American Top 40 - The 70s: May 1, 1976

Every other week or so, I download Casey Kasem's "American Top 40 - The 70s" from dar.fm--well worth the price, and a service I'm happy to promote.  (It's one of the few online services that I pay for.)  I was an avid listener of Casey Kasem in the day.  (A shift in my music tastes caused me to lose interest in the "Top 40" format by the late '70s.)  But it's a nice break to re-hear some of those classic shows again.

So, I lived it.  Is it worth re-living it?  What, possibly, could I hear now that I didn't hear then?

Well, one thing that I hear now--and suspected at the time--is that 70s Top 40s music is, generally, awful.  Much worse-sounding now than I remember it being at the time.

Something else I've noticed is that the Top 40 playlist can be roughly broken down into several broad categories: songs that have been played to death by "classic FM radio" in the ensuing decades; novelties by marginal acts that are justifiably forgotten now; and, some intriguing music that I either ignored at the time, or have forgotten about since, that deserve a new listen.

It's to that last category that I'd like to give tribute to: The songs and artists from American Top 40 that are forgotten now, but today make me go, "Whoa--who's that?  And where do I buy that 45?"

Today's tribute is to a group largely forgotten today, but whose single, "Union Man," is a truly contemporary blend of guitar funk with an menacing urban backbeat: the Cate Brothers.

I vaguely remember the song from the time.  I definitely remember the record.... I saw it in abundance at used record stores.  But it wasn't until today that I truly *heard* it.

This debut album is available today (for a price) on CD, but I  picked up a still-sealed vinyl copy.

So far, the rest of "American Top 40" from May 1, 1976 is the predictable blend of really bland stuff that, even now, I can't remember listening to, an hour or two after the fact.

But I'm only halfway through it, so there might be a Part Two to this otherwise forgettable week in music history--the Cate Brothers, notwithstanding.