Every week, fans of American Top 40 gather to live tweet (#AT40) that week’s rerun on SiriusXM’s ‘70s on 7. That thread, and what I’ve learned about listener memories, has already prompted one Ross on Radio column. During the holidays, there are sometimes SXM countdowns that pre-empt AT40 as was the case on this Dec. 24.
Last year, as a holiday diversion, I chose a song from what the thread calls the “dirty thirty”—the area between No. 31 and 40 where all the “I’d forgotten [or never heard] this song” nuggets are found—for each year of the ‘70s.
This year, I’m doing something slightly more ambitious:
- I looked at every chart from Dec. 24 or the equivalent week from 1970 to 1979;
- I faced every song at No. 40 off against each other, same with No. 39 and so on;
- I compiled the following very special countdown where each position represents the best song out of the ten songs at No. 40, No. 39, etc.
For the most part, I used my music researcher’s knowledge and my sense of the thread’s favorite songs to choose a winner, meaning that I tended to go with the enduring song over the personal favorite. Personally, my favorite No. 40 song was Foghat’s “Driving Wheel” (1976), edging out Bullet’s “White Lies, Blue Eyes” (1971). But maybe I’ll do the “best nuggets of Dec. 24” column next year. But some songs will still be polarizing, starting with . . .
40 – Rod Stewart, “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy” (1978) – Setting the tone for the next six months of disco bandwagon jumping with uneven results.
39 – Bee Gees, “Stayin’ Alive” (1977) – Setting the tone for the next eighteen months of disco fever.
38 – Grand Funk Railroad, “Some Kind of Wonderful” (1974)
37 – Kiki Dee Band, “I’ve Got the Music In Me” (1974) – There’s no obvious choice on the magnitude of the others for this week, but this actually sounds surprisingly good to me when I encounter it on AT40 each year. Your own choice, which could be either Aretha Franklin’s cover of “Border Song (Holy Moses)” (71) or Hurricane Smith’s “Oh Babe (What Would You Say)” (73) says something about which type of ‘70s you’d choose, and from when. At least one prominent member of the #AT40 thread, the Atlantic’s Tom Nichols, would choose “A Man I’ll Never Be” (1978), but we’ll hear from Boston later.
36 – Lou Rawls, “A Natural Man” (1971) – Growing up in Southeast D.C., Lou Rawls and Nancy Wilson were in every home we visited, in the same way that Luther Vandross and Anita Baker would be 15 years later. Another song that sounds better (and sadly more relevant) every year.
35 – Cars, “My Best Friend’s Girl” (1978)
34 – Miracles, “Love Machine” (1975)
33 – Love Unlimited Orchestra, “Love’s Theme” (1973) – As a game changer, had to give Barry White the nod over another disco auteur’s project, Dr. Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band’s “Cherchez La Femme” (1976). Also, the soundtrack of my most influential holiday road trip.
32 – Fleetwood Mac, “Over My Head” (1975) – R.I.P. Christine McVie. The enduring song from this date is 1976’s “Blinded by the Light” by Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, but there would have been no contest for me last year either.
31 – War, “Low Rider” (1975)
30 – Jim Croce, “I Got a Name” (1973) – I’m mostly anticipating the crowd choices too, but I can’t ever hear Elton John’s “Crocodile Rock” (1972) again. Plus “Time in a Bottle” is going to face a similar challenge at No. 3.
29 – Eddie Kendricks, “Keep on Truckin’” (1973)
28 – Aerosmith, “Walk This Way” (1976) – Seeing their real 1976 album (Rocks) flanked by the bringback success of “Dream On” and this song was a big part of the year’s chart geekery.
27 – Aretha Franklin, “Rock Steady” (1971) – Electric Light Orchestra’s “Turn To Stone” (1977) is a “why there are AT40 reruns” record, but this can’t be denied. Again, might come down to “choose your ‘70s.”
26 – Aretha Franklin, “Until You Come Back to Me (That’s What I’m Gonna Do)” (1973) – Closest competitor is Earth, Wind & Fire, “Sing A Song.”
25 – Kiss, “Rock and Roll All Night (Live)” (1975) – The Kiss song that most endured at American radio, In Canada, “I Was Made for Loving You” is the enduring song, and my fave, but that’s summer.
24 – Gladys Knight & the Pips, “If I Were Your Woman” (1970) – Could’ve also gone with Hot Chocolate, “You Sexy Thing” (1975).
23 – Gladys Knight & the Pips, “Midnight Train to Georgia” (1973) – It’s up against Betty Wright’s “Clean Up Woman” (1971) or Bachman-Turner Overdrive’s “You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet” (1974), but it’s the G.O.A.T. of the entire decade for too many readers.
22 – Stevie Wonder, “Superstition” (1972) – Also hard for me, since it was up against Honey Cone’s “One Monkey Don’t Stop No Show” (1971), but that’s for when I do the “nuggets” version of this countdown.
21 – David Ruffin, “Walk Away from Love” (1975)
20 – Al Green, “Let’s Stay Together” (1971)
19 – Barry Manilow, “Mandy” (1974) – The Sean nuggets winner is Olivia Newton-John, “A Little More Love” (1978), especially this year, but this is the song that unites “Still love Manilow” fans and “bailed out after ‘I Write the Songs’” people.
18 – Earth, Wind & Fire, “September” (1978)
17 – Harold Melvin & Blue Notes, “The Love I Lost” (1973) – Up against Isaac Hayes’, “Theme from ‘Shaft.”
16 – Jackson 5, “I’ll Be There” (1970)
15 – Electric Light Orchestra, “Livin’ Thing” (1976) – In this case, I’m going with the “great to hear on AT40” song over Stevie Wonder’s “Living for the City” (1973)
14 – Stylistics, “You Are Everything” (1971) –R.I.P. Thom Bell, but this would have beat Loggins & Messina’s “Your Mama Don’t Dance” (1972) last year, too.
13 – Babys, “Isn’t It Time” (1977) – Choosing this over another “why there are reruns” song, Cliff Richard’s “We Don’t Talk Anymore” (1979).
12 – Staple Singers, “Respect Yourself” (1971)
11 – Johnny Nash, “I Can See Clearly Now” (1972) – Was up against Michael Jackson’s “Rock with You” (1979)
10 – Badfinger, “No Matter What” (1970)
9 – Carly Simon, “You’re So Vain” (1972)
8 – Temptations, “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone” (1972)
7 – Supremes, “Stoned Love” (1970)
6 – Steve Miller Band, “The Joker” (1973) – But up against Harold Melvin & Blue Notes’ “If You Don’t Know Me By Now” (1972) and the Partridge Family, “I Think I Love You” (1970), so another “choose your ‘70s” week.
5 – Boston, “More Than A Feeling” (1976)
4 – Three Degrees, “When Will I See You Again” (1974)
3 – Don McLean, “American Pie” (1971) – But “Time in a Bottle” is the one that resonates now, and week after week of AT40 memories only confirms it.
2 – Elton John, “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” (1973)
1 – Chic, “Le Freak” (1978) – The contenders are George Harrison’s “My Sweet Lord” (1970) and Harry Chapin’s “Cats in the Cradle” (1974), so I only hope we can respect each other’s choices. In late 1978, I still wasn’t sure how I felt about Chic, but in the next few months, the “Stompin’ at the Savoy” self-comparison would soon reveal itself as arrogance, but not conceit.
