https://exchange.prx.org/pieces/354718-dc-2104
This week our visit to the golden age of FM radio gets interrupted halfway through by a faux visit to the golden age of AM radio. Fun and chaos ensues.
Artist: Led Zeppelin
Title: Boogie With Stu
Source: LP: Physical Graffiti
Writer(s): Bonham/Jones/Page/Plant/Stewart/Mrs. Valens
Label: Swan Song
Year: 1975
To inaugurate their new Swan Song label in 1975, the members of Led Zeppelin recorded about three LP sides' worth of material, all of which they wanted to include on their new album. Their solution to the problem was to make Physical Graffiti a double LP, using previously unreleased material dating back to 1970. One of the earliest of these was a 1971 jam session with guest pianist Ian Stewart (unofficial sixth member of the Rolling Stones), riffed off the Ritchie Valens song Ooh My Head. Although Stewart was included in the songwriting credits, neither Valens or co-writer Bob Keane was given songwriting credits for the track, although the band did acknowledge the source tune by including Mrs. Valens, a reference to Ritchie's mother. Years later Keane successfully sued Led Zeppelin for a portion of the royalties, with half of the eventual settlement going to Mrs. Valens, even though she was not involved with the lawsuit itself.
Artist: Golden Earring
Title: Radar Love
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer(s): Kooymans/Hay
Label: Track/MCA
Year: 1973
Formed in The Hague in 1961, the Golden Earrings (they dropped the plural in 1969) released 25 studio albums and took nearly 30 songs into the top 10 over a period of nearly 30 years...in their native Holland. They were completely unknown in the US, however, until 1973, when Radar Love became an international hit. They returned to the US charts in 1982 with Twilight Zone, and had a final international hit in 1984 with When The Lady Smiles, although that song did not do as well in the US. Radar Love itself is now considered one of the all-time greatest "road" songs.
Artist: Black Sabbath
Title: Killing Yourself To Live
Source: LP: Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath
Writer(s): Iommi/Osbourne/Butler/Ward
Label: Warner Brothers
Year: 1973
The dangers of the excessive lifestyle experienced by rock stars in the early 1970s is explored in Killing Yourself To Live, from Black Sabbath's fifth studio LP, Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath. Although credited to the entire band, the song was written primarily by bassist Geezer Butler, who had been hospitalized for kidney problems brought on by heavy drinking.
Artist: Firesign Theatre
Title: The Further Adventures Of Nick Danger
Source: CD: How Can You Be In Two Places At Once When You're Not Anywhere At All
Writer(s): Proctor/Bergman/Austin/Ossman
Label: Columbia/Legacy
Year: 1969
The Firesign Theatre, consisting of Phil Proctor, Peter Bergman, Phil Austin and David Ossman, pioneered a type of "counter-culture comedy" that would be followed up on by such stars as Cheech and Chong, George Carlin, and the Credibility Gap (with Harry Shearer and Michael McKean), as well as the National Lampoon Radio Hour (featuring Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, Gilda Radner, Christopher Guest and others). Their most famous work is The Further Adventures Of Nick Danger from the 1969 album How Can You Be In Two Places At Once When You're Not Anywhere At All. The piece itself runs over 28 minutes, taking up the entire second side of the original LP. It is a parody of old-time radio detective dramas, done in a noir style that has itself become a standard comedy trope. The plot itself is secondary to the jokes, many of which are references to counter-cultural icons such as the Beatles. There have been several more Nick Danger pieces by the Firesign Theatre over the years, the most recent being The Bride Of Firesign, released in 2001.
Artist: Doors
Title: The Mosquito
Source: Mono 45 RPM single
Writer(s): Krieger/Densmore/Manzarek
Label: Elektra
Year: 1972
Following the death of Jim Morrison, the remaining members of the Doors attempted to carry on as a three-piece group, but met with relatively little success. One of their best known songs is The Mosquito, but not as a Doors recording. Not long after the song's initial release as a single (and LP track on the album Full Circle), the song was translated into French by Pierre Delanoe, whose Le Moustique went into the top 10 in at least two European countries, and was also released in Canada.
Artist: David Crosby
Title: Laughing
Source: CD: If I Could Only Remember My Name
Writer(s): David Crosby
Label: Atlantic
Year: 1971
David Crosby brought in a few friends for his first solo album, If I Could Only Remember My Name. Laughing, the final track on side one of the 1971 LP, features Jerry Garcia on pedal steel guitar, Phil Lesh on bass, Bill Kreutzmann on drums and Graham Nash and Joni Mitchell on backup vocals. Guitar parts were provided by Crosby himself.
Artist: Joni Mitchell
Title: Big Yellow Taxi
Source: LP: The Big Ball (originally released on LP: Ladies Of The Canyon)
Writer(s): Joni Mitchell
Label: Warner Brothers (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1970
One of Joni Mitchell's best-known tunes, Big Yellow Taxi was originally released on the 1970 album Ladies Of The Canyon. The original studio version of the song hit the top 10 in Australia and the top 20 in the UK and Mitchell's native Canada, but only reached the #67 spot in the US. A later live version of the song, however, cracked the top 30 in the US in 1974. Mitchell says she was inspired to write the song on a visit to Hawaii, where she looked out her hotel window to view a mountain vista in the distance, only to be shocked back to reality when she looked down to see a parking lot "as far as the eye could see".
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: You Got The Silver
Source: LP: Let It Bleed
Writer(s): Jagger/Richards
Label: London
Year: 1969
Recorded on February 18, 1969, You Got The Silver was the first Rolling Stones song to feature Keith Richards as the solo lead vocalist, as well as playing all the guitar parts. It was also the last Rolling Stones recording to include the band's founder and original bandleader, Brian Jones, who played autoharp on the song. Although Mick Jagger did not appear on the final version of the song, he did record an alternate version of You Got The Silver that has appeared as a bootleg recording. In addition to Richards and Jones, the song features Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts on their usual bass and drums, as well as well-known session man Nicky Hopkins on piano and organ. The song was also featured in the film Zabriskie Point, although it was not included on the film's soundtrack album.
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