What was the mainstream music of the 1970's?

Answer 1

It was pretty eclectic- you still had people like Perry Como and Frank Sinatra having hits . There were singer songwriters like John Denver, Barry Manilow ,James Taylor , Paul Simon, Jim Croce ,Carole King for example who were big on the pop charts. Lots of teeny bopper music like David Cassidy , Shaun Cassidy, Bobby Sherman, The Osmonds , The Defranco Family.

Then you had disco and some heavy metal like Led Zeplin and Pink Floyd, Genesis.

There were the punk bands like th Dead Kennedys and the Ramones, Blondie for example.

Then you just had pure pop like the Carpenters, Bette Midler,Manhatten Transfer, Tony Orlando and Dawn ,Peter Frampton, lots of soul artists still around like the Supremes and Jackson Five, the Temptations , the Four Tops, Stevie Wonder.

Oh what they called Jesus Freak music, Spirit in the Sky, Oh Happy Day, Desarado etc.

And country was big too with Glen Cample , Tanya Tucker, Dolly Parton, the Bellamy Brothers, Conway Twitty, Waylon and Willie, Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn.

Very eclectic. That was when FM radio took off too and there were alot of album cuts being played as opposed to top forty. Syndication like Dick Clark and Casey Kassem and Rick Dees were starting to come in.

Answer 2

Disco was only in the very, very late 70's, it was not the mainstream. We listened to Eagles, Jackson Browne, Jim Croce, Bread, Seals and Croft, Loggins and Messina, Moody Blues, Lynyrd Skynrd, Carpenters, Three Dog Night, Glen Campbell, Carly Simon, James Taylor, Foghat, Carole King, Charlie Daniels, Elvin Bishop......

Answer 3

If you lived in the UK your selection would have been quite different than in the USA. The BBC was pretty much IT in the UK, and would play led zeppelin followed by Neil Diamond. In the US, people tended to listen to only a certain type of music, as defined by FM radio formats, generally. Early in the 70s there was still strong AM radio presence, usually in the form of oldies, soul, country and top 40 (bubblegum). FM was of higher audio quality, and people who had FM radios (a small pct in '70, a large pct by '79) tended to prefer music that made use of the better sound quality.

The rise of FM radio grew with the rise of higher quality audio equipment, and in turn led to the improvement in recording techniques. FM radio avoided 'top 40' in the early 70s, and tended towards jazz, easy listening, classical and 'underground' rock (things that didn't fit the 2 minutes per song AM format). As the decade moved along, Rock (now called 'classic' rock) thrived along with country, funk/R & B and other styles. Disco as a major force only took off in 1977 with the movie Saturday Night Fever. Punk/New Wave didn't make much of a splash in the 70s and was considered 'fringe' until MTV (in the 80s) brought it out of the closet.

I'm tired of typing.

Answer 4

mainstream prob. disco.
otherwise funk was a popular alternative.
but also remember there was alot of rising arena rock bands. Like ACDC, AeroSmith, Van Halen.
and on the other side of the charts was punk.
The dead Kennedies, The Ramones and so on.
The 70's had a plethora of music. Innovative and pushing the boundries of thier times.

Answer 5

No such thing. Practically every city had a pop, hard rock, disco, oldies, and country and western station. If I had to pick one genre that the most people listened to, I'd have to say country and western. Hard rock and disco were only for the young and people of all ages listened to C&W. Pop may have given it a run for the money, though.

Answer 6

Disco,all the way!.Some pretty good rock and roll too like The Rolling Stones,Dr Hook, and Peter Frampton.A fun time musically.

Answer 7

Here is the Top 100 songs for every year in that decade:

1970 - http://www.musicoutfitters.com/topsongs/1970.htm
1971 - http://www.musicoutfitters.com/topsongs/1971.htm
1972 - http://www.musicoutfitters.com/topsongs/1972.htm
1973 - http://www.musicoutfitters.com/topsongs/1973.htm
1974 - http://www.musicoutfitters.com/topsongs/1974.htm
1975 - http://www.musicoutfitters.com/topsongs/1975.htm
1976 - http://www.musicoutfitters.com/topsongs/1976.htm
1977 - http://www.musicoutfitters.com/topsongs/1977.htm
1978 - http://www.musicoutfitters.com/topsongs/1978.htm
1979 - http://www.musicoutfitters.com/topsongs/1979.htm

Answer 8

disco