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(Credits: Far Out \/ Recording Academy)<\/p>\n
Fri 21 November 2025 4:30, UK <\/p>\n
The 1960s still hadn\u2019t finished when 1970<\/a> rolled along.<\/p>\n Not that any decade automatically cuts a cultural reset with every new decade, the West Coast flower power embers still blowing across the rock and pop world of the 1970s\u2019 first 12 months. The decade\u2019s true musical offering would begin with glam, the moment that a generation of rockers offered glittery escapism over the stultifying double-denim singer-songwriter chart cloggers.<\/p>\n Much of it is fantastic, but not pointing to the shimmering future that T Rex or Ziggy Stardust would so thrillingly point to in two short years.<\/p>\n Disco and hip-hop<\/a> were way off, although punk\u2019s awaiting insurgency had hints. 1970 was the year of The Stooges\u2019 immortal Fun House, the feral LP sequel to their eponymous debut that set a standard future punks would look back to amid prog\u2019s bloated theatrics.<\/p>\n Rock in general was shifting toward harder territory, too. 1970\u2019s Deep Purple in Rock and Led Zeppelin III would help, but Black Sabbath\u2019s double-whammy would stand as the most enduring, melding their heavy blues attack with downtuned strings and macabre lyrical fancies that would stand tall across the decade for the metalheads about to yield its \u2018new wave\u2019 by the decade\u2019s end.<\/p>\n Still, the 1970s\u2019 upcoming musical eclecticism began to be spotted at the 12th Grammy Awards. Across the myriad gongs that were up for collection were R&B queen Aretha Franklin, Moog synthesizer<\/a> expert Wendy Carlos, Americana pop rocker Harry Nilsson, and the immortal Burt Bacharach, among countless others. It was a packed ceremony, ABC broadcaster zig-zagging between five different city locations.<\/p>\n The big one, however, along with \u2018Record of the Year\u2019, is the coveted \u2018Album of the Year\u2019 trophy. 1970 presented some stiff competition, with the nominations including The Beatles\u2019 Abbey Road, The 5th Dimension\u2019s The Age of Aquarius, Crosby, Stills and Nash\u2019s debut, and The Man in Black\u2019s iconic Johnny Cash At San Quentin. The evening\u2019s winner, however, was a band huge in their day, but not enjoying the same towering legacy as their fellow nominees.<\/p>\n So what won \u2018Album of the Year\u2019?<\/p>\n While released in December 1968, Blood, Sweat & Tears\u2019 self-titled sophomore would enter eligibility for the 1970 Grammy, scooping up the best album win. A jazz-rock ensemble initially led by Al Kooper, boasting a brass section and largely covering the contemporary hits of the day, Blood, Sweat & Tears would enjoy acclaim for their marriage of complexity and pop heft, gaining further countercultural pedigree when playing the lauded Woodstock Festival.<\/p>\n