Permanent Retrograde

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The Year is 1970
kellyoxford.substack.com

The Year is 1970

Kelly Oxford
Jan 4
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The Year is 1970
kellyoxford.substack.com

I really hope the 2020s bring us interesting music.
I think they will, we’ve been in hell.
To be an artist is hell. There will be good music.

But let’s talk about the true, unsung, decade of music. The 1970s.

Of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, the 1970s were the underdog.

Like a weird middle sister, she really didn’t get all the kudos she deserved.

No Summer of Love, no New Wave, no mixtapes or Nintendo.


But I always champion an underdog, especially one with a hint of patchouli on a silk, half-buttoned, woman’s blouse.

The 1970s marked the end of the Vietnam war. Hip Hop was born. A time when the architecture of homes went to wood exteriors and circle windows. Plants, macramé and disco.


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Most importantly:  in 1972 The Supreme Court (Eisenstadt vs Baird) legalized the birth control pill for unmarried women. Six years later, 1978 (Carey vs Population), The Supreme Court stated there could not constitutionally be restrictions on sales of any contraceptives to people of any age. The 70s were incredible, women could finally, 99% worry-free, fuck as they pleased.


I listen to music from the 1970s more than music from any other decade. It’s full, it’s sonic. Today I’m sharing a playlist of songs that were released in 1970 itself.

It is my favorite playlist. It reminds me there was a simpler, less capitalized time for art, and the musical art flourished.
I hope this decade can bring us some of the same. :/

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MichelleA
Jan 5Liked by Kelly Oxford

Wow, this playlist made me burst into tears. Some of these songs played on the radio when I was a little girl riding in the passenger seat, no seatbelt, of my mom's olive green Ford Pinto. I was five, singing my heart out to Lady Marmalade with my mother, who giggled every time at my attempts to sing the French parts. She's gone now. I wish I could tell her to listen to your playlist. She would cry too. Thank you. ❤

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Sarah
Writes EasyTiger ·Jan 4Liked by Kelly Oxford

This is a necessary article.

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