1972 Top Thirteen

In 1972 (aged 12) music took on even more importance as I discovered boys, plastering my walls with posters of teen idols like Donny Osmond and David Cassidy.
I remember factions in the playground - you were either Osmonds or Jacksons, and through them, I discovered Soul.
In general, my favourite music took on a much more grown-up feel, heavily influenced by David Bowie and screaming rock guitars.

These are my top thirteen:
1) Python Lee Jackson – In A Broken Dream – 10-72
2) Mott The Hoople – All The Young Dudes – 08-72
3) Argent – Hold Your Head Up – 03-72
4) Nilsson – Without You – 02-72
5) America – Horse With No Name – 01-72
6) Elton John – Rocket Man – 05-72
7) Michael Jackson – Ben – 12-72
8) Peter Skellern – You're A Lady – 10-72
9) Alice Cooper – School's Out – 07-72
10) Doobie Brothers – Listen to the Music – 11-72
11) The Chi-Lites – Have You Seen Her? – 02-72
12) David Cassidy – How Can I Be Sure? – 09-72
13) Hurricane Smith - Oh Babe What Would You Say? – 05-72


And just bubbling under:
David Bowie – Starman – 08-72
The Stylistics – Betcha by Golly Wow – 02-72
The Chiffons – Sweet Talkin' Guy – 04-72
Derek and The Dominoes – Layla – 08-72
Elvis Presley – I Just Can't Help Believing – 01-72
The Shangri-Las – Leader Of The Pack – 11-72
Labi Siffre – Crying Laughing Loving Lying – 04-72
Family – Burlesque – 11-72
Procol Harum – A Whiter Shade Of Pale – 06-72
The Carpenters – Goodbye To Love – 10-72
Bread – Baby I'm A Want You – 02-72
Gilbert O'Sullivan – Clair – 10-72
Slade – Look Wot You Dun – 02-72


Hi to everyone who remembers tuning into radio one every Sunday teatime, we had a round-up of the charts, and a run-down of the top ten in a Radio 1 show called Pick of the Pops. Until 24 September 1972, it was presented by the fabulous Alan "Fluff" Freeman. The following week it changed as Tom Browne, with his distinctive cultured voice, took over with his new style Sunday evening Chart rundown, called 'Solid Gold Sixty' broadcast from 4pm-7pm. The show counted down the week's Top 60 best-selling singles chart with the last hour featuring the Top 20, also carried by Radio 2 Long Wave and VHF. Solid Gold Sixty ran for 18 months until March 1974 leaving Tom to present a shorter Top Twenty show on Sundays from 6pm - 7pm. Tom presented this show until March 1978 when he was replaced by Simon Bates.

I'd love to hear your Pick of the Pops memories.

1970s Women’s Fashions

In researching this, I came across an article suggesting the 70s was “one of the most stylish decades of all time.” Make of that what you will. It certainly had a massive variety, taking us from the 60s extremes of chic mini-skirts and long hippy beads and dreds, all the way through to the anti-fashions of grungy punk in 1979.

The early 70 saw lots of bare midriffs as frilly crop-tops accompanied tight denim, leather or matching fabric trousers, all suitably flared from either the knees or thighs. I had a pair of pale purple, brushed-denim flares with big brown buttons all the way from knee to floor, and I remember wearing them until they fell apart and mum chucked them out. Bell bottoms or Oxford bags, trouser legs used a lot of material. In contrast, women’s tops became skimpier as tight-fitting halter-necks and boob-tubes became all the rage, firstly in discos, then in general wear.

By the middle of the decade, the mini-skirts and hot pants gave way to midi- and maxi-dresses, kaftans with lots of ruching, ruffles and Laura Ashley prints. We had every conceivable type of jumpsuit from crazy, open-fronted crochet to cool cotton for the beach, and the one I remember was short-sleeved, zip-fronted in functional denim-look polyester, but it was a nightmare trying to pee if the pub had an outside loo!
More women had office-based careers, and wrap dresses offered a professional appearance in the office, which could then be dressed up for an evening on the town immediately after work. Trousers became increasingly acceptable for both formal and work wear for women, and trouser suits became less form-fitting and feminine. Blouses went for a more masculine styling, adopting the long, sharp-pointed collars, mostly in plain colours. Brown was the stand-out colour of the decade, teamed with yellow, orange and/or turquoise. What were we thinking?

The late 70s saw Glam Rock/Disco overtaken by Punk Rock and the OTT spangles and sequins turned to torn denim and lace held together with safety pins. Black leather trousers/skirt formed the basis of many outfits, often teamed with leopard print or tartan.

I haven't mentioned hair and makup, as that's coming in a later article, as are men's fashions. If you have a particular 70's clothing memory, please share in a comment below.

Pre-order Chloe’s Chaos

You have until 22nd April to pre-order Chloe’s Chaos the second in the Calamity Chicks (70s Sweethearts) series at the bargain price of £2.22/$2.99.

The third book, Linda’s Lament is also up for pre-order.

If Tina’s story is the question, Chloe’s story is the answer to why so many of these endearing characters acted the way they did. I had a total blast writing it: despite having a second dose of COVID, it took a mere 26 days, the words just falling over themselves to hit the page.

I know many writers say their latest story is their favourite, but this is definitely in my all-time top three – I never expected Chloe to be such fun when I first met her as Tina’s friend.

Quite where the pseudo-autistic skater-guy, gentle-giant hairy biker and psychotic millionaire-stalker appeared from is a mystery. But when Chloe turned out to be the spitting image of Stevie Nicks, it all came together perfectly.

Tina’s Torment, the prequel to this, was the second full story I’d ever written (back in the nineties), with the working title Dubious Revenge and, trust me, I thought it was pretty awesome in my naivety. Couldn’t be further from the truth – chock-a-block full of every rookie writer’s frequent offenders – way too much passive telling, pages of elaborate description, unrealistic dialogue – every sin in the book!
After a bunch of fabulous authors had pointed out these flaws, it first saw the light of day as Tina’s Dilemma in 2014, as part of an anthology of medium-length novellas, published as Triple Jeopardy under my pseudonym Rowanna Green.
Having written/published 30 stories in between, I’ve added in a couple of sub plots and reinstated all the 70’s music a strict editor told me to remove. Now it’s a much more immersive experience, and I’m thrilled to spend more time in this time period, getting to know these lads and lasses even better.

1971 Top Thirteen

Just a quickie this week because we’ve family coming which means 3 month's-worth of cleaning – we haven’t seen them since New Year.

Still a lot of bubble gum along with several proper classics from Labi Siffre, Diana Ross, Cher and Rod Stewart.
The likes of the Sweet and T Rex heralded the start of glam rock, and I was totally knocked out by Slade’s Coz I Luv You. Still one of my all-time faves and I’m proud to say I saw them live three times – the original good-time band.

1) Slade – Coz I Luv You – 11-71
2) Labi Siffre – It Must Be Love – 12-71
3) Diana Ross – I'm Still Waiting – 08-71
4) Cher – Gipsies Tramps and Thieves – 11-71
5) Rod Stewart – Maggie May – 09-71
6) Peter Noone – Oh You Pretty Things – 06-71
7) Isaac Hayes – Theme From 'Shaft' – 12-71
8) The Rolling Stones – Brown Sugar – 05-71
9) The Congregation – Softly Whispering I Love You – 12-71
10) The Sweet - Funny Funny - 04-71
11) Lobo – Me And You And A Dog Named Boo – 07-71
12) The Mixtures – The Pushbike Song – 01-71
13) Redbone – Witch Queen Of New Orleans – 10-71


And a few which deserve an honorary mention:
Curved Air – Back Street Luv – 09-71
George Harrison – My Sweet Lord – 01-71
The Fortunes – Freedom Come Freedom Go – 10-71
Neil Diamond – Sweet Caroline – 02-71
Dawn – Knock Three Times – 05-71
The Tams – Hey Girl Don't Bother Me – 08-71
Andy Williams – (Where Do I Begin) Love Story – 04-71
The New Seekers – I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing – 12-71

My 70's Tipple

Wine

Ask anyone to name wine from 70s and almost everyone will mention Blue Nun (a German Liebfraumilch – mother’s milk, anyone???) and Mateus Rose – as drunk by the Queen and Jimi Hendrix – apparently! I suspect the unusual packaging made them memorable: a tall, thin blue bottle a blue and white-clad nun on the label, and the extravagant, bulbous bottom-heavy Portuguese offering. But a brilliant marketing campaign convinced that “The French adore Le Piat d’Or,” so this custom-built-for-the-UK wine became a brand leader. You can find our more here.

I'm sure there were plenty of others - for example, the prosecco of the day was Lambrusco, and the other one - Lambrini which I now discover was made from Perry - just like Babycham. Which people used to add to cheap brandy, ruining both drinks.
The one I remember for having a kick was Thunderbird – I’m pretty sure it was the pear one, but I do remember it being kinda thick and treacly and making me very squiffy. 

When researching, I came across this advert which proper puts it into place – even if the clothes are actually 1969, rather than 70s.


Beer

All I can remember from my first outings to pubs (at 14, but my boyfriend was 18), was not having a clue. So being a guy’s guy, his best suggestion was half a lager and lime. I’ve never been a fan of beer, I moved to rough cider (with the dead rats floating in the barrel) then to pilsner – but I wouldn’t thank you for a dash of lime. *Shudders!*

The TV told us a Double Diamond works wonders, Guinness is good for you and Courage Tavern was what your right arm's for. But the one I remember most was the Watneys party seven – no party was complete without one. Apparently sales of lager rose from 2% in 1965 to 20% in 1975, but the long hot summer of 1976 saw lager as a real contender. We had Carling Black Label, Guinness' Harp, Heineken and Carlsberg.

Cocktails
I never tried them till the 80s, but these are some I missed out on:

Stinger with crème de menthe

Rusty Nail with Drambuie

Brandy Alexander with coffee liqueur, cream and nutmeg

Grasshopper with cream, coffee and crème de menthe

Legal aspects
Remember when pubs actually closed? In the seventies, the official opening hours were 11.30 am–3 pm and 5.30-10 pm, Monday to Saturday and 12.30-2.30 pm and 7-10 pm on Sundays. They didn’t go 11am-11pm until the late 80s and it was only from 2005 that publicans could apply for licences for up to 24 hours a day.

Although the maximum legal blood alcohol (drink driving) limit in the UK was set in the Road Safety Act of 1967, it wasn’t enforced so stringently, and if you could walk in a straight line for a few yards you could generally get off. The maximum BAC (blood alcohol concentration) was 80mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood, or the equivalent 107 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of urine which equates to roughly 4.5 units of alcohol. As a rule of thumb, two pints of regular-strength lager or two small glasses of wine would put you over the limit. This was followed by the 1981 Transport Act which stated that 35 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath was to be the maximum legal breath alcohol limit. Although the act introduced evidential breath testing legislation, it was not actually established and implemented until 1983. These limits still hold true, but you are far more likely to be tested these days.

Over to you - what do you remember about drinking in the 70s? Share your experiences in the comments below.