TV history's most epic 10-min jam: Frampton 'Do You Feel Like We Do' Midnight Special '75

Who remembers? What a time to be alive (no pun intended.)

1976: .00000000001 SJW. And 99.99% license to be unencumbered & free to fully enjoy & share the (sane, un-political) company of others.

It was an amazing window of time of shared common American values of a shared American common culture AND friendships based on the things that made America "great" -- FREEDOM of Movement, Expression, and Thought. The mood was light -- even if you lacked material stuff. (Music and sports, Bread & Circuses were devoid of the stank of political dogma-cult.)

Is "America" the one of c.1976? OR the c.2022 version?

So where else am I going with this?

Nostalgia. Freedom. Peace of Mind. GREAT Pre-Reset 'Merica memories. (Partially represented here by a specific 10 minute Peter Frampton Midnight Special TV performance.)

During the pre-MTV days (1973-1981), Boomers and young Gen-X'ers were treated to an awesome new TV concept of presenting LIVE musical acts.

The "entertainment" protocol for many younger people back then for Fridays and Saturday night was the usual -- Dating. Hanging out with friends. Partying. Whatever. But that hardly meant the entertainment was over. Come 12:30 AM we had two "CAN'T-MISS" TV venues that extended Friday and Saturday night respectively:


Don Kirchner's Rock Concert AND The Midnight Special. Both shows were on LATE Night. And both show were 90 minutes long featuring multiple, varied artists -- including comics.

The list of guests over the years read like a who’s who of Rock & Roll. The Stones,AC/DC, ABBA, KISS, The Eagles, Kansas, The Ramones, Aretha Franklin, The Beach Boys, Chuck Berry, Billy Joel, Blue Oyster Cult, Steely Dan, Harry Chapin, The Police, Jim Croce, Cheap Trick, David Bowie, etal etal etal -- you name it, the band performed on one show or the other -- OR BOTH.

Anyone and Everyone could be expected to show up and perform during these shows. The official policy: NO lip-syncing allowed (though a few managed to cheat and use backing-tracks.)

But of ALL the shows of both the Midnight Special and Don Kirchner's Rock Concert, ONE performance featuring Peter Frampton stood out as perhaps THE best and most spirited and iconic. Yes, THIS ONE. (ok, so maybe Frampton's performance and happy guitar-work *was* aided by a "heluva drug" -- but back then partaking was accepted as "normal.")


LINK ]Peter Frampton: Do You Feel Like We Do - Midnight Special, 1975 - FULL VERSION UN-EDITED 10:39

Frampton also became known for his new 'Talk Box' sound which imparted distortion of lyrics integrated with his guitar -- a new tech innovation. This allowed him to "sing" (but also manage to evade censors over the very specific suggestive *cough* lyrics as fairly clearly heard at about the 6:34 mark of 'Do You Feel Like I Do'. (As you watch his facial body language, does it Frampton's wry smile beforehand seem appear to signal the audience, "A surprise is coming."?)

Most listened to part of 'Do You Feel Like I Do'

(Yup. You heard it right. Unbelievable. UN-CENSORED. I don't condone it but it just goes to prove a point about freedom of expression and live-and-let-live vibe and thing during that era.)



(below) Peter Frampton explains how his “ultimate capper to a concert” became the monster hit of 1976:

Era-Defining Live performance by Peter Frampton?

"Woke up this morning..."



'Frampton Comes Alive!' What a feel-good-vibe album by Frampton. STILL.

Impression during the Summer of 1976: Total domination of this album at every party, of the airwaves.