Rock Me on the Water - 1974: The Year Los Angeles Transformed Music, Movies, Television and Politics by Ronald Brownstein, 2021.
Another e-book that took me a couple of downloads from the public library to finish but really worth it. 1974 was an important year for me having just left the Navy in December 1973 I was ready to get back to normal life for the first time in four years. I was experiencing all the music, movies, television and politics of 1974 plus going to college at Temple University on the GI Bill. I saw a lot of great movies during this time and also many wonderful rock concerts at arenas and clubs.
So I was really interested in this book and it's perspective on what was coming out of Los Angeles at that time which was a creative peak and exerted a very real transformative influence on popular culture throughout the country. It was also a time when conservatives lost their fight to control popular culture and family values and a brief moment when popular culture was ahead of politics in predicting the direction where America was heading. The film, recording and television studios of LA were reflecting the demographic, social and societal realities and changes brought about by the social changes of the sixties.
The book moves through the year with each month given it's own chapter. There was lots of interesting history in these pages but it is also a New York view of the happenings of LA. It was very entertaining but not to be taken too seriously.
I also have a lot to say about the music, movies, television shows and politics of that time in the pages of this blog.
Here is me in 1974 towards the end of the year.
No comments:
Post a Comment