September 23, 2020 by Darren Clarke

“Wikipedia notes there is a citation needed for the claim she was part of the live recording of Chuck Berry’s My Ding-a-ling but to me, once it’s been established you played sax in Bob Flag’s Balloon and Banana band I’ll believe anything you tell me about yourself.”

The “Which Brings Us To…” the 70s podcast

A year and a half ago I created a 70s music playlist of just over seven-hundred songs. For a moment I felt like I had musically captured the decade. Until it occurred to me that I probably hadn’t.

It was that nagging little voice that says to me so often, “You know so much less than you think.” And, annoying as that voice can be, it is usually, unerringly, correct.

So I decided to dig in. To search the farthest reaches of the internet, or at least, past the first page of the Google search results based on entering, “Cool music from the seventies,” into the search bar.

I went through thousands of albums from each year of the decade, bounced through hundreds of lists from music mags and from passionate folks like myself. In the end my playlist was well over three-thousand songs (I’ll share the full list when I finish the podcasts) and more important than the quantity, I felt like the journey had opened my eyes and ears to a ton of great artists from all over the planet.

Did I get it all? No. Not even close. Mostly all that research did was bring home to me how vast the unknown is. But I discovered some cool stuff. A lot of cool stuff.

At the end of the day I’m just one dude struggling to inch outside his limitations as best I can. As much as I may expand my perspective I am always bound by my particular DNA and the underlying sensibilities attached to this mortal coil.

Nonetheless, beginning with Part 1 of the, “Which Brings Us To…” The 70s, podcast, I’ll be playing some of the tunes I fell in love with-old, new, borrowed, blue and chatting about that decade of time- the history, the curiosities, my perspective- then vs. now, and whatever the hell else captures my imagination.

Sample topics in episode one include- Algorithms, ice cream and privilege, Reuben Kinkaid, famous people born in Sarnia, Ontario, (sorry Kim Mitchell), how great being a member of Bob Flag’s Balloon and Banana band looks on a resume, oscillating sprinklers, NASA’s gold album on the Voyager space craft and much, much, more.

So, hop in and we can take a long, meandering, drive through music and memories from the seventies.