It may not actually be reflected on the calendar but Sunday marks the unofficial ending of the Summer of 2007. Our middle child graduated this year and 30 years from now, she may look back nostalgically on what was popular during her senior year, specifically the summer of her senior year.
She can remember it was the summer of sequels and any number of bad movies and it was the final summer for Harry Potter and in the music world, there may ultimately be something that she might remember fondly in 30 years, but if there's gonna be, I sure don't know what it's gonna be. Memorable music is getting harder and harder to hear.
If you graduated from high school in 1977, 30 years ago, it just seems like there were more things from that era that have endured. Sure, everyone likes to claim their graduating year featured more memories than the next guy's year, but really, take a look at '77:
It was ...
The summer of "Star Wars," a little movie that became more than just an outer space, wild west cowboy shoot 'em up. Like Harry Potter, it has become a lasting cultural phenomenon that generations share with each other. remember when it was released, no one even had a clue that Darth Vader would one day be Luke's dad.
"Smokey and the Bandit." Ahh, the days when even bad B -movies were funny. At least compared to today's bad B-movies. There was only one Burt Reynolds.
"Oh God." OK, it's not quite the phenomenon as "Star Wars," and both its stars have passed but it's still a cute movie with plenty of funny little one liners by George Burns.
From a musical perspective we were given a few gems that have remained a part of many turntables, 8 tack decks, cassette players and CD changers throughout the years:
- Rumours - Fleetwood Mac
- Night Moves - Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band
- Aja - Steely Dan
- Animals - Pink Floyd
- News of the World - Queen
OK, so maybe it wasn't such a great year for "albums," but were it not for Queen's "News of the World" hundreds of thousands of people would have never been able to sit in sports arenas and stomp and clap along with "We Will Rock You." And I think that would have been a bad thing maybe.
"Rumours" was without question the best pop-rock that came out of 1977, a year that also gave us the single "Hotel California," which changed the rules for Eagles fans and turned the group from a Southern California country rock band into a major rock act.
Other memorable '77 albums:
- Bat out of Hell - Meat Loaf
- Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes - Jimmy Buffett
- Eddie Money - Eddie Money (debut)
- Even in the Quietest Moments - Supertramp
- I Robot - The Alan Parsons Project
- My Aim Is True - Elvis Costello
- Point of Know Return - Kansas
- Running On Empty - Jackson Browne
- Simple Dreams - Linda Ronstadt
- Slowhand - Eric Clapton
- Street Survivors - Lynyrd Skynyrd
- XI - Chicago
Sadly, Elvis, Bing and three members of Lynyrd Skynyrd, including southern icon Ronnie Van Zant also died in '77, the year that New York endured the Son of Sam serial killings.
'77 also brought us "Jonathan Livingston Seagull," and, if you've been watching the highly entertaining ESPN miniseries "The Bronx is Burning", the tragi-comic saga of the 1977 New York Yankees, The Boss, the flawed but baseball genius of Billy Martin and dime store philosopher/superstar Reggie Jackson who, despite his ego, was oddly very likeable.
'77 . Maybe not the year to end all years, but one with plenty of memories, and pieces of culture that remain even 30 years later.
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