No wonder people think I’m weird.
I mean, it’s not like I don’t give them a lot of ammunition, right? Especially when you consider some of the questions that pop into my head, and what happens when I try to answer them.
The question this time around was about a classic music album; The Eagles “Hotel California”, to be specific. The anniversary of the album's release is coming up, and I needed to find the exact date for an upcoming “Upper Michigan's Favorite Friday”. But as happens so often. I got sucked down the Wikipedia rabbit hole and something I discovered has stayed in my noggin since.
Perhaps my three favorite albums of the 1970s were “Hotel California”, Steely Dan’s “Aja”, and Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumours”, all classic albums, and all ones that I still listen to today. My favorite movie of the 1970s, without a doubt, was the original “Star Wars”. So when I was perusing Wikipedia to find the answer to “Hotel California”'s exact release date (December 8th, 1976, if you're curious) I was stunned to also come across the list of the five Grammy nominees for album of the year in 1977. Those nominees?
-The Eagles’ “Hotel California”
-Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumours”
-Steely Dan’s “Aja”
-John Williams’ “Soundtrack to ‘Star Wars”.
--And James Taylor’s “JT”.
Several thoughts flew threw my head when coming across the list, the first being that I’m sure there was never as strong a list of nominees for album of the year as in 1977. I mean, think of it—there are years when the Grammys have trouble coming up with one album good enough win be called a “classic”, let along four (with no offense to James Taylor). How can you choose from among the four? I mean, Grammy voters did, giving the statue to “Rumours”, but that’s almost a Sophie’s Choice as far as music lovers go.
The second thought? I know everyone always says that music from the 70s sucked, thanks mostly to disco and bubblegum, but growing up in that decade I (obviously) had my musical influences shaped by what I heard. And if you have to grow up listening to music, songs from “Hotel California” and “Rumours” and “Aja” are among the best choices you could have. I know; I’m sure people who grew up in the 90s think Nirvana’s “Nevermind” was the pinnacle of music, just as people growing up today would think that, uhm, BTS is the pinnacle of music, but I think anyone would have to admit that those three albums from ’77 are good.
And to think that they were all released in the same 12-month span (October 1976 to October 1977 was the eligibility period for the award). I’m sure people probably didn’t appreciate it back then, but now it just boggles the mind, or at least boggles MY mind, that they all grew out of one 12 month period.
Who knew?
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