Saturday, December 31, 2016

NEW YEAR'S ROCKIN' EVE '79

 We're finishing off this year with a Dick Clark New Year's celebration for the year 1979. In 1978 the health of popular rock music was on a downward spiral. There were still good bands and musicians, but you had to search them out because for the most part they weren't getting played on the radio much, and I'm talking about musicians like Little Feat, XTC, Squeeze, Elvis Costello, Television, The Cars, Magazine, Talking Heads, and The Tubes, to name just a few, but when it came down to the final New Year's Eve show on ABC, we were subjected to some of the worst music ever. Disco had taken over big time, and it was enough to make you gag! This is the kind of music that made me start listening to jazz on a full-time basis!

Dick Clark was the grandmaster of the show, as he had done before, and would continue to do for many years!
Here is the rockin' lineup for this show:

 The Village People!

 Tanya Tucker!!

Barry Manilow!!!

Rick James!!!! 

and Chuck Mangione!!!!!
And Dick had the nerve to call it a "New Year's Rockin' Eve!" Besides Rick James, nothing in that group of names even suggests something "Rockin!"

 The hosts weren't too rockin' either! Lauren Tewes of 199 episodes of "Love Boat" fame, and "CHiPs" star in 138 episodes, Erik Estrada!!


 The guy in the striped shirt and short shorts is too much!

 Dr. Pepper shelled out the big bucks for big names like Jimmy Walker..........

 .............And Fred Flinstone!!

 Well, this has sure been a big year in the death of celebrities department, but if you think about it, it really makes sense considering how we have become a society bombarded with entertainment  not just in the movies or on TV, but in music and sports too!
Here's a quick comparison of just a few of the biggest celebrities who passed away in 1978 and 2016. I think you'll get my point!
in 1978 we lost: 
Bob Crane (Hogan's Heroes) age 49
Keith Moon (The Who) age 32
Bandleader Louis Prima age 67
Ventriloquist Edgar Bergen age 75
Western character actor Chill Wills age 75
André Morell (Quatermass) age 69
Leo Genn (Psycho-Circus, Die Screaming Marianne) age 72
Singer Bob Luman age 41
Edward D. Wood Jr, (Plan 9 From Outer Space) age 54
Robert Coogan (Sooky) age 53
Western actor Tim McCoy age 86
Painter Norman Rockwell age 84
One of the greatest comic artists of all time Basil Wolverton age 69

 The countdown to Midnight, but it wasn't even live, what's up with that?

Now while that was quite a substantial list of talent, there's just no comparison to some of the names we lost in 2016! In 2016, we lost people who were at one time or another in their life # 01 at what they did! (Because of the rise in the popularity of music over the years, there are a lot more musicians on this list!
Musicians David Bowie age 69
Merle Haggard age 79
Glen Frey (The Eagles) age 67
Paul Kantner (Jefferson Airplane) age 74
Maurice White (Earth, Wind and Fire) age 74
Prince age 57
Vanity age 57
Bernie Worell (Funkadelic) age72
Leon Russell age 74
Beatles record producer George Martin age 90
The Greatest Muhammad Ali age 74
All time great golfer Arnold Palmer age 87
Astronaut John Glenn age 95
and from movies and TV:
Patty Duke age 69
Gary Shandling age 66 
Gene Wilder age 83
 The Man From U.N.C.L.E. Robert Vaughn age 83
The Queen Of Outer Space Zsa Zsa Gabor age 99
Noel Neill (Lois Lane) age 95
and last but not least, 
Carrie Fisher age 60
 and her Mom
Debbie Reynolds age 84!
Out of all the 80 gazillion people in the world, there are names on that list whose talents will NEVER be duplicated, and we lost them all in one year, but don't worry, next year will probably be even worse because we all gotta go sometime!

Happy 2017!!!!

4 comments:

TABONGA! said...

You'll need to add comics great, Basil Wolverton, to your list, he died in 1978 at age 69...

EEGAH!! said...

Okay, well that beefs up the 1978 list substantially! Ed Wood, Basil Wolverton, and Keith Moon, that's a power trio hard to match, I have to admit! I'll add Basil to that list!

Unknown said...

All is missing the entire broadcast of new years rockin eve:1978,1977,1976,1975 and 1973. Thank you.

Pokey said...

No mention of TV/radio/movie greats Janet Waldo, Alan Young or Goerge S,Irving?

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