Gerry Rafferty had been part of the Duo Stealer’s Wheel along with Joe Egan. When the duo separated it was not without problems. Rafferty had been banned from the recording studio for three years after the break up.
Baker Street was the first released single from the Album City to City. The single reached Number 3 in the UK and Number 2 in the US. The Album hit Number 1 in the US.
Two version were released of the song. The Album version was 6:01 while the single release was 4:08.
Baker Street is a real street in the city of London and is famous as being the street where Sherlock Holmes, the detective created by Arthur Conan Doyle, resides.
Chic may have began as a black rock band, but they became an act that helped define the Disco Era. In 1978 they recorded what would become the most popular disco song of the era.
The signature line, ‘Aaaaahh, freak out!’ came because the writers Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards couldn’t use their original idea in a 1970’s era song. Their original was, ‘Aaaaahh, fuck off! as a protest at the way they were treated at a 1977 New Year’s Eve event.
“Le Freak” was the first song to be knocked out of (and return to) the number one position on the Billboard Hot 100 three times. It first hit number one on the week ending December 9, 1978. After one week, it fell to number two, knocked out by the Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond duet “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers”. Ironically it was the song “Le Freak” had knocked out of the number one spot.
It returned to the top position on December 23, 1978 and was there for two weeks and was knocked to number two by “Too Much Heaven” by the Bee Gees. On January 20, 1979 it returned to Number 1 staying there for three weeks. In 2008, Bleeding Love by Leona Lewis became the second track to hit number one three times.
By 1974 the Jackson 5 had not only added their younger brother Randy to the group, but were also on a downturn in the music industry. Before Dancing Machine their last top 10 hit was in 1972 with Sugar Daddy.
Part of this was that Motown wasn’t sure in what direction they wanted the act to go and most of the brothers were not happy with the direction they were heading.
Dancing Machine brought them back to the spotlight reaching number 2 on the Pop charts and Number 1 on the R&B Charts. It would be thier last Top 10 release on Motown.
The song appeared on two of their albums. It was the closing song on 1973’s Git It Together, an album that had them recording a number of songs first recorded by others, and as the title song for the 1974 albums Dancing Machine.
Although they had been popular since the beginning of 1970 they had only been nominated for one Grammy award with their Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals nomination for Dancing Machine they received just their second. They lost to Rufus featuring Chaka Khan.
The group would release one more album for Motown before moving to CBS Records in 1976 and changing their name to The Jacksons. Through legal moves Motown was able to retain the rights to the name Jackson 5 as well as Jermaine, who stayed with Motown. Jermaine had married Berry Gordy’s daughter, Hazel, around the same time that this song was recorded.
One of the biggest recording of all time and the biggest of the 1970s was the title song of the movie You Light up My Life written by Joe Brooks.
Kasey Cisyk recorded the song for the movie, it was lip-synced by Didi Conn. The movie version was released as a single but peaked at Number 60.
Debby Boone, the daughter of the 1950s pop star Pat Boone version and was the top song of the year. Although she has recorded many songs since this her debut song, it was her only Pop Charting record. She had a couple of county hits and now records in the Christian Music genre.
Even though it was not intended by Brooks, the song’s composer, Boone recorded it with a religious spin on the song, singing to God as the one lighting her life.
The song hit number 1 on October 15 and reminded there until mid-December for a then record of 10 weeks. It was bumped from Number 1 by How deep is Your Love by the Bee Gees.
In 1976 dance music, Disco music, was moving toward big popularity. Memphis Disc Jockey Rick Dees came up with a crazy parody on the craze featuring the Disco Duck.
Dees has said that the song was completed in a day, but took months until someone would join with him to record it. It was a minor hit in the south east by Fretone it was a national and international release by RSO Records, The song reached the top spot and remained a Top 10 hit for over 2 months in the fall of 1976.
Although the voice of Disco Duck sounds similar to Disney’s Donald Duck it was not recorded as sometimes noted by the voice of Donald, Clarence Nash. It was done by Ken Pruitt.
The song may have been a hit, but Dees didn’t quit his day job as a Memphis DJ. And he still is a DJ today although not in memphis, but in LA where he’s been since 1983 on KIIS-AM/FM.
The song was rarely played on the radio stations of Memphis. Dees station forbid him to play it ir to even mention the song on his program. Other stations in Memphis refused to play it since it could have been seen as promoting the competition.
Peter Pan Records, the children record company, began in 1977 releasing a series of records using Irwin the Disco Duck as the DJ introducing The Wibble Wabble Singers and Orchestra version’s of popular songs. After the Disco Era ended Irwin was renamed Irwin the Dynamic Duck.
It was June of 1972. The group Alice Cooper had released a few albums, but they were still seen more of a novelty act based on the guy who decided to change his name to Alice Cooper. Other than I’m Eighteen, released in early 1971 they had seen little action on the charts.
That changed when they released the album School’s Out and its title song. It became an anthem for school children all over. And it still stands that way.
The single longest time for children is those last few minutes before the closing bell on the last day of school.
The album is a concept album based on kids and school. The cover looks like an old school desk and inside the original wrapped around the desk was a pair of girl’s panties. Those dirty boys.
The song reached the Top 10 peaking at Number 7 during the summer of 1972. The album reached Number 2.
In the Uk the song was an even bigger hit reaching Number 1.
So for all of those school kids from the 1970s who waited for that last day of school and those of today.
Even though Bob Seger had been recording since 1969 until 1976 he was mostly known as a Regional artist out of Michigan.
Things began to change in 1976. First there was his Live Bullet album with his Silver Bullet Band. At the end of 1976 they released the album Night Moves which featured the single of the same name.
Night Moves would peak on the charts at Number 4 and would push the blue collar singer/songwriter to national popularity.
The song rang true to many people of the 70s generation since it is about a young couple losing their virginity in a Chevy. Many couple related to that same experience.
The 1970s began just like the 60s ended, at least at the top of the charts. Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head sung by B.J. Thomas, written by Burt Bacharach and Hall David and from the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid spent 4 weeks at Number 1. The first week was the last week of 1969 then topping the charts for the first 3 weeks of 1970.
It won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. Burt Bacharach’s score won for Best Score.
By the time of their fourth album, Crazy Horses, the brothers not only were playing all of the instruments they were also writing the songs. They were also moving away from the bubblegum pop of their first couple of albums to be more Rock and Roll. It can be considered their first real sophisticated album and although there was some hints on their third album, Phase Three, this was a real departure for them.
Hold Me Tight was the first track on the album as well as their first single from it. This song can really be considered a rock song. The opening riff has been compared, even by some as lifted, to Led Zeppelin’s Immigrant Song.
It peaked at Number 14 on the charts.
Too bad that by the time of the release of the fourth album they were entrenched in the bubblegum image. By just listen to the albums that they released under their own direction, one cold see their music as acid rock. In fact as recalled by brother Merrill on his his brother Jay’s website, JayOsmond.com, when they appeared in a concert in France, the audience didn’t know of their wholesome image and “the whole audience was Zeppelin, with long hair and drugs all over the arena” .
The song For All We Know was written by Fred Karlin, Jimmy Griffin, Robb Royer and was featured in the film Lovers and Other Strangers. Karlan composed the music. Griffin and Royer supplied the the lyrics first using the names Arthur James and Robb Wilson.
Robb Royer and Jimmy Griffin were both members of the pop group Bread. Royer was the bass player while Griffin played guitar. Griffin and Royer wrote many of the songs (about 1/2 of the songs on their early albums were written by the team Griffin and Royer while the other half were written by David Gates) but none of their chart hits.
It became a Carpenters song by accident. Richard Carpenter was relaxing while on tour and decided to see the movie, Upon hearing the song he thought that it would be a good idea to record the song with his sister Karen.
They released it in early 1971, their followup single to We’ve Only Just Begun and their Christmas song Merry Christmas Darling. It reached Number 3 on the US charts and was the first single from their album Carpenters and their 4th (5th if including Merry Christmas Darling)
It was a hit throughout the world, but in the UK it was not their version that charted the highest. Theirs peaked at Number 18 while Shirley Bassey reached Number 6.
The song won the 1971 Academy Award for Best Original Song. Even though they were the ones to make the song popular, they were not allowed to perform the song at the awards ceremony since they were not in the movie.
The Carpenters are an act that many who came of age in the 1970s may not want to admit that they enjoyed. Their music was closer to bubblegum pop than rock of the day and listening to them as a High School student brought on ridicule by ones peers.
And as a fan of the singles of the day, especially during the 1971-73 period, Carpenters songs may or may not have been part of my collection. For All We Know was one, but still it seemed as if every time one of their songs were played on the radio, it was enjoyable.
On their 1971 appearance on the Johhny Cash Show they not only performed For All We Know, but also their followup single Rainy Days and Mondays.
Rainy Days and Mondays shows how a single line or the title of the song can become a commonly used phrase. I still hear people on a rainy day, especially when it’s a Monday, utter this phrase.
The song was written by Roger Nichols and Paul Williams and was one of their first hit songs. Others would be recorded by acts such as Three Dog Night and Barbra Streisand.
Deep Purple’s Album Machine Head is one of the first albums that is considered as Heavy Metal. The album’s most familiar song is Smoke On The Water, but another popular song from the Album is Highway Star.
Highway Star opens the album as the first song on side 1 and was written, as were all of the songs on the album, by group members Ritchie Blackmore, Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, Jon Lord and Ian Paice.
For many years Deep Purple opened their show with this song, although lately it has been used as an encore. Not bad for a song that never had a single release, although it got plenty of radio play on album rock stations of the 1970s.
The song has just been introduced as the opening of NASCAR on TNT 2009’s race day program. This version was recorded by Buckcherry.
Minnie Riperton had one of the most unforgettable voices. She could easily reach five octaves.
Her most remembered song, as well as her best selling recording, is Lovin’ You from 1974 album Perfect Angel. It was the song that pushed her into stardom although she had been entertaining since 1961. Just prior to this she was a member of Wonderlove, Stevie Wonder’s backup singers singing on his tour and on the album Fulfillingness’ First Finale.
A few years later, in 1976, Riperton was diagnosed with breast cancer. After having a mastectomy she became a spokesperson for the American Cancer Society. At the age of 31 when she tragically died from the disease on July 12, 1979. She left behind a small body of musical work as well as her husband songwriter Richard Rudolph, son Marc, and a daughter, Maya Rudolph, the Saturday Night Live actress, who is mentioned at the end, when she sings “Ma-ah-aha-aha-ah-ya.”
Fancy written and first performed by Bobbie Gentry is a a story song told by Fancy recalling her youth and escape from poverty by being “nice to the gentleman”
Fancy rose to #26 on the U.S. Country charts and #31 on the pop charts.
It was on the Album of the same name and was the first of three Albums that she would release in 1970 and her eight overall. Other than Fancy all of the songs on the Album would be songs written by others.
In the late 1970s Bobbie Gentry decided to end her music career. This was after a successful run in Vegas. She had a short 11 month marriage to Jim Stafford which produced a son, Tyler.
In 1991 county star Reba McEntire released her version of the song and it has become one of her most popular songs.
For many people who will be turning 50 in 2008, such as myself, the music of the 1970’s is their music. While many of the younger generation live by YouTube, some of my generation hasn’t found it yet. But there is plenty of music from the 70's there.
The goal of this site is to discover hidden treasures of the 70s that are on YouTube.
