What's Making Us Happy (1970s Version)
Pop Culture Happy Hour - NPR
In this nostalgic encore episode of Pop Culture Happy Hour, hosts Linda Holmes, Stephen Thompson, Aisha Harris, and Glenn Weldon revisit wha
Key takeaways
- 1971 was a landmark year for music, producing albums that blended social commentary with artistic innovation.
- The soundtrack to 'Shaft' exemplifies the fusion of cool, playful energy with sophisticated musical composition.
Main topics
- Music from 1971
- Iconic film soundtracks
Notable quotes
'It is so cheesy. And that was something that Isaac Hayes did in a lot of his other songs... I just love the way in which it has this sort of can't be feel to it while also being so utterly like sexy and cool.'
Conclusion
The episode celebrates 1971 as a golden year for pop culture, where mus
Transcript preview
Speaker 8 (0:00) The midterms are coming, and if you think the news cycle feels intense now, just wait until the fall. That's why summer is a perfect time to make sure your news diet is calibrated. I'm Ian Martinez. On Up First, we unpack the three biggest stories every morning so you can stay informed and get on with your day in fewer than 15 minutes. Follow or subscribe to Up First today wherever you get podcasts. Speaker 3 (0:28) We're traveling way back in time when Richard Nixon was president, the Beatles were newly broken up, and Fiddler on the Roof was one of the biggest movies at the box office. If Speaker 6 (0:37) you have any lingering 70s nostalgia, we've compiled a special edition of What's Making Us Happy this week, as we might have offered in 1971. I'm Stephen Thompson. And Speaker 3 (0:48) I'm Linda Holmes. And on this encore episode of NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour, we're bringing you an episode of What's Making Us Happy in the 1970s. Speaker 7 (1:01) Hey, you know that nagging voice in your head, the one telling you to put the phone down and stop doom scrolling? Well, it's time. Look up. Take a daily curiosity break with Shortwave, NPR's science podcast. Let your mind wander to the edges of outer space or wonder about what's lurking in the depths of the seafloor, all in under 15 minutes. Shortwave, your daily mental reset. Listen on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. Speaker 8 (1:27) Hey, it's Ray from Car Talk. Are you tired of all the depth and thoughtful care that goes into NPR shows? Want some good old-fashioned goofing around and stumbling to figure out what's going on? Well, I've been taking occasional car questions again. You can hear them by signing up for NPR Plus, along with lots of other bonus content. Just go to plus.npr.org. Speaker 5 (1:49) The midterms are coming, and that means the news cycle, which is already intense, is about to get more intense this fall. So this summer is a perfect time to make sure your news diet is calibrated. I'm Laila Fadil. On Up First, we unpack the three biggest stories every morning so you can stay informed and get on with your day in less than 15 minutes. Follow or subscribe to Up First today wherever you get your podcasts. Speaker 8 (2:14) An executive order from the Trump administration made English the official language of the United States. Then the administration moved to cut funding for classes that teach it. Speaker 4 (2:24) Do we matter? Speaker 8 (2:26) Do Speaker 4 (2:27) we matter? Speaker 8 (2:28) Listen to NPR's Code Switch podcast on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. Speaker 3 (2:35) Joining us today are our fellow Pop Culture Happy Hour hosts, Glenn Weldon. Hello, Glenn. Speaker 2 (2:40) Feeling Speaker 3 (2:41) groovy, Linda. And Aisha Harris. Hello, Aisha. Hi, I'm feeling solid myself. Now, we should mention, when I say as we would have done it in 1971, I do not mean that we are going to adopt the lingo nor the false sense of when it is as that. Speaker 6 (3:00) I will actually be speaking to you as I would have in 1971, which is as a tiny, inaudible gurgle in the womb. Oh, nice. Speaker 3 (3:08) Awesome. We are not doing that. We are simply going to talk about some things that come from 1971. And we're going to start with Stephen because it's awesome. Stephen, what did you pick? Speaker 6 (3:20) Well, when you look at what came out in 1971, you look at the movies, you look at the TV shows, you look at the music. One of the first things that will jump out at you is that an absolute onslaught of incredible albums came out in 1971. It was an unbelievably great year for music, but I wanted to pick something whose tendrils extended a little bit beyond music, and I picked the soundtrack slash score to the 1971 movie Shaft. Speaker 3 (3:56) You Speaker 2 (3:56) see this cat shop is Speaker 3 (3:57) a bad mother. I want to know, we're all chair dancing except Glenn, which is the most chair dancing you're ever going to get. Speaker 2 (4:05) One Speaker 6 (4:05) thing that has really jumped out at me, revisiting both the movie and the soundtrack album, the kind of double length sprawling soundtrack album, is just what a fantastic piece of music it is. And, you know, Isaac Hayes, he had that often. imitated voice. You know, you think of him in more recent years as the voice of Chef from South Park, and you think of him as a vocal talent. But my god, when you spend some time with the instrumental pieces on this record, just listening to the instrumental score of the song theme from Shaft, it is a fantastic melange of these like punchy horns and strings and that perfect guitar line. There's so much going on throughout, and yet you can put on that album, and there are occasional pieces with vocals in them, but a lot of it is just instrumental, and it is a fantastic piece of instrumental music. Not only did the theme from Shaft hit number one and was kind of an instantly iconic song, but that whole album hit number one. People spent a ton of time just reveling in that music. It is so fantastic. And I just think Isaac Hayes doesn't always get enough due as a composer because he was not only a great singer, but a great, great composer. Speaker 2 (5:26) Steven, can you help me put something in context here? That spoken dialogue, the shut your mouth, I'm just talking about chat. That choice, even though it's become, you know, kind of background, that choice still seems weird to me. It happens in pop songs now. You know, Gaga does it a lot. But at the time. Were a lot of artists doing it? Because to me, that has the sound of like when you hear dialogue over a track. I think novelty song, I think comedy song, where a lot of other artists doing it. Speaker 6 (5:55) I think there were girl groups that were incorporating that in, and I think that's a lot. Plenty and leader of the pack. Yeah. That's what a lot of that, I think, is drawn on. Look out, Speaker 1 (6:05) look Speaker 6 (6:05) out, look Speaker 1 (6:05) out, look out, look out. But it Speaker