Did rock music come of age in 1971?
Jun 18, 2021, 03:25 PM
In this week’s edition of The Green Room, Deputy Editor of The Spectator's world edition Dominic Green and co-host Arsalan Mohammad take a look back half a century to 1971, a year currently being explored in a magnificent eight-part documentary series on Apple+ TV. Packed with archival music, contemporary news reports, voices from the mainstream and underground, the series is highly recommended.
However, Dom and Arsalan soon veer off into a debate on nostalgia, the whys and wherefores of the corporatisation of rock music, the astonishing impact of Black artists such as Marvin Gaye, Sly Stone and James Brown versus the pomp-rock of bloated West Coast hippies like Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. Should the supergroup concept ever have been taken seriously? And then, there’s the mind-boggling question - would you let David Crosby father YOUR child?
However, Dom and Arsalan soon veer off into a debate on nostalgia, the whys and wherefores of the corporatisation of rock music, the astonishing impact of Black artists such as Marvin Gaye, Sly Stone and James Brown versus the pomp-rock of bloated West Coast hippies like Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. Should the supergroup concept ever have been taken seriously? And then, there’s the mind-boggling question - would you let David Crosby father YOUR child?