If The Beatles dominated the 60s, who dominated the 70s...?

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C
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If The Beatles dominated the 60s, who dominated the 70s...?

Postby C » 23 Jul 2020, 20:31

Well?





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Re: If The Beatles dominated the 60s, who dominated the 70s...?

Postby Charlie O. » 23 Jul 2020, 20:55

The Osmonds.
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Re: If The Beatles dominated the 60s, who dominated the 70s...?

Postby Spock! » 23 Jul 2020, 21:11

Not sure if anyone did to anywhere the same extent, not with the influence, innovation plus singles and albums dominating for so long a period. Contenders that come to mind include Queen, Bee Gees, Abba, Pink Floyd, Earth Wind & Fire, Elton John, Chic and Bowie.

Of those Bowie had an influence, a good run of hit singles and albums. It might be argued that he was an innovator, I think he was more of a popularisor.
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Re: If The Beatles dominated the 60s, who dominated the 70s...?

Postby Brickyard Jack » 23 Jul 2020, 21:29

In the UK, Bowie.

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Re: If The Beatles dominated the 60s, who dominated the 70s...?

Postby robertff » 23 Jul 2020, 22:51

Interesting question C but In what way dominated? Greatest number of record sales, musical influence, cultural impact, social impact and lasting influence?

Could still be the Beatles.



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Re: If The Beatles dominated the 60s, who dominated the 70s...?

Postby C » 23 Jul 2020, 23:18

robertff wrote: In what way dominated?


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Open to interpretation Rob

Open to interpretation




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Re: If The Beatles dominated the 60s, who dominated the 70s...?

Postby GoogaMooga » 24 Jul 2020, 00:03

Led Zeppelin was the biggest band and pretty much defined the 70s.
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Re: If The Beatles dominated the 60s, who dominated the 70s...?

Postby Matt Wilson » 24 Jul 2020, 01:50

GoogaMooga wrote:Led Zeppelin was the biggest band and pretty much defined the 70s.


That was certainly my experience in the '70s. You could meet people from anywhere in America and chances are they were into Zeppelin.

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Re: If The Beatles dominated the 60s, who dominated the 70s...?

Postby toomanyhatz » 24 Jul 2020, 01:56

Commercially, at least for the first half, it was Elton John. Dominated the charts like no one else. Second half, maybe the Eagles or Bee Gees.

Critically, either Bowie or Neil Young.

The thing about Bowie I've always said is that you could almost say his peak runs from January 1st 1970 through December 31, 1979. I mean, he was nowhere near as good in any other decade, unless you want to make a case for the 10s.

Other contenders not previously mentioned: Stevie Wonder, Springsteen, Fleetwood Mac. Maybe Peter Frampton, though his chart dominance was pretty brief.
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Re: If The Beatles dominated the 60s, who dominated the 70s...?

Postby C » 24 Jul 2020, 14:02

What about Abba....?




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Re: If The Beatles dominated the 60s, who dominated the 70s...?

Postby Brickyard Jack » 24 Jul 2020, 19:19

C wrote:What about Abba....?




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In the UK Waterloo went to number 1 in 1974, then no big hits until SOS in 1975. From then on sure they were very big but half a decade is not the same as a whole decade, or even 8 tenths like the beatles in the 60s. And Abba never really cracked the US.

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Re: If The Beatles dominated the 60s, who dominated the 70s...?

Postby Lord Rother » 24 Jul 2020, 23:06

toomanyhatz wrote:Commercially, at least for the first half, it was Elton John. Dominated the charts like no one else.


He had 7 top 10 singles, none topping the charts.

If anyone dominated the charts in the 1st half of the 70s it was Slade.

13 top 10, 6 No 1s.

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Re: If The Beatles dominated the 60s, who dominated the 70s...?

Postby toomanyhatz » 24 Jul 2020, 23:43

Lord Rother wrote:
toomanyhatz wrote:Commercially, at least for the first half, it was Elton John. Dominated the charts like no one else.


He had 7 top 10 singles, none topping the charts.

If anyone dominated the charts in the 1st half of the 70s it was Slade.

13 top 10, 6 No 1s.


15 in the US if you go through 1976.

6 number ones, and three additional at #2 for good measure.

Slade in the US on the other hand...
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Re: If The Beatles dominated the 60s, who dominated the 70s...?

Postby The Modernist » 25 Jul 2020, 09:29

Bowie comes closest. His 1970s offers the same kind of intoxicating narrative of unpredictable change and rapid progression that The Beatles offered in the sixties. However the seventies were a more fractured decade than the sixties and the cross Atlantic consensus breaks down, so it wasn't possible for one artist to dominate in the way The Beatles had in the 60s.

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Re: If The Beatles dominated the 60s, who dominated the 70s...?

Postby Brickyard Jack » 25 Jul 2020, 10:05

When we move on to the eighties, let me put forward the Smiths in the UK, even without no.1 singles.
In the US I would guess Michael Jackson.

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Re: If The Beatles dominated the 60s, who dominated the 70s...?

Postby Pool Hall Richard » 25 Jul 2020, 11:04

Zeppelin, Elton or ABBA

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Re: If The Beatles dominated the 60s, who dominated the 70s...?

Postby C » 25 Jul 2020, 12:10

Pool Hall Richard wrote:Zeppelin


Did your granny or your 7 year old niece like Zeppelin?

They probably did Elton and Abba






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Re: If The Beatles dominated the 60s, who dominated the 70s...?

Postby Lord Rother » 25 Jul 2020, 20:09

toomanyhatz wrote:
Lord Rother wrote:
toomanyhatz wrote:Commercially, at least for the first half, it was Elton John. Dominated the charts like no one else.


He had 7 top 10 singles, none topping the charts.

If anyone dominated the charts in the 1st half of the 70s it was Slade.

13 top 10, 6 No 1s.


15 in the US if you go through 1976.

6 number ones, and three additional at #2 for good measure.

Slade in the US on the other hand...


I’m rather insular when it comes to charts. I have no interest in US charts and automatically assumed we were talking UK, which is a bit naughty!

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Re: If The Beatles dominated the 60s, who dominated the 70s...?

Postby bobzilla77 » 26 Jul 2020, 07:22

There's not a Beatles like figure in the 70s.

I'd vote Stevie Wonder if I had to pick one person that was always right on time by being slightly ahead of the times, at pretty much every point in the decade.
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Re: If The Beatles dominated the 60s, who dominated the 70s...?

Postby Tactful Cactus » 26 Jul 2020, 12:58

Dominated to me means commercial worth. There's a good no-frills website here that tries to calculate the success of each artist per decade. Nobody here has mentioned The Rolling Stones and yet they're number 2 on this list. To a music fan you think of the Stones as a slow-fade in the 1970's but they absolutely owned that decade. Elton John had an exceptional ten years but he dropped 13 places between 70's and 80's. The 1980's was like a spring clean. They all got booted out of the top ten except...the Stones!


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