All language subtitles for Sometimes.When.We.Touch.S01E01.WEBRip.x264-ION10[eztv.re]

-Those songs
are so fucking good.

-I can sing all of the songs.
-I'm a sucker for pretty shit.

-* Don't you remember you told
me you loved me, baby *

-There's nothing better.
-* And so you try *

-* Rainy days and Mondays
always get me down *

-* Waited so long *
-* The honesty's too much *

-* Do you like piña colada? *
Yeah.

I hate myself just now
for singing it.

[ Laughs ]
Absolutely, know it.

I'm sappy, man.
What -- What can I say?

I want to be aggressive, and I
want to be hard, but I'm not.

-In the 1970s, America was
mellowing out like never before,

and soft rock
was its soundtrack.

-* Love will find a way, ohh *

-But laid back
couldn't last forever.

[ Radio tuning ]

[ Hard rock plays ]

-Suddenly hippies were out.
Anger was in.

-With Van Halen erupting

and Michael Jackson making the
world safe for drum machines,

soft rock went flaccid.

-* I'm a little bit
rock 'n' roll *

-Soft rock, that lame-ass,
suburban, white-boy junk

played by bands like
Men Without Testicles.

[ Laughter ]

-Soon it was little
more than a joke.

-* 'Cause sometimes
when we touch *

-Do you like the Elton John song
"Rocket Man"?

-I don't like soft-ass shit.

-But a generation of rappers had
grown up with those soft sounds

and introduced them
to new audiences.

-* If you like piña coladas... *

-* I like piña coladas,
gettin' caught in the rain *

-* I'm all out of love *

-Soft rock is everywhere.

-* I hope you don't mind *

-* ...never break the chain *

-It's a story like no other
in music history.

**

-* Sometimes when we touch *

**

**

-No, no, we won't go!
-No, no, we won't go!

-Where did soft rock come from?

It began with the turmoil
of the 1960's --

war...

protests...

and Richard goddamn Nixon.

By the 1970s, the kids
were definitely not all right.

The social revolution
they had been promised

felt about as real
as a Beatles reunion.

-[ Screaming ]

-By the early '70s,
the musical question

of an exhausted generation
had morphed from...

-* Are you experienced? *

-...to...
-* Have you never been mellow? *

* Have you never tried? *

-As time went on,
those '60s bands and artists

began to look inward
to a different kind of music.

It was sort of natural for them
to move from rock

to something a little softer.

-America was in need of relief.

and soft rock was there
like a sonic colonic.

-* Hang on, help is on its way *

-I mean, the '70s were just
one of the best times

for fashion, music, culture.

-Allow it to move in a circle
with your shoulders.

-It was kind of a laid-back,

"We're just gonna take
everything down a notch."

It was almost like everybody
was slightly stoned

and probably were.

-It was a very beautiful time.

And that music pretty much
went along with that.

-* You... *

-The 1970s brought a wave
of laid-back artists...

-* Sitting downtown
in a railway station *

-...that hinted at a softer
revolution.

-* ...convinced myself
that it just wasn't real *

-They came
from different genres...

-* That's not the way it feels *

-* Oh, baby, baby,
it's a wild world *

-They came from folk...

-* Take me home... *

-...and country.
-* ...country road *

-...R&B and pop.

-* ...never fall in love again *

-Other forerunners of soft rock
included singer-songwriters

like Joni Mitchell
and Carole King.

-* ...move under my feet *

* I feel the sky tumbling down *

-Those songs are the songs
that shaped the writers

of soft rock
and most '70s pop music.

-* KNX-FM *

-In Los Angeles, at an obscure
FM radio station,

an unknown deejay
tuned into the new vibe

and hatched a plan
that would change music history.

-I was in on the birth
of soft rock as a radio format.

We never used that phrase
on the air

because the word "soft"
can mean "deficient,"

and I didn't want that.

- Continuing on KNX-FM
with a cut

from Cat Stevens'
new album, "Numbers,"

this is the
"Land O' Free Love & Goodbye."

-We came up with the concept
of "pretty rock,"

which really consisted
of five different formats --

pop, rock, folk,
smooth jazz, and R&B.

-This is FM 93,
the mellow sound of KNX-FM.

-We thought of it
as a rock station for people

who didn't like rock music.

-* Rockin' mellow *
-Rockin' L.A. the mellow way,

FM 93, KNX-FM.

-* KNX-FM *

-Mellow Rock.

"Mellow" was a buzzword
in the '70s.

It was kind of hip.

-Usually, being mellow meant
being wimpy.

No, KNX was hip.

It was a button
on everyone's radio dial.

-By '74, we were in the top ten,
and the other CBS FM stations

began to pick up the format.

-Despite Marshall's objections,

the term "soft rock"
had entered the pop lexicon.

-It was radio that introduced me
to all of these beautiful songs.

I didn't know what to call it.
It wasn't scary.

It wasn't violent.

The uniqueness to how good
these songs made you feel.

-* Saturday in the park *

* I think it was the 4th... *

-"Saturday in the Park" --

that song resonates
with my existence

in Hollis, Queens, New York,

the same way it resonates
with the person

who lives on Park Avenue,
walking through Central Park.

The lyrics and the writing
were so poetic.

-* Blue jean baby *

-Growing up
around the Elton John songs,

he had this beautiful English
accent, this beautiful voice.

This piano playing.

It just killed me.

A song like "Daniel,"
for instance --

the first time
I heard that song,

I couldn't go to sleep
because Elton John was in town

and he was playing
at the PNE Coliseum.

And I tried to get in
with a photographer

in the backstage area --

"Just tell them
I'm your girlfriend," you know?

And he played "Daniel" for the
first time he'd ever played it.

-* Daniel, you're a star *

-And it was like,
"This is the moment I came for."

Like, there's certain songs
in your life that are perfect.

And that is one of them.

-* You see,
I've been through the desert *

* On a horse with no name *
-I love "Horse With No Name."

That got me through college.

I could not get laid
without that song playing.

That has a real gritty tune.

-I always gravitated to the ones

that were, like, kind of almost
singer-songwriter-y.

-* Baby, I'm-a want you *
-* Baby, I'm-a want you *

-* Baby, I'm-a need you *

-And we used to roller skate
to it

and just dream about
what it would be like

to go out with somebody
as cute as David Gates.

I mean, for me,
that was the soundtrack

to a formidable time in my life.

-* And, yes, we've just begun *
-I loved the Carpenters.

They were not shying away
from being expressive,

being human, being emotional.

-* What I've got,
they used to call...*

-Most people just don't
understand

how ahead of their time
the Carpenters really were.

Their music wasn't supposedly
cool at the time.

But not only did it do
exceptionally well,

but it would be known
and loved forever.

[ Applause ]

-Today, the Carpenters
are universally respected.

-There are some people who think
I look like a hippie,

that I look wild, or, you know,
we sing rock 'n' roll music

just because
we have guitar amplifiers.

-But in their prime,

they were dragged
as lightweights and worse...

-One of America's finest
young groups...

-...Nixon flunkies.

-...the Carpenters,
ladies and gentlemen.

[ Applause ]
-There's other people that think

that we're so square that they
don't believe how we can exist.

* That's the Carpenters'
all-purpose *

* Standup, one-liner *

-* Singalong monologue *

-Carpenters, "Close to You."
[ Applause ]

-That didn't stop brother
and sister Richard and Karen

from creating some of the most
influential sounds

of the 1970s.
-The stats are crazy.

At over 100 million units,
the Carpenters sell more records

than Hendrix, CCR, Sex Pistols,
and Leonard Skynyrd combined.

-I love... * Don't you remember
you told me you loved me, baby *

I thought that was phenomenal.

I've always thought
that was phenomenal.

I was a big fan of --
of the Carpenters.

It was, like, in my soul.

-* Ahhh *

-Her singing style
was just impeccable.

It was perfect.
She had that really low voice.

And yet here is this chick
behind the drums, singing.

* Are you ready
for a brand-new beat? *

-Karen Carpenter was
a really great drummer.

[ Drum solo ]

[ Applause ]

-He had always wanted to be
exactly where he is.

He had ideas, but I didn't know
I could do anything

until 16.

I got into band
to get out of gym.

I went over.
I picked up a pair of sticks.

It was the most natural-feeling
thing I've ever done.

-We've never seen anybody
like that even since

that could do what she did.

-I thought her voice
was just brilliant --

one of a kind.

She didn't sound
like everybody else.

She sounded only like herself.

-You talk about the synergy
of fate.

Look at the Carpenters --
to have that voice

with that brother songwriter.

-Richard Carpenter
would always take a song,

and he'd get on the piano and
rearrange it and make it work.

-* I'll say goodbye to love *

-1972 was the turning point.

"Goodbye to Love"
was the first pop hit

to mash up an easy-listening
arrangement

with a guitar
straight out of Sabbath.

[ Guitar solo ]

Well, almost.

But if Dylan could go electric,
why not the Carpenters?

-That record did turn a few
heads amongst Carpenters fans,

because, of course,
it had a guitar solo in it.

And we got a few letters
saying, "You sold out."

-I remember the first time
I ever heard that,

and I was kind of taken by that.

I thought, "This is cool,
that they took a guitar

and put it into a ballad type
of a song like that."

-This was totally crazy.

Nobody had ever
done that before.

These big power ballads,
beautiful ballads,

with raging guitar solos,

and I take a tiny bit
of credit for it,

for being there and playing it,
but it wasn't my idea.

It was Richard's,
and he was always the guy

with the great ideas.

[ Guitar solo continues ]

-The sound was coming together,

but the story of soft rock
had only just begun.

[ Finale plays ]

[ Cheers and applause ]

-Americans entered the '70s

needing to heal from the chaos
of the '60s.

A tsunami of softness
was unleashed.

-* Love will find a way *

-As the "me" decade emerged,

getting in touch with ourselves
became a national pastime.

-Mmm, it's a great feeling.

-Really getting in touch
with ourselves.

-In the '70s attitudes about
sexuality were changing rapidly.

Self-help books
like "The Joy of Sex"

were opening up people's minds
to what could happen

in the bedroom and beyond.

-Gender roles
were expanding, too.

-Another thing that's happening
in the '70s

is the sort of renegotiation
of what it means

to be macho and masculine.

-Previously, women's bodies
had been used to sell songs,

but in the soft rock era,
men exposed it all, too.

-We had this plan that,
if we got naked on the cover,

we'd sell more records.

Shooting those album covers
back then in the late '70s,

It looks like something
out of "Boogie Nights."

[ Laughs ] You know?

Hey, we weren't afraid to do it.
We took the plunge, so to speak.

-What seemed to happen more
in the '70s

was this sort of vulnerability
in songwriting...

-* Dance with me *

* I want to be your partner,
can't you see? *

-...which might have
previously been deemed as --

as soppy or too revealing.

-* 'Cause I never want
to make... *

-These men, these artists --
they're not afraid

to sing about their feelings.

-Back in the '70s,
the image of the long-haired,

sensitive, soft-rock dude --
he was cool for a while.

These love songs, these ballads,
were all about that.

-* I'd like to make it
with you *

-They were guys telling women,
"We understand you.

"You can trust us.
Now, please, let's go to bed."

-* Angie *

-In 1973, the Rolling Stones
hit number one with "Angie."

-You got the full power
of Mick Jagger's voice,

addressing the woman's
vulnerability

and her pathologies.

Here you have a group
that has made a living

basically writing songs
like "Under My Thumb,"

where they're dominating women.

And then he's pivoting
to "Angie,"

where he wants to help her?

Whole different layer and depth
in a song like "Angie."

-That same year, Paul McCartney
seduced the world

with his most tender
love song yet.

-* My love does it good *

-With "My Love,"
Paul McCartney --

it's very personal
and confessional.

He's almost singing with
a slightly different placement

in his throat,
it sounds like to me,

and it's very gentle.

-Who's gonna tell Jagger
and McCartney they're wrong?

The soft invasion was underway.

-* Midnight at the Oasis *

-* Sara smile *

-* Summer breeze *

* Makes me feel fine *

-* Oh, Beth, what can I do? *

-Even the hardest rockers
got in on the action.

None more than Alice Cooper,

who ditched straitjackets
and snakes

for strings
and suburban sentiment.

-* But that's enough
for a workin' man *

* And just like
the first time... *

I can't be Alice all the time,

because he's a little bit
too dangerous.

[ Laughs ]

-So here's the problem.

Everybody loves soft rock, but
no one knows exactly what it is.

-Soft rock is not really
a very tangible genre.

-Not to oversimplify,
but I would say

that it's anything
that's not hard rock.

-It sounds like rock,
but it tastes like pop.

-Soft rock is the scorned cousin
of the rock world.

-Does anyone go,
"Wow, that rock's so soft"?

-It was hard to write the songs.
It was hard to record the songs.

Everything about soft rock
was hard.

-Burt, what do you say
to Martini & Rossi?

-* Martini & Rossi
on the rocks *

-That's right, Burt --
just like it's not a martini

without the vermouth,

it's not soft rock
without the rock.

But there's a difference.

Heroes of hard rock
are guitar players.

[ Guitar solo ]

[ Keyboard solo ]
But the kings of soft rock

are keyboardists.

-* And you can tell everybody *

-* This is your song *

-Most piano players
write melodic songs,

and they're softer songs.

You're not gonna write
AC/DC songs on the piano.

-Instead, you're gonna
write this.

[ Keyboard solo ]

-* We get it
almost every night *

-* It's why I'm easy, baby *

-* I'm not in love *

* So don't forget *

-Nothing sounded more soft rock
than the Rhodes piano.

If you wanted to be on the radio
in the '70s,

you pretty much
had to plug one in.

-This is your favorite part.

[ Piano playing ]

**

The thing
about this instrument --

the Rhodes
and the Fender Rhodes --

is it's a very specific sound...

and it is a very soft sound

and very, very mellow sound.

Lots of those records
back then were made

with this this exact keyboard.

-Somebody came up with a way
to -- to make a piano

sound softer, rounder,
more bell-like.

It's like if you created
a hybrid

between an acoustic piano
and Vibes,

that's what a Fender Rhodes
really is.

-* Babe, I'm leavin' *

* I must be on my way *

-* Ooh, babe,
you got what it takes *

* So I made you my wife *
-It's just something so sexy.

It's sexier than
an acoustic piano.

-* Don't go changin' *

-Another important point?

"Soft" doesn't have to mean
"slow."

-Something you can kind of just
kind of slowly bob your head to.

-There's a gentle sway,
a kind of a calm down,

but it still
can be really sexy or moody.

-The "Doobie Bounce,"
or what they call

this kind of groove
in the pocket

that's influenced
a little bit by R&B.

-* Bum-bum, ba-da-da-dum,
ba-dum, ba-da-da *

That is the genesis
of the Doobie Bounce.

-* He came from somewhere
back in her long ago *

-It wasn't just, like,
a super straight set

of kicks and snares
like you would get...

* Doo-doo-doo, chh,
doo-doo-doo, chh *

...like in any old rock song.

There's something,
like, really fluid,

especially with how
the hi-hats are kind of rolling.

-You hear that --
that back-and-forth,

up-and-down piano riff
in so many songs.

-* It's gonna take
a lotta love *

-When you talk about soft rock
versus hard rock,

certainly rock 'n' roll is --
is fairly basic, straight ahead.

[ Guitar playing rock 'n' roll ]

Soft rock is slightly different
because it --

it's not so much the energy.

[ Guitar playing soft rock ]

**

It's how you couch the melody
and how you couch the music.

It's sometimes
what you don't play

that's as important
as what you do play,

in a lot of ways, to --
to better support the vocalist.

-Ah, the vocals.

If soft rock
is famous for anything,

it's some of the most powerful
harmonies in pop history.

-* That's how much *

* That's how much *

-I'm a big Ambrosia fan,

and I think David Pack is one
of the best singers, like, ever.

He's got a crazy voice.
David still sings like that now.

-* And so you try *

* Try to stay in the middle *

* And then you cry *

I wanted to create
a vocal identity for Ambrosia

and to be a band that had, like,

a call-and-response
type harmony.

-* How much I feel *

-* Feel for you, baby *

-* How much I need *
-I thought that would

set us apart from other acts
of that era.

And so "You're the Only Woman"

had that call and response,
you know?

* You're the only woman *

* You're the only woman *

-* You're the only woman *

-* You're the only woman *

-You know,
and "Biggest Part of Me."

* Sunrise *
-* There's a new sun a'risin' *

-* There's a new sun a'risin'
in your... *

To me, those were my vision

for trying to --
to recast Ambrosia

as a vocal band
that had its own identity.

-And the style of harmonies,
it's not like Beach Boys,

Four Freshmen style harmony.

They're bringing certain notes
into these harmonies

that just create
a different kind of feeling.

-We always had the harmonies,
and the harmonies were good.

-* This time I'm in it... *

-When all of us sang,
our harmonies were sweet.

-* Whatcha gonna do
what she says goodbye? *

* Whatcha gonna do
when she is gone? *

-There's a stacked harmony
section that, really, just,

you could kind of close
your eyes and eat it up.

-All of the choruses are stacked
to Mount Everest, right?

-* After the love has gone *

-* After the love has gone *

-* What used to be right
is wrong *

-I'm taking your voice

and putting it on as many tracks
as I can so that it's bigger

and it has more bite
and more oomph.

It sounds really good
when it's the same person

doing it over and over.

-Three passes
layered on the cake.

-Putting three vocals down,
then making them go higher...

-* Happy anniversary, baby *

-Like "Row, Row Your Boat."
* Row, row, row your boat *

And then somebody else is...
* Row, row your boat *

That's when the voices
are going layered.

-* And what would you say
if I called on you now? *

-And then all of a sudden,

a hundred voices come in
for the chorus.

-* I'm all out of love *

-That's the idea,
is the chorus has to come

and just blow you away.

-Okay, so we've got keyboards,
a backbeat, killer harmonies,

but there's just
one thing missing.

-"Do You Believe In Love?"
-"I Want To Know What Love Is."

-"Love Is The Answer."

-"I Hope We Get To Love
In Time."

-"How Deep Is Your Love?"

-I love "After the Love
Is Gone." Really love it.

-"Torn Between Two Lovers"
by Mary MacGregor

is one of the worst songs
of all time.

-"All Out of Love."
"Sweet Dreams."

"Making Love Out of Nothing
at All." "Lost in Love."

"Even the Nights Are Better."
"Every Woman in the World."

"Two Less Lonely People."
-"Here I Am."

"Here I Am."
"The One That You Love."

-Oh, duh!
-Behave.

[ Both laugh ]

-Many elements define
the soft-rock sound,

but the most important
is emotion.

Soft rockers let you know
how they're feeling

and how much they really want
to see you tonight.

-* And I'd really love
to see you tonight *

-Really great soft rock

has to be a perfect marriage
of music and melody

with that lyrical content.

Those lyrics of heartache or
heartbreak give me the chills.

They give me goosebumps.

-* You came
and you gave without taking *

* But I sent you away, oh *

-From a neurological standpoint,
when we listen to sad music,

it actually can release
a hormone called prolactin,

which calms the body.

We're experiencing this sadness
without actually being sad.

We all want that catharsis.

* But I'm bluer than blue *

* Sadder than sad *

-* Ooh, no, baby,
please, don't go *

-* And she's gone *
-* Oh, I *

-* Oh, I *
-* Oh, I *

* Oh, I,
I better learn how to face it *

-* I was wrong, and I just
can't live without you *

-I did a tour in England,
and I got home, and, like,

nobody was there.

My wife -- she wasn't there.

I was mowing the lawn in my
house when I started singing...

* Baby, come back *

-* Baby, come back *

* Any kind of fool could see *

-She never did,
and I never saw her again.

-* That's how much I feel *

-* Feel for you, baby *

-I had my heart broken
in high school

just into a million pieces.

I wrote a song about it,
of course.

First love, you know,
it's like a dagger in your heart

that never goes away.

Let me tell you,
it's still a hard song to sing.

-That song is
really autobiographical, and --

-Yeah, one of those songs
that you really want to record,

you know, but you're
almost afraid to

'cause you're afraid it's gonna
lose its sense of intimacy.

-I was 19, in love with an older
woman, who was 22,

and I'd had no romantic
experience before that.

-* You ask me if I love you *

* And I choke on my reply *

She would always say, "Do you
love me, Dan? Do you love me?"

And I knew if I said "yes,"
she'd say I was too needy,

and if I said "no,"
she'd say I was too cold.

So that's why I started with,

"You ask me if I love you,
and I choke on my reply."

Growing up in a neighborhood
I grew up in,

and I didn't know anybody
that was having anything

even remotely connected to sex,

so I hadn't been experienced
in that kind of a situation.

When I started
to touch this woman,

everything broke down,
and I couldn't talk.

-* And sometimes when we touch *

* The honesty's too much *

-I was almost, like, hypnotized.

It was just too much,

and I just couldn't
put together a sentence.

She was going out
with a football player

and was bragging about
how big his muscles were.

-* I want to hold you
till I die *

-And I decided that the only way
I could possibly get her

to like me more is to write
a song that was so powerful

about how I felt about her
that maybe she would then think

I was possibly worthy,

and so that's when I wrote
"Sometimes When We Touch."

And so I phone her up,

and I play the song to her
over the phone.

-* Sometimes when we touch *

-I thought, for sure,
I was gonna nail her.

Four minutes later, there's this
beleaguered sign the other end,

and she says, "Danny,
did anybody ever tell you

that, for a 19-year-old,
you're just way too intense?

You're way too intense for me.

I'm moving in
with the football player."

[ Applause ]

But when it did become a hit,
she miraculously reappeared.

It was decided maybe
she wanted a relationship.

At which point, of course, well,
you know, she broke my heart,

so I wasn't gonna go back there
again.

-But soft rock's most tragic
love story

was the one that fueled
the couple

that gave us its happiest hit.

-Thank you.

[ Applause ]

* Love *

* Love will keep us together *

-I don't want to sound like
I'm dissing the music, right?

but that felt like TV music
to me.

-* Some sweet-talking girl
comes along *

-Wait, Captain and Tennille --

they made "Love Will
Keep Us Together," right?

Okay, I stand corrected.
I love that song.

-* 'Cause I really love you *

-"Love Will Keep Us Together"
was one of the biggest hits

of the soft rock era.
-* I will, I will *

-Captain was a really
accomplished musician,

who had played
with the Beach Boys.

-Mike Love of the Beach Boys
named him Captain

because he was the captain
of the keyboards.

-Daryl Dragon was a craftsman.

Not only was he
a brilliant keyboard player,

he was a brilliant musician,
and he was a brilliant producer.

-And Toni Tennille is like this
quintessential cabaret singer.

Together, they combined
the atmospheric quality

of film soundtracks with that
intimacy of the lounge singer.

* Whatever *

[ Finale plays ]

[ Applause ]

-And the winner is
Captain & Tennille.

[ Cheers and applause ]

-After winning a Grammy for
"Love Will Keep Us Together,"

co-written by Neil Sedaka,
Captain & Tennille signed on

for their own network
variety show.

-And now,
the Captain & Tennille.

-See them on TV, and you
see a little married couple

just so happy in their groove.

And he's on the piano,
and she's doing her thing.

-We just got married.
-[ Laughs ]

-They presented a marriage

as two people
who loved each other,

and we never really doubted it.

See, you've got to understand,
Daryl has got to have...

-Don't do it.
-...his own bathroom

with white tile
and running water.

He doesn't like bugs.
-Daryl, you don't sound

too exciting to be married to.
You know what I mean?

[ Laughter ]

-Did he ever say "I love you"
to you?

-No.

No. Never.

-We hope you enjoyed
the show this week.

I know we did.
-We did?

-Yes, Daryl, we did.

-It was hard.

The first few years,
I kept hoping,

hoping that there would be
a breakthrough or something.

-Are you naturally quiet?

-What?

-That's the most
I've ever heard him talk.

-I always thought
Daryl was a genius.

He was an odd duck, boy,
but he was a genius.

Maybe it was some form
of autism.

I don't know.
I never understood it.

I couldn't make him
fall in love with me.

I hoped he would.

But as the years went by,

I realized
that he was not capable of that,

and then I was kind of stuck.

-Valentine's Day is coming up.

-I just went along with it.

-What's the most exotic
Valentine's gift

you've ever gotten?

-I don't know.
What'd you ever give me?

-It wasn't until much,
much later we discovered

that, in fact, it was kind of
a loveless marriage.

And it's weird knowing that
and going back

and looking
at their variety show

because Tennille is just
out there

and she is giving it her all.

And Daryl Dragon is just sitting
there in his captain's hat,

giving nothing.

-I know he admired me
tremendously.

He admired my talent, my voice,
my gift for writing.

He was just closed up,
and he couldn't open up

to any kind of emotion.

I was kind of a hot dish
in those days.

But throughout that
entire relationship with Daryl,

I never, ever cheated on him.

I never had an affair.

He was the only man
that interested me.

And even though I couldn't
have him the way I wanted him,

when I would have dreams,
erotic dreams,

he was the guy in the dreams.

He was it.

-* I never wanted
to love a man *

* The way that I want
to love you *

Our second hit was "The Way
I Want to Touch You,"

which I wrote.

I wanted to express
how I felt about Daryl.

-* You are sunshine,
you are shadow *

* You are morning,
you are night *

-"You are sunshine.
You are shadow.

You are morning,
You are night."

He was everything to me.

This was early on, you know,
when I still thought

I could get through to him.

But I never was able to.

And I kept thinking,
"Why are you doing this?

Why are you still with him?"

I kept worrying
about all of our fans.

[ Cheers and applause ]

So that's why I stuck with him.

-Riding the good vibes
of the 1976

bicentennial celebrations...

-Let us learn together
and laugh together.

-...America elected its warmest
and fuzziest U.S. President,

Jimmy Carter.

-Jimmy Carter
was the sensitive dude

in his cardigan sweaters,
always trying to get along.

You know, you could say
that Jimmy Carter

was the first
soft-rock president.

-For almost a decade, soft rock
dominated pop music worldwide.

-These numbers are crazy.

Back in those days, commercial
success was a real thing.

-We found out
"If You Leave Me Now"

was number one in the world.

I don't even know
how many countries there were

at the time -- 270 or something.

It was number one in every
one of them at the same time.

-* You are the woman
that I've always dreamed of *

-Firefall's debut album
went gold faster

than any album in the history
of Atlantic Records,

besting even Ray Charles,

Aretha Franklin,
and Led Zeppelin.

-Soft rock's secret weapon?
Inclusivity.

No genre in pop history absorbed
as many musical influences.

-The record companies -- they
would look at us and they'd go,

"Well, what are you guys?
Are you country? You pop?

You rock? You classical?
You folk? What are you? Jazz?"

We'd go,
"Yeah, pretty much."

-Soft rock pulled the most
diverse audience of all,

because we weren't afraid
of playing Barry Manilow,

which was right
down the middle...

-* You know I can't... *

-...and then "Summer Madness"
by Kool & the Gang,

which was an instrumental.

-We're listening to Jazz,
and we were playing Motown,

as we started
to develop our own sound,

which became the mixture
of all that.

-Soft rock wasn't afraid
to include these swings

and variations in music styles.

-* Like a rhinestone cowboy *

-Musicians from Nashville..

-* ...to hurt the man
who loves you *

-...to Hawaii
raced to get in on the action,

as stars of every genre got
in touch with their feelings.

-I think jazz was definitely
prevalent

during the soft-rock period.

-It was the last period,
I think, where

these jazz artists would
actually break into the top 40.

-George Benson was one
of the great guitar players

of all time, and the fact
that he was as good as he was

and then could write a song
that would make pop radio --

I mean,
that's a pretty big gift.

-* We're in this love together *

-* Sweet baby *

-Those great songs
have jazz inflections.

They found a way to marry
this sort of highbrow music

with commerciality.

-The influences
of what I was writing

were smooth-jazz artists
like Bob James.

It's not rock, but as
a songwriter and an artist,

I'm mixing it all together
the Way it shows up in my head.

-Ella Fitzgerald is listening
to Chuck Mangione.

-Chuck Mangione...

-"Feel So Good"
by Chuck Mangione

was one of the first songs
we ever played on KOST.

It had the right beat,
the right instrumentation.

It was like an anthem for us.

-There was a lot of
cross-pollination happening.

Latin musicians were huge
in the studio scenes.

Percussionists
like Airto Moreira

and Paulinho da Costa brought
a whole new world of rhythm.

-Those rhythmic elements opened
up the possibilities

of rhythm
to go beyond a drum set.

Conga, bongos, clave --
all those things,

which are very good
for excitement,

but also can give
a little effervescence

to a soft-rock tune.

-The sounds of R&B, soul,
and Motown

had been part of soft rock
from the beginning.

By the mid-'70s,
artists like Lou Rawls...

-* I like groovy people *

-* Whoa, sail on *

-...Lionel Richie
and the Commodores...

-* Hearts afire... *
-...and Earth, Wind & Fire

were producing hit
after soft-rock hit.

-Our crossover appeal had a lot
to do with Maurice's vision,

what he wanted the band
to accomplish.

He wanted a group that everybody
liked and enjoyed.

Now we call it global.

"That's the Way of the World" --
it was from the soundtrack

to the movie,
"That's the Way of the World.

And the movie
was not that successful.

-Leonard Maltin alluded
that it was the worst movie

that had ever been made.

-But the album for us
went double platinum.

It was the record
that had broke us wide open.

It was number one
on every chart at the time.

We already had an audience

in our own little genre
of college radio.

But that was
when we really went to arenas.

-It was this true melting pot
within the studios --

a record that might
have musicians on it

from Puerto Rico and Brazil,

and Black musicians
from the Bronx and Brooklyn,

and white musicians
from suburban California,

all on the same record.

-Many of these records
were listed

on separate record charts,

creating confusion
for listeners.

-"Baby, Come Back."

Now, okay.
I thought they were Black.

-* Baby, come back *

-Yeah, well, that's partly
because it was number one

on the R&B charts, you know?

We were in Chicago,
and we got invited to go

to this Black radio station.

We went over there in the limo
and everything.

And they see
these little white guys

in high heels and puffy hair,
you know?

I think two of us even had
fur coats on,

And we're walking along,
you know, and they're going,

"What the..." "What the..."
It was very funny.

-When I found out they weren't
Black, I was shocked.

Like, "Whoa." And again, I
didn't differentiate that way.

But they sound Black.

-* You don't have to be a star,
baby *

-"You Don't Have to Be a Star
(To Be in My Show)"

was considered soft rock.

-It was a love song.
-Yeah.

-It had some funk, and we really
loved the whole sound,

being a fresh approach
to our music.

-But people said,
"You don't sound Black enough.

You're too white."
Well, hold it.

How can you color a sound?
We just making sounds of music.

-It's fucking just
good fucking music.

Stop fucking labeling it.

-* Honey,
I'll always love you *

-Soft rock was the sum
of all America's musical parts,

and no one absorbed them like
the musical prodigy from Detroit

who began making hit records
in his teens.

-I would go up the pop chart
and the R&B chart,

which everybody
thought was amazing.

They were like,
"Well, how'd you do that?"

I think I just sound more
whiter. I don't know.

What you guys are calling
"soft rock,"

maybe I feel is a combination of
all my experiences put together.

When I was a kid,
I had an accident

on a bicycle and broke my leg.

I had to have a cast

from my foot
all the way up to my waist,

But that allowed me to just play
the guitar every day, all day.

Man, I drove everybody nuts
in the family.

My dad would put the amplifier
on the outside of the house

in the wintertime,
on the front porch.

He just said, "I love my son,
but that's enough guitar."

So I'm 15 years,
playing nightclubs in Detroit

just about every night
of the week.

This Motown band leader
came over to me.

He says,
"I like the way you play.

You play pretty good, you know.
Can you play with us big boys?"

He put me in the house band

behind Gladys Knight & the Pips,
Marvin Gaye,

The Temptations,
just everybody.

And then Marvin Gaye
wants to cut an album

and use us as a rhythm section
to the album.

First was "You're The Man,"

and that's me playing
the wah-wah on the guitar.

That started
a whole new wave of things.

Stevie Wonder, who I'd never
met, who's my hero,

called me up for a session.

At that time,
I'm only 17 years old.

I hung up on him -- it must have
been three, four times.

I couldn't believe
it was Stevie Wonder.

Why would Stevie Wonder be
calling me on the phone?

And he says, "I talked to
everybody, and everybody says,

'Call Ray if you need a guitar
player,' so I'm calling you."

[ Cheers and applause ]

He offered me to go on tour
with him and the Rolling Stones.

I went from a high school
in Detroit

to the biggest tour
in the world.

We're out playing big stadiums.
I never seen anything like it.

He opened up my world
to going to different cities

and seeing what
other people are doing.

Then all of a sudden, I'm
writing a song with Chaka Khan

and having a number-one record,
like a year and a half later.

-* ...to give me the strength *

* To keep on livin' *

-* You've got a cute way... *
-I had written a song called

"You Make Me Feel
Like Dancing"...

-* You make me
feel like dancing *
-...which was a big hit.

I put the band together,
and I'm playing on it,

and I got no credit
for it at all -- zero.

It's not Leo's fault. Leo is one
of my closest friends.

He's -- He's cool.

But I wasn't treated
fairly on that.

-* Jack *
-* Jack *

-* Like Little Red Riding Hood *

-Clive Davis got wind of that.

He says, "Well, don't give this
Jack and Jill song to him.

Give that to me, and this time
you get paid all your money."

That's when I started radio.

-You know, it's hard
to write a pop song.

It's not as easy as it sounds.

And because Ray played on a lot
of hits for other people,

he knew what a hit was

'cause he's playing on all
of them, you know?

-Not only did I cut
Stevie Wonder records

or Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson,

but I also cut Seals & Crofts
records.

I also cut all
the Carpenters records.

But "Jack and Jill"
changed my life,

because before "Jack and Jill,"
I was a studio musician, period.

When "Jack and Jill" hit,
that put me on the map.

-* 'Cause you're the only one
I love *

-"You Can't Change That" was
a little more nerve wracking,

because they thought maybe
I got lucky on "Jack and Jill,"

and that was the end of
my career right then and there.

So "You Can't Change That"
kind of sealed it.

"No, he did it again."

-* She can fool around
just like you do *

-My mom turned me on
to that Ray Parker Jr.

I was like, "Oh my God."

I used to like --
he had his hair.

He had a lot of product
in his hair.

Then he had the ladies
all on him.

-I understand you're gonna be
doing a tour soon,

which is something you haven't
done in a while, right?

-I'm looking forward
to getting out there.

-Yeah.
I bet you are, Ray.

[ Chuckles ]
-Oh, my trouble was girls, okay?

All of my songs were about love
because I like to write

about girls,
and I like to write about love,

and I wasn't writing
about politics,

and I didn't write about
the war, but that's where I was.

I was young and childlike
and having a good time.

That's just who I am.

-In the late '70s,
soft-rock musicians everywhere

were having a good time, too.

The record of the year is

Billy Joel
"Just the Way You Are."

-Barry Manilow, "Copacabana."

-The Carpenters.

-Though it shared
the spotlight with other genres,

soft rock's hold on pop music
remained undisputed.

-You start to feel like,
you know, you're bulletproof.

You're selling out big arenas
and theaters.

You start to feel like,
you know, "We can't fail."

-I mean, let's face it --
if you were a rock star

in the '70s and '80s,

other than being in the court
of Louis XIV,

hard to beat.

-* Hey, oh, let's go *

* Hey, oh, let's go *

-But fern bars and leisure suits
weren't made to last forever.

-* They're forming
in a straight line *

-A rumbling threat was about
to make its historic launch...

and land a fatal blow
to the soft-rock empire.

-This sucks. Change it.
-* Hey, oh, let's go *