"Given so much unrest, everyone was exhausted," says author David Browne. "It is no coincidence that the top songs of then year were as much hymns as pop songs."
But, if such anthems brought people together, the bands that created them were, at the time, falling apart. Both Simon & Garfunkel and the Beatles broke up in 1970, as did Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.
Meanwhile, great new musicians and groups rose to take their place, including Elton John, the Jackson Five, the Carpenters and James Taylor, all of whom released breakthrough songs that same year.
Whole new genres emerged as well, making 1970 a unique year that will live forever in musical history and in our memories.
Of course, 1970, was a college year for me, so these songs really strike up the old memories. I pledge Delta Sigma Phi at NIU and moved out to the frat house in the fall after living freshman year at Lincoln Hall dormitory freshman year. That spring was also the Kent State Riots when I really thought I was seeing the end of the United States. Those were some scary times, I tell you.
I was looking out my dorm window when the rioting came to DeKalb and NIU as a confrontation between students and police took place right below me. With all the police lights flashing, the campus radio station, WNIU played "Lay Down (Candles in the Wind)" by Melanie and any time I hear that song anymore it takes me right back.
1970 Was Quite a Time. --RoadMusic
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