Notes of Nostalgia 1972

By Dale “Diamond” Hansen

Where were you in 1972? High School? College? Working? Or yet to arrive
The Vietnam War is still going on although it shows some signs of slowing. The music industry in moving along with a number of changes. The following is a look back, kind of a trip down memory lane for some a history lesson of sorts for others. I short this is Notes of Nostalgia.

To start off our look back let’s look at the top 40 songs for that year:

The Top 40 Songs for 1972
1. Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl Looking Glass
2. My Ding-a-Ling                                                                           Chuck Berry
3. The Candy Man                                                                           Sammy Davis Jr.
4. Daddy Don’t You Walk So Fast                                           Wayne Newton
5. The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face                                Roberta Flack
6. Long Cool Woman In a Black Dress                                 The Hollies
7. I’ll Take You There                                                                      The Staple Singers
8. Alone Again (Naturally)                                                          Gilbert O’Sullivan
9. I Gotcha                                                                                          Joe Tex
10. Lean on Me                                                                                 Bill Withers
11. Baby Don’t Get Hooked on Me                                            Mac Davis
12. Let’s Stay Together                                                                  Al Green
13. Brand New Key                                                                          Melanie
14. Back Stabbers                                                                           The O’Jays
15. Burning Love                                                                              Elvis Presley
16. Garden Party                                                                              Ricky Nelson
17. Day Dreaming                                                                            Aretha Franklin
18. Clean Up Woman                                                                      Betty Wright
19. Rocket Man                                                                                 Elton John
20. Precious and Few                                                                     Climax
21. Betcha by Golly, Wow                                                             The Stylistics
22. Heart of Gold                                                                              Neil Young
23. (If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don’t Want To Be Right       Luther Ingram
24. Nice To Be With You                                                                Gallery
25. Song Sung Blue                                                                          Neil Diamond
26. Black and White                                                                        Three Dog Night
27. The Happiest Girl in the Whole U.S.A.                              Donna Fargo
28. I Can See Clearly Now                                                             Johnny Nash
29. City of New Orleans                                                                 Arlo Guthrie
30. To Late to Turn Back Now                                                     Cornelius Brothers & Sister Rose
31. Nights in White Satin                                                               The Moody Blues
32. A Horse with No Name                                                           America
33. Oh Girl                                                                                           The Chi-Lites
34. Slippin’ into Darkness                                                             War
35. Down by the Lazy River                                                          The Osmonds
36. Get It On                                                                                      T. Rex
37. You Don’t Mess Around with Jim                                        Jim Croce
38. Kiss an Angel Good Mornin’                                                 Charley Pride
39. The Witch Queen of New Orleans                                      Redbone
40. School’s Out                                                                                Alice Cooper

Here are some interesting happenings in 1972

Some of the bands that formed in 1972:
ABBA
Alabama
Average White Band
E Street Band
Orleans
The Ozark Mountain Daredevils
Steelers Wheel
Steely Dan
Styx
Van Halen

In 1972 the following bands disbanded:
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Martha and the Vandellas
MC5
Jefferson Airplane
The Velvet Underground
Them

A brief look at the music industry in 1972

January
17^th Highway South of Memphis, TN was renamed Elvis Presley Blvd

February
9^th Paul McCartney and his new band Wings made their debut at the University of Nottingham in England. That was McCartney’s first public concert since The Beatles 1966 US tour.
13^th Led Zeppelin’s concert in Singapore is canceled when government officials will not let them off the airplane because of their long hair.
15^th The United States gives federal copyright protection to sound recordings. Prior to this, phonograph records were only protected at state level, and not in all states.
19^th Sammy Davis Jr makes a guest appearance on the tv show All In The Family
23^rd Elvis Presley and Priscilla Presley separate.

March

3^rd Thick as a Brick by Jethro Tull is released, a concept album said to be written by an 8-year old boy, Gerald Bostock.15^th LA disc jockey Robert W. Morgan plays Donny Osmond’s Puppy Love non-stop for 90 minutes. Police were called but no arrests were made.

April

16^th Electric Light Orchestra make their live debut at the Fox and Greyhound pub in Park Lane, Croydon, England.

May

8^th Billy Preston becomes the first rock performer to headline at New York’s Radio City Music Hall.  

June

3^rd The Rolling Stones opened their North American tour in Vancouver, BC
10^th Elvis Presley does the first of four concerts at the Madison Square Garden in New York City. He sold out all the shows in one day.

July

24^th Bobby Ramirez, drummer for Edgar Winter’s White Trash, is beaten to death in a Chicago bar fight, reportedly because his hair was too long.

August

30^th John Lennon and Yoko Ono headline the “One to One Concert” at Madison Square Garden to benefit mentally handicapped children.

September

21^st ABC premieres the new TV series In Concert. The first episode featured Alice Cooper.  

October

12^th Diana Ross makes her acting debut in the successful film Lady Sings the Blues for which she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.  

November

3^rd James Taylor and Carly Simon were married in a tiny ceremony in Simon’s Manhattan apartment
12^th 51,778 fans pack San Diego Stadium for a concert promoted by KGB-AM to see J. Geils Band, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Foghat and Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show. 

December

31^st The first New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with host Dick Clark, aired on NBC (before moving to ABC) with Three Dog Night as the main act. Blood, Sweat & Tears, Helen Reddy and Al Green were also on the show.

Just an interesting note: In 1972, Alice Cooper, had the most fascinating stage show in all of rock and roll at the time. Most bands were very satisfied to just stand and play on a bare stage. Alice Cooper brought theater into rock and roll. Very elaborate sets, many costume changes, magic tricks and visual and lighting effects that would amaze all. Strange, out there, creative, off the deep end all are ways to describe Alice Cooper but no one can ever deny the success they found being different, creative and talented.

Highlights from the News in 1972

January

1^st 58^th Rose Bowl Game: Stanford beat Michigan 13-12
2^nd Pierre Hotel Robbery in New York City where six men robbed the safe-deposit boxes of at least $4 million.
4^th The first hand held calculator (HP-35) is introduced for the price of $395.00.
5^th President Nixon ordered the development of the Space Shuttle Program.
5^th NYC transit far rises from $.30 to $.35
11^th East Pakistan renamed itself Bangladesh.
14^th Sanford & Son starring Red Foxx premieres on NBC

24^th Japanese soldier Shoichi Yokoi is discovered in Guam; he had spent 28 years in the jungle not realizing the war was over.
25^th Shirley Chisholm, the first African American Congresswoman, announced her candidacy for President.
26^th Yugoslavian air stewardess Vesna Vulovic is the only survivor when her plane crashes in Czechoslovakia. She survived after falling 33,330 ft in the tail section of the aircraft.

February

3-13 1972 Winter Olympics are held in Sapporo, Japan
4^th Mariner 9 sends pictures as it orbits Mars.
13^th The Musical Grease first opens on Broadway
17^th   Volkswagen Beetle sales exceeded the 15,007,034 that Ford Model T’s that had been produced.

March

13^th Clifford Irving admits to a New York court that he had fabricated Howard Hughes autobiography.
15^th The Godfather has its premiere at the Loew’s State Theatre in New York City.
30^th Vietnam War Easter Offensive began after North Vietnamese forces crossed into the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) of South Vietnam.

April

17^th The first Boston Marathon in which women were officially allowed to compete.
29^th The fourth anniversary of the Broadway musical Hair is celebrated with a free concert at a Central Park bandshell, followed by dinner at the Four Seasons. 13 Black Panther protesters and the show’s co-author, Jim Rado were arrested for disturbing the peace and for using marijuana.

May

2^nd Fire at the Sunshine Mine, a silver mine in Idaho, killed 91.
13^th A fire in a nightclub atop the Sennichi department store in Osaka, Japan, caused death of 115.
15^th Okinawa is returned to Japan after 27 years of US occupation.
26^th The Magnavox Odyssey video game system is first demoed, marking it the first of the video games. The game would go on sale in August.
27^th Mark Donohue won the Indianapolis 500 in the Penske Racing McLaren-Offenhauser.

June

14^th The first Popeyes fried chicken restaurant opens in the New Orleans suburb of Arabi, Louisiana.
26^th Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney co-found Atari
28^th President Nixon announced that no new military draftees would be sent to Vietnam.

July

10^th India’s news agency reported that at least 24 people have been killed in separate incidents, in the Chandka Forest in India, by elephants crazed by heat and drought.
21^st Comedian George Carlin is arrested by Milwaukee police for public obscenity, for reciting his Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television at Summerfest.

August

1^st US Senator Thomas Eagleton, the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, withdraws from the race after revealing he was once treated for mental illness.
2^nd Gold hits record $70 per ounce in London
19^th The first daytime episode of the second incarnation of the game show The Price Is Right is taped at CBS Television City, to be aired on September 4^th with host Bob Barker.

September

1^st Bobby Fischer defeated Boris Spassky in a chess match in Reykjavik, Iceland, to become the first American World Chess Champion.
6^th 11 Israel Athletes were murdered by an Arab Gunman at the Munich Olympics
10^th The Brazilian race car driver, Emerson Fittipaldi won the Italian Grand Prix at Monza making him the youngest Formula One World Champion driver.
17^th The television series M*A*S*H began on CBS.

October

25^th The first female FBI agents are hired.

November

7^th Richard Nixon defeated Senator George McGovern in a landslide presidential election. Said to be the lowest voter turn out since 1948 with only 55% of the electorate voting.
12^th Richard Petty won the 22^nd NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship
14^th The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 1,000 for the first time.
30^th White House press secretary announced that troop levels in Vietnam were now down to 27,000.

December

11^th Apollo 17 lands on the Moon.
16^th Miami Dolphins become the 1st undefeated NFL team
31^st US ban on the pesticide DDT takes effect.

To give you a look at what things cost in 1972 take a look at these examples:

Gas  $.36 per gallon
Wrangler Jeans $12.00 per pair
Ground Beef  $.98 per pound
Ford Pinto $2,078.00
Can of Fruit Cocktail $.20
Frisbee $.94
First Class Stamp $.10
Dozen Eggs $.52
Gallon of Milk $1.20
Big Mac $.65
McDonald’s Hamburger $.28
McDonald’s Cup of Coffee $.20
Average Monthly Rent $165.00
Average Cost of a new house $27,500.00
Average household income $9,600.00

I hope you enjoyed our nostalgic look back to the year 1972. I can assure you that we enjoyed putting it together for you. Remember to check out our web site www.dalescollectibles.com often as it does change, new and interesting additions are frequently taking place, we hope you enjoy it