Bradley's Buzz

Top 100 Singles Of The 70's - 15-11

#15-11
We are almost at the top 10; can you even believe it; can't you feel the excitement in the air? I thought so, well let's wrap up this little thing called the top 20 and see what that strange little ear of mine has come up with...

#15 – How Deep Is Your Love – Bee Gees
(Barry/Robin/Maurice Gibb)
RSO single #882 US / #2090 259 UK
Chart Debut: US Pop 09/24/1977 #1 / 10/29/1977 #3
The Saturday Night Fever soundtrack launched Bee Gees into the stratosphere and secured them a place in the history of the 70’s, the jive talkin’ fun of the hit “Stayin’ Alive” (see #51) was one of the reasons, but the sweet soulful sound of the disco balladry found in “How Deep Is Your Love” stands up even better than the other single. That oh so breathy high falsetto Barry Gibb lead vocal with Maurice and Robin lending a smooth backing vocal, I’m sure this song had many a Hottie swooning on her high stilettos, and the romanticism isn’t lost in the gutsy and seductive disco beats behind the lyric. It’s a sweet song that’s not overly sweet, a sex song not completely sexual, it just is what it is, a great single.

#14 – Hot Stuff – Donna Summer
(Pete Bellotte/Harold Faltermeyer/Keith Forsey)
Casablanca single #978 US / #151 UK
Chart Debut: US Pop 04/21/1979 #1 / UK 05/12/1979 #11
I mentioned earlier how Donna’s 1979 Bad Girls album helped change not only Miss Summer’s image but also launced new styles of dance music. The lead off single “Hot Stuff” came out just months after Donna had been hailed the Queen Of Disco with her starring turn into the very disco-ish Thank God It’s Friday and its hit single “Last Dance”. When the guitar rhthym of “Hot Stuff” hit the radio it must’ve had Donna fans in a tither, there is a hundred and fifty degree turn from this single and her previous hits. The rousing guitars, the thumping metallic back beat, Donna’s impassioned vocals looking for some hot loving shot straight to number one and helped launch the album into the huge seller it would become. Not just a song of the 70’s but a song that lasts all time, “Hot Stuff” is a hybrid of dance, rock, pop and soul all wrapped up into one and it proved that Donna Summer wasn’t going to just fold into the sequined dust left once disco died, she still had a few more things to prove.

#13 – My Sharona – The Knack
(Averre/Fieger)
Capitol single #4731 US /
Chart Debut: US Pop 06/23/1979 #1 / UK 06/30/1979 #6
The Knack was supposed to be the next coming of Beatles style mania when they were launched in the summer in 1979, that big thing never really happened for them but they did leave behind a number of high energy new wave rock singles including their most famous “My Sharona”. A huge hit and likely so, opening with that thumping drum you can’t help but shake your head in a robotic new wave dance of happiness. Add the high energy of the vocal performances and the changing melody and you have one of the most memorable singles of all time.

#12 – Hanging On The Telephone – Blondie
(Jack Lee)
Chrysalis single #2271 US / #2266 UK
Chart Debut: UK 11/11/1978 #5
Yes, I know another Blondie song so soon? Well what can I say? Blondie is the kicks kids. A cover of the little known band The Nerves, “Hanging On The Telephone” was the lead off track from 1978’s Parallel Lines. The song begins with a nice little touch by throwing in the sound of a ringing phone as we wait for someone to answer, what we get instead is Debbie manically pounding the phone booth to find out why her man isn’t picking up the phone. “I heard your mother now she’s walking out the door/ did she go to work or just go to the store/ all those things she said I’ve chosen to ignore…” Hilarious and seductive, just like our Debbie. “Hanging On The Telephone” goes into hyper overdrive for less than 2 and ½ minutes and unlike Debbie you are left breathless by the time it’s over. The single was the second released from the album and the first that was released in both the US and the UK – “I’m Gonna Love You Too” was the lead off single in the US and “Picture This” was the UK lead off – and though it didn’t manage anything chart wise here, Blondie scored their third top 10 hit in the UK. Meanwhile, we all got a great taste of Blondie’s rocking new wave side right before they took over the world with “Heart Of Glass.”

#11 – You’re No Good – Linda Ronstadt
(Clint Ballard Jr.)
Capitol single #3990 US / #15804 UK
Chart Debut: US Pop 12/07/1974 #1
Sometimes Linda Ronstadt can really surprise me. On one hand she did so many covers it’s almost hard to differentiate her from an overrated lounge singer but when that voice of hers kicks in she is somehow able to take any song she sings and make it her very own. Of course she was always happy playing the pitiful victim in her songs, and that probably comes from the ballads she was so intent on singing and even when she decided to rock out, it was usually to the tunes of the poor, poor pitiful me, but every once in awhile the girl would show the gusto lying beneath the vulnerablitly and the rocky stylings of “You’re No Good” is that persona in full effect. Opening with a bass that kicks itself into rampaging gear, Linda coos, “Feeling better now that we’re through/ feeling better now that I’m over you…” and you know you’re in for something good, when the chorus kicks in “You’re no good/ you’re no good/ baby you’re no good” you want to join Linda when she belts, “I’m gonna say it again/ you’re no good/ you’re no good…” The second verse puts Linda in the hot seat, “I broke a heart that’s gentle and true/ I broke a heart over someone like you/ I’ll beg his forgiveness on bended knee/ but I wouldn’t blame him if he said to me/ you’re no good…” The guitar solo is killer and when Linda ends with her acapella “you’re no good…” it’s excllant, but the song isn’t over yet. Instead, “You’re No Good” turns into a moody bass and keyboard solo as it fades out making it one of the more clever singles to come from the early 70’s when everything was usually so formulated it lacked any kind of creativity. The instrumentation added to the fact that Linda is for all intents and purposes is a singer, it’s surprising they used that ending for the song but it completely works and makes it even more moody, bitchy and cool.

There you have it, the final five of the top 20 in our Top 100 Singles Of The 70's - we've managed to get through so much music including all the repeat offenders found on today's list, so stay tuned to find out what happens next - with my strange little tastes you never know what lies ahead... perhaps you could play a little game - what songs would Bradley pick for a top 10? Mmmm... it's a question I've had to ask myself quite often.

posted by swivek @ 8:51 AM