HERE’S WHERE I NEED YOUR HELP: 70s BUBBLEGLAM

Detailed Twang readers, I’m in need of some help with a small, potentially made-up sub-genre of 1970s rock and roll. I unoriginally call it “bubbleglam”. Others might call it hard-rockin’ bubblegum, or even power pop. Me, I’ve never been much into power pop, and I don’t know anything much about the glam era outside of the “heavy hitters”. Yet when I hear songs like the two I’m posting for you today, I wonder if there just might be a whole rich set of treasure just waiting for someone to turn me onto it. I need you to please tell me if there is.

See, these two songs by FRIENDS and the WHIZZ KIDDS were discovered by me on mp3 blogs during the past couple of years. Totally love 'em. I want to hear more songs like them: hard-driving, harmony-laden, hook-heavy songs with guitars out front. I can just picture the white man’s afros and leisure suits on the guys in these bands, and it’s an image I’m liking. The FRIENDS song is a real mystery. I can’t remember at all where I got it from, and I’m wondering if it’s an original. I researched it last night and found that other bands have covered the song (even INXS!), leading me to believe that the “FRIENDS” themselves were covering it. If so, they made the thing their own – you know how you can sorta tell when something’s a cover, even when you’ve never heard its precedent? This is one of those songs – totally rollicking, hand-clapping good times.

I got the WHIZZ KIDDS track from the excellent Crud Crud mp3 blog a while back. He says it’s from 1977, though it has more of a ’73 feel to me. Then again, what do I know? I’m the one asking you for help, right? “Sweet Honey” is one of several smile-conjuring songs that, in the course of listing a woman’s positive attributes, mentions her skills as a cook (see The O’Jays’ “She Used Ta Be My Girl”). It’s very pre-feminism, but I’m sure these fellas were just being true to themselves. Good cookin’ is good cookin’.

Anyway, now that you’ve clicked on the buttons below and are playing (and perhaps downloading) these songs, can you please let me know of other obscurities that I might enjoy that sound similar to them? Are there entire compilations of this stuff? Or is there no ridiculous sub-genre of "bubbleglam" to wrap my downloading, 45-buying and CD-buying skills around?

Play Friends “Gonna Have A Good Time Tonight”


Play Whizz Kidds “Sweet Honey”


Download FRIENDS – “Gonna Have a Good Time Tonight”
Download WHIZZ KIDDS – “Sweet Honey”