Various - Sinfonie der Sterne Die 70er Jahre - Polydor, Die Geschichte einer deutschen Schallplattenmarke (CD)

POLYDOR - a name is legend. Since the 'Golden Twenties' shellacs, later vinyl and compact discs have been spinning under this world brand, initially with different colored labels, since the beginning of the 50s with the unmistakable orange label and the little stars or with the Polydor red introduced since 1963.

The hair gets longer and longer, drug consumption increases. The social upheaval triggered by the (68 generation') manifests itself. Since the inauguration of the 1969 elected chancellor Willy Brandt, the republic seems to have changed. More democracy is dared, the idea of progress inspires the people. There are experiments in all directions, including music. Alongside the conventional Schlager, Krautrock groups and songwriters appear on the scene (and here and there also in the LP charts). 

In 1970, when the Beatles split up and youth idols Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix leave this world forever, the 200th birthday of Ludwig van Beethoven is celebrated in Germany. The GDR and the FRG issue special postage stamps, Herbert von Karajan, Otto Klemperer and Karl Böhm conduct the master's opus in his native Bonn, and finally the Spaniard Miguel Rios appears on the scene. He joins in the jubilation on Polydor (on the Hispavox label) with an English-language pop version of the Ode to Joy. Beethoven's Ode is now called Song Of Joy and sells more than a million copies in this country. 

Alongside Miguel Rios, Wencke Myhre, Daliah Lavi, Karel Gott, Chris Roberts, Bata illic and Roy Black make their way into the German pop charts. One sings happily that his name is Hase, the other dreams of traveling around the world with a pocket full of money, and other songs are about a bright red rubber boat or a certain Michaela. Dieter Thomas Heck's Hit Parade on ZDF has provided Schlager with an ideal public forum since 1969, but the hits quickly become rarer and rarer in the course of the seventies. 

(One exception is the folk song Hoch auf dem gelben Wagen, which the then German Foreign Minister and later German President Walter Scheel made into a top ten hit on Polydor in 1973/74). Among the majority of those now growing up, the German language (and Schlager) is considered old-fashioned or even reactionary. Young people prefer to listen to the music of Golden Earring, the Rubettes, Slade, Medicine Head, in short: music of English-speaking provinciality. Only the songwriters can reconcile the young listeners with the German language. 

Konstantin Wecker, Herman van Veen, Ougenweide, Peter Horton, Ludwig Hirsch and all the other songwriters that Polydor gathers under its roof address their community with their albums rather than with fast-moving single hits. The same applies to orchestral recordings, which, however, are more likely to find friends among people over 40. Here it is the band leader James Last, whose name appears again and again in the annual hit lists. James Last can establish himself during the 70s as one of the best-selling album artists of all time! Also very successful is the Kurt Edelhagen Orchestra, which accompanies the entry of the nations (also one of the LP titles) at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. Edelhagen's LP 'Olympia-Parade' makes it to the first chart position and becomes a 'Soldveredelten' bestseller. 

Pop gems and bestsellers, singles and albums alike, were brought to Germany by the Swedish group ABBA via Polydor from 1974 onwards. The triumph of the four Scandinavians began in the English seaside resort of Brighton, when the group won the Grand Prix d'Eurovision with the song Waterloo. ABBA's number one hits Mamma Mia, Fernando, Dancing Queen, Money, Money, Money and Knowing Me, Knowing You bring the pop offshoot of Grammophon - since 1972 housed under the umbrella of the German-Dutch holding company Polytram - safely through the decade. In addition, the immense success of the ballad rock group Barclay James Harvest (BJH) began in 1977. With Polydor's help, the group was soon able to celebrate greater success in Germany than in its British homeland. The best-known UH album, Gone To Earth (1977), spent over 200 weeks in the German sales charts. 

Starting in Hollywood, the all dance-beat Bee-Gees soundtrack to 'Saturday Rivet Fever' (on the RSO label) beats all previous records. The film not only makes the protagonist John Travolta a star, but also causes discotheques equipped with light organs and fog machines to spring up in this country. In 1978/79, the disco era reached its zenith in Europe. Polydor's most prominent disco contribution was Gloria Gaynor's 1 Will Survive.