Evidence of the worlds history has been written into song and acted out in movies for as long as either one has existed. Song writers and directors create memories of historic things that came to pass in the works which they create. It has also allowed them to express their true feelings towards certain situations in time and to perhaps swing the opinions of those who view or listen to their works. Regardless of the intentions, movies and songs have left footprints of historic events in the sands of time that will never wash away.
During the 1970’s America was in the midst of the Vietnam War. It was expected that music and film created during this time would relate to tragedy and loss in the lyrics as well as on the movie screen, however, during this time period the United States had a new generation of people, hippies. The hippies brought new developments to music and film genre, such as sex, drugs, and protest. Musicians and writers used what was around them as sources of inspiration. It was natural to see the facts of the time period in the films and music on the top ten of 1970.
Most of these films and songs can be categorized by genre; they are descriptions of sexploitation, loss, love, and the music from the hippie generation. One of the top movies that linked to the Vietnam War was Airport. In this movie there was a lot of destruction and bombs, which goes along with warfare aspect from Vietnam. B.J Thomas’, “Raindrops are Falling on My Head,” is one of the top music songs for the 1970’s. In the song it mentions that bad things are going to happen, but everything is in the world is going to turn out alright. Another top hit that goes along with B.J. Thomas’ song is “Everything is Beautiful” by Ray Stevens. In this song, Ray Stevens makes it seem that nothing is wrong in the world and everything is going to be fine. Those are just a few of the songs and movies that were related to the Vietnam War. For example, the movie MASH was created to be about Vietnam, but was placed during the Korean War in the film. Some of the music from the year also relates to the Vietnam War as in the song “Thank You for Being My Friend” by Sly and the Family Stone, with lyrics relating to war in Vietnam. In this song the evidence of the war in Vietnam is seen in the lyrics of the first part of the song, “Lookin’ at the devil, Grinnin’ at his gun. Fingers start shakin’ ,I begin to run. Bullets start chasin’ ,I begin to stop. We begin to wrestle, I was on the top.”[1] Some of the other top hits include Chariots of the Gods, Joe, Chisum, and “I Want You Back” by Jackson 5.
The top box office grossing movie of 1970 was Love Story .This movie is about a girl who has been diagnosed with a fatal disease and was not going to recover from it. She also will not see her boyfriend again. This film can be linked to many songs of the 1970s with the same message or feeling. For example, The Beatles’ “The Long and Winding Road”:
And still they lead me back to the long and winding road
You left me standing here a long, long time ago
Don’t leave me waiting here, lead me to your door,[2]
or Simon and Garfunkel’s “Bridge over Troubled Water” both about love and being by the side of your loved one. In the songs “Venus” by Shocking Blue and “American Woman” by Guess Who the lyrics are both about women. In the song “Venus,” part of the song says “her weapon was her crystal eyes” and in “American Woman” a part of the song says “come sparkle someone else’s eyes.” These two top hits of the 1970’s are opposites of each other. Another top song that had to do with love and woman in the 1970’s was “ABC” by Jackson 5. Since sex was part of the 1970’s era, the first ever porn made the top ten movies, Ann and Eve.
With the hippie generation came more freedom of expression and movies called sexploitation movies like Beyond the Valley of the Dolls and Myra Breckinridge. They allowed freedom of sexual expression that movies of previous times did not allow. One of the most influential movies to come out of this genre was the movie Woodstock. It was a musical film, which documented the music festival Woodstock which was held in Bethel, New York in 1969. [3]
Even today events of the present affect the movies and music that come out on the billboard charts. Inspiration knows no bounds and people can’t sit by blindly to what is around them. In 1970 what was affecting the country at that moment came out in music and on screen.
[1] www.oldieslyrics.com
[2] www.lyrics.com
[3] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066580/plotsummary
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