I don’t often write about music because it’s far too personal.  And very important to me.  I’m not a casual listener, for the most part.  When I listen to music I listen to music.  Still, sometimes it seems to hit the spirit of the moment.  When innocently watching a horror movie (When the Lights Went Out) I heard a catchy song I’d never been aware of hearing before.  The film was set in the seventies and the song was the slightly salacious single “Little Willy” by The Sweet.  Since this was a “based on a true story” movie, they were shooting for period authenticity.  I was alive and somewhat aware during the seventies.  I knew, and liked, The Sweet’s hit “Fox on the Run.”  I really couldn’t name any other song of theirs.

I lived in a small town and there was no internet.  We got our information from school, television, books, newspapers, and magazines.  And word of mouth, of course.  Much of what I learned about music was from someone telling me something.  I heard Alice Cooper bit the head off of a live chicken.  Actually, Ozzy Osbourne had bitten the head off a live bat.  You couldn’t rely on word of mouth, but about popular music that was about all that was available.  In other words, I knew nothing about The Sweet.  Since I never heard anything more after “Fox,” I’d figured they were a one-hit wonder.  They got shelved, in my mind, until I saw When the Lights Went Out.  As these things usually do, my curiosity about them had to await a day off work when I could indulge my curiosity.  I looked them up online and discovered, to my surprise, that they’d been around since the early sixties, making them an early rock band.  In the often tangled history of early rock, they didn’t become The Sweet until the late sixties.

Their peak came in the seventies, although according to the internet, in the way of George Washington’s axe, they still exist (one of the original lineup is still alive).  We live in an age of antique early rockers still performing.  I’m sure music must be a tough business.  Staying popular for decades can’t be easy.  Now we can find the history of a band with just a few keystrokes.  We can call up their music on some streaming service.  Or hear it over the loudspeaker in just about any shopping venue.  When I hear music, I pay attention to it.  And about the only thing I remember from that horror movie is a song by a band I’d long forgotten.  Not bad for a mediocre film.