Originally published at: Rick Beato on the music explosion of 1978 | Boing Boing
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That is an incredible list of epic music released in a single year!
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I really enjoy Rick’s videos and hearing his take on music related topics. He’s a great storyteller.
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I remember the folks at the now defunct Aquarius Records in SF had this theory that 1971 was the “best year in rock music” based on how many great records came out
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1978 was indeed a glorious year. Much of that music is among my favorite (The Police and The Cars in particular; not a huge Van Halen fan as a kid, but I’ve come to appreciate their stuff as I’ve gotten older). A really great period of music that I think was foundational in not exactly what came next (new wave), but what came later (post-punk, goth, grunge, riot grrl, etc).
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I was at a funeral for an old friend a couple of years ago and was in a hotel on my own when a top of the pops came on from 1978 (or maybe 1979, just a single episode rather than a compilation, and I absolutely loved it. I’m not obs…) essed with music from childhood but I do remember being very young and I dug disco a lot and also loving every new Buzzcocks song when it came out. That episode with disco, reggae, lovers rock, different kids of post punk from trashy pop to angular art rock/pop was all killer no filler to me!
I don’t pay much attention to the charts, it’s less of a thing now, but they seem to have sorted it out from being incredibly retro and this week’s for example, looks fairly representative of stuff that young people could be into. It’s less offputting that actual Spotify streams which has such an older music bias (not “classic” so much as artists who have been around for ages but are still promoting their music)
Actually no, it has stuff like the Jonas Brothers on it.,
The Buzzcocks are everything.
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Fancy how pop music exploded when cassette tapes became widespread and people could copy them easily.
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i vividly remember 1978, because my circle of friends had our minds blown and became obsessed with both Van Halen’s first album and the debut by The Cars. We played those two and Queen’s “News of the World” (1977) incessantly. all three are still among my favorite albums to this day.
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Another stellar debut -
XTC’s first came out ‘White Music’
maybe not as deep as later discs, but very high energy
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Good list.
Let’s add:
Warren Zevon, Excitable Boy
Elvis Costello, This Year’s Model
Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Scream
Magazine, Real Life
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Did Beato have problems editing around the content match algorithms?
Sure, some of the best sixties music was made in 1971. 
The seventies usually get robbed of credit at both ends.
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What made 1978 musically relevant to me was the end of every artist/musical group releasing at least one Disco record/album. I like Disco, don’t get me wrong, but Ethel Merman and Rick Dees just didn’t belong in that genre. Frankly Rick Dees in particular killed it. My favorite album of 1978 was “The Cars” by The Cars.
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