But the first rock band to actually completely switch to country was the same band who ushered in psychedelic pop and that was The Byrds. They weren't as successful doing country but "Ballad Of Easy Rider" was one of their most introspective recordings that focused on environmental imagery and a back to nature attitude about following where the river flows. Then in 1969 another psychedelic band, Kenny Rogers & The First Edition crossed over to country with a song about a soldier crippled from the Vietnam War in "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love To Town." The Band, who backed Bob Dylan, was one of the initial catalysts of the Southern rock genre in the late sixties. They paid tribute to the the old South in "The Night They Drove Ole Dixie Down." Perhaps the band that became the most defining creative force on the new Southern rock sound from the late sixties on was the Allman Brothers Band.

CLASSICAL MERGES WITH ROCK

Artists were mixing folk, rock and soul with jazz, country and even classical. One of the bands that successfully mixed classical and pop/rock was The Moody Blues. Their albums featured long songs with orchestral arrangements. One of their most artistic songs was "Nights In White Satin," which even included a spoken word piece that called for sorting out reality from illusion. The song was originally released in 1969 but didn't become a huge hit until three years later. Another brilliant dreamy song was "Tuesday Afternoon." But they even had driving rock songs with compelling lyrics such as "Ride My See Saw," "I'm Just A Singer In A Rock And Roll Band" and "Question." Other emerging classical-inspired rock artists included Yes, Emerson, Lake & Palmer and It's A Beautiful Day, who offered one of the most tranquil musical experiences of the period with "White Bird."

Mason Williams gave rock a spiritually uplifting classical treatment in "Classical Gas," which was one of those powerful instrumentals that painted pictures in the mind without words. An actual R. Strauss classical piece, "Also Sprach Zarathustra," became popular as the theme from the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey , and became a huge hit five years later by Deodato, who offered a jazz/rock version of the piece. "Love Is Blue" by the Paul Mauriat Orchestra was another classical-inspired instrumental pop hit in 1968. Classical influence in pop music would resurface in the disco hit "A Fifth Of Beethoven" by Walter Murphy in 1976.

JAZZ/ROCK FUSION

The fusion of jazz and rock in the late sixties created an interesting new sound that helped elevate rock's image as serious music. Earlier in the decade Dave Brubeck had a minor but artistically influential hit with "Take 5." It marked a growing interest in offbeat jazz with its 5/4 time signature, an absolute rarity in mainstream music. It was a kind of music in which its artists were perceived as intellectual because of its innovative nature. The beatniks who defined themselves as part of "the beat generation" embraced progressive jazz, and by the late sixties progressive jazz shaped much of the basis of the early freeform radio sound.

The pioneers of jazz/rock included Santana, Blood, Sweat & Tears, Tower Of Power and Chicago . Early Chicago recordings were very political and improvisational-sounding epic songs such as "Beginnings" and "Dialogue." Eventually after a string of hit ballads, however, they would fall more into the adult contemporary category. Several jazz/rock artists fell through the cracks in the sixties and seventies but made their mark influencing other musicians. One such band was Electric Flag, whose eight minute jam "Another Country" is a landmark recording that captured the spirit of advanced jazz/rock innovation as well as any other such recording of the era.

TURMOIL, FREEDOM AND ADVENTURE

By the end of the sixties America had become divided over the Vietnam War. As popularity for the war kept sinking, songs about peace became anthems. Some of the protest and peace songs of the era included "Revolution" by The Beatles, " San Francisco " by Scott McKenzie, "Fortunate Son" by Creedence Clearwater Revival and "For What It's Worth" by Buffalo Springfield. By the early seventies, the anti-war crowd was becoming the majority, as the call for peace was echoed in songs like "War" by Edwin Starr and "What's Goin' On" by Marvin Gaye.

In 1971 The Who had one of their biggest album rock hits with "Won't Get Fooled Again," which celebrated revolution only to feel deceived by a new regime that was no different than the regime it conquered. Perhaps the most intriguing song that became an anthem of the peace movement was John Lennon's "Imagine" in 1971. This stunning ballad said more in three minutes than what most artists have said throughout their entire careers. "Imagine" painted a peaceful, sharing world without boundaries.

SOCIAL COMMENTARY SOUL

The music released by Motown Records in the sixties is usually thought of as great dance music. But many of the songs were very inventive songs that commented on society. "Love Child" by Diana Ross & The Supremes was about growing up in a slum and the music stands out as one of the most unique pieces of the entire decade with its wandering melody. Marvin Gaye's hit "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" captured the growing feeling of paranoia in society and relationships. "Ball Of Confusion" by The Temptations dealt with the pessimistic state of the world at that time.

SPY IN THE HOUSE OF SUSPENSE

Adventurous people certainly include the sixties as one of the most adventurous decades ever. It was a great time for spy movies and themes. Popular television series like Mission : Impossible had mind-tickling suspense music for the opening theme song. Even the theme to Batman by Neil Hefti had the same adventurous feel. Another great action series theme was "Hawaii Five-O" by The Ventures. The spy series Get Smart also had a theme that mixed entertainment with underworld paranoia. Co-star Barbara Feldon sung a funny song about her character called "99."

A great theme that laid out a movie-like spy scenario was "Secret Agent Man" by Johnny Rivers, in which the plot culminates with the spy letting the robber get away because he was too busy kissing a mistress, who may have been a decoy. Sometimes, though, if a spy theme were strange enough, it wouldn't need lyrics as in "The Pink Panther Theme" by Henry Mancini. This was the era that introduced James Bond movies and produced some of the best spy themes ever, such as "The James Bond Theme" by The John Barry Orchestra and "Goldfinger" by Shirley Bassey. The spy themes would continue in the seventies with "Live And Let Die" by Paul McCartney & Wings and "Nobody Does It Better" by Carly Simon to name a few. One of the best rock and roll dance songs ever, but not from a movie, was a spy anthem by The Hollies called "Long Cool Woman (In A Black Dress)" in 1972.

HEARTBREAK OF THE LOVE GENERATION

But the sixties overall, despite its adventurous endeavors, seemed to be a decade of heartbreak. The decade started with Elvis singing "Are You Lonesome Tonight" and ended with him singing "Suspicious Minds." A lot of early Beatles and Rolling Stones songs dealt with loneliness and rejection. Then Bob Dylan dove deeper into the feelings of emptiness on a wider scope than just relationships. Dion, who is more associated with the pre-rock era , surprised people with his warm tribute to some of America 's most legendary leaders whose lives were taken by assassins in "Abraham, Martin & John."

America had finally landed on the moon but tragically lost some astronauts on one of the subsequent Apollo missions. Black America finally championed civil rights legislation only to see more poverty, race riots and political bigotry to follow. Marriages and relationships began to fall apart as the sexual revolution tempted even the most publicly-prudent people to have secret affairs and multiple relationships. The friction between generations over a growing open-minded discussion of politics and religion broke down family units. Those who rebelled against the establishment chose to live a dangerous life. Some of the best minds of the sixties would sadly die young.

DAWN OF MODERN ROCK

The seeds to what would later be called modern rock were planted in the sixties and early seventies. David Bowie put out a sci-fi thriller song called "Space Oddity" in 1969. T. Rex crafted a subdued Chuck Berry-like rhythmic pulse in "Bang A Gong (Get It On)" in 1971 and mixed it with lustful lyrics. Both Bowie and T. Rex would be credited as influences in the rise of glam rock then modern rock. Lou Reed dealt with hard street issues with The Velvet Underground in songs like "Sweet Jane" and "Waiting For The Man." Iggy Pop, Alice Cooper and MC5 sprung out of Detroit in the late sixties and were all cited as influences of early punk rock, which also drew from a reckless raw sound that appeared in sixties garage acts like The Thirteenth Floor Elevators from Texas . Bob Marley first made his mark in the sixties as the reggae scene was developing in Jamaica . The first reggae song to ever become popular in America was actually in 1968 with "The Israelites" by Desmond Dekker.

STORYTELLERS REACH BEYOND SELF-IMAGE

Storyteller music remained strong in the seventies. Many of these folks painted the individual in opposition to society in stories about struggle for survival. One of the most haunting storyteller songs of the decade was based on an actual event about a mysterious shipwreck called "Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald" by Gordon Lightfoot. The long epic 1977 ballad was a sad tale about a lost passenger ship in the stormy Great Lakes that cost many lives. For people living in the region, the story would prove to be an everlasting unsolved mystery. Another Gordon Lightfoot song called "If You Could Read My Mind" in 1971 built up a hero fantasy and then shot it down with a call to "be real." Neil Diamond sold millions as a storyteller songwriter who dealt with the meaning of life in songs like "I Am...I Said." Narcissism and the challenge to see through narcissism would become big themes in the seventies.

People were heavily into the idea that great music should be theater of the mind. That's how a folk artist like Don McLean was able to break through with an eight minute song, which would normally not even be considered by pop radio. But with big hits from examples like Bob Dylan and The Beatles breaking the five minute time barrier (while the standard was three minutes), it was gradually becoming acceptable for pop radio to play long epic songs. McLean 's eight minute hit "American Pie" in 1972 used metaphors to outline the history of rock and roll, with the curious judgment that the plane crash which killed Buddy Holly in the fifties was "the day the music died." The song was filled with religious imagery and grumpy conservatism, but became a campfire classic partly because of its clever rhyming scheme and picturesque storyline.

THE SOFTENING OF HARSH WORDS

Jim Croce, who was killed in a plane crash in 1973, put out a wealth of conceptual songs. "Bad Bad Leroy Brown" at the time was considered risque because it used the word "damn," which simply was not a word heard in pop music until then, although the freeform format didn't restrict such language as in "Bitch" by The Rolling Stones a few years earlier. But the point of the song wasn't the word "damn," it was the silly story about a guy having an affair with someone's wife. By contrast, most of Croce's other songs had a serious tone as in "I Got A Name," "Operator" and "I'll Have To Say I Love You In A Song." His most classic song was the dreamy waltz "Time In A Bottle," which became one of several songs of the decade to deal with the concept that time is both like a prison and the avenger in all human schemes. Another story song in 1973 that used the word "damn" and became a big hit was "Tie A Yellow Ribbon 'Round The Ole Oak Tree" by Tony Orlando & Dawn. But its rhythm and melody were so bouncy that the song inevitably bounced out of history and today finds itself even outside the oldies format. Bouncy pop sold quickly then faded quickly.

EXPLORING THE DARK SIDE

The antithesis of bright bouncy pop was Pink Floyd. Their 1973 album Dark Side Of The Moon remains a landmark today. The brilliance of the project lay in the arranging and production of the music. The result was a new, more spacial sonic experience as in the songs "Time" and "Brain Damage." The song "Money" used a strange time signature and sinister bass line to make a statement about greed. It was completely theater of the mind. The album lyrics pointed to a dark view of the world driven by money and an "us and them" mentality tempered by the passage of time. However deep the intentions were, the album became a conversation piece for university professors. It all came from the same studio where the Beatles unloaded their creativity, Abbey Road .

The influence of The Beatles, The Doors and other creative acts in the sixties inspired several new directions in music and one that captivated Pink Floyd was the development of art rock. Their next album Wish You Were Here continued to explore deep social messages, as the title track was a tribute to Syd Barrett, who had founded the band but lost himself mentally through drug abuse. "Have A Cigar" was an expose of the music industry whereas "Welcome To The Machine" dealt with the broader topic of corporate control taking over people's lives.

ROCK MOVES ON

Led Zeppelin were the most celebrated band of the electric blues rockers. They came up with a wide selection of new blues riff inventions. Their most celebrated song has been "Stairway To Heaven." When the album came out in 1971, no single was issued for "Stairway" but AM radio played it anyway. It was one of those rare instances when pop radio broke one of its most sacred rules. The song didn't fit the tightly-formatted top 40 radio of the day for several reasons, with the most obvious being that the song was over seven minutes long.

Another difference was that the song did not have a reoccuring chorus. It moved more like an epic story or even a classical piece, since it featured several distinct sections. It also had lengthy guitar solos, which were usually clipped out of pop radio. In other words, everything about "Stairway" fit the description of the final days of freeform as opposed to what was to follow. Yet, it was such a monumental recording that AM top 40 couldn't avoid it. Nevertheless, the image of the band steered more toward hard rock and so the band was stereotyped. Most of their music was actually either acoustic or very melodic and incorporated world sounds such as reggae in "D'Yer Mak'er" and Eastern sounds in " Kashmir ."

One of the ironic turns of the seventies in music was the growing popular acceptance of the Southern political mindset. Canadian transplant to San Francisco Neil Young wrote about enlightenment in "Heart Of Gold" and then a slam on conservative politics in " Southern Man. " The rebuttal came from Florida band Lynyrd Skynyrd in " Sweet Home Alabama ," a song that directly criticized the Neil Young song. It also talked about not being bothered by Watergate, which implied that Nixon critics were just paranoid. Then again, it could also be taken that government corruption doesn't have to ruin one's day. It also praised the Alabama governor, who at the time was one time segregationist George Wallace. Back then such Southern Democrats sided with the conservatives against liberals and the counter-culture. The band made a progressive anti-gun statement, though, in "Saturday Night Special." Then, of course, they crafted the anthem of the free-spirited movement, "Free Bird." Overall, Southern rock seemed to be stereotyped as backwoods biker music.

THE MAINSTREAM BEGINS TO FRAGMENT

At one time the entire youth of America was wired into the same big pop scene and listened to the same top 40 music experience. That was how things were in the fifties and sixties. But starting in the late sixties and heavily impacting the seventies was the move for radio toward fragmentation of formats. In other words, the top 40 audience was growing up so the music industry had to create different formats for different age groups. Radio stations began doing research in the mid-seventies to find out what the most commercially viable music was. What they found out was that dance records appealing to females had the most immediate impact with record sales and radio ratings. That's why a lot of AM top 40 stations started leaning heavily toward dance music beginning with the 74-75 period.

By the time disco had taken over AM radio, rock fans were in the process of migrating to FM album rock stations in droves. Freeform stations of the sixties transformed into album rock or adult progressive stations of the seventies. Radio consultants became just as influential with FM rock stations in the seventies, as top 40 consultants had become in the sixties. In other words, the radio experience was becoming more researched and controlled with less room for spontaneity and experimentation, even on the FM dial. The rock format essentially split into adult rock and a more youthful rock. Fleetwood Mac led the adult scene while Led Zeppelin captured the harder rocking youth.

1974: END OF THE GOLDEN ERA

The year 1974 was an interesting period in pop music. It essentially marked the end of AM pop radio's golden age. Ratings began to slip everywhere as FM radio was steadily growing in popularity. It was an exciting year for music while the following year would reflect a shift in pop radio toward highly researched dance music, which became the bulk of the national top 40 from then on. In other words, the era of top 40 being the format for everyone was ending as pop was becoming a certain sound instead of the best of everything. So much variety and unusual songs were major hits in 1974. It was probably the last year in which every style imaginable surfaced in a pop hit. Even the sweet pop song "Seasons In The Sun" by Terry Jacks had an unusual twist with melancholy lyrics about dying sung over tranquil guitars, then blasting into the bright sing-song chorus.

Cher told a murder mystery in "Dark Lady" in which the female storyteller shot her lover. Carly Simon and James Taylor did an upbeat jazz/rock rendition of a nursery tune "Mockingbird." Carl Douglas helped elevate martial arts for the first time in pop music with "Kung Fu Fighting." The Guess Who's "Clap For The Wolfman" was a nutty song about how cool of a lady's man Wolfman Jack was. The hit featured clips from the famous national DJ of the fifties. But nuttier than that from a DJ perspective was the song "Life Is A Rock (But The Radio Rolled Me)" by Reunion , which featured a fast-talking DJ who ripped through a long list of prominent names in the music industry.

Ray Stevens had a half spoken word/half singing novelty hit with "The Streak," a song that joked about the sudden trend at the time of people running naked in public. Another more outrageous novelty hit was "Earache My Eye" by Cheech & Chong, in which the last part of the song was simply a spoken word skit with no music underneath. Jim Stafford mixed spoken word comedy with singing on several of his songs including the sexually confused "My Girl, Bill" and the drug innuendo song "Wildwood Weed." A more serious spoken word record that paid tribute to America from a Canadian politician's perspective was "The Americans" by Gordon Sinclair. Mocedadas out of Spain had a melodically rich smash with "Eres Tu," sung completely in Spanish, which was rare on the American pop scene. The last time an all Spanish song made the American top ten was "Guantanemera" by the Sandpipers in the mid-sixties.

Some of the biggest hits of 1974 had no words at all. For ragtime fans of the early 1900's, Marvin Hamlisch scored big with the Scott Joplin instrumental "The Entertainer" from the movie The Sting . The single's flipside was another piano instrumental called "Solace," which also became a favorite from the movie, although never officially a hit on the charts. There were several other fine instrumental hits that year, which would become uncommon in later years. MSFB's "TSOP (The Sound Of Philadelphia)," The Commodores' "Machine Gun," "Tubular Bells" (from The Exorcist ) by Mike Oldfield and Love Unlimited Orchestra's "Love's Theme" were big instrumental hits that year.

As far as new studio tricks, "Tell Me Something Good" by Rufus was the first record to mix the human voice with electric guitar as a new sound, thanks to help from Stevie Wonder. That was the same year that Wonder vocalized his views on the ghetto in "Living For The City" as well as his criticsm of President Nixon in "You Haven't Done Nothin." The song actually became a hit shortly after Nixon resigned, an important time marker in history. Another song that spoke in historical terms was ABBA's " Waterloo ," which celebrated the downfall of Napoleon, even though the song reminded us about history repeating itself.

All four Beatles became big hit solo artists of the seventies, but 1975 was the year the Beatles officially disbanded, despite not putting out new material in five years. It would also be the last year in which all four Beatles appeared on the charts with new material the same year. The period 1970-1975 was filled with a lot of ex-Beatle solo hits. George Harrison wrote "Photograph" for Ringo in 1973, which was a rather somber song about reflecting on a lost love. From then on, though, Ringo hung with more fun-spirited material. Ringo had a goofy hit written by Hoyt Axton called "No No Song" about giving up drugs in 1975. A year earlier "Band On The Run" by Paul McCartney & Wings was like a medley of three distinct tunes moving from ballad to an adventurous instrumental interlude to a feel good rock song about escape.

But the big story emerging from the U.K. at that time was Elton John, who briefly partnered with John Lennon on the carefree rocker "Whatever Gets You Thru The Night" and on Elton's remake of "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds." For awhile, Elton ruled the airwaves with conscious music that challenged pop radio. Many of his songs were wordy orchestral ballads with rich wandering melodies such as the Marylin Monroe tribute "Candle In The Wind," " Goodbye Yellow Brick Road " and "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me." But the upbeat rocker "The Bitch Is Back" was a challenge to radio because the word "bitch" at the time was still considered profanity.

Meanwhile, The Rolling Stones were still cranking out solid party music about the rock and roll lifestyle in "It's Only Rock And Roll." Other British invaders of the past came back with unique hits as in Eric Clapton's cover of the Bob Marley reggae song "I Shot The Sheriff" and Jethro Tull's "Bungle In The Jungle." Part of the magic of 1974 was the challenge for each artist to sound unique. After 1974, unfortunately the challenge seemed to be just to fit in, as dictated by the music industry. Imagination was under attack. It was perhaps the last year in which the status quo of pop radio was shaped by Beatlemania. The ethic of The Beatles, which was embraced by the entire music industry up until then, was to make every song sound different. Essentially, it meant broad experimentation of musical ideas as opposed to a narrow writing to fit a specific genre.

A heavy emphasis was still placed on meaningful lyrics in the mid-seventies by songwriters. Again, 1974 was perhaps the last year to have a lot of storyteller songs. "Cat's In The Cradle" by Harry Chapin told the story of how a son came to neglect his father manifested from his father's neglect. "The Night Chicago Died" by Paper Lace told the Al Capone story. "Billy Don't Be A Hero" by Bo Donaldson & The Heywoods was about a soldier who upset his wife by trying to be a war hero, only to die in battle. "One Tin Soldier" by Coven from the movie Billy Jack told the story of how a peaceful mountain kingdom (from long ago) was wiped out by greed-stricken warriors who wanted the kingdom's treasure which turned out to be a stone that read "peace on earth."

An uncharacteristically trippy song for Helen Reddy was "Angie Baby," which told a haunting fantasy about a girl who lives her life "inside the radio" and rages a psychic war with an unsuspecting interested male. "Rock And Roll Heaven" by The Righteous Brothers was a look back at rock stars who had died young in rock's short history. Even the most mundane rock songs of the time like "Rock On" by David Essex seemed to be saying something about the entire culture asking which direction rock and rollers should move.

More evidence that 1974 marked the end of an era was the debut of the popular television series Happy Days . The show reached back in time to the fifties with the rise of rock and roll. It educated a whole new generation about Elvis, Chuck Berry and the other pioneers of rock. They say in Cultural Anthropology courses that when a culture becomes infatuated with looking back at itself, it indicates a lack of new ideas and a sense that the culture is dying on the vine. Was that the case of Happy Days ? What actually seemed to be happening was the birth of nostalgia as a marketable product treated as if it were a new product.

Back in those days people would say "wow" when they heard a familiar song for the first time in a long time. But with the popularity of nostalgia, oldies became a viable radio format. The only problem was that these oldies stations would play the same short list of biggest hits in a regular rotation, which reduced the "wow factor." In that sense, Happy Days and all of its influences marked the end of an era of unpredictable nostalgia. The show was so popular that its theme song "Rock Around The Clock" by Bill Haley & The Comets made a comeback on the charts in 1974.

THE MUSIC RESEARCH BEGINS

As it turned out the period 1974-1975 marked the beginning of the end of the golden age of AM pop radio. The radio industry was moving toward consultants and research, taking a lot of musical decision-making out of the hands of disc jockeys. In the fifties disc jockeys at many stations decided their own playlist, but from the early sixties on, Program Directors began wrestling away that power following a congressional investigation into radio payola. Research turned out to be one of the final nails in the DJ coffin, as research found that a majority of listeners don't like DJ babble or too much unfamiliar music. Because America was experiencing an energy crisis, the petroleum-based vinyl record also suffered in the 74-75 era. Record company gatekeepers had to deal with rising oil prices so they began to trim their rosters and focus signings on proven marketable acts.

NEW SOUNDS AND IMAGES ARISE

Even with a more watered down pop era on the horizon, the 1975-1977 era wasn't necessarily bad music. In fact, some of the records were ahead of their time. "#9 Dream" by John Lennon was a dreamy meditative tune but it was "Dream Weaver" by Gary Wright a year later that took pop culture on their first musical astral adventure. Then the topic of what to expect when you die came up in Blue Oyster Cult's "Don't Fear The Reaper." They moved more toward theater of the mind with "Godzilla." Even more picturesque was Kiss, who posed in make-up as super heroes and even inspired a comic book. Meanwhile, Alice Cooper, who had also worn make-up and did wild stunts onstage, shocked everyone with his sympathetic ballad for women called "Only Women (Bleed)."

The first all-electronic record to chart in America was "Autobahn" by Kraftwerk in 1975, which was mainly an instrumental with occasional German lyrics. The influence of the synthesizer in pop music grew from that point on. In a sense, disco and techno developed on the same timeline and crossed paths several times. Then in another ironic twist, the merging of techno and punk created the basis for new wave music and the early modern rock format.

THE MELLOW JOURNEY

The seventies may be remembered as a reaction to the sixties whereas the eighties clearly marked a new era. A shift from the industrial era to the technological era had been going on gradually throughout the century until escalating rapidly in the 1980s. The transition between these two eras seemed to coincide with disco music, which marked a shift from acoustic and electric instruments to electronic instruments. For many people, the acceleration of the technological revolution created what writer Alvin Toffler called "Future Shock," which was the title of his best selling book in the early seventies. He talked about how this acceleration was forcing people to face the future at a much more rapid pace than people could handle. Perhaps this may explain why so many ballads, instead of rock and roll, hit the top of the charts in the seventies. On top of workers beginning to be replaced by computers, people needed to cool off from the anxiety and paranoia from the turbulence of the war, the corruption of Watergate and a period of inflated prices and a sagging economy. Then the bright happy sound of disco, not rock and roll, became the new mainstream.

The beautiful lush pop ballads of the seventies were highlighted by string sections and classical-based arrangements. Some of the most emotionally moving ballads of the decade included "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" and "Killing Me Softly with His Song" by Roberta Flack, "Touch Me In the Morning" and "Do You Know Where You're Going To" by Diana Ross, "The Way We Were" and "Evergreen" by Barbara Streisand, "Behind Closed Doors" and "The Most Beautiful Girl" by Charlie Rich, and "Let's Stay Together" by Al Green.

The idea of rock and rollers doing soft ballads had been around since Elvis, but seventies rock artists were starting to give a more serious tone to ballads that went beyond romance such as the self-conscious about aging song "Dream On" by Aerosmith. The band Chicago had a lot of big hit ballads and were more serious in the romantic vein, although they diverted in 1975 with a song called "Harry Truman," a tribute to the 33rd President. Overall, their catalogue had contained a wealth of forward-thinking songs such as "Feelin' Stronger Every Day" and "Make Me Smile." They began to shift to softer slickly produced commercial pop ballads in 1973 with "Colour My World" and then "Just You N' Me" and "I've Been Searching So Long" the following year. Their atmospheric classic "Wishing You Were Here" in 1975, which featured ocean sound effects and The Beach Boys on background vocals seemed to be a forerunner of new age music, although they were never given credit in that genre. Their number one hit "If You Leave Me Now" is one of the benchmarks of the decade for pop as polished art. Other bands that scored big with mellow hits included The Eagles, Fleetwood Mac and James Taylor.

STILL SEARCHING FOR OTHER WORLDS