesome Yep, kiss, rock and roll over in Detroit Rock City.
Speaker 4Everything was Kiss A destroyer, I mean.
Speaker 3Those two albums to me. Bob Seger is another one, when he first came out with Night Moves.
Speaker 4Bob Seger was the shit. I mean again just talk Like a rock man.
Speaker 3We're just talking about these songs. This is songs I grew up listening to. Even from that year, I kept playing them my whole teen years. These are the songs I listened to Queen Day at the Races. They had Somebody to Love. That was a good song. Steve Miller Band Take the Money and Run.
Speaker 4Oh, come on, Take the.
Speaker 3Money and Run Great song. Another band I get into which is kind of symphonic rock Electric Legged Orchestra, yellow, gotta love them Runaways. When I bought the Queens of Noise album, oh yeah, I'm like what the hell is this group? I saw these hot chicks on this album and it kicks ass. So anyway, those are just a list. There's more, but those are my top and to this day still love all these songs. Heck yeah. But again, this is starting to get into the soundtrack of my youth.
Speaker 4Yep, this is why this is getting close to me too. 10 years old. It's great when you hit 10 to 13, you're starting to just understand life and everything, and music is a big part of that.
Speaker 3A huge part of that Music is a big part of that, tom, and you know to this day some of these songs I can listen to and think back of with well, I don't know what kind of song, let's say any song it could be with a girl. You were with your friends partying. What you were going through at the time, you know it's all kinds kinds of.
Speaker 4This song jogs this memory. This song jogs that memory. Chicago, 1976. Chicago had a big song that was later on played it like these high school gym dances that you go to, and it was a big part of your life. Which one was it? Color my world? Which one Was it Color my World? No, 25 or 64? No, it was something slow Color.
Speaker 3My World is a slow Chicago song.
Speaker 4I played that at school dances when I was in school, yeah, but when I was younger it was a little different, but anyways. Yeah, I'll get to them, I'll understand what they are. They come out and everything. But yeah, that was your first time holding a girl that wasn't your cousin or your neighbor or some stupid joke, you know Right, and you're like, wow, this is really happening.
Speaker 3No, and that's what I mean, especially like for me being 13,. This was junior high and, anyways, I love this episode. I do too. This was junior high and, anyways, love this episode, I do too.
Speaker 4I think this is great. It's bringing us back.
Speaker 3Awesome episode, but I think on that point, on that note, I will probably call it quits right now, unless you got something else to add there, my friend.
Speaker 4I don't believe that I have anything left. 76 was a great year.
Closing Thoughts and Sign-Off
Speaker 3It was a great year that started everything pretty much, at least for me.
Speaker 4Well, I'm stepping into my pre-teen years and it's 10. I'm going to be 10 years old, coming up and all these songs from all my siblings are just running through my head.
Speaker 3No, and that's why we're doing this, and I'm excited this is actually jogging more memories.
Speaker 4When I was nine, I was sure, I was absolutely sure, I was going to be a rock star by now.
Speaker 3No.
Speaker 4Well, I'm not Not a big rock singer with golden fingers no. Not really. I mean, I've got gold fingers, but they're pulling boxes. Most of it because I have golden gloves that I wear on my fingers.
Speaker 3Oh, so that's how you keep your hand so smooth.
Speaker 4My hands aren't smooth. Okay, there, anyways.
Speaker 3So anyways, tom, tell our listeners listen to us Spotify, iheartradio, amazon Music, deezer FM, deepcast FM, our Buzzsprout site and, most importantly, our website, mtalpodcom. Leave a message. There's a little microphone on the bottom right-hand side. Leave a message. There's a little microphone on the bottom right-hand side. Leave a message. You'll be at Incognito. We want to hear from you people what you would like to hear. Not only will you be Incognito, but nobody will know who you are.
Speaker 4Yeah what he said. Anyway, I would like to thank God for the gift of gab always.
Speaker 3Always, tom and everybody take care. God bless and later.
Speaker 2Well, that's it for another award-losing episode of the MT Alternative Podcast, where Mike and Tom bravely continue their mission to convince the world that their musical opinions from 1970-whatever still matter. Inspiring stuff, truly. Next week, the boys take a deep dive okay, more like a cautious wade into the magical year of 1977. Expect disco, dad rock and an unhealthy amount of sentimental sighing about songs that haven't been on the charts since Carter was president. Oh and yes, ugh, pip and Squeak will also return to the show, no doubt to bring their usual brand of chaos, complaints and rodent-level wisdom to the proceedings, because what this podcast really needed was more unhinged commentary from creatures with no concept of copyright law. Don't forget, you can catch this trainwreck of audio excellence on Deepcast FM, deezer FM, buzzsprout, iheart, amazon Music, spotify Music and, of course, the one and only mtultpodcom, which is somehow still live Until next time. I'm Presenter, daniel, reminding you that nostalgia isn't what it used to be, and neither are Mike and Tom. Goodbye.
Speaker 1Thank you.
Podcasts we love
Check out these other fine podcasts recommended by us, not an algorithm.
Doughboys
Headgum / Doughboys Media
Never Not Funny: The Jimmy Pardo Podcast
Misfit Toys