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1974 I'm thrilled they included my avatar! Bobby Bland wasn't the first blues artist to crossover into more of a soul and funk sound but damn if he didn't sound good doing it. This is also good: 1974 is kind of a weak year as evidenced by how few tracks they picked. The only gripe I had with the list was they did Richard and Linda Thompson a disservice with that pick. The title track from that album is much catchier: Interesting how much of a spotlight they give Dolly, too. She gets more of a look in than the entire outlaw country movement. Setting aide Bowie, Roxy Music and other stuff they've already covered, here's some tracks from '74 that I enjoy: A dollar nine gets a bottle o' wine: Best Curtis Mayfield song not written by Curtis Mayfield: Probably my favorite Marvin Gaye song: Betty Davis was NASTY: So smooth: Worth it for Millie's monologue: There hasn't been enough Funkadelic/Parliament on the list: LATIMORE! So criminally underrated. Really tight psychedelic soul: I really like the album this is from: This guys were so good. Here's a gem from one of their lesser known albums. One thing I learned going through the old Best of the 70s list pimping was to always check out good artists' follow up albums: Where are all Teddy's friends? That voice. And that hair: PANTHERMAN! Doom Metal pioneers cover the Stones: How was Doctor Doctor not on the list? Obviously never been to karaoke with me:

1973 1973 was a year with plenty of classic albums, and a lot of songs you'd hear on Classic Rock stations. Let me add some funk: Funky Kingston is one of my favorite reggae songs: BuA nice slice of New Orleans funk: It doesn't get much funkier than this: If you'd rather hear Marvin trying to get laid than save the children: Possibly the best of the blaxploitation themes: The guitar work on this song is outstanding: This'll get you singing along by the time it's through: James Brown is mad: I tend to prefer ex-Temptations dudes to the Temptations themselves: Might not be Jim Croce's best, but a toe-tapper: It's hard to stop when it's this good: The great MANDRILL: It always amuses me how much effort Joe Simon put into this one:

I always thought Goodbye Yellow Brick Road was about a country boy who became a toy boy for some rich socialite.

Uh oh, 388-390..

I've watched more Rocco than most, and I have a real love/hate relationship with his work. When I first got into watching WoS, there were British fans who held him up as some type of workrate god. And to some extent, if you compare the Dixon Screen Sport stuff, or the ASW Slots on ITV, to some of the stuff Joint Promotions was putting out, Rocco was cutting edge for the time. Rocco had an amazing, forceful personality. His 70s work is some of my favorite WoS stuff. Not only his feud with Marty Jones, but his heel run in the late 70s where he's as good a heel character as any on TV. And his go-go-go style salvaged more than a few matches against lesser talents. If he had managed to transition into great 80s feuds with Finlay, Jones, Dynamite Kid, etc., I would accept him as a great worker. But you don't get it, and to me it's a real disappointment.

Here's one that might surprise you.

The quote from Wiki says the fans called them Kakuryu, but Tsuruta didn't like it and thought it should be Tsururyu. I have no idea what the commentators called them. I tried skimming through a couple of their matches but I only only heard Tsuruta-Tenryu combi, which doesn't help. It may have been Kakuryu. To be honest, the whole abbreviation thing in Japan drives me nuts.

Liam, Stevie Wonder had a series of acclaimed albums in the 70s: Music of my Mind (1972) Talking Book (1972) Innervisions (1973) Fulfillingness' First Finale (1974) Songs in the Key of Life (1976) The Innervisions album was considered his transition into a mature recording artist. You may have heard this track before:

I think the general distinctions between Showa wrestling and Heisei wrestling are true, but only if you view Showa wrestling as being bloody and violent. Showa wrestling had a lot of bloody brawls, but it also had long NWA style title matches, faux Inoki MMA matches, early juniors wrestling, serious women's matches, the beginning of shoot style, and the move towards dramatic stories built around finisher dances in All Japan Pro-Wrestling. There were key All Japan matches in the Showa era that provided the blueprint for most of the 90s classics. There is a working class, blue collar feel to Showa wrestling compared to the modern style, though I do find it ironic that Tsuruta copped flak in the 80s for referring to pro-wrestling as just a job.

The term Shitenno itself comes from Buddhism and was later used to describe famous groups of retainers and Samurai generals. Later on, it was used for judokas. I think it's a bit silly referring to wrestlers as Shitenno, but apparently the fans and media have done it since the 60s when Inoki, Baba, Oki and Yoshimura were considered Japanese Pro-Wrestling Shitenno. The Japanese magazines do love naming everything. They had a name for the Tsuruta vs. Tenryu feud -- The Tsururyu Confrontation (or Crane Dragon Confrontation) based on the nickname for the Tsuruta/Tenryu tag team (Crane Dragon Combi or simply Crane Dragon.)

I started reading X-Men in 1988, which was much later than the Byrne/Claremont heyday. There were already plenty of people who had sworn off X-Men by the time I started reading it. When I started out, they were dead and living in Australia, but I was obsessed with it. I was upset when Claremont was fired, but I stick with it through the relaunches. I was young at the time and the art was enough to keep me hooked. By the time AoA rolled around, I was already influenced by the older dudes working in the comic shop, and I had started branching out and reading more mature titles. AoA was the nail in the coffin. I don't remember how long I lasted, but I definitely remember it was during that event that I gave up on the X-Men forever. In retrospect, I should have quit when Claremont left. I remember when I first got on the net, I found an interview with him where he laid out what his plots were for the next two or three years in the early 90s and I was gutted. I wonder how long he would have lasted in the 90s. The hot shot artists ended up quitting and forming Image. I wonder how long Claremont would have survived.

I was a big comics fan during the 80s and 90s. Every now and again, I like to go back and fill in the gaps from my youth. Mostly stuff I never read. Here's some stuff I've checked in the last six months or so: V for Vendetta -- nice art. Kind of typically verbose Alan Moore. And I say that as someone who loved From Hell where he is even more verbose. I was simultaneously reading 2000 AD at the same time, so it was interesting comparing Moore's early work to his completed series here. Ultimately, I was on the fence. We're so far removed from Thatcher's England that it didn't quite resonate with me, but overall it wasn't bad. George Perez' Wonder Woman -- I liked the way that Perez created a mythology surrounding the Wonder Woman character, and a new cast of supporting characters, but ultimately there's a limit to what you can do with the Wonder Woman character. I guess she's like Superman in that sense. Like most of these post-Crisis reboots, the series also suffers when Perez stops doing the art. Mike Grell's Green Arrow series -- I liked the way this operated outside of the DC Universe like a creator owned title. It had its ups and downs, but I was kind of bummed when Grell grew bored of it. Arkham Asylum -- I don't know what sort of rep this has these days, but I thought it was poor. I am a big fan of the work Morrison did on Zenith, Animal Man and Doom Petrol, and Dave McKean was a fantastic cover artist, but to me this was pretty subpar given the pre-Vertigo type mature comics DC was already producing. It sold well at the time because of the Batman hype in the 80s, but I thought it was weak imitation of Frank Miller and Bill Sienkiewicz, to be honest. The 80s Flash reboot -- This was another 80s post-Crisis reboot with a new supporting cast. Goofy and lightweight (at least after Mike Baron left), but a breezy and enjoyable read. I have read this through to the early 90s and haven't found a reason to stop yet. Preacher -- This series got hot after I left comics. I polished it off pretty quickly. I loved the build-up to the final story arc. I dunno if I loved the ending, but it's one of those series where it would be difficult to satisfy everyone with how it finished. I'm currently reading Hellblazer (from the start), 100 Bullets and Transmetropolitan. I keep giving up on All-Star Squadron. I guess I don't have much love for Golden Age stories.

While it's true that Japan has a backwards attitudes towards anyone who is different, it is not considered acceptable behavior to make fun of people with disabilities. Nor is the height of humor. There is fear and shame, and discrimination, but it is wrong to suggest there is open mockery of marginalized folks.

Since we just did '72, and the bassist died, a band I discovered through Love and Rockets:

James Harden being the greatest player to never win a ring isn't an outlandish statement, but let's see him take Houston to the Finals before getting carried away. Baylor had a ring. He auctioned it off.

There were two Johnny Cash songs and a Merle Haggard song. And a few songs here and there with country elements like Sixteen Tons and Sam Stone. It doesn't get any better. I believe there is one Emmy Lou Harris song and one Willie Nelson song. No Kristofferson, Waylon Jennings, David Allen Coe, Jerry Jeff Walker, Guy Clark, Gram Parsons, Mick Newbury, or anyone else from the 70s.

I think that WAR was all me. The only war in the book was Edwin Starr.

Liam, can you post 367-369? I was waiting to hear what you think of You're So Vain.

1972 I thought the authors did a pretty good job with this year. I appreciated the effort they made to cover different genres. The list reflects how varied and eclectic music was at the time and captures the movements that were happening at the time. I do have a few grievances, though. Namely, the lack of Neil Young. If it were up to me, Neil Young would be all over this list the same way that the Beatles and the Rolling Stones were, or Elvis and Sinatra. I read elsewhere that the only other song he gets is "Like a Hurricane," which is bullshit. There's always going to be individual preferences, particularly when it comes to preferring one singer-songwriter over another, but Neil Young is an institution to me. I would choose either Superstition or Bowie's Starman as the year's best. There was a lot of good stuff, though. The only really weak song was that Aussie one. I'm not sure why they keep choosing songs from Australia. Choose something from New Zealand, damnit! This was actually voted as our greatest ever song: I kind of prefer this cover, though: I think they choose the wrong Steely Dan song too: Always a popular song w/ Japanese guys at karaoke: Still waiting for them to pick some Townes Van Zandt: Breaking Bad forever stuck this in my head: Definitely need some O'Jays, either this or Love Train: My favorite folk song ever: We need some Bill Withers. This is as good as any: Underrated band: They really need some WAR but I don't see any coming. It was either this or Cisco Kid, but there is a live version of Cisco Kid I prefer over the album cut. I've included it because everyone should appreciate this fine band: A few songs that are just as piercing today as in '72: Some krautrock that kicks ass: TEDDY. I could go on about Teddy for a while if you let me: You might remember this from Kill Bill. I've actually been thinking of pimping some Japanese music: I really like the chorus to this song: Sing it, Luther: One of my favorite Bobby Womack songs: British funk: A fun little number: Funkiest gospel tune ever? I'm not sure if this was released as a single, but it's one of my all-time favorite songs. I have a live version I prefer but this is the original album track: That's enough for now. I'll spare everyone the slow jams like Oh, Girl and Betcha By Golly, Wow.

That's hard to say. BattlARTS definitely wasn't a shoot style promotion. It was a hybrid fighting style influenced in part by Ishikawa's love for Inoki, but not a strict homage to vintage strong style. I see it as a vibrant 90s indy. Maybe there were some 70s hard rock influences, but for the most part it was an amalgamation of everything else that was happening in the wrestling scene in the early 90s.

I would imagine that wrestlers who were born in the Showa era, and trained and debut in the Showa era, would identify themselves as "Showa wrestlers," but I'm not sure how wrestlers felt who debut at the tail end of the Showa era and became stars in the Heisei era. I'm not even sure if there was a feeling like "this is the Heisei era!" I suppose there was since a lot of young wrestlers like Misawa were pushed at the beginning of the era, but there was so much shit going on at the time during the "Lost Decade" that I'm not sure how significant the Heisei era was at the time. I've lived in Japan since 2006, and I feel as though the Heisei era didn't really become a "thing" until people born in the era starting coming of age. To me, the real Heisei era wrestlers were guys like Okada. Even now, Reiwa means very little in the grand scheme of things because the Heisei generation are are still in their 20s and 30s. Looking at 90s wrestling, I don't see a remarkable difference in the gimmicks or the character portrayals from Showa wrestling to the stars of 90s All Japan, New Japan and All Japan Women. The promotions were run by Showa promoters with Showa ideas and Showa thinking. The business fortunes followed the pattern of the Japanese economy. The wrestling styles certainly evolved, but they were beginning to do so in the 80s. One of the hallmarks of the Heisei era was that the rigid socio-economic structure began to crumble. I wonder if that is the truly legacy of 90s wrestling -- the AJW women refusing to retire at 25 or 26, the rise of freelance wrestlers, and the sudden rise in independent promotions. Of course, that doesn't have anything to do with the stylistic differences between Showa wrestling and Heisei wrestling. Personally, I've always felt the stylistic changes in Japanese wrestling were brought about by a constant need to top what they had already done. And the only way to do that was to go longer and do bigger and riskier moves. That's not the whole of it, but they wrestle each other so often in big singles matches that they feel like they have to add more. I don't know if that is a Heisei specific mentality or simply the way business evolved in that era. Sorry if that makes no sense.

Can I ask how you define Showa and Heisei wrestling? It sounds like 80s wrestling vs. 2010s wrestling, but within the Showa and Heisei eras there was wrestling that bore little resemblance to one another. When did the Showa era influence end and the Heisei era begin to define itself? Is 90s wrestling a holdover from the Showa era or the beginning of the Heisei era? I am overthinking this, but I'm curious.

I would say Elvis' is the best because of the circumstances behind the recording. Brenda Lee sings it the best. Gwen McGrae's version is soulful. Willie's version is stripped back and raw. This is actually footage of Elvis rehearsing in the studio:

I've got to disagree with you here. Always on My Mind is one of the greatest songs ever penned. The Brenda Lee, Gwen McGrae and Willie Nelson versions are excellent, but the Elvis version came only weeks after his separation from his wife and heralded the beginning of his decline. For what it's worth, the version you shared is a 1985 overdub with added strings. This is the original 1972 single:

Matt, the bald wrestler is Jose Arroyo.