The Kickoff Moment
Look, I got slammed with this insane craving for some proper 70s rock yesterday. Like, right now. All I could think about was driving down some imaginary highway with “Highway Star” cranked to eleven. But every premade playlist online? Pure junk. Either stuffed with obvious, overplayed stuff or weird obscure nonsense nobody remembers for a reason. Total facepalm moment.
Digging Through The Dust
First step? I dove headfirst into my parents’ old record collection gathering dust in the attic. Forget streaming for now. I needed raw material. Pulled out classics like Led Zeppelin IV, Aerosmith’s “Toys”, Bowie’s “Ziggy”. Just flipping through those sleeves, smelling the old cardboard, kicked off the vibe. But just having a pile o’ wax ain’t a playlist, right? That pile sat on the floor looking totally intimidating. Way too many tunes.
Finding The Right Gears
Hopped onto my favorite music app – you know the one. Didn’t just trust its algorithm gods. Nah. Instead, I searched for those mega hits first, the undeniable bangers everybody knows but still rocks hard: “Smoke on the Water”, “Barracuda”, “Born to Run”, “Sweet Home Alabama”. Grabbed those instantly. Then, I went hunting for playlists made by other folks claiming to know their stuff. Scrolled through ’em fast, picking out only the absolute killers – skipped anything slower than a snail race or sounding like elevator music. Found a few gems hiding in the rubble!
Next tactic: Checked bands I knew ruled the 70s and trawled their top tracks:
- The Eagles (duh) – “Life in the Fast Lane” went straight in.
- Deep Purple – Snagged “Space Truckin’” this time.
- Queen – “Stone Cold Crazy”? Thundered right onto the list.
- Lynyrd Skynyrd – “Gimme Three Steps” felt essential.
- ZZ Top – “Tush”? No brainer.
Building That Rollercoaster
Had about 25 tracks now. Good pile. Time to make ’em flow. Wanted it to feel like a live show, you know? Tossed on a few intro-level heaters like “Rock and Roll All Nite” (Kiss) to get things jumping. Then slammed in heavier stuff like “Paranoid” (Black Sabbath). Kept mixing fast ones (“Radar Love” – Golden Earring) with stuff that had a chunkier groove (“La Grange” – ZZ Top). Avoided bunching slow songs together like some sleep playlist! Ended with a total blowout: “Highway Star” (Deep Purple) fading into the chaos of “Whole Lotta Love” (Zeppelin). Took me maybe 10 minutes of dragging songs around to get that rise and fall feeling right.
The Sweet Victory Jam
Saved it as “70s Nitro Blast”. Plugged in the headphones. Hit play. Instant freaking grin. Pure wall-to-wall rock n’ roll energy for a solid 2 hours. Exactly what I craved. The whole thing took less than an hour from attic dive to headbang zone. Zero perfectionism – just pure, loud, feel-good rock action. Boom. Mission accomplished. My neighbor banged on the wall. Totally worth it.
