Responding to a friend’s challenge

Where in the 70's?

Can you find 20 killer songs?

Terry Barr
8 min readNov 4, 2021

--

I suppose that Paul Combs could issue most any challenge, and I’d feel the need to respond, maybe to echo, but certainly to reconsider all that I love, and perhaps have forgotten about the music of my life.

The 1970s, musically speaking, was a quantum leap from the 60’s: bridges were built, surely, but in the immortal words of a reggae star who knew his scripture, there were also “many rivers to cross.” Some of us waded through quite nicely; others had to get thrown in just to see if they’d choose to survive, or try to get back somehow to that nearer shore.

Though Paul didn’t dictate this, his challenge focused more on the Rock side of things, so I want to honor that, which means I’m not going to be listing my Disco favorites (Sorry “Night Fever” and “You Make me Feel [Mighty Real]”). I feel a bit thick this morning, so when I reveal this list of 20 cool tunes, please don’t be that person who jumps on board immediately to tell me all I left out. I’m already conscious of choosing only one song per artist, and since you already know how I feel about Neil and Bowie, I’m wincing enough with the pain. But PLEASE, chime in on songs that you LOVE in the comments, or better yet, accept the challenge and let’s make Paul and the 70’s live…

--

--

Terry Barr
Terry Barr

Written by Terry Barr

I write about music, culture, equality, and my Alabama past in The Riff, The Memoirist, Prism and Pen, Counter Arts, and am an editor for Plethora of Pop.