Pop had so many expressions at that time, from R&B to country to heavy metal, to the kind of rock and roll that currently seems to be on hiatus (but can sorta be found in country, and of course indy bands), to bubble gum pop, to crooners, disco, punk, etc.
Exactly so. The biggest shockwaves in pop during that era were entire new genres emerging and upending everything. That was as true of disco as it was of punk or metal.
Even the biggest game-changer of all, rap, is getting its start in the late 70s though it didn't break big until the 80s.
Fleetwood Mac probably comes the closest. They certainly hold their own compared to Sinatra, Elvis, and the Beatles in terms of behind the scenes drama.
That's a good one, Tom Scola. Yeah, Elton and Fleetwood Mac -- musically too.
Also? Sinatra by a huge margin sold way more records (and made better music) in the 1950s than he did in the 40s. His bobby-soxer moment in the 40s was a short-lived blip.
Sinatra works to a degree for the '40s as a symbol of the shifting focus from the big bands to the vocalists. Although a lot of that change was driven by WWII and difficulties in finding enough musicians who weren't serving in the military, and not so much the emergence of great solo singers.
Fleetwood Mac is a pretty good choice, especially if you include the members' solo careers (although that covers the '80s more than the '70s).
How about Linda Ronstadt? She never really dominated the music scene, but she had a long moment during the second half of the decade. And her ability to shift her style to fit the times was remarkable.
Thanks to a friend, I'm going to see Ghost in September!
Yes, I know they're kinda KISS / Alice Cooper for the new era. That's part of why I like them. Plus, excellent vocals and audio production.
So through the YouTube rabbit hole I stumbled across a band called Larkin Poe (who have apparently been performing for 10 years and this the first I've heard of them.) They started off as a bluegrass band called the Lovell Sisters, then the eldest sister retired, the two remaining sisters renamed the band (after an ancestor who was a cousin of Edgar Allan Poe) and over the years they transitioned to playing blues and what they call "roots rock".
This is the song I came across initially: "Bleach Blonde Bottle Blues" [link]
They also do quite a few covers, like this killer version of Bob Dylan's "New Pony" from one of their concerts: [link]
Or this great version of "Paint it Black" (which is one of my favorite Rolling Stones tunes) from their Tip of the Hat series of videos: [link]
Not often I get this excited about a new (to me) artist, so I had to come here and gush for a bit.
The BTS performance on Late Show with Stephen Colbert was amazing!
What part of that wasn't lip-synched?
That actually sounds like mostly live singing to me. They almost always sing live over a backing track, and sometimes the backing track is more prominent than here. (They lip sync very poorly, actually.)
Their recent performance on SNL was 100% live with no backing track. SNL has taken the video down, but it's out there via people reacting to them, for example: [link] if you'd like to compare the two performances.
