10 – Pink Floyd – Dark Side of the Moon (22)
9 – Led Zeppelin – Physical Graffiti (20)
8 – The Beatles – 1967-1970 (The Blue Album) (19)
7 – Elton John – Elton John – Greatest Hits (18)
6 – Eagles – Hotel California (17)
5 – Boston – Boston (13)
4 – Fleetwood Mac – Rumours (9)
3 – Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin IV (aka ZOSO) (4)
2 – Pink Floyd – The Wall (3)
1 – Eagles – Eagles – Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975 (1)

() = All Time

In this first year there has been 100 posts or one just about every third day. Not too bad considering.

Thank you all for taking a view at this site and we hope to keep the information and the memories of the songs of the 70s coming.

The Bee Gees had the year’s number 5 most popular song with How Can You Mend a Broken Heart. In some way 1971 could be marked as the end of one part of their career since after 1971 their popularity decreased until the rise of Disco a few years later.

Even though to some the Osmonds seemed like the white Jackson 5, the brothers had been singing together for over 10 years when they recorded their self-named album and reached the top with their most popular song One Bad Apple. Many loved it since it was the number 4 song of the year.

Tapestry was Carole King’s second solo album and it became one of the biggest selling albums of all time. The release of It’s Too Late and I Feel The Earth Move on the same single record gave disc jockeys a hard choice on which to play. While I liked both songs, my favorite side was I Feel The Earth Move.

Rod Stewart also had a two sided hit record with Maggie May and Reason to Believe. This release helped him to establish himself as s solo star and was the number 2 bestselling record of the year. My feeling is that the best song done by Stewart in 1971 was with him as the singer of Faces and their song Stay With Me.

When I first saw the song Joy to the World by Three Dog Night listed on a chart, it was listed on a top 40 chart published by a newspaper before I heard the song, I was wondering why 1) a Christmas song was doing on the charts and 2) why it was still therw in April? Since then I’ve enjoyed plenty of wine (figurately) with my friend the Bull Frog, Jeremiah.

And this list doesn’t include a couple of album tracks that not only are a couple of my favorite songs, they are favorites of many others. Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven or any other song from that album and The Who’s Won’t get Fooled Again. And even though it was recorded in 1970 and released that same year, it was in 1971 that my all time favorite song was released as single record. Chicago’s Colour My World.

Originally appeared on 6ThingsToConsider.com. Many thanks to Steven G. Atkinson for allowing this reprint.

Michael Joseph Jackson * August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009

One thing for sure this musical did help usher in the 1970s. Four of the songs of the musical were top 5 hits of 1969. And without it, I’m not sure that there could have been a Woodstock.

The title song was recorded by a most unlikely group, the Cowsills. It did become their biggest single reaching Number 2 on the Billboard charts in the summer of 1969.

The Cowsills is a family group made up of brothers and in the 1960′s early 70′s their mother and little sister was also a part of the group. If they look familiar to fans of the 70′s, the idea of the family group The Partridge Family is said to have come from their success.

Oliver was a little known singer before his recording of Good Morning Starshine
. The song would become a Number 3 song in the summer of 1969.

In the musical the song is generally sung by a girl.

Easy to be Hard was the first single from Three Dog Night’s second album Suitable for Framing. It was their 4th single and their 3rd to reach the Top 40. Reaching Number 4, it was their biggest song at the time. But they still had many more songs to record and were one of the big acts of the early 1970s

Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In is a medley of two songs from the musical, Aquarius and The Flesh Failures (Let The Sunshine In). The song was one of the biggest hits of 1969 reaching Number 1 on the charts for six weeks.

It was the only single, other than Hair by the Cowsills released by a group that at the time could be considered established. The 5th Dimension had already had number of chart singles, although this one would become their biggest.

Many artists of the 1970s were influenced by the Beatles. By the beginning of 1970 they were no longer performing as a group, but they sure should be seen as part of the decade of the 70s.

The rooftop concert was held on January 30, 1969. This was their last public performance together as a group. These performances were part of the 1970 film Let It Be.

The entire concert was 42 minutes and during it they played played five songs. Many of them more than once. The songs were “Get Back”, “Don’t Let Me Down”, “I’ve Got a Feeling”, “One After 909″, and “Dig a Pony”. As a tune-up they also played parts of the British national anthem, “God Save the Queen” and a brief section of “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)”, a song John Lennon was working on and released on Abbey Road.

The concert ended when police arrived to stop it. The last song played was “Get Back. This was the third time the band played the song, the only one that was played more than twice. While the police was trying to stop the concert Paul slightly changed the lyrics singing, “You’ve been playing on the roofs again, and you know your Momma doesn’t like it, she’s gonna have you arrested!”

The decade of the seventies were full of songs featuring the voice of Karen Carpenter. While her brother Richard was playing the keyboards, Karen was a drummer.

This clip features many performances of her playing the drums. And as you can see from the huge smiles on her face as she’s playing she looks as if she was more comfortable with the sticks in her hand than with a microphone.

She was another of the artists of the 70′s that left us too soon. But she’ll be forever remembered.

The Carpenters are one of many great artist of the 70′s that for some reason have not been elected into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Donna Summer was the Queen of Disco and 1979 was one of her greatest year. Her song Hot Stuff comes in at Number 5.

Peaches and Herb had been around since 1967. While Herb was always Herb Fame (born Herbert Feemster) there has been five different Peaches. Peaches from 1977 until 1983 was Linda Greene. Reunited was their biggest song together and was the 4th best song of 1979.

If it hadn’t been for Elton John, Rod Stewart may have been the top act of the ’70′s having a number of tops songs during the decade. 1979 was no different with his disco inspired song Do Ya Think I’m Sexy at Number 3.

Donna Summer had two of the top songs of 1979 with Bad Girls as the second best song of the year.

During the decade of the ’70′s there were a number of acts that had big debut songs and were called the new coming of the Beatles. The Knack hit the scene running but they never were able to match the success of their first release, which also was the Top song of 1979, My Sharona.

Originally appeared on 6ThingsToConsider.com

Some of Whitfield’s hit songs were I Heard It through the Grapevine, Ain’t Too Proud to Beg, Cloud Nine, War, Papa Was a Rolling Stone, Smiling Faces Sometimes and Car Wash. Many of his hits were written with lyrical collaborator Barrett Strong. In 2004 he and Strong were inducted to the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame.

Whitfield was born on May 12, 1940 in Harlem. He moved to Detroit with his family in his late teens. At 19 he hung around Motown’s Hitsville U.S.A. offices looking for a job finally winning one in their quality control department.

He soon became one of the songwriters with one of his first big hits being Ain’t to Proud to Beg by the Temptations.

In 1967 Gladys Knight and the Pips recorded and released the Whitfield/Strong penned song I Heard it Through the Grapevine. It became Motown’s best-selling single to that point. A year later Marvin Gaye released his version which became an even bigger seller and was Motown’s biggest single of the 1960′s.

While Norman Whitfield has left us, his songs will live forever.

Paper Lace’s next release was The Night Chicago Died, a fictionalized account of the Chicago East Side during the gangster age of the 1920′s. This is a tribute that someone put together to the song and Paper Lace. Wasn’t able to find a live version performed by Paper Lace themselves.