Why the ’70s?

In this final episode of our introductory series, Jeremy and Tim dig into why the 1970s was such a crucial decade for political, social and musical innovation. Challenging the negative image of the ’70s so popularly held, they discuss the crucial importance of the era's global anti-colonial movements, and its liberation struggles around gender, sexuality and race, which found expression in music through punk, disco, afrobeat, reggae and proto-rap. Tim and Jeremy also take on the thesis that the Counterculture of the late ’60s and early ’70s served purely as a precursor to neoliberalism, arguing that countercultural movements represented a genuine rebellion against the rigidity and conformity of the postwar settlement. Finally, with an eye to the dancefloor, they discuss how the decade saw the emergence of the DJ, and later the remixer, and the technical innovations both of early mixing and of the 12" single. We're now taking a couple of weeks off, after which Love is the Message will return with a new series of 8 episodes, looking in depth at the period 1965–1975 with all the good musical, political and social commentary you'd expect.  If you've enjoyed the show so far, please do tell your friends and share on social media – it really helps us spread the show to a bigger audience. We are committed to making Love is the Message free to everyone who wants it, but Tim, Jeremy and producer Matt have all been hit hard by the Coronavirus pandemic, so if you have the means, please become a supporter by visiting www.patreon.com/LoveMessagePod for as little as £3 a month so we can stay free. Produced and edited by Matt Huxley. Tune in, Turn on, Get Down! Cristina - Disco Clone Max Romeo - Socialism Is Love Machine - There But For The Grace Of God, Go I Gil Scott-Heron - The Revolution Will Not Be Televised Siouxsie and the Banshees - Mirage  Kraftwerk - Trans Europe Express Brian Eno - Music for Airports pt1 Teenage Jesus and the Jerks - Burning Rubber Dinosaur L - Go Bang