Senior Year, 1974: Don't Trust Authority
In 1974, there wasn't a lot to feel hopeful about. Watergate dominated the news. The Vietnam War continued to limp along. President Nixon resigned without admitting any wrongdoing and was almost immediately pardoned. Movies like The Godfather II, Chinatown, The Towering Inferno and Earthquake added to the sense that the world was a dark place and getting darker every day.
Providing the soundtrack for those troubled times were bands like Lynyrd Skynyrd, Bachman-Turner Overdrive, Queen, David Bowie, Eric Clapton, Aerosmith and The Rolling Stones. Some tracks, like "I Shot the Sheriff" and "Rebel Rebel" were overtly rebellious, while "Sweet Home Alabama," "Band on the Run" and "It's Only Rock 'n Roll (But I Like It)" were more quietly subversive. We didn't know what lay ahead, but as long as we had some decent stereo speakers, we could drown out reality and rock on, and that was all that really mattered.
