A Telegraph Book of the Year
A Guardian Book of the Year
A Shindig Book of the Year
A Virgin Radio Book of the Year
Awarded the certificate of merit in the 2023 Association for Recorded Sound Collections Awards for Excellence
In 1970, pop was in trouble. The Beatles were no more. Pink Floyd devoted themselves to progressive epics. Led Zeppelin dismissed anything beyond their 'musical statements' as childish frippery. Thankfully, help was on its way.
This comprehensive chronicle by music historian Will Hodgkinson explores how an unlikely mix of backroom songwriters, revitalised rockers, actors, producers, teen stars and children turned pop into the dominant sound and vision of the 1970s.
While bands such as the Eagles and Fleetwood Mac were ruling the albums chart, the singles chart was swinging along to the tune of million-selling blockbusters by the likes of Brotherhood of Man, the Sweet and the Wombles. These were the songs you heard on Radio 1, during Saturday-night TV, at youth clubs, down the pub and even emanating from your parents' record player...
It was never cool, but it was the real soundtrack of the decade.
Against a rainy, smog-filled backdrop of three-day weeks, national strikes, IRA bombings and the Winter of Discontent, this unrelenting stream of novelty songs, sentimental ballads, glam-rock stomps and blatant rip-offs offered escape, uplift, romance and the promise of eternal childhood - all released with one goal in mind: a smash hit.
In Perfect Harmony takes the reader on a journey through the most colour-saturated era in music, examining the core themes and camp spectacle of '70s singalong pop, as well as its reverberations through British culture since. This is the pioneering social history of a musical revolution. Will Hodgkinson is author of the music books Guitar Man, Song Man, The Ballad of Britain and In Perfect Harmony. He is a regular contributor to the Guardian, Mojo and Vogue and presented the Sky Arts television series Songbook. Since 2010, he has been chief rock and pop critic for The Times. A definitive, in-depth exploration of mainstream singalong pop in 1970s Britain, from brickie glam to Eurovision, via novelty hits and suburban disco - the alternate history of a shapeshifting musical decade. Following the surprise ABBA comeback in 2021, interest in the musical decade and scene that spawned the band is at an all-time high. The book will publish during their record-breaking virtual live residency - ABBA Voyage - in London's East End. Following two fallow years, the Eurovision Song Contest will be back with a bang in 2022. Eurovision and euro hits form a key part of the narrative and the announcement of this book in May will tie-in with the newly re-animated annual event. Books such as Pete Paphides's bestselling Broken Greek (2020) and championing from writers and tastemakers such as Alexis Petridis and Bob Stanley have offered a recent re-evaluation of the decade's biggest chart hits. No longer relegated to the 'guilty pleasures' pile, '70s pop is now celebrated for what it is - astonishing, boundary-breaking music. Publication in 2022 will coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of Slade's Slayed album (the start of their imperial phase), David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust, David Essex's debut in Godspell, Gilbert O'Sullivan's breakthrough with 'Clair' and 'Alone Again', and David Cassidy's first hit singles in the UK. It is also the forty-fifth anniversary of Saturday Night Fever. 'Will has painted a colourful picture of my life in this business, and in fact paints a colourful picture of the entire '70s in Great Britain.' 'Instead of walking the byways and backwaters of '70s pop, Will Hodgkinson heads straight down the high street. So many of these names that soundtracked everyday life turn out to have been overlooked and their stories undocumented - the results of Hodgkinson's research are hugely entertaining and informative. A terrific read and a valuable book, too.' 'Full
