DavesMusicDatabase.com is devoted to ranking, rating, and reviewing music of all genres and eras. The DMDB blog serves up music history snapshots, best-of lists, and music-related essays.
These are the top 100 songs from the 1970s according to Dave’s Music Database. Rankings are figured by combining sales figures, chart data, radio airplay, video airplay, streaming figures, awards, and appearances on best-of lists.
21. Let’s Stay Together…Al Green (1971)
22. Heart of Glass…Blondie (1979)
23. Killing Me Softly with His Song…Roberta Flack (1973)
24. The Way We Were…Barbra Streisand (1973)
25. The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face…Roberta Flack (1972)
26. Tie a Yellow Ribbon ‘Round the Ole Oak Tree…Tony Orlando & Dawn (1973)
27. Night Fever…Bee Gees (1978)
28. How Deep Is Your Love…Bee Gees (1977)
29. Y.M.C.A….Village People (1978)
30. London Calling…The Clash (1979)
31. You’re the One That I Want…Olivia Newton-John & John Travolta (1978)
32. Sweet Home Alabama…Lynyrd Skynyrd (1974)
33. No Woman, No Cry…Bob Marley & the Wailers (1975)
34. My Sharona…The Knack (1979)
35. Without You…Harry Nilsson (1971)
36. Let’s Get It On…Marvin Gaye (1973)
37. Anarchy in the U.K….Sex Pistols (1976)
38. Joy to the World…Three Dog Night (1971)
39. Free Bird…Lynyrd Skynrd (1973)
40. Heroes…David Bowie (1977)
41. Seasons in the Sun…Terry Jacks (1974)
42. Sultans of Swing…Dire Straits (1979)
43. You’re So Vain…Carly Simon (1972)
44. Fire and Rain…James Taylor (1970)
45. Play That Funky Music…Wild Cherry (1976)
46. I’ll Be There…The Jackson 5 (1970)
47. Tonight’s the Night (Gonna Be Alright)…Rod Stewart (1976)
48. Three Times a Lady…Commodores (1978)
49. Brown Sugar…The Rolling Stones (1971)
50. Theme from Shaft…Isaac Hayes (1971)
51. Go Your Own Way…Fleetwood Mac (1977)
52. Won’t Get Fooled Again…The Who (1971)
53. Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough…Michael Jackson (1979)
54. Walk on the Wild Side…Lou Reed (1972)
55. Love Will Keep Us Together…Captain & Tennille (1975)
56. It’s Too Late…Carole King (1971)
57. Paranoid…Black Sabbath (1970)
58. Alone Again (Naturally)…Gilbert O’Sullivan (1972)
59. God Save the Queen…Sex Pistols (1977)
60. Just the Way You Are…Billy Joel (1977)
61. They Long to Be Close to You…Carpenters (1970)
62. Rapper’s Delight…The Sugarhill Gang (1979)
63. We Are Family…Sister Sledge (1979)
64. You Are the Sunshine of My Life…Stevie Wonder (1973)
65. Dreams…Fleetwood Mac (1977)
66. Piano Man…Billy Joel (1974)
67. In the Summertime…Mungo Jerry (1970)
68. Baker Street…Gerry Rafferty (1978)
69. Good Times…Chic (1979)
70. Shadow Dancing…Andy Gibb (1978)
71. I Honestly Love You…Olivia Newton-John (1974)
72. Angie…The Rolling Stones (1973)
73. Crazy Little Thing Called Love…Queen (1979)
74. Comfortably Numb…Pink Floyd (1979)
75. Don’t Go Breaking My Heart…Elton John & Kiki Dee (1976)
76. Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?...Rod Stewart (1978)
77. Old Time Rock and Roll…Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band (1978)
78. Lola…The Kinks (1970)
79. Midnight Train to Georgia…Gladys Knight & the Pips (1973)
80. We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions…Queen (1977)
81. Dream On…Aerosmith (1973)
82. Smoke on the Water…Deep Purple (1973)
83. More Than a Feeling…Boston (1976)
84. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road…Elton John (1973)
85. Bennie and the Jets…Elton John (1974)
86. Crocodile Rock…Elton John (1972)
87. Changes…David Bowie (1971)
88. All Right Now…Free (1970)
89. Just My Imagination Running Away with Me…The Temptations (1971)
90. Hot Stuff…Donna Summer (1979)
91. Kung Fu Fighting…Carl Douglas (1974)
92. The Hustle…Van McCoy (1975)
93. I’m Not in Love…10cc (1975)
94. Best of My Love…The Emotions (1977)
95. Rhinestone Cowboy…Glen Campbell (1975)
96. Brass in Pocket (I’m Special)…Pretenders (1979)
97. Heart of Gold…Neil Young (1972)
98. ABC…The Jackson 5 (1970)
99. If You Leave Me Now…Chicago (1976)
100. You’ve Got a Friend…James Taylor (1971)
September 18, 1982. I can peg my fascination with music charts to that date. After listening to a local radio station’s countdown of the hits of the summer, I decided to make my own list of favorites (see original list here). I ended up revising it every few days, eventually developing my own charts which I maintained into the ‘90s.
I’ve also projected before and after those lists to create speculative lists of #1 songs for eras not covered by those original charts. You can check out those links here, but this page is focused on the #1 songs that might have been for me in the 1970s.
1970:
Jan. 10: Arlo Guthrie “Alice’s Restaurant” (3 wks)
Release date: 14 December 1979
Tracks: (Click for codes to singles charts.)
London Calling (12/7/79, #11 UK) / Brand New Cadillac / Jimmy Jazz / Hateful / Rudie Can’t Fail / Spanish Bombs / The Right Profile / Lost in the Supermarket / Clampdown / The Guns of Brixton / Wrong ‘Em Boyo / Death or Glory / Koka Kola / The Card Cheat / Lover’s Rock / Four Horsemen / I’m Not Down / Revolution Rock / Train in Vain (3/22/80, #23 US)
Sales (in millions): 2.0 US, -- UK, 2.0 world (includes US and UK)
Peak: 27 US, 9 UK
Rating:
Review:
“There were more than a few outraged faithful who thought their heroes had sold out because the sound was too smooth to be punk,” TL but this is an “invigorating, rocking harder and with more purpose than most albums, let alone double albums.” AMG “London Calling proved that a band could be anti-establishment and pro-melody.” TL The album “is a remarkable leap forward, incorporating the punk aesthetic into rock & roll mythology and roots music.” AMG
This may be no better expressed than on the album’s cover, which “features the most famous photo in rock, Paul Simonon the moment before his guitar becomes thousands of expensive toothpicks, bracketed by the same font and colors used on Elvis Presley’s debut.” TL
The record’s “eclecticism and anthemic punk function as a rallying call.” AMG The Clash “explore their familiar themes of working-class rebellion and antiestablishment rants” TL “Many of the songs – particularly London Calling, Spanish Bombs, and The Guns of Brixton – are explicitly political, [but] by acknowledging no boundaries the music itself is political and revolutionary.” AMG
London Calling
The Clash, however, “also had enough maturity to realize that, while politics was inseparable from life, it was not life’s entirety.” TL Their songs were tied “in to old rock & roll traditions and myths, whether it’s rockabilly greasers or ‘Stagger Lee,’ as well as mavericks like doomed actor Montgomery Clift.” TL “Before, the Clash had experimented with reggae, but that was no preparation for the dizzying array of styles on London Calling. There’s punk and reggae, but there’s also rockabilly, ska, New Orleans R&B, pop, lounge jazz, and hard rock.” AMG “The result is a stunning statement of purpose and one of the greatest rock & roll albums ever recorded.” AMG
Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, 0.25 UK, 1.25 world (includes US + UK)
Airplay/Streaming (in millions):
-- radio, 20.0 video, -- streaming
Awards:
About the Song:
In the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, arguably the four pillars of what has become known as “arena rock” or “corporate rock” found themselves in similar positions. Foreigner, Journey, REO Speedwagon, and Styx all emerged in the 1970s as staples on album rock radio. The four also shared another commonality – their greatest commercial successes came because of power ballads. These slower love songs evoked eye-rolling amongst some die-hard fans who considered such fare schmaltzy and selling out, but gave the bands even greater followings. Styx singer and keyboardist Dennis DeYoung said, “According to some people, you’re either a rock and roll band, or you’re not. And anybody who plays ballads was looked down upon by the radio establishment.” BR1
REO Speedwagon topped the Billboard Hot 100 with “Keep on Loving You” in 1981, Foreigner’s “Waiting for a Girl Like You” spent a whopping 10 weeks in the runner-up slot in 1981 and ’82, and Journey nabbed six weeks at #2 in 1982. Before any of those three, however, Styx paved the way with their 1979 #1 hit “Babe.”
DeYoung wrote the song for his wife Suzanne as a birthday present. The couple met in 1964 and married in 1970. As he said, “Being on the road…puts a strain on a relationship…I wanted to tell her how much I missed her when I was gone.” BR1 In the 2014 concert video Dennis DeYoung and the Music of Styx Live in Los Angeles, he joked that he hoped it would get him out of buying her jewelry, but it didn’t work. It wasn’t intended as a Styx song; he recorded “Babe” as a demo with Styx drummer John Panozzo and bassist Chuck Panozzo, singing all the harmonies himself. When the band decided to put it on their Cornerstone album, they overdubbed a Tommy Shaw guitar solo in the middle section. WK
Suzanne herself said she thought the song was as good as, if not better, than “Lady,” the band’s first top-ten hit. BR1 When the record company heard the song, they echoed her feelings and pushed for releasing it as a single. SF Their instinct proved correct; not only was it the band’s only #1 in the U.S., but their only top 40 hit in the UK, where it reached #6. It was also a chart-topper in Canada and South Africa.
The development of hip-hop culture dates back to the early ‘70s in the Bronx when DJs and MCs showcased the art form in night clubs and at house parties. NPR However, the movement didn’t hit the mainstream until 1979 when a New Jersey label called Sugar Hill Records introduced the Sugar Hill Gang and the group took “Rapper’s Delight” into the top 40, a first for rap music. FR
The trio of Master Gee, Wonder Mike and Big Bank Hank were unknown MCs recruited by Sugar Hill’s Sylvia Robinson. RS500 Sylvia had seen chart success – most notably with the 1957 song “Love Is Strange” (#11) and her own “Pillow Talk” (#3) in 1973. However, in 1979, the label she’d co-founded was on the verge of bankruptcy. When she saw a DJ talking to the crowd one night at a Harlem club, she thought it would be a great idea to make a rap record. Legend has it that Sylvia’s son Joey auditioned Henry Jackson (Big Bank Hank) outside a pizza joint and his friends asked if they could participate as well. TB It has also been said that they were recruited on a Friday and recorded “Rapper’s Delight” in just one take on the following Monday. NPR
The 12-inch version of “Rapper’s Delight” released in September 1979 ran 15 minutes long. A shorter version went to pop radio. NPR The song borrowed the rhythm track from Chic’s #1 hit “Good Times,” HT itself a significant song in another important musical revolution of the ‘70s – disco. The practice of “borrowing” from another song became known as sampling and would become the basic approach for all raps songs to follow.
The song did not, however, deal with the heavier themes which would come to dominate rap music. While it sported the lyrical boastfulness which became typical for rap, MA “Delight” generated controversy because it was playful instead of reflective of the urban anger of other rap from the time. In addition, none of the three members had ever been a DJ or MC and two of them were from New Jersey. NPR
Sales (in millions): -- US, -- UK, -- world (includes US + UK)
Airplay/Streaming (in millions):
-- radio, 79.8 video, -- streaming
Awards (The Police version):
Awards (Sting version):
About the Song:
“Message in a Bottle” was the lead single from the Police’s second album, Regatta De Blanc. It was the band’s first #1 in their native UK, where they’d also top the charts with “Walking on the Moon,” “Don’t Stand So Close to Me,” “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic,” and “Every Breath You Take.” In the U.S., the band wasn’t that big yet. “Roxanne,” from their first album, had gone top 40, but “Message in a Bottle” stalled at #74 on the Billboard Hot 100. However, bigger things were still to come. With their next three albums, the group would reach the top 10 in the U.S. six different times, including the #1 smash “Every Breath You Take.” The song also gained a following over the years. In fact, the Police opened their 2007 reunion concerts with the song.
Lyrically, the song unspools a tale of a lonely, island castaway who throws a message in a bottle into the ocean in hopes of finding someone. Only after determining he is destined to be alone, does he find “a hundred billion bottles washed up on the shore.” It’s then that the song’s narrator realizes, as he says in the song, “it seems I’m not alone in being alone.”
In an interview on the BBC, Sting said it was his favorite song. He told Q magazine, “I like the idea that while it’s about loneliness and alienation it’s also about finding solace ando other people going through the same thing.” WK Musically, he explained that the song grew out of Gregorian chants he used to sing as an altar boy. SF Drummer Stewart Copeland said it was one of the band’s “best moments in the studio and always great on stage.” WK Guitarist Andy Summers said, “for me, it’s still the best song Sting ever came up with.” WK
Before Sting launched his solo career, he performed a stripped-down, slower version of the song for The Secret Policeman’s Other Ball on September 9, 1981. It was the fourth benefit show staged by the British section of Amnesty International to raise funds and awareness regarding human rights.
Sales *: 1.0 US, -- UK, 1.15 world (includes US + UK)
Radio Airplay *: --
Video Airplay *: 31.7
Streaming *: --
* in millions
Review:
Doug Fieger, the lead singer of the Knack, wrote “My Sharona” about the real-life Sharona Alperin. They met when he was 25 and she was 17. She was working at a clothing store and while his own girlfriend looked on, invited her to a show. Fieger soon broke up with his girlfriend and professed his love to Sharon, although she was still with her boyfriend, who even accompanied her to Knack shows. SF A year later, she finally caved in and they started dating. They stayed together four years and even became engaged, but his alcoholism and rock n’ roll lifestyle led to their breakup. They remained friends, though. She was with him the last week of his life when he died of cancer on February 14, 2010. SF
In the interim before they became a couple, Fieger wrote “My Sharona.” He said she “sparked something and I started writing a lot of songs feverishly in a short amount of time.” WK Fieger says “My Sharona” came about in about in 15 minutes. Berton Averre, the guitarist and co-writer on the song, was opposed to using her name, but Fieger wanted it to be as direct as possible. WK She also is featured on the cover of the single’s picture sleeve. WK
The song “compressed a sense of teenage sexual frustration into its stutter beat built on simple rock and roll.” BR1 The stutter effect was reminiscent of the Who’s “My Generation” while the song’s main melodic hook is an inverted version of the signature riff from the Spencer Davis Group’s “Gimme Some Lovin’.” WK The Knack were also compared to the Beatles because their music felt like a throwback to the British invasion. Also, “My Sharona” was Capitol Records’ fastest debut single to reach gold status since the Beatles’ “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” WK going gold before it even hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. BR1
The New York Times called the song “an emblem of the new wave era in rock and a prime example of the brevity of pop fame.” WK Sadly, their pop success was indeed brief. Their name often comes up as one-hit wonders, which is inaccurate, but they did only have two other top 40 hits – “Good Girls Don’t” (#11) and “Baby Talks Dirty” (#38).
Chicago DJ Steve Dahl, the leader of Disco Demolition Night
When Chicago radio station WDAI shifted from an album rock format to disco, disc jockey Steve Dahl was one of the casualties. WLUP (known as The Loop) still focused on album rock and snatched him up. They knew they could build on the publicity surrounding his firing and the backlash against disco.
In conjunction with the Chicago White Sox, the radio station coordinated a “Disco Demolition Night”. The promotional event was scheduled to take place on July 12, 1979, at a doubleheader with the Detroit Tigers. Fans who brought a disco record to the game were admitted for 98¢. Between the games, Dahl would blow up the discarded records.
White Sox management hoped for a crowd of 12,000. Instead, an estimated 90,000 people turned out. With the numbers exceeding the stadium’s capacity by nearly 40,000, many people were denied admission and took to scaling the walls to get in.
With the crate already full, staff stopped collecting records from fans. Spectators took to throwing LPs around like Frisbees. They also threw beer and firecrackers. When it was time for the event, Dahl emerged wearing a combat helmet and circling the field in a jeep. Chants of “disco sucks” preceded the explosion of the crate.
A small fire started in the outfield and 7000 people stormed the field, vandalized property, lit more fires, and incited a riot. Chicago police had to clear the field in riot gear. 39 people were arrested. The field was so trashed the White Sox had to postpone the second game and later agree to forfeit it. The event has been called “the emblematic moment of the anti-disco crusade”. WK
The blue-and-silver Walkman pictured above was the first model introduced, going on sale in Japan on July 1, 1979. It hit the U.S. in June 1980. Today the idea of a device at least twice the size of an iPod which held 60-90 minutes of music may seem positively quaint, but at the time the Walkman marked a new era for music on the move. The Walkman represented individual portability; listeners no longer had to rely on big bulky ghetto blasters which shared one’s music with the world, whether they wanted to hear it or not. Suddenly a person could pop in a favorite cassette, plug in a pair of lightweight headphones, and the music could travel with them wherever they went and as long as a pair of AA batteries could take them.
Walkman was a brand tradename used by Sony to mark their portable audio cassette players. The company is still around today, marketing portable audio and video players as well as mobile phones. The prototype for the first one was built by Sony engineer Nobutoshi Kihara in 1978. Sony co-chairman Akio Morita reportedly wanted to listen to operas during long plane trips.
the Stereobelt, image from thenutgraph.com
However, the Walkman owes a debt to a predecessor known as Stereobelt which was invented in 1972 by Andreas Pavel, a German-Brazilian. He had the device patented in Italy in 1977. When Sony began selling its Walkman, it agreed to pay Pavel royalties, but only for sales in Germany. Lawsuits followed over the years, finally endingin a multi-million dollar settlement in 2003.
Eventually the Walkman would see the cassette market disintegrate and portable CD players (including Sony’s Discman, introduced in 1984) would take over. Once the digital age hit, there was no need for music to be stored on a device such as a cassette or disc, opening up the possibilities even more. However, every owner of an iPod or other digital music device owes thanks to the original portable music player.
Resources and Related Links:
TheNutGraph.com: Music in Motion by N Shashi Kala, 17 December 2008
