The Top 10 Worst #1 Songs of the 70's - YouTube - the inspiring You Tube video
Worst #1s of the 1970s
If you are not into a lot of shows and have time on your
hands and you like music, you can spend a lot of time on You Tube. If you spend
a lot of time on You Tube, the algorithm for "you might also like” spits out a
lot of stuff, which is why I regularly clear out my watched history. But
yesterday it spit out this gem. Intrigued by the Mr. Yuck sticker, I had to
look at it. Yes, what was supposed to tell me to “stay away” ironically drew me
in.
In reviewing the list of #1 for the 1970s in total, I went down the list and was torn. There are some dumb songs that made #1: the Osmond’s One Bad Apple [as noted a straight rip off of the Jackson 5], Melanie’s Brand New Key, Carl Douglas’ King Fu Fighting, Blue Swede’s Hooked On A Feeling [you know the one “ooga chaka ooga ooga, ooga chaka ooga ooga “I can’t stop this feeling…”], C.W. McCall’s Convoy and Alan O’Day’s Undercover Angel [and it is a laugher but harmless – just like Meri Wilson’s Telephone Man] and Cher’s Gypsys [sic], Tramps And Thieves.
Some questionable covers: Elton John doing Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds, Ringo Starr doing You’re Sixteen, Shaun Cassidy’s Da Do Ron Ron [sorry Dana Murray], Grand Funk’s The Loco-Motion.
Some things I just kind of shake my head at but let go because they’re not hurting anyone: Chuck Berry’s My Ding A Ling, Tony Orlando & Dawn’s Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree, Helen Reddy’s I Am Woman, Styx’s Babe, Robert John’s Sad Eyes, John Denver, the Carpenters.
I was surprised to see that a record I thought was pretty big didn’t make #1: The Captain and Tennile’s Muskrat Love. it only made it to # 4 – I guess the fact that it was worse than nails on a blackboard to me just made each time it came on feel like a small eternity. Did you know it is a cover of a cover? Originally titled by songwriter Muskrat Candlelight by Willis Alan Ramsey in 1972, the group America changed the title for their 1973 version which only hit # 63 and this version in 1976. So I was forced to pick out 10 other stinkers.
Some of mine
match Gunclemark’s but I feel he missed out some really terrible ones. 1977
appears to have been a really, really band year for music. 1974 wasn’t much
better.
I present in no particular order:
1.
Don’t Give Up On Us -David Soul [77]
It is said that “All actors want
to be singer and all singers want to be actors.” David Soul of Starsky &
Hutch proves inadequate as either and that the Grand Torino was the real
star of that show.
2.
Afternoon Delight – Starland Vocal Band [76]
If you’ve ever heard this, you’ve
got to wonder “what kind of drugs were they doing that year?” so you can avoid
it. I blame in on PCP / Angel Dust. Or bicentennial hangover.
3.
Seasons In the Sun – Terry Jacks [74]
Pop songs about death should at
least involve a car crash like Dead Man’s Curve, Tell Laura I Love her, Last
Kiss or Detroit Rock City.
4.
Disco Duck – Rick Dees [76]
As previously noted elsewhere, I
was one of the fools who bought this and I have to forever list it as the first
record I ever bought with my own money. In my defense, I was 9 and it wasn’t
the record I was looking for. I wanted The Rubberband Man by the
Spinners – maybe not much of a better
choice but there it is.
5.
[You’re] Having My Baby – Paul Anka & Odia
Coates [74]
Mercifully it’s only 2:35 long.
6.
Torn Between Two Lovers – Mary MacGregor [77]
What is it with folkies and menage
a trois? David Crosby was kicked out of the Byrds for Triad and Peter
Yarrow of Peter, Paul and Mary penned this. Free love I guess.
7.
You Light Up My Life – Debby Boone [77]
This was inescapable for the last
couple of months in 1977. Little did I realize that another soundtrack was
going to come on the scene and America was about to be buried in disco for the
next two years. At least now I can appreciate the Bee Gees.
8.
Escape [The Pina Colada Song] – Rupert Homes
[79]
As noted a song about someone
placing an want ad to find someone to replace his “boring old lady” and finding
out that maybe the problem was communication all along. Still a crappy song.
9.
The Night Chicago Died – Paper Lace [74]
10. Billy,
Don’t Be A Hero – Bo Donaldson & the Heywoods [74]
The irony here is that Paper Lace
released Billy, Don’t Be A Hero FIRST and was a #1 hit in the U.K. but Bo
Donaldson’s was the version that was a hit in the U.S. But they’re both terrible
songs.
