San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Ask Mick LaSalle:
Which was better, the ’ 60s or ’ 70s?
Hi Mick: Thank you for the remembrance of John Lennon. I have just one correction to your piece: Being a teenager in the ’ 60s was, of course, the very best time for music. You were born too late.
Maria Lenhart, San Francisco
Hi Maria: All right, young folks, stand clear, because us geezers are about to get into some serious older Boomer versus younger Boomer esoterica here.
Bottom line: The ’ 70s were better. First of all, you can take all the pop music released in the United States from Jan. 1, 1960, through Kennedy’s assassination in November 1963 and throw it in the dumpster. That leaves just six years and one month to compete against a whole decade. Of the great ’ 60s groups, only the Beatles did their best work in the ’ 60s, and “Let It Be” was released in 1970. Plus, the former Beatles did some great solo stuff in the ’ 70s to offset some of that imbalance.
Meanwhile, the Rolling Stones were at least as good in the ’ 70s as in the ’ 60s. The Who released a bunch of garbage in the ’ 60s, plus the overrated “Tommy.” In the ’ 70s, you get “Who’s Next” ( masterpiece), “Quadrophenia” ( good) and “The Who by Numbers” ( masterpiece).
How about Led Zeppelin? Two albums in the ’ 60s — one OK, one great — but then a series of classics in the ’ 70s. Or The Kinks — really nice, interesting stuff in the ’ 60s, but their best albums are in the ’ 70s. Same for Joni Mitchell. Plus, there’s Elton John at his zenith. There’s David Bowie, Fleetwood Mac and the Eagles. ( I know. Who cares about the Eagles? But they were better than the Dave Clark Five.)
There’s Motown and Michael Jackson’s “Off the Wall.” And women emerge: Carole King, Carly Simon, Heart, the Runaways, Linda Ronstadt, Diana Ross as a solo performer.
Then, boom, there’s punk and new wave. The Ramones, Sex Pistols, Blondie, the Cars, Talking Heads, Patti Smith, Elvis Costello.
Plus, for comic relief: Disco! The Bee Gees! “Saturday Night Fever”!
It’s a competition, I admit, but the ’ 70s win by a mile.
Dear Mick: I was searching online sites for movies and couldn’t settle on anything. With COVID19 still with us, and after four years of stress to our democracy, the movies seemed out of touch. It was strange: An old world/ new world kind of feeling. Have you had similar experiences?
Cornel Barnett, Point Richmond
Dear Cornel: Yes. Lately, I’ve felt the sense, when looking at movies like “Bridesmaids” and others from five or 10 years ago, that the people onscreen have no idea what we’re going through, that they’re not like us, anymore.
Also, I’ve often imagined what you’re alluding to and have asked myself: What would happen if the United States became a democracy in name only, if we were suddenly living in a dictatorship?
That would be horrible in every possible political way, but also the spiritual consequences would be devastating. It would change our relationship with ourselves and each other and our understanding of our lives within the grand scheme. It would make movies either propagandistic or like little sideshows pretending everything is all right. And all the poison in the culture at large, which the films would try to deny or keep out, would seep in nonetheless, in the same way that a disregard for human life crept into the seemingly innocuous films made in Nazi Germany.
When a nation is sick, the illness is never localized. The infection spreads everywhere.
For me, it would make what I do pointless beyond imagining. I’d be writing about escapism that offers no escape for readers that are depressed and inconsolable. So yes, I’ve worried about all this stuff. But relax. That old world/ new world feeling will be lifting very, very soon.
Have a question? Ask Mick LaSalle at mlasalle@ sfchronicle. com. Include your name and city for publication, and a phone number for verification. Letters may be edited for clarity and length.