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Splatt Gallery's History of Michigan Music Posters
Volume Twelve - 1976 - Page Two
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Poster/flyer for New Order, back again in Los Angeles, California, with shows on February 3, 1976 through February 7th, and also on 14th, Valentine's Day.
A flyer for Ron Asheton’s New Order as they returned to Los Angeles in the beginning of 1976 with newly recruited guitarist Ray Gunn added to the line-up.
A full-page Motown Records ad in the February 5, 1976 edition of the SUN newspaper in Detroit, Michigan. When the Sun moved back to Detroit from Ann Arbor, the paper proudly promoted the legacy of Motown and championed for the record label’s return to Detroit.
Gary Grimshaw logo for Sunrise Leather in Ann Arbor, Michigan, from the February 5, 1976 edition of the SUN newspaper. And a dog.
First appearing in the events calendar of the February 5, 1976 edition of the SUN Newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, and running all the way through into October, Bob N’ Robs in Madison Heights featured singer/keyboardist Lenore Paxton with bassist Don Fagenson, who would later become better known as Don Was.
A full-page Mercury Records ad for Bachman Turner Overdrive with tour dates that include two Michigan shows, at Cobo Hall in Detroit on February 6, 1976, and at Wings Coliseum in Kalamazoo on February 8th.
A full-page MCA Records ad for the Canadian band Trooper with tour dates including a show opening for Bachman-Turner Overdrive in Detroit, Michigan on February 6, 1976. The band was being promoted by Randy Bachman who also produced their first three albums, including their 1978 release “Thick as Thieves” which contained their only US charting single “Raise a Little Hell”. The song became a popular anthem at baseball and hockey games, Rolling Stone magazine ranked it #7 on their "Top 10 Sports Anthems of All Time" list. The song also became well known by the “Stranger Things” TV series.
The Detroit show was rescheduled to March 16th, with the Pretty Things opening, but Trooper did open the show in Kalamazoo, Michigan on February 8th which is apparently their only known Michigan appearance.
Trooper – Raise a Little Hell (1978)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NowqPTLAtAk
Illustration by Mikel for Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee at Michigan State University in East Lansing, February 6-7, 1976.
An ad for a concert by Shawn Phillips with Steve Goodman at Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor, Michigan on February 7, 1976.
An ad for Nancy Wilson with George Benson at Michigan State University in East Lansing on February 9, 1976, next to a Stroh’s beer ad with the music for their Nancy Wilson commercials, the thirty-second and sixty-second spots are linked below:
Nancy Wilson – Stroh’s Beer Commercial 0:30 (1976)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIh9WnogMrw
Nancy Wilson – Stroh’s Beer Commercial 1:00 (1976)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XodOFCgelp4
An ad for Bachman-Turner Overdrive with Trooper at Wings Stadium in Kalamazoo, Michigan on February 8, 1976.
Newspaper ad for Ted Nugent in Madison, Wisconsin on February 10, 1976.
A pair of ads for Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band with Foghat at Crisler Arena in Ann Arbor, Michigan on February 11, 1976.
The first great Michigan rock poster of 1976, by J.W. Kelly for Queen at Masonic Auditorium in Detroit on February 11-12, 1976. This was the second Michigan appearance for Queen, having debuted at the Ford Auditorium in Detroit nearly exactly one year earlier, but a lot had changed over the course of that year, the band left their management by Trident Studios in favor of Elton John’s manager John Reid and they had released their fourth album “A Night at the Opera” in November 1975 that included the track “Bohemian Rhapsody”.
“Bohemian Rhapsody” was the band’s first #1 hit in the UK, where it held the top spot for nine weeks. It is the third-best-selling single of all time in the UK, surpassed only by Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?" and Elton John's "Candle in the Wind 1997". The promo video for the song is also considered a landmark, ranking at number 31 on the list of the 50 key events in rock music history, according to the UK newspaper The Guardian.
Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody (1975)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJ9rUzIMcZQ
A full-page Elektra Records ad (color added) for the fourth album by Queen, “A Night at the Opera”, with tour dates including three Michigan shows, two at Masonic Temple in Detroit, February 11-12, 1976, and one in Saginaw on February 18th.
A full-page Korvettes department store ad with a sale on Queen albums to mark the British group’s second trip to Michigan, with two shows at the Masonic Auditorium in Detroit, February 11-12, 1976, and a show in Saginaw on February 18th, with a Toledo, Ohio show in the middle.
An ad for Deep Purple and Nazareth at Cobo Arena in Detroit, Michigan on February 12, 1976.
By early 1976, the Disco fad was in full swing, disco dance clubs were popping up all over place, the low overhead even allowed restaurants to add the attraction, and the business of disco supplies, basically lights, turntables and records, was booming.
At the top-center of this collage are instructions on how to do “The Detroit Feeling”, a new dance created for the Hi-Fi Show and Super Disco at Cobo Hall in Detroit, Michigan, February 13-15, 1976. The photos of the dancers were by Leni Sinclair, taken at “The Scene” on Channel 62, WGPR-TV.
The 1976 Detroit Hi-Fi Show and Super Disco ran for three days at Cobo Hall in Detroit, Michigan, February 13-15, 1976. A dance contest was held with competitors challenged to perform a new dance called “The Detroit Feeling”:
1.
Stand with feet together – flex knees 4 times.
Stand with feet together – flex knees 4 times.2.Move left – feet apart – flex 4 times continued.
Move left – feet apart – flex 4 times continued.3.Close right to left on last count.
Close right to left on last count.4.Turn ¼ to the left. Step in place 4 times.
Turn ¼ to the left. Step in place 4 times.5.Kick right in front – cross right behind – the right left close in original direction.
Kick right in front – cross right behind – the right left close in original direction.
A Tamla Motown Records ad for the album “Pure Pleasure” by the Dynamic Superiors in the February 14, 1976 issue of the British music magazine Music Week.
An ad for Chances Are in Ann Arbor, Michigan with the schedule for the second half of February 1976 and an ad for Sam & Dave at Chances Are in Ann Arbor on February 16, 1976.
An ad for the Silver Dollar Saloon in Lansing, Michigan, with Tommy James & the Shondells on February 16, 1976 with Patti Smith's second Michigan concert coming up on March 10. Also, an ad for the New Tony Williams Lifetime at the Silver Dollar Saloon in East Lansing on February 23, 1976.
J.W. Kelly’s poster for Queen at Masonic Auditorium in Detroit was re-used six days later for this show in Saginaw, Michigan on February 18, 1976. The ad for this show lists the opening act, Bob Seger.
An ad for Parliament Funkadelic at the Joker in Elyria, Ohio on February 19, 1976.
An illustration by an unknown artist Roginski on this ad for a Fifth Estate Party & Benefit at Formerly Alvin’s Deli in Detroit, Michigan, featuring Shadowfax, Acme Theatrical Agency, Primitive Lust and free beer on February 20, 1976.
A full-page Motown records ad for the single “I Thought It Took A Little Time (But Today I Fell In Love)”, released on February 20, 1976 as the second single from her seventh studio album, simply titled “Diana Ross”. The single, which peaked at #47 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, was released between of two #1 hits from the album, "Theme from Mahogany (Do You Know Where You're Going To)" and "Love Hangover".
A beautiful poster by Jeff Yerkey for the band Oregon at Michigan State University in East Lansing, February 20-21, 1976.
A full-page ad in the February 21, 1976 issue of Billboard magazine from Jerry Patlow & Associates promoting the band Moose & Da Sharks, with illustration by Dennis Preston.
A full-page ad in the February 21, 1976 issue of Billboard magazine from Jerry Patlow & Associates promoting the band Wedsel’s Edsels, with illustration by Dennis Preston.
David Bowie made his fifth visit to the state of Michigan on February 21, 1976, the four previous visits encompassed eleven shows, all of which were in Detroit, this show in Kalamazoo was his first, and would be his only, one in Michigan that was not in the Metro-Detroit area.
Eight days later, on February 29th, he was back in Detroit for two shows at the Olympia Stadium.
Bowie was touring in support of his tenth studio album “Station To Station”. Two weeks before bringing the tour to Michigan, he performed three shows in Los Angeles, California, during which he encountered his friend Iggy Pop wandering the streets. He invited Iggy to join his tour entourage, and Iggy jumped onboard.
Interestingly, the next time that Bowie would return to Michigan, in March 1977, he would be playing keyboards in Iggy’s band.
David Bowie – Station To Station (1976)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZY77zDzNmYw
A record store ad for Ted Nugent’s latest album in conjunction with his appearance at the Allen Theatre in Cleveland, Ohio on February 21, 1976.
An interesting poster for Ted Nugent with Styx at Morris Civic Auditorium in South Bend, Indiana on February 22, 1976. Many promoters had not yet caught on that Nugent had dropped the Amboy Dukes.
The cover of the funeral program for former Supreme Florence Ballard, who passed away on February 22, 1976, at the age of 32. The funeral was held five days later at Rev. C.L. Franklin’s New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit.
The new logo for the SUN newspaper after they moved back to Detroit. Conceived by John Sinclair and drawn by Gary Kell, it first appeared on the cover of the January 1, 1976 edition. Leni Sinclair was back on the staff as Production Manager, and Gary Grimshaw rejoined the publication in February. The logo shown above is from the February 26, 1976 edition.
A feature story by Frank Bach in the February 26, 1976 edition of the SUN newspaper explained how Motown Records had returned to an active presence in Detroit, through the subsidiary of the Prodigal Records label. The label had been started in 1974 when two Motown executives, Gordon Prince and Barney Ales, who had moved to Los Angeles with Motown in 1972, found they could not get used to “the laid-back atmosphere” of the West Coast and decided to leave the company.
Prince moved back to Detroit to start a new record label, along with Ales who suggested the name, as in the reference to the prodigal son who returns home. Ales, who had remained in California, was re-hired by Motown to the position of executive vice-president and ultimately president of the company. In his high-ranking position, Ales signed on Prodigal Records as Motown’s wholly-owned Detroit-based operation.
Prodigal released singles by Gary (U.S.) Bonds, Jack Ashford & the Sound of New Detroit, along with albums by Shirelles’ lead singer Shirley Alston and the MOR singing team of Gaylord & Holiday, whom our long-time readers might remember as the Gaylords. In 1976, Prodigal released their most promising album, by Ronnie McNeir, a singer who had been musical director for Kim Weston.
Ronnie McNeir – For Your Love (1976)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQ3y_e2TyRE
An ad in the February 26, 1976 edition of the SUN newspaper for the Subway Disco in Detroit, Michigan, featuring “Detroit’s Hottest Disco Band!” Maddness.
An ad for the Poison Apple in Westland, Michigan, not to be confused with the folk-rock venue of the same name in Detroit that closed three years earlier. The Westland venue was an early adopter of disco, having brought Gloria Gaynor to Michigan for her first time, in February 1975.
The ad shows that they would bring Gaynor back again in April 1976, the current billing was Calhoon, February 26-28, 1976, a disco band from Florida by way of Long Island, New York that had a minor hit with the song “(Do You Wanna) Dance Dance Dance”.
Calhoon - (Do You Wanna) Dance Dance Dance (1976)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzK0mUlMc2g
An ad for Joni Mitchell at Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor, Michigan on February 26, 1976.
An ad for Ted Nugent with Styx and Pretty Things at Michigan State University in East Lansing on February 27, 1976.
Nugent’s new band included former Amboy Duke Rob Grange on bass, along with Cliff Davies, formerly with the British band IF, on drums and, from a local Michigan band called Scott which had opened for the Dukes previously, a singer/guitarist named Derek St. Holmes.
There was as much anticipation for Pretty Things as there was for the headliner.
The video linked below is from a 1976 performance which shows that the group that created the 1969 masterpiece classic “S.F. Sorrow” (which by the way was issued on Motown’s Rare Earth label) had aged well.
Pretty Things – It Isn’t Rock ‘N’ Roll (live 1976)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pY2VcOtJA6Y
Unfortunately, this is the best we can do with this image, that would be a pretty awesome poster if it could be seen. By an unknown artist signed “TD” with a doodle of an airplane following these initials, the poster is for Ted Nugent with Styx and Pretty Things at Michigan State University in East Lansing on February 27, 1976. In the top box, it looks like it reads “Rock & Roll!”, you can catch the first two letters of Pretty Things below the photo on the left-hand side, Nugent’s name is in the middle and Styx is clearly on the right.
“Rock and Roll will take its toll”, warning given for Ted Nugent with Styx and Pretty Things at Michigan State University in East Lansing on February 27, 1976.
The center ad is for the first Michigan appearance by the British rock band Sweet, at Masonic Auditorium in Detroit on February 27, 1976. The ad to the left is for the band’s show in Indianapolis, Indiana a month earlier that had Bob Seger as the opener. The Discount Records ad is for the latest album by Sweet with a tie-in to the Detroit show.
The album “Give Us A Wink” was Sweet’s fourth studio album and the first to be written and produced by the band. Their previous albums and hit singles had been written by Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman, the same songwriting team that wrote all of Suzi Quatro’s early #1 hits.
If the single “Action” sounds a bit like Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody”, the band was quick to point out that that their song predates Queen’s hit by four months, Sweet’s lead singer Brian Connolly called Queen’s record “a blatant rip-off”.
Sweet – Action (1976)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XIu1QhHiq8
Sweet – Live in Detroit (2/27/76)
https://pastdaily.com/2015/04/25/the-sweet-live-in-detroit-1976-past-daily-backstage-weekend/
A Capitol Records ad for the British band Sweet that notes their concert at Masonic Auditorium in Detroit on February 27, 1976, which was their first Michigan appearance.
A full-page Capitol Records ad for a tour by Sweet which includes three Michigan shows, their Michigan debut at Masonic Auditorium in Detroit on February 27, 1976, in Flint on the 28th, and in Grand Rapids on the 29th, a leap-year date.
An ad for George Duke and Billy Cobham appearing at the Campus Music Theatre at Michigan State University in East Lansing on February 28, 1976. Freddie Hubbard had performed at the same venue on February 13th, and a little Xaviera Hollander on the side.
The Extra CREEM supplement in the March 1976 issue of CREEM magazine assembled a 61-person list of “Who’s Who in Detroit Rock”. Gary Ciccarelli was the only visual artist on the list. Aside from Ted Nugent and Bob Seger, the musicians that were included was the odd lot of the Kurbstone Beauteaze, the Diddlies, Juicy Lucy, and Paddlefoot.
Photo of Patti Smith, by Suzan Carson, without the text, used for the “Creem Dreem” page in the March 1976 issue of CREEM magazine.
The results of CREEM magazine’s fourth annual readers’ poll, for music in 1975, was published in the March 1976 issue. The top three albums were “Physical Graffiti” by Led Zeppelin, “Born to Run” by Bruce Springsteen, and “Toys in the Attic” by Aerosmith, and the top three singles were “Fame” by David Bowie, “Born to Run” by Springsteen, and “Miracles” by Jefferson Starship.
The Album Cover of the Year was “Captain Fantastic & the Brown Dirt Cowboy” by Elton John.
David Bowie’s “Young Americans” was named the Best R&B Album and in addition to topping the singles list, “Fame” was also named the Best R&B single as well. All that we’ll say about that is that we were standing on Shakey Ground after getting off the Love Rollercoaster and Lady Marmalade told us that we were her First, her Last, her Everything and that we should Fight The Power until we made the Mothership Connection to that Shining Star.
The March 1976 schedule for Mr. Flood’s Party in Ann Arbor, Michigan by artist Crow Quill.
Volume Twelve - 1976 - continues - HERE
An ad for George Duke and Billy Cobham appearing at the Showcase Theatre in Detroit on February 27, 1976.
