This Friday, June 9th, we will be releasing Episode 7 hosted by Paul Anka as a Live Premiere at 8pm EST 5pm PST. We look forward to meeting everyone in the live chat and enjoying the episode together. Hope you can make it!
I just subscribed. I was eight years old when this premiered. I would sneak down stairs when my parents were asleep and watch it. Mama would have a hard time getting me up for church the next morning 😅.
Please continue to release full episodes. Individual performances are great, but there is something about watching the complete show that transports me back to those days. If only there was a way to add the old commercials...
@@ichabodcrane4240 Interesting that you mentioned the commercials. That's how I lrarned about Tower of Power. There was a portion of What is Hip and I was all "Who is that.I want the whole track". I was hooked from then on.❣
0:34 John Denver - (Take Me Home) Country Roads (with backup harmonies by Mama Cass Elliot) 4:35 Linda Ronstadt - Long Long Time 8:16 Argent - Hold Your Head Up 12:44 The Isley Brothers - Pop That Thang 16:05 John Denver and 'Mama' Cass Elliott - "Leaving on a Jet Plane" duet 22:03 The Everly Brothers - "All I Have to Do Is Dream" 25:22 War - "Slippin' into Darkness" 30:20 Helen Reddy - "I Don't Know How to Love Him" 33:41 David Clayton-Thomas (singer from Blood, Sweat & Tears) - "Yesterday's Music" 37:55 Harry Chapin - "Taxi" 46:51 John Denver juggles 47:37 Linda Ronstadt - "The Fast One" 50:56 David Clayton-Thomas (singer from Blood, Sweat & Tears) - "Nobody Calls Me Prophet" 56:35 The Everly Brothers - "Stories We Could Tell" 59:33 Argent - "Tragedy" 1:03:23 John Denver - "Goodbye Again" Please give a Thumbs Up 👍if you appreciate the time stamps. They are time consuming to add but hopefully helpful. Doing so will "bump up" the post. Thanks. vb
@@Nicksonian upon listening to some old disco music I hate to admit, but I think it still holds up well. For example, I love watching old live performances of KC and the sunshine band.
@@thrillofthechase3313 Ya, Can't argue with that. I liked soul and funk, but the commercial disco ala the Bee Gees made my skin crawl. I really liked Donna Summer.
Who ever is responsible for bringing these Midnight Special episodes to RU-vid for access, thank you from the bottom of my heart. They are so well rendered with such great audio it is like being there 50 years ago. I always looked forward every week to another edition of Midnight Special featuring the best musical performers of that era. We now get to see them on hi res screens with better audio than a 3 inch speaker. Incredible.
Miss you so much, always looked forward to seeing the show, we would go roller skating and rush home to see you and I was 8-9yrs old 1972 when I discovered you,❤❤❤
Being a teenager in the 1970's meant you never missed The Midnight Special. The Midnight Special, Roller Derby, Drive-Ins, Casey Kasem's AT40, Sat. Night Fever, and Bruce Lee. Boy, I miss the 1970's!
And the very best thing here, children, is that every single act is plugged in and performing live. No pre-recorded tracks, no double-tracking, no auto-tune, no lip-synching. This is the real stuff.
That's just not true... Do you see any mics on the drums for Argent? The drummer doesn't even start moving until after the drums start.... A lot of times they just played backing tracks & the singers sang over them.
Pitch correct aka auto tune came out in 1975. The company Evertide put out the first harmonizer. Argent had a backing track for sure. Being a rock musician since 1971 I was glued to the tv watching these shows and looking for live vs pre-recorded. Your statement would be true if you were talking about the 50s-60s.
Wow! Cass Elliot saying that it's not so important who you vote for, but that you vote. That is a far cry from the hateful divisions that we have today. I miss those kinder days when we respected each others opinions even if we didn't agree with them.
Today is a little more complicated than that. When you have white Supremacist groups supporting one side and lies are being told and accepted as easily as breathing air, it’s not a simple matter of varying opinions. It’s a matter of right and wrong.
It's a different world than those days. Funny that we can't really say, "innocent" days because there was division and war tearing the country apart. Thing was, politics was very different, really until the 1980 election, and then dramatically different as the 1990s really saw the birth of absolute partisanship. The shift from, "we may believe different things but our end goal of making the country better for everyone is our mutual goal," became "you're wrong and you're evil and only my way is right and I'll tear the country apart to get my way." And all of that led us to the last decade of one side wanting to burn the whole system down with no regard for truth, justice, and concern for anyone who doesn't look like, believe like, sound like, or love like me! Eventually, even Rome fell. 12:56
From Argent, to right into the Isley Bros. From the Everly Brothers, to right into WAR. That's how badass The Midnight Special was. We had it all in the '70s! We were so lucky to be growing up back then.
I was a 16 year old when this first aired. Sad to say many of us took this show for granted and didn’t realize what we had back then. I watched it “hit and miss “ now wish I watched every episode. It was a great time to grow up in and I sure do miss all the best music ever made. We didn’t know how lucky we were. 😊
I was 16 as well. I agree with your sentiments. But it wasn't all that long until we realized that the soundtrack of OUR youth just happened to be the 2 greatest musical decades ever!
I was 16 as well. We used to think the Midnight Special was too commercial, but looking back on things we had no idea what commercial was - this is really great. I can't even force myself to watch what's on TV musically these days.
Harry Chapin wrote a masterpiece with Taxi as he explored the emotional depths of failure, broken dreams and lost loves in this epic song. I see so many knuckleheads on RU-vid doing their “reaction videos” to Taxi and literally have no idea what the song is about. A savvy listener can put the headphones on and be drawn into to world of Taxi to figure out for themselves the message of Taxi. A very authentic song.
I love Harry Chaplin such a terrible loss when he died so young. To see these singers in their prime and knowing their fates that they have no idea of is so heartbreaking.
yes and no, so many music channels here like KEXP, From the basement, Arte Concert, BBC music or Radio 1 or 2, Tiny Desk Concert and many more... it is possible to discover or listen to many new artists.....
@@Izkolouk there s a difference between new and quality . Every body on this show had a band that actually played real instruments , so snyth s replacing instruments or voice auto tune . i not saying there is no good new artists but i am saying they are few and far between compared to 1963 to 1977 .
The duet by John Denver and Cass Elliott gave me chills, thinking of what might be had they both not been taken from us so soon. Both had voices gifted by the angels.
I will agree that his most commercially successful period was behind him, but 1990's "The Flower That Shattered the Stone" and 91's "Different Directions" were both superb, and 1997's "All Aboard!", a children's album, showed he still had a lot of creative energy. He was 53 when he died, still too young.
@@darrensiegel6651 Willy Nelson said it best "there's two types of men in the world, those who have a crush on Linda Ronstadt and those who've never heard of her.."
Yes!!! I never missed this show. Between The Midnight Special and Don Kirshner's Rock Concert, my Friday and Saturday nights were filled with great music. I started playing bass in 1973. Never missed an episode. These shows were my instructors.
It was written by John Denver, but the hit version was by Peter, Paul & Mary who sang it beautifully. Still John Denver and "Mama" Cass Elliot sounded great. She has a great voice. Wish she had done one of her songs. 😊👍
This was the year I gradiated High School (1972) In '68, I saw Tommy James and the Shodells: the first of many live concerts. I'm so fortunate to live through these remarkable times. Now, we're all living thru post trump times. And, they suck. There's alot wrong with the internet; but, we got youtube. We can all escape the bullshit safely.
@@tiffanyhall3182 The music was great. But there were riots in the early 70s, radical leftist terrorists, smog, pollution, lead in the gasoline, horrible fashions, Nixon, energy crisis, lines for gasoline, High misery index (inflation, high unemployment, high interest rates), no computers, 3 or 4 TV stations. Nostalgia = rose colored glasses. Having said that, Trump and the American Taliban have f*cked this country up today.
@@themidnightspecialtvshow Aww 🥰 The Memories! Thankyou!! All my favorites!!! And Linda Ronstadt I had the biggest crush 😻 on!! Had her plastered all over my teenage room!! What music 🎶 back then!! None compare to THE 70’s!!!!!!!
check out Billy Strings, Marcus King, Rachel Pryce, Sierra Ferrell, you'll see there is goo😂d music, just have to look for it in the right places. Adam Lambert also has an amazing voice. enjoy the search.
Her first song is the ultimate painful love song for those moments when the one you love doesn't love you back. How many teenagers from 1970s sang that song over and over to survive an ugly breakup. 🎵🎶🎵
Hopefully we will or still do. It's not the talent...it's hearing it. I find great new talent on college radio stations or here on YT. That's part of the problem. The kind of music I'm interested in isn't mainstream anymore, wherever you find mainstream nowadays. Good to hear Denver; he had a wonderful voice.
.....my late mother (would've been 96 a month ago this Friday) made friends with Bill Danoff's father later in life; the family of course being Springfield MA natives (wish I'D been old enough to have made friends with TAFFY - before Bill MET her, of course! LOL)
That song is beloved around the world. I've been in pubs in Ireland where the entire place will start singing it when it's played. Same in a hofbrau Haus in Germany.
In 1972 I was a senior in high school when I started to watch the midnight special every weekend, I had 20 of my friend at my parents house to watch this every weekend. I am now in my 70's and I enjoy my music I grew up on.
Me too. Still living at home would watch at a married friends house. Usually a bottle of Boones Farm Apple Wine. Some folks smoked a doobie or two. I really wasnt into it.
The greatest thing about this is that we can relive these moments in time that brought us together for the one love of music. Too young to attend a concert, but brought into the home, it was MAGICAL!!!
@@wanderinggeri8477 For the first eight years, the Midnight Special wouldn't start until 1:00 a.m., it wasn't until 1980 when the Tonight Show (w/Johnny Carson) permanently switched to being just one hour that Midnight Special was able to begin at 12:30 a.m.
I was 20 years old and in basic training at Lackland AFB, TX, when this was aired. 50 years later, I'm 71 and very happy to finally see this episode. VOTE! 😊
Hi from Providence RI, in August 1975 I arrived at Lackland AFB, old dorms, we had a sister flight, each day we switched from chukka boots to combat boots, I have no idea why. I was 6"0, 165lbs, coming off a summer league basketball tournament, our first run was a quarter mile, I was laughing all the way leading everyone else, I did it in like 1:20, now this was for the National Girard, I returned a year later, new air conditioned dorms, for a ten day bypass test, no buzz cut, ended up at Dover AFB. At the time I was obsessed with first album by Earth, Wind, & Fire. It was a great experience...my rent is $1000 per month, VA pays $800 of it, so a decision I made over 40 years ago is still blessing me.
I still start “cutting onions” (bawling like a baby) when I hear John’s beautiful and one-of-a-kind voice - his tone, his musicality, and his generous spirit - and here combined with the brilliant Cass Elliot, the person who made the Mamas and the Papas work as a group as her voice anchored the group, in such a superb performance is just breathtaking. We miss you both so very much!!
The harmonies from John & Cass was absolutely beautiful. I was 6 yrs old in 1972 when this aired and heard this song alot growing up, it was one of my favorites. A very sad song along with many that John wrote about his separation from his wife that he loved dearly. Definitely a tear jerker.
THANK YOU, BURT SUGARMAN! Just read your interview piece in the LATimes - and thank you for transferring your masters from 2” to 1” and then to digital files. Your foresight once again preserves this music and makes it presentable. Anyone who stayed up late to watch these as a teen of the ‘70s will certainly dig seeing them again. Count me in!
Today's music is so contrived and synthetic compared to back when this awesome show premiered.....real artists singing in their own voices with feeling and emotions that are missing in this current age...thank you for bringing back this and unlocking my 🎵🎶 love of real musianship
They were in the first group of inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (before it became a joke), so yeah, they are from the early rock era. They had many great songs. Too bad they weren't showcased here.
The Everlys haydays were late 50s-early 60s pre-Beatles. By 1970, acts like them and Ricky Nelson were just about done. Classic stuff. I really love it.
History was made when this episode first aired on NBC. It was the first time any of the major networks showed any type of programming at 1:00am. Before this came along, NBC just signed off for the night at the conclusion of the Tonight Show on weekdays. This show may have aired a little before my time, but it paved the way for future programming in the later hours. Thank you, Midnight Special. :)
Big cities often had late night programing but some rural areas didn't even show the Tonight Show. After the 10 o'clock news they would scroll the days list of KIA and MIA and then sign off.
This first Midnight Special was a blast to watch again. My friends and I were crazy acting back in those days. Drinking, partying and devoted to the music. For me as a guitar player and singer I was especially charged to see two of my favorite singers Harry Chapin and John Denver sitting together. I perform their music whenever I'm on stage. Linda Ronstadt was drop dead beautiful back then and Cass Elliot's voice was in perfect pitch. Where did the time go, when did I get old and out of style. It makes me thoroughly depressed and not at all happy. Old videos of the Greatest Musical Generation always make me blue, yet I should be happy that the music will live on even though I won't. I physically ache to be young again. Oh poor me, yea I know. Still, the sun will rise again tomorrow and I am continuing to play the guitar. Not so bad after all?
Iam so glad I read your comment i were 12yrs but at the end of the year i would have been 13 so i skip school that day just to watch the house burn to the ground that day Dec.1972 And it were a song out By Mel &Tim (Starting all over again)Every time i hear this song tears would fall from my eyes we lost Everything we had
@@charliefreeman-6855 I'm sorry to hear about your loss back In '72. But yeah, I do remember that song too! "Starting all over again Is gonna be rough, but I know, we're gonna make It" Sounded like a Chi-lites song....
Linda Ronstadt was a natural titan in music, both beauty and a voice that killed every song. She was a Midnight Something Special. Needed no makeup, no frilly hairstyle, just jeans and a top will do ..and then get out of her way.
We do have great songwriters today - people like Slaid Cleaves, Luke Bell (RIP) and Gretchen Peters. They work in relative obscurity, playing small venues for people who love music or writing songs for the auto tune artists record companies love. Unfortunately the big corporate music machine has moved away from music lovers like David Geffen and Seymour Stein. We’re lucky artists have online outlets to send their tunes out to the world for anyone willing to look.
Holy crap. This is absolute gold. Real music and real talent. LINDA'S VOICE! Kill me now! Harry Chapin? Argent? Everly Brothers? War? Don't forget the Wolfman! Rock and Roll Heaven right here.
@@johnmartin1114 Linda is still around .. not deceased .. she just changed musical gears.. 40'$ era stuff..🤑😔😭..I liked her better when she rocked..Just my humble opinion all stated here .. 'Long Long Time' sounds like a funeral dirge..😬😝... 🙄⚰️⚱️🏺😭😔👎👎
Wasn’t it just THE BEST? I turned 16 in 1972. I’m pretty sure I’d watch every week-there was always a group, a band, duo or soloist that I liked. Great show.
Growing up in the 70s I discovered so much great music because of this show. I watched all the music shows I could from hee haw, soul train, midnight special, Don Kirshcner's Rock Concert and a British show called Supersonic.
This is how it was to hear and enjoy music in the 70’s. Maybe kids don’t have the same reverence today because it was just so damn good then. We listened, really listened cause the lyrics were as important as the music. Pure poetry…
@@PersonalStash420 irrelevant point, grandmaster flash and run DMC are rap artists but they're in the rock n roll hall of Fame. John Denver most certainly should be in the hall of Fame
Interesting, I never thought about Denver going into the RHOF, but why not?!? Everyone else is in there nowadays from Dolly Parton to Willie Nelson to Abba!
WISH I could have seen them! Wasn't born 'til '70 though. My favorite music is all 50's blues through 70's; didn't have the chance to see any of it live in real time; but I loved Midnight Special as a kid. And later, Night Flight.
I don't know if anyone has mentioned this in the comments but that stage setup was simple, yet stylish and awesome looking. Nothing too flashy, centered around the artists and their music. Nothing else. Love it.
@@gretashepherd770 what service ? So the house and senate can pass laws to take away our freedoms ?...J.K just trying to put out the vibes of the 60s and 70s, flashback , thanks for your service
When I was a youngster, I went off to Vietnam without the right to vote. Most of the people leaving comments didn't have to go to war. They had the luxury to be at home, smoke pot and watch these shows.
When tv was in its golden age… shows like this would show multiple talented performers on one show… I’m thinking that if it were to be attempted today, they might get 1-2 acts at most because due to the gigantic egos of the talentless hacks of current music wouldn’t be able to fit more than that into the same building let alone an hour program…
I can't either. All the auto tuning would probably damage your ears. Can anybody actually sing anymore? What is the definition of a musician these days when most of them can't read music or play an instrument? By the way, BYRDMAN is a notorious idiot with a one word vocabulary. It's best to ignore him, then maybe he'll fly away!
Well, to be fair, the people who were my current age in 1972 thought this music was a sign of the decline of Western civilization and wondered why the Andrews Sisters weren't at the top of charts anymore.
A John Denver Christmas was one of those must see shows for the whole family to watch back in the seventies, I remember seeing 3 or 4 of them when I was a kid ✌️♥️
@@roryschweinfurter4111 that's one of the things that made it great! His accent and nasally monotone delivery sounded like someone giving a report on farm stocks.
John Denver was my first concert in 76. My sister had bought 4 tickets for her & her friends. They all backed out, so she took our other sister, and my cousin my age. I'm wasn't a huge JD fan, but that was the year "Thank God I'm A Country Boy" came out, and Starland Vocal Band opened up for him. They of course sand "Afternoon Delight", and the rest is history. It was a great experience for a first concert, then 2 years later I saw Alice Cooper for my first ROCK concert, Lace & Whiskey Tour.
As an NBC Page in the late 80’s, I would lead tour groups and tell stories about The Midnight Special taping on (if memory serves correct) Stages 2 and 4. I absolutely LOVE these clips, and am thankful to have been able to spent my first career (soap opera) being trained by and working side by side with many who crewed Midnight.
Unbeknownst to the world at the time.. these performances are now historic artifacts just as important as any others in the galleries and museums of the world.
I was 6 years old and turning 7 in October of that same year. I was headed to Mrs. Amsterdam's second grade class at Saw Mill Rd. elementary school in September. I remember hearing these songs on 77 WABC with Dan Ingram while eating my breakfast before heading out to school. Brings back such warm and fuzzy memories of my childhood. Thank you for posting 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽 😊
John Denver has such a beautiful, pure tone. Definitely singing live, and Mama Cass sings such gorgeous harmonies, then omg Linda Ronstadt. One of the finest vocalists of a generation!!!!💖💖💖🎶🎶🎶
@@pandaman1968 You are right! I thought the bass player had a mic infront of him, and listening again, I am sure it is Mama Cass' voice. Yes, she must have been off stage adding the beautiful backing vocals
This is slightly before my time, and though Argent isn't a band nor was "Hold Your Head Up" a song that I've particularly cared for all these years, I have to say that this performance has so far been my favorite one from all 14 episodes that have been uploaded at this current time. I keep coming back quite a bit to watch it.
Maybe a bit premature to use Argent as an example of groups breaking up and “oftentimes better groups coming out of this.” Zombies were much more historically significant than Argent.
Thank you Midnight Special..because of you, I and many others became musicians, played in our little bands in basements and garages all over the world..dreaming maybe one day we'd be on the midnight special..my little friends and i gathered around the tv to watch every weekend...we were too young and lived too far from any major center to see the famous bands you had on..LIVE (which in itself is incredible even back then)...myself and 3 others started a little band. None of us could play..but we learned and of the 4, 3 became pro lifelong musicians..even today I teach, run a band program for children and teens in a major music company...that's what the Midnight Special has been in my life. Thank you.
My God! What a show! Back when talented musicians and songwriters were occupying the charts. John Denver. Isley Brothers. Harry Chapin doing Taxi. Mama Cass. Linda Ronstadt. Argent. The Everly Brothers. War. Helen Reddy....what an awesome debut show. Love Denver. Saw him play by himself at India Park in Providence...just him and his guitar. Awesome
