If you're anywhere near my age, you'll both enjoy and detest this trip down memory lane with some of the worst hits of the '70's.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you -- Hell's iPod.
Truth be told, though, I don't necessarily loathe all of the songs on that list. "My Baby Loves Lovin'" is stupid but inocuous. "Billy Don't Be a Hero" and "Heartbeat It's a Love Beat" have their place as cheesy Top 40 guilty pleasures. "Muskrat Love" and "Timothy," however, are played on an endless loop in the deepest pit of hell.
Here are a couple more from the same era that drove me insane at the time. Surprisingly, though, after hearing the first one for the first time in at least 30 years, I was quite surprised to find that I don't necessarily hate it all that much now. Here it is -- Fanny's "Butterboy." (Ok, the first 30 seconds are torture -- the rest? Not so bad. I'm still clueless about the term "Butterboy", however, other than the fact that the singer more or less whispers it about 3/4 of the way through.)
So what was it about that song that the 12-year-old me hated, and the 45-year-old me can at least tolerate? It's clearly one of the most overtly sexual songs of its era (lyrics are here) -- perhaps that was my problem with it. Let's face it -- there wasn't much hope of this guy doing anything overtly sexual for quite some time to come.
Speaking of overtly sexual, does anybody besides me remember Boomer Castleman's tale of stepmother-son incest, "Judy Mae?" I sure do, and I'm pleased to announced that it creeps me out as much, if not more, today as it did when it was on the charts in '75. (Judy Mae lyrics)
My every intention for the next song was to link you to the original by Vicki Lawrence -- but this version of "The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia" has a certain something that I don't think even Mama herself could've captured.
And finally, a group whose oeuvre I've always loathed, but none more than this song -- "Lucky Man" from Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Not sure why I couldn't stand these guys -- Lord knows I liked plenty of indulgent prog-rock wankery from the likes of Yes and Genesis -- but ELP always left me cold. On the plus side, though, if that really IS Carl Palmer on the drums in that video, he's looking pretty good for a man who must be in his 60's by now. When did Keith Emerson morph into the Honky Tonk Man, though?