What kind of music did the more ''square'' and conservative people--Like the blue collar workers, the older WWII veterans, the non-long haired, non-drug taking types--listen to in the early-mid 70s?

Bobby Goldsboro, Ed Ames, Neil Diamond and Linda Ronstadt.  ;D

Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin. Al Martino, Perry Como, Andy Williams.

Anything that wasn't current in the charts during the 70s :D

Regarding someone older, a lot depended on both specific age and upbringing.  For instance, my father was much older than my mother.  Whereas my father was more into Big Band and Instrumental Jazz, and he never really embraced contemporary sounds of the 70's, my mother was more into the big vocalists of the early 50's-early 60's era, and unlike my Dad she accepted 70's music even though she didn't follow it closely.  My Grandmother who was even older was fond of watching Grand Old Opry, and also liked old time Gospel.

Regarding the younger crowd, the previous answers were pretty good.  Although most straight laced youngsters listened to basically what everyone else did - there wasn't a huge difference in the listening habits of "good" kids vs. "bad" kids.  Not like today.

The Carpenters

Vera Lynn LPs

ABBA

Barry Manilow...God help me, I was a rocker...but some of his songs, I gotta admit, I kinda liked. Not "I Write The Songs" though. But he was definately someone the "squares" could appreciate.       

Barry Manilow...God help me, I was a rocker...but some of his songs, I gotta admit, I kinda liked. Not "I Write The Songs" though.
At least he did not write the song!

john denver

Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin. Al Martino, Perry Como, Andy Williams.

Whut?
I'll give you Perry Como & Andy Williams, they had four right corners when they first hit the scene, but Frank?  ??? Seriously?
Frankie was NEVER square and I bet he comes up from the grave and bops you one for even suggesting it, he and Dean will drop you, sing a song about it and not even spill their drink doing it. The chairman of the board is, and always will be one of the coolest there ever was...

And although some mentioned John Denver and ABBA, despite their/your age and thinking now, they were quite popular in the 70's, and although they didn't "rock out", they were not considered "square" at the height of their popularity. Now maybe, but not then.

But there are some like The Carpenters (who I like and can appreciate now, but couldn't stand then) that were definitely "square" along with:
Paul Anka "Having My Baby"
Debby Boone "You Light Up My Life" 8-P
Morris Albert "Feelings" :P
and Barry Manillow (to a certain extent).

The Osmonds, Captain & Tennille, Tony Orlando & Dawn,Bread.B.J. Thomas, Chicago..my parents even liked.

I'll give you Perry Como & Andy Williams, they had four right corners when they first hit the scene, but Frank?  ??? Seriously?
Frankie was NEVER square
The chairman of the board is, and always will be one of the coolest there ever was...


You may want to give his 'groovy' and ill-advised renditions of 'Mrs. Robinson' & 'Bad Bad Leroy Brown' a wide berth, then... :P

Along with countless LPs from James Last, Klaus Wunderlich and Bert Kaempfert (I'm sure they released one every week!)

Along with countless LPs from James Last, Klaus Wunderlich and Bert Kaempfert (I'm sure they released one every week!)
Add Manuel & The Music Of The Mountains to the list!

Richard Clayderman

Add Manuel & The Music Of The Mountains to the list!


Or better still, leave him up the mountain!


Richard Clayderman


That godawful advert flogging his 'greatest hit' still burns away in my memory... :P

That godawful advert flogging his 'greatest hit' still burns away in my memory... :P
I was driven to tears over him too!

John Gary (look him up)!
Englebert Humperdinck
Tom Jones
The "black" crowd probably preferred the aging Jazz divas such as Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, and Lena Horne, along with Jazz Fusion for those who didn't care about R&B forms.

As cited above: The Carpenters, John Denver, Neil Sedaka, Leo Sayer, Barbara Streisand, and Linda Ronstadt.  However, even these artists were a bit hip in their own way.  Ronstadt has my stamp of approval because she worked with Philip Glass in the '80s.

Real old time squares loved the Lawrence Welk Show and clung to the barber shop quartets of their youth.  

There was a style of orchestral pop aimed at the older demographic one might know as "easy listening" or "elevator music," which had a lot of play on the FM dial in the '70s.*  Think orchestra leaders such as Percy Faith and Bert Kaempfert. They would do arrangements of "Strangers in the Night" or "Theme from a Summer Place," for instance.  This stuff is practically extinct nowadays.  The new "elevator music" is just Top 40 music from the seventies and eighties.  However, I can't remember the last time I heard music in an elevator!

Artists who were exiled to Squaresville in the sixties and seventies sometimes found a hip following of their own in later decades.  Most notably, the Exotica/Lounge chic in the '90s.  When they started reissuing artists such as Martin Denny and Esquivel on CD, I had to lock up my radio station's copies because the hipsters would rip 'em off!  My hippie parents bought genuine Folkways "ethnic" music records at the Harvard Coop in the sixties and would condemn Martin Denny and Esquivel as racist sh*t music for cheesy suburbanites.
;D

*We used to call it Muzak, however, this was a misnomer.  Muzak was the name of the corporation that commissioned artists to anonymously arrange instrumental music as product for Muzak subscribers, which did include office buildings, dentists, and so forth.  However, once FM easy listening got big in the seventies, it didn't make sense to pay Muzak for what you could get for free on WSMH, Smooth 96.1, relaxing music for a relaxing day, or whatever.

the Las Vegas wonderboy  Wayne Newton

the Las Vegas wonderboy  Wayne Newton


Wayne Newton and Liberace were more like sweethearts for neglected housewives and closeted gay men. 
:)

Wayne Newton and Liberace were more like sweethearts for neglected housewives and closeted gay men. 
:)
so pretty much all housewives liked Wayne back then and Wayne's always been hetero, hasn't he?  he was a straight guy for the queer eye. I recall when I first heard a young Wayne N. and thought he was a girl. 
anyways, i do like his song "Daddy Don't You Walk So Fast" 

I love it when he puts the move on Ellen in Vegas Vacation  ;D

so pretty much all housewives liked Wayne back then and Wayne's always been hetero, hasn't he?  he was a straight guy for the queer eye. I recall when I first heard a young Wayne N. and thought he was a girl. 
anyways, i do like his song "Daddy Don't You Walk So Fast" 

I love it when he puts the move on Ellen in Vegas Vacation  ;D


That's a funny scene!  Yeah, Wayne himself was hetero, but like Liberace, his brand of showbiz was way too glitzy for the middle-of-the-road square guy.  I mean, he was fine for the average square guy's average square vacation in Vegas.  You just gambled away junior's college money, you need something to take your mind off it, so you get loaded and watch Wayne with the wife!
8)

Englebert Humperdinck, Bobby Vinton, Wayne Newton, Barry Manilow and John Denver.

;D

My mother had just about every album that Ed Ames made. You wouldn't believe how many of them there were.


She also listened to Englebert Humperdinck, Tom Jones, & Vikki Carr.


When my parents listened to the radio, it was set at a station that played musak-elevator music.  8-P



Cat

Somebody sing me another somebody done somebody wrong song....
8)

Hi - I am a new member who is also Producer and CoHost of a bi-weekly radio show on WCTG 96.5FM. It is called the Original 70's Soundtrack and also streams live on the web every other Sunday from 5-10pm EST at wctg.fm

I mostly am interested in the 70's discussions but also any decade.  Love pop culture discussions!
Alan

on the topic- We do this thing on our show, which started in 1995, where we play what are mostly universally considered "Bad" songs, but sold in the millions, and charted high etc.
No one wants to own up to these songs, but SOMEBODY bought them.  We call them the "Geek Check" - "If you like this next song, you're a geek" is what we say.  Secretely, we like most all of them.  Many of the artists I see in this thread regularly have plays on that list.