The Power of Old-School Music

Diamond in the back, sunroof top,
Digging the scene
With a gangster lean
Oooh, ooh, ooh . . .

-William DeVaughn,
"Be Thankful for What You Got," 1974

Our publisher's high school graduation picture, 1976.

Remember that song? I think it was the soundtrack to summer that year
for many of us. The 1970s were a great time in my life and I'm sure they were in yours too. The music was fantastic. Songs from the O'Jays, Earth, Wind & Fire, the Ohio Players, Kool & the Gang -- I can name a few dozen just off the top of my head -- blasted from the car radio or got worn out on the stereo. I still play so much music from that time that my 15- and 16-year-old sons are getting an education in what I sometimes kid them is "real music"-music from the days you could actually understand the words to the songs. Even now, the Stylistics, the Delfonics, Blue Magic, and Stevie Wonder are prominent among the CDs you'll find in my collection. But, I must admit, you'll also find Alicia Keys (she's a great talent) and Mint Condition (they remind me of old-school groups). In this issue Rickey Vincent takes you on a historical, musical ride through a time when a special brand of music -- funk -- became the soundtrack for an era of black consciousness and empowerment. His story begins on page 56.

The 1970s was the first full decade following the civil rights movement, and black Americans were discovering themselves and their culture as never before. From Shaft and the epic boxing match known as the Rumble in the Jungle to Shirley Chisholm's 1972 run for the Presidency, the period was in many ways a black renaissance. So says Gene Seymour in his wonderful look back at "The Black Decade," beginning on page 28.

Throughout those 10 years, the TV producer Norman Lear and his band of innovative writers were experimenting with a new kind of black television -- Sanford and Son, The Jeffersons, and Good Times -- that made us all laugh, but that also had a deeper social meaning than many of us may have realized. Josh Ozersky switches the dial back to those days starting on page 42.

Almost since American Legacy's inception, there have been several topics I've especially wanted to cover in our magazine, and African-American culture in the1970s is one of them. Now my wish is being fulfilled. I hope you'll enjoy this issue and share it with your friends, family, and children. It should be for many a wonderful trip to a great time past. And a final point:

One afternoon not long ago I happened to be taking my older son to a team practice. As we were pulling out of the driveway, he asked me to stop so that he could run back into the house to pick up some music to listen to on our trip to his school. I was sure he would select a CD of Jay-Z, Usher, or Ludacris. To my surprise, he returned with one of the tapes from a Temptations collection I'd been given a few months earlier for my birthday. Like the songs, his choice put a smile on my face. Old-school music never dies.

Rodney J. Reynolds