Longtime and careful readers know that we have frequently said that the coolest guys of the 1970's were, in no particular order,
Muhammed Ali,
 |
Bruce Lee,
and
Steve McQueen.
But lately we think we should add to that list. Before we get to the person we had in mind, we realize that cool is not gender exclusive. So we were thinking who is a cool woman from the 1970's we could add to our list? And the name we kept coming up with was Ali McGraw.
And that makes sense, because she and Steve McQueen were a couple in the 1970s.
So she is on our list.
But the guy we were thinking about was the lead singer in Harold Melvin and The Bluenotes. And that man, who just oozed cool was Teddy Pendergrass. So here is Teddy just oozing cool singing The Love I lost.
Who would you add to the list of the coolest of the 1970s?
22 comments:
Good choices but Ali was a poster boy for the '60's, not the '70's. His career mirrored the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War protests, and the emergence of black power. By the '70's, he was still the greatest boxer but his schtick if you want to call it that had given way to celebrityhood. Ali McGraw is an interesting choice but she was a footnote to the coolest guy around back then: Robert Evans, her ex husband, was a bon vivant par excellence. He had a meteoric career as head of Paramount Pictures (The Godfather, Chinatown, Rosemary's Baby). Bedded more starlets than Warren Beatty (another runner up in this category). He eventually crashed and burned and wrote a fascinating auto-biography about his ups and downs. McQueen started having an affair with McGraw while she was married to Evans. But if you are looking for pure '70's bad asses, gotta go with Clint Eastwood. His Dirty Harry role epitomized the decade of working class rebellion against the liberal ethos of the era. Honorable mention goes to Burt Reynolds, Reggie Jackson, and on the fictional end of things, no one reflected the so called Silent Majority better than Archie Bunker (and kudos to Norman Lear for producing that show and Maude, the flip side of All In The Family).
Let's turn the tables. What about uncool of the '70's? There is only one winner here: Howard Cosell.
Howard was so uncool that he wrapped around and was cool. He was also a genius at what he did and was a major phenomenon of the time which isn’t a requirement for cool.
But that’s a great question. Uncool for the 70’s. Nixon walking on the beach in a suit with black dress shoes. Anita Bryant. Rev Billy Graham. Spiro Agnew. George Steinbrenner. As opposed to the entire Oakland A’s team when they won the World Series. They all were cool especially Rollie Fingers. Joe Namath was cool but he peaked in 69 at the Bachelors III club in Miami Beach before Super Bowl III. Paul Harvey was great but not cool- ….Good day!!! Neil Rodgers was not cool but he was on his way to becoming must listen in Miami radio. Don Shula wasn’t cool. Czonka and Merc were. Oh how could I forget ? Walt Clyde Frazier was true coolest dude in the greatest city for a period of time. Has to make my top ten list. So was Earl the Pearl. Alan Greenspan wasn’t cool but it was cool that he hung out with Ayn Rand. And finally Ted Turner was cool. Not just founding CNN but his foray into Americas Cup was cool.
That German woman with dark hair, big Budin breasts and thick accent CNBC business correspondent who appeared early morning on tv to tell us about the Daxx stock index was cool.
Rumpole I think had a crush on her.
What was her name?
Cool: Marvin Gaye. Uncool: 70's Elvis?
Bachelor's III was in Ft. Lauderdale, off of Sunrise. NOT in Miami Beach. Saw Freddie Prinz there before he checked out.
Here we go. You started it Rump. Not cool: Tom Landry, Roger Staubach, the entire University of Nebraska football team (the year does not matter), Bob Griese, Jimmy Carter (and his wife). Cool: Sam Ervin, Billy Martin, Evil Knievel, Ken Stabler, D.B. Cooper, G. Gordon Liddy, Wilbur Mills and his paramour Fanne Foxe, and the award as the coolest guy in the '70's has to go to . . . Johnny Carson!
Of your looking for cool women of the 1970s she just passed. Gloria Steinem
I second Sir Wilfred. And would add Shirley Chisholm, Patti Smith and Joni Mitchell. All very cool cats
True Story--- The Party Invite: Jay Sebring invited McQueen to the dinner party at 10050 Cielo Drive on the night of the murders. How He Survived: McQueen planned to go, but he met a woman earlier in the evening and decided to spend the night with her instead. The Hit List: Later, after members of the cult were arrested, authorities discovered that McQueen was on Charles Manson’s celebrity "hit list" because his production company had rejected a script Manson previously pitched.
Coolest? Donald Fagen and Walter Becker of course.
Was the CNBC German Daxx reporter named “ELSA” dear Rumpole?
There was no one—NO ONE—cooler than Marvin Gaye. And please add to the list the stunning and inimitably influential Gloria Steinem.
AMEN, Sir.
I fell down the Neil Rogers rabbit hole last week listening to old broadcasts on YouTube. Absolutely not the least bit cool but absolutely glorious. The race track, the incredibly quick responses to callers, the jokes so inside that they were for nobody but him. Amazing
Neil Rodgers was a singular talent unmatched in talk radio. I recall Hank Golderg saying, after either Neil retired or passed away that no one would ever again build an audience like he had, and that was true. He was fast, sharp, funny, inciteful and like many talents had a bit of a sad personal life. He lived his life on air for better or worse.
Patti Smith is a true genius. Period. She is one of my heroes. I attend her book readings in Miami every year and the highlight was last year when a member of the audience prevailed on her to lead us all in singing her hit song that Bruce Springsteen gave her-Because The Night. Her book Just Kids is life changing - her memoire of her early life and her relationship with the very troubled artist Robert Maplethorpe. Don't miss it.
The People Have The Power is a timeless anthem.
Great story. And great book.
She's a genius and I reread that book once a year. It's life changing and life affirming.
For me as well. A book about living authentically, from the heart. Real inspiring. Now I need to re-read it.
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