Guilty Pleasures: Seventies Middle Of The Road & Bubblegum Pop (Mixcloud Exclusive)

Enjoy this new Mixcloud Exclusive, packed with guilty pleasures! 😊

The best Middle Of The Road (MOR) music sounds good in every environment. If you put it on, no one runs to the record player to change the music or when it’s on the radio, you don’t feel the need to change the channel at any time.

It’s sometimes called silly or dubious pop, but bubblegum pop is simply defined music that’s manufactured to sell as much records as possible and it’s mostly aimed at a very young audience. Bubblegum pop is the opposite of album rock from serious bands, like Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and Pink Floyd. Having a good time are the keywords. And just like MOR, bubblegum pop always sounds good on the radio, at least in their seventies heyday.

Some of the tracks are intentionally funny and could be called "novelty pop" as well, like the one from Typically Tropical. Years later The Venga Boys turned the song into We're Going To Ibiza, but they left out the humour.

After writing and producing for other artists in the 1960s, Kenny Young (he wrote Under The Boardwalk for The Drifters) put together Fox in the early 1970s. He recruited Australian singer Susan Traynor from Wooden Horse (she renamed herself Noosha Fox for this project) and Irish singer Herbie Armstrong to record the band's first album in 1975. It also featured guest vocals by Queen's Roger Taylor. Fox broke up after three albums. Traynor pursued a solo career as Noosha Fox, while Young and Armstrong formed Yellow Dog.

Tracklist:

Cilla Black – Fantasy (1976)
The Cats – Be My Day (1974)
Vicky Leandros – St. Tropez - Gitarren Bei Nacht (1970)
Donna Summer – Lady Of The Night (1974)
Linda Lewis ‎– Baby I'm Yours (1976)
Tony Sherman – Sing With Me (1975)
The Miracle Workers – Something (1975)
Shaun Cassidy – Morning Girl (1976)
Roly – Yes, I Do (1978)
Jerry Corbetta – Between A Rock And A Hard Place (1978)
David Dundas – Jeans On (1976)
The Glitter Band – People Like You And People Like Me (1976)
Hello – Night Watcher (1978)
Richard Myhill – It Takes Two To Tango (1978)
Dana ‎– Fairytale (1976)
The Dooleys – Love Of My Life (1977)
The Sweet – Poppa Joe (1972)
Typically Tropical – Barbados (1974)
Blue Swede ‎– Hooked On A Feeling (1974)
Octopus – I’m So In Love With You (1974)
Maddog – My Morning Sun (1975)
Middle Of The Road – Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep (1971)
22nd Street – Sunny Sleeps Late (1972)
Fox – Only You Can [Eddy's Edit] (1975)