Popular music Part II -1970’s and early 80s


1970’s – themes and variations

As the major conjunction of the mid 60’s dissipated, there were few dramatic outer planet aspects in the 1970’s, rather a series of lesser adjustments. But as a result of the changes brought on by the late 1960’ the 1970s became the decade where popular music began to divide the population as its different genres resonated to different groups. Indeed BBC2 recently selected the 1970’s as arguably the most influential decade in pop for the reason that it was the decade that popular music really started to develop its various sub-genres and become self-aware.

The first major aspect that is relevant was Neptune conjoining Jupiter in Sagittarius 1971. The previous conjunction had been in 1958 and predated the changes of the 1960’s, so the start of this new allowed the development of a number of new themes building on the mid 60’s shifts.
Neptune with Jupiter makes things more glamorous and/or more pervasive with an almost religious fervour. And the conjunction was rapidly followed by a number of other quite different aspects so it had a number of effects.

First the conjunction brought glam rock into being mainly in the UK, although even this took a number of forms. The Jupiter Neptune was rapidly followed by the Pluto Saturn trine of 1971-72 and the Neptune Saturn opposition in 1972. These darkened the style significantly and the related trine of Uranus and Saturn allowed the performers such as Bowie and to become increasingly bizarre. .

The same Neptune Jupiter conjunction in its other form also brought a lot of light-hearted sweetness into the charts and whipped up the fervour of the teenage manias that characterised the period- although the associated music styles were less clearly defined than the reaction to the performers. In this case the subsequent Pluto trine increased the obsessiveness of the effect.

While the above themes dominated the charts many of the styles from the late 1960’s continued to develop, with the Pluto Saturn trine allowing heavy metal to coexist with glam. And the trines allowed a gradual introduction of the use of synthesizers. A Giorgio Moroder
composition, Son Of My Father performed by Chicory Tip, was the first UK number 1 to prominently feature a Moog Synthesizer in February 1972.

The next key, though lesser aspect was the square between Uranus and Jupiter in 1973. This may have been the first waxing square since the 1960s Pluto Uranus conjunction but it was the second since the birth of rock and roll and in the UK groups such as the Rubettes and Showaddywaddy revamped and reworked late 50’s songs that characterised the themes the first time round.

The Pluto square Saturn in 1973-4, created a similar nostalgia for the 1940s and 1950s but with a different effect. It was the trigger for the introduction of some new styles, that had been kicking around the whole time, into the mainstream.

Soul, which had been a increasingly important element of the music scene in some cities of the US finally went mainstream globally with songs such as the Three Degrees When will I see you again. Furtermore the related soul and funk inspired disco music became important in the charts with George McCrae’s Rock Your Baby and the Hues corporation’s rock the Boat which although they do not typify disco in its later form, are representative of the era, being disco hits that became chart hits. At the same time Claptons’ 1974 cover of Bob Marley’s I shot the Sheriff became the first mainstream reggae hit and paved the way for Bob Marley & the Wailers own No Woman, No Cry in 1975. 1974 might have been the year that these styles first reached the charts but it would take the trines and sextiles of the next few years to develop them fully.

The same 1974 Pluto Saturn square was also creating a challenge to the opposition of the planets that had birthed the rock groups of the mid 60’s. The related economic situation was also leading to disaffection. The reaction to these factors would lead to the punk movement, although at this time it was still an underground style not a chart one. It would also lead to Hip-hop although it would take until the conjunction in 1982 for the latter to develop fully in the US and until the series of Pluto Saturn aspects from 1989 through to 1997 for it to go globally mainstream.

It is also worth noting that some notable bands appeared during this period, the most enduring is probably Queen. Queen’s success is probably due to the fact that they successfully managed to encapsulate so many of the exisiting themes into their music. Although created in 1970, it was after incorporting the impact of all the above astrological aspects that they came to mainstream prominence in 1974: touching on glam but with a stronger hard rock component and mixing in nostalgic elements they managed to be both original and mainstream.

Despite the importance of the early 1970s, it was 1975 when Uranus began to square Saturn together with a Pluto opposition to Jupiter that the shifts were most noticeable by the eclectic nature of the charts that year as the new and old themes overlapped: glam, soul, country, reggae nostalgia all topped the charts.

1976 saw a Uranus/Jupiter opposition, the first since 1962. Uranus opposing Jupiter inevitably signals a turning point and in 1976 was probably the death knell for the early 70s styles such as glam, the teen-manias and nostalgia leaving the field open for disco, punk etc. There were some less obvious turning points too; The Real Thing’s You to Me Are Everything may arguably be one of the most enduring pure pop songs but it was also a landmark being the first number 1 single by a Black British band.

We also can’t really do a review of pop music without mentioning Abba. Although their Eurovision hit was in 1974, it was really 1976 before they really began to dominate the pop charts, especially with Dancing Queen, which tapped beautifully into the burgeoning disco movement.

With the opposition of Jupiter and Neptune in 1977, which succeeded the Uranus opposition, disco was able to further break boundaries, using technology to harness Neptune’s ubiquity in Donna Summer’s I feel Love. According to Wikipedia “it has been said that this song is the first disco-style song recorded with an entirely synthesized backing track, thanks to Giorgio Moroder's innovative production. In particular, the song popularised the insistent, robotic bass line, which has been frequently imitated ever since”. I confess I was not a great fan at the time but I cannot contest the statement that it“ has been enormously influential” particularly on the styles of the early 1990’s.

In the same year technology also had another indirect impact on music and disco in particular. The introduction of VHS tapes in the US in 1977 coupled with the release of the movie ‘Saturday Night Fever” possibly the first introduction for many to the concept of home music videos. Either way it extended the market for disco.

At the same time as disco was having its time in the sun and was for the most part ignoring the Saturnian themes that were developing, it was Saturn sextiling Pluto and trining Neptune in 1976-7, that harnessed the power of the Pluto Saturn square of 1974 and began to bring punk to the mainstream.

Although I thought the Sex Pistols were unnecessarily overdramatic, for me this is one of the most interesting style histories to follow, (a reflection of my age at the time), for it was the one I best recall unfolding. Many of the artists that I associate with the 1977/8 did not actually reach the number 1 spot until 1979/1980 yet I clearly recall the Sex Pistol’s God Save the Queen and the Strangler’s Peaches and Go buddy go as well as the Radio discussions of the growing punk movement in 1977. It is an indication of the way musical waves develop that it was the less critically acclaimed Boomtown Rats that had the most chart success and even then not reaching the top spot until November 1978.

The astrological key is that punk needed something more than the sextiles of 1976-7 to reach mainstream popularity. It was actually the Neptune Saturn square of 1978-9 that was needed to kill off old styles so that the new could dominate and to moderate the style sufficiently to make it acceptable in the mainstream. And it was the Uranus Saturn sextile of 1979 that was needed to make the population resonate to the darker messages of punk.

[A further note is that as I write this there is a cutesy family orientated Waitrose advert on television…. playing the Strangler’s golden brown in the background. An indication of how far the planets have allowed society to come since the days of early punk? or perhaps Waitrose is merely branching out into a new organic line?]

Anyway the upshot of the astrological configurations and their impact on the commercialisation of punk was that the 1970’s really lasted until 1981.
Running parallel with punk, in the US, was hip hop and in 1979 the US Rapper's Delight by the Sugarhill Gang was one of the first hip hop hit singles to reach the mainstream. But unlike punk it was a one off at that time.

I have also to (reluctantly) mention Gary Numan at this point. The use of sythesisers and the reference of style to the early 70’s was actually a hint of the trends of the early 80s; and an example how the darkness of the Saturn aspects at play mixed with the Uranian Jupiter square in 1979, to move muisc forward. It was certianly a hint of the coming end of the old Pluto/Saturn cycle and birth of the new Pluto Saturn Jupiter cycle which will last until 2020.

Finally, since the decade closed in the UK with the massive Pink Floyd hit Another brick in the Wall, which can probably be lyrically classed as a progressive/punk cross-over record, I can’t close the 1970’s without a mention for progressive rock and its derivative genres. Although a product of the 1960s, Floyd, Genesis and their ilk were dubbed the intellectual side of rock, incorporating other styles and more creative lyrical sources. They weren’t generally mainstream in the singles charts in the decade but often dominated the album charts and the record collections of the generation. In the 70’s the genre expanded to include those such as Dire straits and Supertramp. Whilst much progressive rock is “artistic” (hence not mainstream) some is ironic and/or iconic and consequently more accessible to the mainstream audience.


1980s- Orchestration?

Some might argue that the 1980’s as a whole was not the best decade for music development. The astrology would certainly confirm it. Whereas the 1950s and 1960s were characterised by major aspects between the three outer planets, and the 1970’s by a series of aspects involving those planets and Saturn, the 1980’s started with some drama and ended with some Saturn aspects but the years from 1983 to 1987 are characterised only by aspects to Jupiter. There was growth but no radical change and nothing of much long term creative impact.

However the period 1981/1982 when Pluto was conjunct Saturn and Jupiter are the exception and a number of themes developed at this time. It was time for the old to die and the new to be born.

Terminology and genre are a little mixed for this period. On the one hand there was New Wave derived from punk, on the other New Romantics. Groups that represent these overlapping genres to a greater or lesser extent included Depeche Mode, Adam & The Ants, Culture Club, Duran Duran Spandau Ballet, Tears For Fears, The Human League,. This was a type of glam, but more grown up and instead of using synthesizers just for effect the music was almost all sythesized. Furthermore many bands which emerged in the aftermath of punk, such as Ultravox and Simple Minds also showed the influence of progressive rock, as well as their more usually recognised punk influences. Although these movements and groups soon disappared as the aspect waned, their influence continued throughout the decade.U2, however, was one of the few rock bands that really came out of this era and retained the longevity by hooking into to some of the other themes of the 1980s.

The depressive energy of Saturn Pluto in 1982, without the commercialism of Jupiter, also gave us the Smiths, and probably thus paved the way for the brit-pop of the 1990s. Personally I have a birthchart that prefers the more aggressive styles of the Pluto Saturn hard aspects such as punk and rap than the whinging of this miserable conjunction, but we can’t ignore the influence.

On a related theme the birth of MTV in 1981 shifted the emphasis further from the music to the whole performance. For better or worse, and despite the rise of U2, a bit of the rock that was born in the 1960s died in 1981/2 ( indeed as the aspect applied to perfection in late 1980, Lennon literally died).

Add a dose of Jupiter though and you get something a lot more dramatic and upbeat, so the conjunction of all three planets 1982 also brought Thriller to the scene and a different level of commercialisation to pop. Michael Jackson is alledged to have changed the way the industry functioned; “as an artistic entity and a financial, profitable organisation.” Mainstream pop was always commercial but now it could be big business.

The 1983 Uranus Jupiter conjunction followed by the 1984 Neptune Jupiter conjunction closed the cycles that peaked with disco inspired pop 1977 and started new ones. By this time Neptune was moving into business orientated Capricorn. The change brought Madonna to the fore. Madonna who, like Jackson, (and also Prince) was born in 1958 and has a Neptune Jupiter conjunction in her own birth-chart, giving her the ability to tap into the wider musical consciousness and move with the style of the moment.

With plenty of time to play and no more major astrological challenges, these artists could get a foothold without fear of removal by the next big thing emerging from the underground. And indeed as a result the 1980s was a great decade for the production of pure pop; with Wham! and the Stock Aiken & Waterman production machine.

It was also the decade that rock went all soft on us and the power ballad really caught on, the decade of the movie crossover songs and of course of the charity record. The latter was another product of the Neptune /Jupiter conjunction of 1974. Neptune/Jupiter as we have seen before emphasises shared sweetness as well as fervour:-in this incarnation it believed it can save the world by caring and sharing through the very Capricornian mode of selling records.

As mentioned, commercially the middle of the 1980s had some clear themes but stylistically these are not particularly interesting developments. There were some Jupiter squares in 1986/7 but these merely created subtle shifts rather than any noticeable ones.

Having said that, MARRS' 1987 release Pump up the Volume, when Jupiter was trine the approaching Saturn /Uranus conjunction, is considered to have been the first UK number one to contain samples from other songs and is again one of those one’off songs which is a precursor to a whole genre reaching the mainstream. For that we turn to Part III

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