Paul Fitzpatrick: (updated) July 2025

1975 is a year that I always look back on with fondness.

I’d love to be benevolent and say it’s because it marked the end of the Vietnam War or for some other charitable reason, but sadly no, my reasons are a bit more prosaic than that.

1975 for me was a year of transition, no more dark sarcasm in the classroom, in fact no more classroom’s at all, or school lunches – it was time to earn your own bread and pay for your own lunch.

Looking back, the journey from school to the workplace was pretty seamless, one minute you’re on the back of the school bus mocking the worker bees, the next you’re part of the colony.
The big difference of course was that tidy bundle of cash you received each payday, a weekly windfall, offering the ability to buy and do nice things. Our parents weren’t daft, they encouraged us to save, to start planning for the future but they’d all been in our shoes once, they knew that kids with a bit of money in their pockets for the first time, were spenders not savers.

At 16, mortgages and bills were cans to be kicked down the road, although there came a point when you realised the measly amount you were handing over to your mum for ‘your keep’, probably wasn’t stretching as far as you thought.

I mean, who was going ‘up the dancin’ in a pair of low-rise flares when all the dapper Dan’s were wearing high-waist baggies?
Who was lacing up Gola football boots when you could afford a pair of Puma King’s?

I had a good mate who would stay indoors two weekends out of four in order to save and invest in the latest gear from fancy boutiques, but I never saw the point of working hard all week just to mope about the house and watch the Generation Game on a Saturday night.
Compromises had to be made, which is why a handful of us ended up frequenting ‘Paddy’s Market’ on a regular basis.

If I was still earning a coin from branding, I’d be promoting Paddy’s Market as….
‘A sustainable, alfresco, one-stop-shop for pre-loved fashion‘.

In reality it was an outdoor market selling second, third and fourth hand clothes, located in one of Glasgow’s more colourful back streets.
Selfridges it wasn’t, but if you knew what you were looking for and could endure the musty bouquet for long enough, then most visits would end successfully, with a couple of additions to your wardrobe for the price of a few pints.
(if you’re wondering, the price of a pint in 1975 was 20p)

I don’t remember the transition from school life to work life being that challenging, then again the workplace was a bit different in 75 – there were no 360 degree reviews, and ‘team-building’ was a Friday afternoon in the pub, usually a hostelry with a jukebox playing the tunes of the day.

In terms of music, 1975 turned out to be the most transitional of years, with many established artists enjoying a last hurrah and an array of new artists and sounds waiting in the wings.

We may not have realised it at the time, but so many great bands and artists were coming to the end of their cycle in 75 – Zeppelin would release their last noteworthy studio album, Physical Graffiti, ditto Pink Floyd with Wish You Were Here and similarly The Who with the Who by Numbers.
It could also be argued that two of the eras finest songsmiths, Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan artistically peaked in 75 with The Hissing of Summer Lawns and Blood on the Tracks, neither being able to match those heights again.

Glam rock had come to the end of its yellow brick road with Bowie moving to America in search of “Fame” and Marc Bolan’s best days sadly behind him.

Disco was bubbling under, but the halcyon days of Studio 54 were still a couple of years off. Disco 75 was confined primarily to the New York underground gay scene and would reach (Saturday Night) fever pitch two years later. However, it’s fair to say that the seeds of disco were sewn in 75 with Donna Summer’s “Love to Love You Baby”

Punk, in the meantime, was still a twinkle in Malcolm McLaren’s eye with the first incarnation of the Sex Pistols playing Small Faces and Monkees covers. Pub Rock on the other hand was reaching its peak with bands like Dr Feelgood and Eddie and the Hot Rods gaining large followings.

One sound that did come to the fore in 75 was Blue Eyed Soul, a term given to white artists producing a credible R&B sound.
Hall & Oates, the Bee Gees and British acts like the the Average White Band, Robert Palmer and Kokomo were at the fore whilst established artists like Bowie with “Young Americans” and Elton, with his Billie Jean King tribute – “Philadelphia Freedom”, jumped on the bandwagon.

Another genre on the rise was Soft Rock, a West Coast sound typified by bands like Fleetwood Mac and now commonly referred to as Yacht Rock.
Within that genre, 1975 was a milestone year for Mac, Steely Dan and The Eagles, who all recalibrated to a signature sound that would propel them to mega stardom soon after, with Rumours, Aja and Hotel California.

1975 was also the year of Funk, with Earth Wind & Fire, The Isley Brothers, Hamilton Bohannon, The Fatback Band and George Clinton’s Parliament all finding their groove whilst maintaining the James Brown tradition of playing ‘on the one‘.

On reflection, 1975 was the end of an era, with artists who’d ruled the roost in the first half of the decade, stalling, breaking up or just fading away, allowing Punk, New Wave and Disco to step in to fill the void

Roxy Music were a typical example of the backlash faced by established acts.
Previously prolific with five albums in three years they were viewed by punks and in turn by the music press, as being too arty and pretentious, and dropped out of view after 1975’s Siren. When they returned four years later with Manifesto, they’d incorporated a ‘New Wave’ sound…. From “Love is the Drug” to “Trash” in one uneasy step.

Ironically, Steve Jones the Sex Pistol’s guitarist would later admit that he loved Roxy Music and their debut album was one of his favourite albums of all time.
So much so, that he called his first band The Strand.

Always ahead of his time, Pete Townshend predicted a shift in the musical landscape on a track from 1975’s The Who by Numbers.

“Hey goodbye all you punks
Stay young and stay high
Hand me my cheque book
Then I’ll crawl out to die”

My Top 20 albums from 1975 (in no particular order)

• The Hissing of Summer Lawns – Joni Mitchell
• Katy Lied: Steely Dan
• Wish You Were Here – Pink Floyd
• Physical Graffiti: Led Zeppelin
• The Last Record Album – Little Feat
• That’s The Way of The World: Earth, Wind & Fire
• The Who by Numbers – The Who
• Fleetwood Mac – Fleetwood Mac
• Still Crazy After All These Years – Paul Simon
• Live! – Bob Marley & the Wailers
• Young Americans – David Bowie
• Born to Run – Bruce Springsteen
• Siren – Roxy Music
• Pressure Drop – Robert Palmer
• Blood on the Tracks – Bob Dylan
• Mothership Connection – Parliament
• Main Course – The Bee Gees
• The Original Soundtrack – 10cc
• Those Southern Knights – The Crusaders
• Kokomo – Kokomo