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Best Song of the 70's

Posted by JaneQCitizen • 6/28/08 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Tags: 70s music

What's the best song of the 70's? For me it's Fire by Ohio Players or Chevy Van by Sammy Johns.

I'm sitting here listening to a 70s playlist and I'm LOVING it!

User Comments

6/28/08

chrisc324

Dancing Queen?

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6/28/08

DrowseyMonkey

OMG ... that's not an easy one! Only 1 song? Hmm...

I'll go with the first 45 I ever bought, Dancing in the Moonlight

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1. 6/29/08
  
  barryfromtexas
  
  Wow I love to karaoke that song
6/28/08

CrotchetyOldMan

The entire Meatloaf album "Bat Out of Hell."

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1. 6/29/08
  
  legbamel
  
  [Gets a stick] Bad Crotchety! Bad! Bleh. I just so can't stand Meatloaf. The idea of anyone doing anything with him under any sort of lights make me queasy.
  
  The 70s brought us a heaving pile of fantastic music, across the board. KC and the Sunshine Band made us shake our booties. The Ramones and The Clash took our anger and made it fun. Stevie Wonder smoothed our rough edges. Queen took gay out of the closet and made it fabulous. David Bowie proved that androgyny could be sexy. Blue Oyster Cult asked if we were ready to rock and taught us not to fear death. Truly, there was something for everyone.
2. 6/29/08
  
  legbamel
  
  Oh, and I forgot all about George Clinton and the Parliament Funkadelic, who brought their sound to a previously funk-impoverished world. They out-funked James Brown, even. :O
6/28/08

Seabuckthorn

Baker Street by Gerry Rafferty. That 4 minute song had more character development in it than a lot of 50k novels.

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1. 6/29/08
  
  kellybax
  
  LOVE Baker Street!
6/28/08

cooper

"Bohemian Rhapsody". It may well be the best song of all time.

There are a lot of songs though.

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1. 6/30/08
  
  witewood
  
  For sure one of the cleverest.
6/28/08

chrisc324

seriously...

'Stairway to Heaven'

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6/28/08

firerobin

"Rock Your Baby" - George McCrae ... or

"Got to Give it Up" - Marvin Gaye

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6/29/08

PetLvr

That's easy

www.the-singers.com/stealers-wheel/video-stealers-wheel-stuck-in-the-middle...

Honourable Mention:
Little Green Bag - George Baker (although written in 1969 was also popular in 1970's)

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6/29/08

searchingwithin

Wow, there was way to many fabulous songs and/or groups in the 70's and the music went through many changes, to choose just one.

Hell, the 70's itself went through many changes and memorable events.

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6/29/08

markstoneman

One group? Impossible. One song? Even harder.

At random, some acts from the time: Roxy Music, New York Dolls, Sex Pistols, Lynyrd Synyrd, David Bowie, Billy Preston, Queen.

No. This could take all day.

[reply]
1. 6/30/08
  
  legbamel
  
  What, no Clash? www.last.fm/music/The+Clash/_/Julie%27s+Been+Working+for+the+Drug+Squad?aut...
6/29/08

lulubelleb

My 70s Top 5:

> Whipping Post (live) - Allman Brothers (1971)
> Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd (1975)
> Bell Bottom Blues - Derek & The Dominos (1970)
> Shelter From The Storm - Bob Dylan (1975)
> Free Bird (live) - Skynyrd (1976)

[reply]
1. 6/29/08
  
  crpitt
  
  I absolutely love Free Bird
2. 6/29/08
  
  markstoneman
  
  Yes, I used to listen to the Allman Brothers all the time. But the version of Whipping Post I had, Live at Filmore East, was, I thought, from the late 1960s. Maybe I'm mistaken?
  
  Derek and the Dominos was another album I played to death, as was the Dylan's Blood on the Tracks.
3. 6/29/08
  
  satijournal
  
  I think the studio version of Whipping Post was from '69 but the live version was a couple years later. Their version of Stormy Monday gives me goosebumps. Great stuff! Duane Allman was one of my top five favorite guitar players.
4. 6/29/08
  
  aningeniousname
  
  I'm not a big Dylan fan (I don't rate him as a singer and his songs are always better covered by other people) But Blood on the tracks was a brilliant album.
5. 6/29/08
  
  lulubelleb
  
  @markstoneman
  
  Mark - I believe the live version from Fillmore East was recorded and released in 1971...at least that what it says on Amazon and Wikipedia. I think we can agree that the early 70s were culturally part of the 60s.
  
  I saw the Allmans in the 90s at Lincoln Center in NYC. No lighting, no sets, just the band, their wives and kids on stage. It was incredible!! It was all about the music.
  
  ;^D
6. 6/30/08
  
  LGramlich
  
  Yes, FLOYD!!!
6/29/08

blabrmouth

Dancin' in the moonlight by King Harvest

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6/29/08

markstoneman

How about some Van Morrison? Or Grateful Dead? Areosmith?

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1. 6/29/08
  
  satijournal
  
  There was great music in the first half of the '70s... Led Zeppelin, Marshall Tucker Band, Steve Miller, Eagles, Pink Floyd, Rolling Stones...
6/29/08

aningeniousname

I like a lot of the late seventies NY punk bands, The Ramones, Talking heads, Iggy and the Stooges etc. But probably my favourite seventies song was Elvis's version of Suspicious minds.

[reply]
1. 6/29/08
  
  markstoneman
  
  Yes. It was about 1981 or so that I got to see Iggy in a club in Boston. His opening act was The Cramps, who were known for such memorable album titles as "Smell of Female" and good advice in their songs such as "Don't eat stuff off the sidewalk."
  
  How about Lou Reed? (Different, I know.)
2. 6/29/08
  
  aningeniousname
  
  I Love Lou reed, Transformer was a great album, I liked all the Velvet underground stuff too. I saw them at Glastonbury when they reformed in the 90's. Iggy must have been great in a small venue, I saw Peter green (Ex Fleetwood mac) in a tiny club and it was amazing.
3. 6/29/08
  
  legbamel
  
  I love Lou Reed and the Talking Heads, although I tend to think of the latter as more an 80s phenomenon. I forget that they go back that far. I was a young'un then, you know.
4. 6/29/08
  
  aningeniousname
  
  I was young too!! I was born in 1970.
5. 6/29/08
  
  markstoneman
  
  I was 13 in 1975 when I got my first FM radio.
6. 6/30/08
  
  legbamel
  
  Ooh, you've got a whole two years on me. I knew you were an old man.
6/29/08

markstoneman

You know, Nina Hagen's first album in Germany came out in like 1978. That was great.

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1. 6/29/08
  
  Unfettered
  
  Yes! I love Nina. She still tours, which is a good, good thing. Herman Hiess Er, her cover of White Punks on Dope (TV Glotzer) and Alptraum are among my all-time favorite songs.
6/29/08

markstoneman

More who got started in the 1970s: The Clash and Elivis Costello.

And a great 70s punk/disco group: Bondie.

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1. 6/29/08
  
  legbamel
  
  Blondie was fabulous as a punk band, before they started experimenting with more pop sounds (although some of those experiments were quite successful). Now I've got "Attack of the Giant Ants" stuck in my head. www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsjcqbzvF4k
6/29/08

Unfettered

I have to mention "Baby's On Fire" and "Mother Whale Eyeless", both of Brian Eno.

Not to mention "Panic in Detroit" and "Ashes to Ashes" by Bowie

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1. 6/29/08
  
  markstoneman
  
  Loved anything Brian Eno and Robert Fripp got involved in, including Bowie's projects.
  
  And how about 801 with Eno and Phil Manzanera?
  
  Or something different: Be Bop Deluxe.
2. 6/29/08
  
  DrowseyMonkey
  
  I don't know any of those people mark, well ... other than Bowie. Were you a punk rocker? LOL I can't picture that.
3. 6/29/08
  
  markstoneman
  
  A lot of that stuff might be considered art rock or progressive rock. Eno and Manzanera got their start in Roxy Music, a group you probably know.
  
  I didn't discover new wave and punk till the fall of 1979, when a friend of mine came back from London with some records that sounded new and fresh to me. A lot of the crazier 70s music I discovered after that. I had been listening more to things I could hear on FM radio (Jethro Tull, Bob Seger, to add two more to the list) or maybe see in concert. Okay, I did know some Talking Heads, Blondie, and Elvis Costello, but I wasn't really thinking about this being a new genre.
6/29/08

kab625

Bungle in the Jungle - Jethro Tull

Check out the beautiful "big cat" photos

www.youtube.com/watch?v=THWgH85TyJQ&feature=related

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1. 6/29/08
  
  markstoneman
  
  I saw them in Portland, Maine, ca. spring 1980.
2. 6/29/08
  
  kab625
  
  Mark,
  And, they were...great? Had to be.
3. 6/29/08
  
  markstoneman
  
  I loved the show. And it was general admission, so I made my way to the crush at the front for the second half.
6/29/08

TheMrs

Wild Cherry's "Play That Funky Music".

www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnFlHbeNgvA

[reply]
1. 6/29/08
  
  offendedblogger
  
  I was just going to say that!!
  
  When I was little, I thought that instead of 'funky' they were saying a very bad word heh.
2. 6/29/08
  
  kab625
  
  That was fun - I'll be singing that in my head all day...(in that "bad word" way, no doubt)
6/29/08

kevinatserieatalk

I can't help the romatic I am, now ladies if this doesn't hit the spot than I don't know what will

www.imeem.com/people/9JCDqm/music/OZUSEkSk/climax_blues_band_i_love_you/

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6/29/08

markstoneman

War, "Why Can't We be Friends?"

Anything else by War.

And I'm surprised no one has mentioned Chicago.

Edited to add: How about Grand Funk Railroad?

[reply]
1. 6/29/08
  
  ddousharm
  
  I hear ya! Inside Looking Out, Into The Sun, T.N.U.C. and who can forget Closer To Home.
6/29/08

aningeniousname

Gang of four deserve an honourable mention too, very underrated band.

[reply]
1. 6/29/08
  
  markstoneman
  
  Saw them in a Boston club too. Thought of them as more of an 80s band though.
  
  My friends used to tease me with a Gang of Four lyric after I joined the army. "The girls, they love to see you shoot!" Here they are with this song in 1982: youtube.com/watch?v=z49cmltJJeA
  
  I loved their other political and social commentary too.
2. 6/29/08
  
  aningeniousname
  
  Great song, my fave is "At home he's a tourist"
  youtube.com/watch?v=G_ottNzDkaU
3. 6/29/08
  
  markstoneman
  
  Excellent.
6/29/08

ddousharm

Ok, I just blogged about these two songs. I would have to say that these are two of my favorite songs of the 70s. What do you think?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=73dvrir5kig&feature=PlayList&p=425CC3959126542D&ind...

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pu75mtVwgeM&feature=PlayList&p=F1531DE3D4D4E0C0&ind...

[reply]
1. 6/29/08
  
  markstoneman
  
  Good stuff!
6/29/08

markstoneman

How about Ultravox in their original formation with their debut album?

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6/29/08

ddousharm

Somehow live is the way to go. There is nothing like listening and seeing a band as it happens.

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6/29/08

markstoneman

A couple other obvious big ones I think we've missed are The Who and Yes.

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1. 6/29/08
  
  aningeniousname
  
  Was the Who's Quadrophenia album done in the seventies?
  Just checked it was 1973 and the film was made in 1979.
2. 6/29/08
  
  markstoneman
  
  Not sure.
  
  And how about The Kinks? They were all over the radio when I was in high school (1976-80).
3. 6/29/08
  
  aningeniousname
  
  I would think of the Kinks as more of a sixties band, I think that's when they did their best work anyway.
4. 6/29/08
  
  markstoneman
  
  Sure, but they toured this country in the 1970s. That's why I heard them then.
6/29/08

ddousharm

most defiantly!

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6/29/08

ddousharm

It's easy to miss bands that have been around for 5 decades. Man, does that sound strange.

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6/29/08

aningeniousname

Heres a great seventies song by the Buzzcocks.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycQXK30Ofls

[reply]
1. 6/29/08
  
  markstoneman
  
  Oh, I loved that band too. Can't list some of the song titles here though.
2. 6/29/08
  
  ddousharm
  
  When was this song recorded. I don't remember it, but it's cool
3. 6/29/08
  
  markstoneman
  
  Looks like it was 1978: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buzzcocks
4. 6/29/08
  
  aningeniousname
  
  It was recorded in 1978.
5. 6/29/08
  
  ddousharm
  
  I guess I was still smokin weed and listening to the Stones...
6. 6/29/08
  
  markstoneman
  
  I didn't discover a lot of this 70s punk till about 1981-82.
7. 6/29/08
  
  aningeniousname
  
  I started listening to it all when I was about 14 my favourite band was a Belfast band called the Undertones.
  www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAtUw6lxcis
  
  It was listening to these bands that made me want to be in a band because I thought if they can do it I can.
8. 6/29/08
  
  markstoneman
  
  I liked all these bands, because I could relate to their anger and energy better in my early 20s than I could to much of the earlier music. I mean think about it. I liked all that peace movement and party music too, but I enlisted in the field artillery for four years to get the heck out of New Hampshire and see Europe.
  
  This thread is giving me ideas for blog posts. So much of what we listen to is bound up in our autobiographies.
9. 6/29/08
  
  aningeniousname
  
  I know what you mean I was brought up on a council estate in the north of England during the dark days of Thatcherism, music was one of the only ways to express frustration and escape from the everyday reality.
6/29/08

alovelything

Was it MY playlist, Jane?

www.playlist.com/node/37342940

Fair warning, it's long and has lot's of funky, soul music.

Hands down the best band was Earth, Wind and Fire.

[reply]
1. 6/30/08
  
  legbamel
  
  I listened to my Best of Earth Wind and Fire tape so much that I wore it out and had to buy another. Evolution Orange is one of my faves. It was the first cassette I ever owned and I've got it on CD because their music has so long been a part of my life that I can't be without it.
2. 6/30/08
  
  JaneQCitizen
  
  Yes, sweetie. It was yours. You really need to flesh out that rat-pack jazzy list of yours, though. It's a bit light.
  
  And when you get a chance, get on to the 80's, OK?
6/29/08

ddousharm

I think this was recorded in 1969 but I watched them in 1970.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzzpBjUX5H8

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6/29/08

kab625

Santana's "Black Magic Woman" was pretty awesome.

[reply]
1. 6/29/08
  
  markstoneman
  
  When I saw them in Boston in 1980, while still in high school, the encore turned into a about an extra hour of music. Management had to turn on the lights to get them to end it. I was thrilled with that show, because he did his then new stuff as well as all these old classics. Amazing amounts of energy too.
  
  That show had assigned seating, and my friend and I were tenth row. For the encore we just stood in front of the stage.
2. 6/29/08
  
  kab625
  
  Carlos Santana is still great, and I never hear negative comments about how he's "aging" rocker or should hang it up.
  
  I also just thought about REO speedwagon too - "Ridin' the Storm Out".
  
  I found this interesting "unplugged" re-make, done by them, for any REO fans:
  
  www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_zU6R7IMns
  
  What do you think?
3. 6/29/08
  
  markstoneman
  
  I was never much into REO Speedwagon, though I remember the radio doing promotions for their shows a lot. Were they one of these bands that was always playing live gigs?
4. 6/29/08
  
  kab625
  
  Mark,
  
  I don't remember them from radio promotions at all. They were all over the airwaves and did live concerts with big names like the Allman brothers, Skynyrd, Styxx, and I'm sure others. Seems they hung around for a long time too. I just liked "Ridin' the Storm Out". The original was so energetic.
6/29/08

Theresa111

"Spill The Wine" by, WAR.

[reply]
1. 6/29/08
  
  acousticguitarist
  
  now that's a good one
6/29/08

mariamichelle

I love the song "Skyhigh" by Jigsaw.

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6/29/08

jackpayne

Theme from the 1976 movie, Rocky, Gonna Fly Now--the 1979 Maynard Ferguson version.

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6/29/08

kevinatserieatalk

ahhh the 70's, the failed sexual revolution, the oil crisis part I, the land of big_a@@ hairdoos and high heel shoes for men, the wild coloured polyester shirts that made you sweat, the druggy rockstar addicts
and finally "I'm not a crock" Dicky Nixon

Things were pretty crappy even before disco can't say I miss much about that era except maybe the cars.

[reply]
1. 6/29/08
  
  markstoneman
  
  Doesn't sound like you even know 'em.
2. 6/29/08
  
  kevinatserieatalk
  
  Well Mark, If you feel like it please pontificate on the wonderful 70's,
  
  I'd enjoy reading about the glory years , perhaps you've got a summer of love hidden away under that hardened exterior
3. 6/29/08
  
  markstoneman
  
  No thank you, but I will drop a link to a post about presentism, this example more amusing than annoying: clioandme.wordpress.com/2007/07/22/across-generations/
4. 6/30/08
  
  acousticguitarist
  
  I had a wonderful time in the seventies...I want them back
6/29/08

acousticguitarist

Dan Fogelberg - Wysteria

[reply]
6/29/08

markstoneman

Anything by Steely Dan.

[reply]
1. 6/29/08
  
  acousticguitarist
  
  I love them..
  
  I went out and played last thursday and opened with an acoustic Country Blues version of Show Biz kidz.
  
  Best guitar part = Larry Carlton's opening phras on Don't take me alive
2. 6/30/08
  
  witewood
  
  Best guitar part Tony, now there's an interesting new dimension, though I dare say you and I would think like that...I still love the Eagles Hotel California guitar ending, or Dire Straights Sultans Of Swing..But was that '70's?
3. 6/30/08
  
  acousticguitarist
  
  Mark... Have you ever heard the intro to Don't Take me Alive? Ok there were a few others out there. The only other intro I've ever heard from that period or before which has the same impact is Hendrix doing Watchtower. There are songs that are appealing all the way through but I can't think of any other intros like those.
  
  I like Knopfler's fingerstyle electric, yes it was late 70's. of the top of my head I can't remeber the ending of the Eagles tunes. I saw them live years, very nice. What I like most is their vocal harmonies, particularly Timothy B Schmit the former Poco bass player.
4. 7/03/08
  
  witewood
  
  Don't know that intro Tony...If you want to refresh your memory for Hotel California, there's a few Eagles clips of the song on youtube, even an acoustic rendition. I think I prefer that one, but then I prefer that style anyway.
  
  Mark.
6/30/08

wandadog13

Slade - Merry Christmas (everbodies having fun)

[reply]
1. 6/30/08
  
  acousticguitarist
  
  Saw Slade live once, funny band..can't spell
6/30/08

wandadog13

hang on this was the decade of Showwaddywaddy, Boney M, The Jam and Punk - must be able to do better than that?

[reply]
1. 6/30/08
  
  gosmelltheflowers
  
  Hmmm ya got us thinking now Wandadog.....
  
  Anything by the bay city rollers!
  
  Bye, bye baby...LOL
6/30/08

RTBjr73

Peter Frampton's Live album

[reply]
1. 7/01/08
  
  acousticguitarist
  
  the Framptons Camel album was better
6/30/08

buffedstuff

Another one bites dust..........Queen

[reply]

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