Escape to the 70s
I recently was invited by a friend to attend a Yacht Rock show in Hollywood. I had heard of the genre and new that it was a hot trend in music at the moment, however, I had no real expectations and was pleasantly surprised that the show was genuinely enjoyable. I heard songs that I had completely forgotten about, and so many memories of my childhood came rushing back of shag carpeting, oversized glasses, bell-bottom jeans, and the ubiquitous manly facial hair.
I have been obsessed with the HBO series “The Deuce” which is set in New York during the late 60s early 70s and this genre of music and the overall look of the band fit into that era very well. Makes me wonder if the popularity of this era in music and now television series has us nostalgic for what might seem to many as easier times. Let's face it, our current news and political landscape is pretty high-stress lately and has been compared to that of the turbulent 1960s, with the Vietnam war and cultural shifts between generations. The 70s marked the end of the turmoil and represented a time of sexual freedom, not just for the sake of sex itself but also the real start in the equality between the sexes. Women were joining the workforce and becoming more open with their own sexuality, all while men were demonstrating a hyper-masculine style and mindset.
All of this was off-set by a super soft-rock trend in music. Silky love making ballads sung by overtly sexualized men in tight shirts and even tighter jeans, and women in long flowing Farrah Faucet style hair that all oozed a sleepy, even “stoned like” haze over everything. This was the music of my early childhood, groovy house parties, lazy summers spent in the backyard while the adults played volleyball and drank red wine, all while wearing next to nothing. The micro short-shorts (on both men and woman, mind you), the tanned skin with no thought to skin cancer, and everyone still smoked cigarettes. It was a groovy time to be alive and maybe a good way for us in this modern day world of ever-present technology, and political correctness, to escape and take a deep breath, and just truly be able to relax and get away from the day-to-day if even just for an evening.
