1970-1979

All Let It Roll episodes covering the music of the 1970s.

Let It Roll Originals

• Lou Reed's Transformer came out in a big way

• The Neville Brothers took New Orleans R&B to a whole new audience

• Peter Asher scored in the British Invasion and ruled in the Singer-Songwriter era

• Black Sabbath invented heavy metal with Ozzy Osbourne and perfected it with Ronnie James Dio

• Hipgnosis designed iconic album covers for Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and many more

• David Bowie 75 years after his birth

• Steppenwolf's John Kay Came to Hard Rock from the Toronto Folk Scene

• Gene Clark's Songwriting Lifted the Byrds

• Eddie Floyd Epitomized the Stax Records Approach to Soul

• The Velvet Underground Brought the Avant-Garde to Rock and Presaged Punk

• The Band That Broke Czechoslovakian Communism: Plastic People of the Universe

• The Outlaw Country of Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings was the Second Wave of Progressive Country to Come out of Austin

• Sly Stone Embodied the Optimism of Woodstock Nation Until He Didn’t

• Bad Brains' HR Created a New Template for Hard Rock Then Tore It All Down

• Yoko Ono Brought Classical and Avant-Garde Techniques to Rock

• From Jimi Hendrix to R.E.M., Warner Brothers Records Provided Artists a Rock Era Oasis

• Donna Summer and Giorgio Moroder Invented Electronic Dance Music With “I Feel Love”

• Rod McKuen's Songs Sold Millions of Records but Triggered a Critical Backlash

• Nicky Hopkins' Piano Graced Classic Rock by The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Kinks, and Many More

• Aerosmith, KISS, Cheap Trick & Starz Carved Out a Space for Weird Rock in the 1970s

• The Kinks' Class-Consciousness Made Them Wary of the Promises of Swinging London

• Aretha Franklin Brought Gospel Fervor to the Top of the Charts

• Joan Jett's Years With the Runaways Laid the Groundwork for Solo Stardom

• The Triumphs & Tragedy of Marvin Gaye, Motown's Greatest Male Solo Singer and First Album Artist

• The Lost Art of Elevator Music From Mantovani & Jackie Gleason to Brian Eno’s Ambient Music

• Introducing David Bowie to Stardust, Choosing Between Hendrix and The Who

• Freddie Mercury and Queen Earned Rock Immortality

• Jimmy Page Before Led Zeppelin: Session Man & Yardbird

• How Willie Nelson, Doug Sahm, Stevie Ray Vaughan, SXSW and ACL Fest Turned Austin into the ATX

• Gram Parsons' Disastrous Career Made Him a Legend

• Dolly Parton Had A Vision Of Superstardom Beyond Nashville

• Elvis Presley: Decline And Fall

• AC/DC Perfected Hard Rock While Flirting With Punk

• Buck Owens Conquered the Country Music Business

• Electronic Music From the Avant Garde to Top of the Pops

• Which One's Pink (Floyd)?

• James Brown Hits The One

• John, Paul, George & Ringo Couldn't Escape The Beatles

• The Grateful Dead Builds Psychedelic America

• CSNY Tried to Have It All

• Managing Led Zeppelin, the Biggest Band on Earth

• Stax Records Blows Up in the 1970s

• Willie Nelson Superstar

• Willie Nelson: Nashville's Not Enough

• David Bowie: Starman

• Iggy Pop: Open Up and Bleed

Let Motown Roll

• Let Motown Roll 9: Rick James was the last great Motown star

We Dig VH1’s Metal Evolution

• Progressive Metal from Rush & Dream Theater to Tool & Meshuggah

• Power Metal from the Scorpions and Yngwie Malmsteen to DragonForce and Nightwish

• Shock Rock From Screamin' Jay Hawkins to Alice Cooper to Marilyn Manson

• Van Halen and MTV Spawned the LA Glam Metal Scene that Produced Motley Crue, Poison and Guns N Roses

• Iron Maiden and Def Leppard Emerge from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal

• Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple Were the Big Three of British Heavy Music

TechnoRoll

• Technoroll 9: Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash, & Afrika Bambaata Invent Hip-Hop

• Technoroll 8: Before Hip-Hop Disco DJ's Like Grandmaster Flowers & DJ Hollywood Set the Stage

• Technoroll 6: Disco Blows Up in the Late 70's

• Technoroll 5: Disco Begins In New York

• Technoroll 4: Jamaica's Sound System Culture Birthed Ska, Reggae, Dub

• Technoroll 3: UK DJ Culture Develops With Northern Soul

• Technoroll 2: The First DJs On the Radio and In the Clubs

• Technoroll: The History of DJ-Based Music - Reggae, Disco, Hip-Hop, House, Techno, EDM and Beyond

We Dig Rock Docs

• Chula Fronteras Documented Tejano Legends Like Lydia Mendoza, Narciso Martinez and Flaco Jimenez

• The Sex Pistols Launched Punk Rock in London & Triggered a Huge Backlash

• The New York Dolls' Punky Glam Was Too Much, Too Soon

• ZZ Top Took Marshall Amps and Remade Boogie-Blues as Heavy Rock

• Leon Russell Spotlighted in Les Blank's "A Poem Is A Naked Person”

We Dig Hip-Hop Evolution: The Foundation

• Hip-Hop Is Born In The Bronx

CountryRoll (Ken Burns’ Country Music)

• CountryRoll 7: Willie Nelson & Waylon Jennings Outlaw Country and Dolly Parton’s Pop-Crossover

• CountryRoll 6: George Jones & Tammy Wynette Were Mr. & Mrs. Country Music

We Dig Mike Judge’s Tales from the Tour Bus

• RJ Smith Interview

• Betty Davis

• James Brown

• Bootsy Collins

• Rick James

• George Clinton

• Interview With Tales from the Tour Bus Producer Jeff Feuerzeig

• Blaze Foley

• Billy Joe Shaver

• Johnny Paycheck

Ed Ward’s “History of Rock and Roll”

• What Have We Learned From Ed Ward's History of Rock and Roll [Volume 2]?

• The Pre-Punk Seventies