IT'S 1973, and American pop music has lost its way. Tony Orlando and Dawn, Elton John’s “Crocodile Rock” and Carly Simon are topping the charts; palatable commodification can be found in Donnie Osmond and the likes of England Dan and John Ford Coley. It wasn’t all quite that bland—we did have Slade—but in “Vinyl”, HBO’s new series from creators Martin Scorsese, Terence Winter, Mick Jagger and Rich Cohen, 1973 represents a plateau for rock and pop. Neither is shaking culture as it did in the sixties. By the early 1970s, all the raw potential of rock, folk, soul and blues has been bled out by a corrupt business.
