The 70’s What A Great Decade for Movies and Music

Let’s start of in the late 70’s, 1977 for instance. The movie theaters saw such hit movie like Disney’s Pete’s Dragon, Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and George Lucas’s Star Wars. All three of them were spectacular movies with majestic music accompanying them. For Pete’s Dragon it was Helen Ready’s Candle on the Water that not only won her an Oscar (for best song) but also only served as a lighthouse to her already bright career. Close Encounters and Star Wars were both mega hits for legendary composer John Williams they earned him Oscar nods for both. He won for Star Wars. Saturday Night Fever also hit theaters in 1977. This soundtrack was the pinnacle of success for the Bee Gee’s. It is to this date one of the best selling soundtracks of all time. The now seemingly dated hit songs were then fun to dance too and easy to remember. John Travolta was the marquee name in this very dated hit musical. He was the stereotypical macho man, whose hair you didn’t dare touch. Just one year later In 1978 Mr. Travolta returned to the silver screen where he again starred in a musical; named Grease. In this film he actually courted Olivia Newton John and danced around a funhouse singing (Yes singing,) of his love for her. He didn’t sing or dance again until dressing in drag 29 years later for a remake of Hairspray. Both Hairspray and Grease have Broadway and big screen connections. Moviegoers in 1978 also saw a popular pop culture icon soar unto the big screen. Superman is well known as the first comic book charater Superman: The Motion Picture earned John Williams another Oscar nomination for Best Original Score. The longest running film series of al time is The James Bond series. Roger Moore donned the tux of British super spy 007 in 1973. Paul McCartney’s Live and Let Die was the titular theme song for this piece. It won an Oscar for Best Original Score. Only four years later Moore made his third Bond film; The Spy Who Loved Me . This movie had a memorable opening theme song too. Carly Simon entitled the song Nobody Does it Better. This song in many ways became the theme music for the entire series in subsequent 007 tributes. The big screen was not the only venue to see popular music make a big boom in the 70’s. Mike Post legendary Grammy winning composer was known for his many hit TV theme song throughout the decade. He debuted done of his first television theme songs in the 70’s. This theme song was for a TV show called C.Hi.P.’s. C.Hi.P’s was popular in 1977 and it lasted six seasons with this theme music. PBS made TV history as well in his decade. The Electric Company taught many kids to read with a pulsating, reverberating theme song. There was actually two (theme songs) brought to life in this half hour broadcast. Remember the Spiderman comic book skits. Finally let’s talk about music heard on the radio. Billy Joel and Elton John both started their careers in the 70’s. They both released greatest hit albums in the early 70’s. Both Joel and john sing and write their own songs. They both have hit careers lasting over three decades and are well renown in the 21st century.