1971 was truly a great year for Progressive Rock…with tons of new material to discover, digest and absorb! I was also rocking away myself that year as the rhythm guitarist “in a high school rock and roll band”. If you could put together a collection of vinyl records featuring long, drawn-out artistic compositions and combine them with new tunes from a breed of poetic singer-songwriters who evolved out of the Folk music scene, you’d have one incredible year of music! And that, my friends, was 1971.

Some of the great classic albums of that year included “Teaser and the Firecat” from Cat Stevens, Traffic’s “Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys“, Jethro Tull’s “Aqualung“, “Tupelo Honey” from Van Morrison, Elton John’s “Madman Across the Water”, “Every Picture Tells a Story” by Rod Stewart, “Fragile” from Yes, and “Led Zeppelin IV“.  I could go on and on and on and on…….

Also In 1971:

• Minimum wage in the U.S. was $1.60 per hour
• The average annual income was $10,622
• A new car sold for $3,560
• You could build a new house for $25,200
• A loaf of bread was 25 cents
• A full-service gallon of gas was 40 cents
• First Class postage was only 6 cents; in May it was raised to 8 cents!

1971 World News Headlines:

• Nixon pledged the withdrawal of over 100,000 U.S. troops from Vietnam
• The People’s Republic of China made its formal entry into the U.N.
• Ida Amin and his rebels toppled the government in Uganda to seize power
• Soviets manned the world’s first space station for 23 days
• Leningrad went wild over Duke Ellington on his Soviet Tour
• On July 31st, George Harrison hosted The Concert for Bangladesh in New York City’s Madison Square Garden — to benefit for that poverished country

1971 U.S. News Headlines:

• To combat runaway inflation, President Nixon ordered a 90-day freeze on prices and wages
• South Dakota Senator George McGovern opened his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination
• The U.S. trade embargo with China was lifted after 20 years
• The Supreme Court ruled that school bussing to end racial segregation was constitutional
• The Apollo 14 astronauts brought back over 100 pounds of Moon Rocks to study
• Texas Instruments developed the first pocket calculator!

The top TV shows in 1971:  All in the Family, The Flip Wilson Show, Gunsmoke, Cannon, Marcus Welby M.D., Sanford & Son, Mannix, Adam-12, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Here’s Lucy, Hawaii Five-O, Medical Center, The Partridge Family and Bonanza

Favorite movies from 1971:  The French Connection, Billy Jack, The Summer of ’42, Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory, A Clockwork Orange, The Andromeda Strain, Fiddler on the Roof, Diamonds are Forever, Dirty Harry, Klute, The Last Picture Show, Harold & Maude, Shaft, Play Misty for Me, Mad Dogs & Englishmen, The Omega Man, and The Vanishing Point

What pieces of vinyl from 1971 did you listen to in its entirety?  All of Side One, then flipping it over to all of Side Two?  Pass along your favorites, plus any thoughts, comments and opinions relating to this Post.

Hear all of 1971’s fab Progressive Rock on-the-air right now on both Live365 and TuneIn apps!

Thanks for listening…

– Fred