UK charts 70's VIII

While this wasn't Elvis's final hit anywhere in the world, it is the last song he released from his catalogue that has largely survived the test of time likely due to it feeling like a track from the 60's rather than the early 70's. It was a massive hit for the king of rock and roll regardless of where in the world you're from, although outside of Australia, it was a bit of a comeback for him.

I always thought that the lyrics to this classic were "play that f**king music," I guess it goes to show you show closely I'm paying attention to lyrics whenever I hear songs on the radio casually. Named after a box of cough drops, these guys score a massive hit with their autobiographical song about how they came to record music predominantly made by musicians of colour only to score massive success with the tale.

This was the song that made John Paul Young into an international superstar given that it became a huge hit for him not just throughout Europe but also in America upon its initial release. What's strange is that it isn't among his more popular tracks in his catalogue, unless of course you include the more popular Ballroom mix from 1992 where it was chosen as the theme to the Baz Lurhman classic Strictly ballroom.

#30 for 1970

This was the lead single to Cosmo's factory, as such it was guaranteed to be a massive success for CCR even if it was the lowest charting single from the album here in Australia. What's interesting is that the band never made it to number one in their native America, they came close several times to the point where they have the most songs to peak at number two on Billboard without ever reaching the top spot.

This was the one and only hit for the Dutch band Golden earring, a song that was a massive success throughout Europe the previous year and only crossed over to Australia this year due to it being a surprise hit on Billboard. It remains a popular rock and roll track from the 70's to this day, so at least they have a strong legacy with this one hit of theirs.

This wasn't Samantha Sang's first song to chart in Australia, she had attempted to have a pop career a decade prior under her real name Cheryl Gray to no avail likely due to her being a child singer during a time where we Aussies were into psychedelia and protest music. She was given a second chance at a career with this ballad written by the Brothers Gibb which took off for her not just locally but internationally as well.

This was the first song that Elvis Presley released this decade, naturally it was a hit here in Australia given that it followed up "Suspicious minds" which remains one of his most iconic hit singles in his catalogue.

This was the third and final single to come from ELO's breakthrough album, it's also the song which made them big both in NZ and America as it remains their biggest hit in both countries. I can see why as it's a more subdue ballad about a long-distance relationship, it's a much more conventional song in their catalogue compared to the rock opera from the rest of the album.

This was the only notable hit from Belgian pop star Plastic Bertrand, although admittedly the fact that this is in French should tell you why he wasn't able to find more success in an English-speaking market. I'm guessing this had crossover appeal due to how happy he clearly is throughout the track, granted many people (me included) find his energy to be rather annoying, but it clearly isn't the case for everyone.

Shortly before she had most of her success stolen by Liv Maessen with her earlier entry on this list, Mary Hopkin managed to begin the decade with this track that does a great job in showcasing her abilities as a vocalist as well as bringing to life songs that were discarded by the members of the Beatles for whatever reason. It's a shame that her popularity died out after the first year of the decade came to an end.

If you can believe it, there was indeed a time where this song didn't contain the lyrics "who the f**k is Alice," that goes to show you that there was a time where this song was taken seriously by the masses. In Australia, this was the song that put them on the map as their earlier hits from their native UK failed to crossover here like this mammoth track did.

Well, this was certainly a surprise hit for the Carpenters, who'd thought they would even attempt to cash in on the science fiction craze of the 70's? They did which resulted in them scoring one more hit in Australia as well as in the UK several years after their popularity died out in both countries.

This was the final hit that the New seekers managed to achieve before they called it quits to allow the genuine article to score a comeback the following year with "Sparrow song," they were meant to be the British equivalent of the Australian band but fell short due to selling themselves as a pop band as opposed to a folk band like the genuine article was.

Well, I hope you're ready for the influx of new entries from country artists on this list as they were the biggest casualties of Countdown when it comes to the show promoting local talent back in the day. At least this was a more mainstream success over in NZ for Billie Jo Spears given how this appeared on that side of my site.

This was initially a flop for Tina Charles in Australia, that's a bit strange because she already had success with "I love to love" and with her band 5000 volts prior to this being released as a single. It was fortunately given a second chance here following the international success of its follow up "Dr love" which also needed a second chance in order to find an audience here due to this being promoted when that was released.

This was the first major hit that Boney M achieved here in Australia, it's a Eurodance classic that fits in perfectly with the disco scene which made its worldwide success inevitable for the German band. Although their subsequent songs would become even bigger here as the decade went on, this still remains one of their most popular tracks on oldies stations due to how incessantly catchy it is.

This was the final taste of success that Status quo had here in Australia throughout their career, it's interesting their popularity ended right as the decade was coming to an end given how their popularity in their native UK would last for well over a decade after this fell off the charts here. Admittedly this is another entry on this list that I'm surprised wasn't a mainstream success here given its rotation on oldies stations.

The best way to describe Lynsey de Paul is if Olivia Newton John began her career as a country artist whilst also having her sexual appeal she acquired from the Grease soundtrack, at least that's how I'd describe her one and only hit she had here and in her native UK with this entry.

Well, this is a song that's gone down in infamy, mainly for the lyrics which suggests that Paul Anka's girlfriend (played by Odia Coates in this song) is having his baby purely for his benefit and not for hers. I get that this song was supposed to be a celebration of starting a family, but I can absolutely see how it's gone down in infamy as being one of the worst songs of all time.

Well, I guess Kermit's solo success here in Australia had to come from somewhere, although it is interesting that the theme song to the Muppet show was only a sleeper success here in Australia given how it was released at a time where TV themes usually did quite well (even if sometimes it was through an inferior cover from a local artist.)

This was the first hit that Olivia Newton John had in her career, it's a cover of a Bob Dylan track which was fairly typical of country divas from around this time given how they usually covered folk tracks to find success. Naturally this was a mere stepping stone for the British singer given how her next single would be her top entry on this list.

I know the 70's were a bizarre time in pop culture, however I'm finding it very hard to believe that one of the biggest hits of the decade was this novelty track about a duck (presumably Donald Duck based on the impersonation) wants to go out to the disco to dance. I guess this was funny the first time I heard it, although for me at least this quickly wears off its charm after repeated listens.

I keep needing to remind myself this isn't an early ELO track and is instead from Wings of all bands, I definitely wasn't expecting to have a prog track from the band make it on this site even though it honestly would've dumbfounded me if this song wasn't a hit here in Australia given that it's a Bond theme for the movie of the same name. It means that I've now featured both the original and Guns n roses version of this track on my site.

Suzi was on a roll when she released her second single from her debut album, so much so that it became her second consecutive chart topper here in Australia in addition to the album itself being a massive success for her. She was also massively successful in the UK given how the Brits also didn't have an issue with her being one of the faces of glam rock despite being an American woman.

Well, the album of the same name did fairly well here in Australia, so naturally this second hit the Silver convention had in America would wind up being a fairly decent success here as well even if it's widely considered to be one of the worst songs of the decade. I'm willing to bet that this was as big as it was here due to the surprise success that Penny McLean had with her earlier entry on this list.

This was George Harrison's final hit here in Australia for eight years as he wouldn't touch our charts again until 1981 with his tribute to John Lennon "All those years ago." It was a much bigger deal internationally where this topped the Billboard charts for the former Beatle likely due to its strong message about world peace.

This was the last major hit that Smokie had in most parts of the world, likely due to Chris Norman branching out after this to pursue a solo career that only got as far as duetting with Suzi Quatro on "Stumbling in." It appears we Aussies in particular found that to be in poor taste as though that was a hit here, he and his band never had any success after the fact.

#25 for 1974

Dave Edmunds already saw massive success from the start of the decade here in Australia before he joined the popular UK group Rockpile, although it was during his time with Rockpile that he was able to score a comeback hit with this pop rock track just as the decade was coming to an end. Incidentally this became a success around the same time his band mate Nick Lowe was also scoring a hit with "Cruel to be kind."

We have another two for one entry on this list, this time it's the big hit that Carole King had as well as what would've been her only hit were it not for her endorsement of the Hard rock cafe becoming a surprise hit for her later in the decade. Here we have a folk track that helped her claim her only number one hit on Billboard as well as its B-side which was a massive hit for Martika nearly two decades later.

Want to know something strange about this track? It was written by Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman, two names you'll be very familiar with if you're a fan of the glam rock from earlier in the decade. Here they allow American band Exile to have a massive hit with this soft rock track that now that I think about it, has lyrics that are begging to be performed with bombast but aren't on here.

UK charts 70's VII

This was the biggest of three hits that American folk singer Lobo had throughout his career worldwide, it's by far his biggest hit likely due to folk love ballads being all the rage when it was released as a single. As a final bit of trivia for this guy, his stage name is the Spanish word for a male wolf, which makes it a bit misleading for the type of music he makes.

This was one of several disco hits to be a success in the UK despite being a massive flop in the band's native America, although Tavares didn't have much success on Billboard this decade as all of their success came from how popular they were with the Brits back in the day. This was their only hit over in NZ, so perhaps this was the case of the Brits being over the moon for what they world considered an unremarkable band.

Although the Brothers Gibb were already among the most popular artists of the decade, this second single from the Saturday night fever soundtrack made them the kings of disco thanks to how it managed to stick around the upper echelons of the charts throughout the world. It's easy to see why this made them a household name, the falsettos on the track remain iconic to this day and it's catchy as hell.

Both of these artists were on top of the world when they released this duet, so naturally it was going to be a huge success for them given how it appears on both of their most recent albums from when it came out. This would be Neil's last hit single in Australia as his popularity dwindled going into the new decade, Barbra would hang around for a little while longer thanks to her feminist anthem with Donna Summer.

Fans of Madonna's Confessions on a dance floor will recognise the beat to this song on her hit single "Hung up," however here it was used for a song that's about wanting to hook up with a man for a one-night stand in the middle of the night as opposed to Madonna being fed up with her partner wasting her time. The success of this track proved that Abba's popularity was still going strong entering the 80's.

This was the follow up to Kenny Rogers controversial song "Ruby don't take your love to town" that he released at the beginning of the decade, naturally it was a big hit for him and his band the First edition due to the artist momentum they had from that track.

This is one of several hits that Elvis Presley had during the first half of the decade that time hasn't been particularly kind to, I feel this is due to hindsight following his death from later in the decade as he would often perform many of these songs at Vegas which was obviously not good for his wellbeing.

These guys had been active since the late 60's, meaning they didn't find any success in their career until this year when they released this bouncy country ballad that got them their Billboard chart topper in their native America. This was a good time for country music with a groove to it, so of course it was going to succeed internationally for the two brothers, and hey they scored another hit later in the decade.

#17 for 1970

This was the second and final hit that Paper lace managed to achieve in most parts of the world, it's a biographical song about Al Capone which is full of historical inaccuracies which obviously didn't prevent the song from becoming a huge success upon its initial release. They did achieve a third hit in certain parts of the world with "Black eyed boy," however that would be the last anyone would hear from them.

This wasn't the only version of the Everly Brothers track to make it big in Australia this year as Scottish band Nazareth also managed to score a hit with their version from two years prior (stay tuned for it.) I guess this was the only hit that Jim Capaldi managed to achieve even in his native UK.

This might be my favourite vocal performance from Frankie Valli throughout his entire catalogue, although I might just be saying that due to how much I love the film in question more than anything. This was his final hit single (not counting a remix of "December 1963") although he was in his forties by this stage so it's understandable that he didn't find any further success after this.

It's hard to believe that these guys were considered to be rock dinosaurs when this became a hit for them, after all they had only been active in the music industry for fifteen years by this point. I'm guessing that's how the youth of the day referred to them when they scored a massive hit with this disco track, after all they hadn't had a hit in five years, and this was the perfect comeback for them.

This was the breakthrough single for Genesis, it seems fitting that they would finally see success in the mainstream following the departure of Peter Gabriel and being replaced by their drummer Phil Collins. They would achieve more success in the 80's as Phil would become a household name worldwide.

I wonder how many LGBT people signed up for the navy when this became a hit for the Village people back in the day, after all, the YMCA was a safe haven for queer men, and they gave their endorsement with their earlier entry on this list. This was their final hit in their native America, although they had one more hit in most parts of the world as it was the theme to their theatrical disaster Can't stop the music.

This was the second hit that John Lennon had with the Plastic Ono band, the first being "Give peace a chance" from the end of the previous decade which helped put Yoko Ono and her band on the map due to its success. There's speculation that Yoko was responsible for breaking up the Beatles due to her music receiving backlash over the years, the real reason for their breakup was due to John mistreating everyone in his life at the time.

This is the only notable hit that the British group Fortunes had here in Australia, although like many British bands back in the day, they were far more lucrative in their homeland than they were internationally as they scored a ton of hits in their homeland throughout the 60's.

This was clearly inspired by the Wizard of Oz given how the yellow brick road in that movie is what immediately springs to mind when mentioning it, naturally the nostalgia of the (then) thirty-five-year-old film was what made this a huge success for Elton John in addition to it being the title track of his magnum opus double album.

I wasn't expecting to see this guy again on this list given how much of a novelty his earlier entry was, it appears he managed to impress his fellow Brits with this number which in turn sparked curiosity amongst us Aussies when this got him out of the one hit wonder bin back at home. Alas this was the true extent of his popularity worldwide.

This was the big breakthrough hit that Bread had in their career, it's easy to see this as their debut single but it wasn't as they had a few failed releases in their native America in the 60's before making it big with this ballad. It was a huge chart topper for them on Billboard, which ensured its success throughout the rest of the world.

This was the first of only two hits that British singer Peter Shelley had throughout the world (no relation to the Buzzcock's Pete Shelley) his other hit was a sleeper hit this year in Australia and thus won't be making an appearance on here. This likely would've been even bigger if Countdown had not taken over the music scene here as it was a hit the previous year before the show's introduction.

I've seen this title track to Donna Summer's breakthrough album be described as porn music, I can certainly attest for its album version which takes up the full side A of the album as it goes for sixteen minutes. Thankfully the single version isn't nearly as long and thus doesn't wear out its welcome as quickly, thus allowing it to become a huge success for Donna and a gateway to her making disco tracks.

While their popularity wasn't as inescapable as it was earlier in the decade, Abba was still able to find success with their singles here in Australia as the decade was coming to an end, proving that their dip in popularity was more due to overexposure rather than the quality dropping. This was the second single from their album Voulez vous which allowed it to be a modest improvement commercially over their previous album.

Well, this is something different from Chicago, here we have a jazz rock track in the vein of early Santana or Blood sweat and tears which became a moderate success at the start of the decade worldwide for the band. I guess the genre became more niche as the decade went along, hence why they transitioned to a soft rock sound with their hit "If you leave me now."

This is another RNB group of colour to find massive success two decades after their initial breakthrough worldwide, just like the Drifters, this was due to their sudden popularity in the UK as this ballad managed to become a huge chart topper for them over there which of course sparked its success in NZ. I guess we Aussies passed this up in favour of the Three degrees who sadly flopped in NZ.

I guess the decade was known for its cheesy ballads, and hey the fact that there was a noticeable increase in artists whose first language wasn't English was admirable considering how most artists who were popular prior to the 70's were either American or British worldwide. With that out of the way, I've exhausted any positive comments I have for this ballad from the Brazilian crooner Morris Albert.

This was the only hit that the Patti Smith group ever achieved here in Australia, I feel that they only had a hit here due to it being written by Bruce Springsteen during the height of his creative output. The band would call it quits the following year due to their lack of success, however Patti has soldiered on over the years trying to recapture the success she had with this hit of hers.

This was the only hit that K.C and the Sunshine band were able to score in Australia throughout the 70's, although they would score another two hits going into the 80's meaning that they weren't one hit wonders with this classic for long here. I guess a common complaint with their 70's material is that they all sounded the same to each other, after all try telling this apart from "Shake your booty," Keep it coming love" and "Get down tonight." Unless you're a fan of disco, you won't be able to do it.

That's right folks, the man who brought us "Black superman" managed to get himself out of the one hit wonder bin here in Australia as well as his native UK where this wound up being a bigger hit for him in his homeland. Admittedly this isn't attached to a famous boxing world champion (at least that I'm aware of) so it doesn't have the same level of infamy as his earlier entry on this list has.

This was originally a hit for Richard Harris (Albus Dumbledore for Harry Potter fans) ten years prior where it became a massive hit for the Irish actor despite often being hailed as one of the worst songs of all time. Donna Summer decided to resurrect this song about a cake melting in the park (that's literally what the song is about) and make it a disco hit where it became a success all over again.

OK it turns out that Bernie Taupin might have still somewhat been active in Elton John's career during the dark period that they two weren't talking to each other, I'm guessing these were songs that Bernie gave to Elton for him to work on as Elton has a songwriting credit on this instrumental as well as Bernie. I guess when I say they two reunited on Too low for zero, I mean they did so on a permanent basis.

#39 for 1974

This was originally a hit for the Jackson five earlier in the decade, that would explain why Gloria has a more noticeable falsetto on this track compared to her other big hit from later in the decade. It seems odd that there was a battle for who the queen of disco was this decade as I think we can all agree that Donna Summer took that prize as the decade came to an end, however Gloria was in consideration for that prize as well.

I don't know why we Aussies passed up on this disco classic back in the day, however it did linger on our charts long enough for it to qualify on this bonus list of mine so it's not like we didn't know about it or anything. Admittedly I get the feeling this only became a classic with us Aussies when it was featured on Saturday night fever as that's where its cultural imprint seems to stem from.

This was sandwiched between Boney M's first two hits in Australia as this came out after "Daddy cool" and before "Ma baker" from earlier on this list. For whatever reason, we Aussies passed up on this track as opposed to the kiwis who made it a sleeper hit for the German band over there in lieu of "Daddy cool" taking off.

This is often considered to be the showstopper of Grease, mainly because it's the moment where Sandy realises that even though she's aware that Danny might be bad for her, she can't help but be in love with him which many people have related to over the years. It remains her biggest solo hit from the soundtrack and no doubt served as a reminder of her innocent years before she shook up her image.

#37 for 1973

Shortly before she became one of the more popular female artists of the decade worldwide, Tina Charles began her career as one third of the British disco trio 5000 volts who scored a massive hit with this track about burning up for the love of their lives. Nowadays there's a more popular track with this title from Bruce Springsteen which has a very different premise to this track from the disco trio.

Tom Robinson and company are best known for their queer anthem "Glad to be gay" which as far as I can tell, is the earliest song to become popular that's meant to be a coming out anthem for those trapped in the closet. Naturally we Aussies passed that up in favour of this much more conventional track from the band which even then, struggled to find its audience with us Aussies due to the stiff competition of the moment.

Given how their earlier entry on this list was a massive success on time in NZ, it only makes sense that the kiwis would also allow the second single from their comeback album Destiny to also be a success for them this year which sadly wasn't the case here in Australia when this finally saw the light of day the following year. That's a shame because it's since become a disco classic even on our oldie's stations.

This was the final hit that Boney M achieved in most parts of the world, possibly as a last hurrah considering this came at the end of a very successful decade for them. If you couldn't gather from the title, this is a holiday theme which continues the trend they had with their biggest hit "The rivers of Babylon." It was likely adopted as a theme for TV commercials wanting to sell tropical vacations for a while.

You'd be forgiven into thinking this was the lead single to ELO's disco album Discography, you'd be wrong as that honour goes to "Shine a little love" which was only a modest success here likely due to us Aussies needing some convincing to allow these guys to have success in the disco genre. That convincing was met when they released the second single from the album with this favourite on oldies stations.

While Earth wind and fire are well known for being a disco band at heart, they also had their fair share of slow jams such as this second single from their commercial breakthrough in the southern hemisphere I am. I guess we Aussies weren't feeling it here as this was a massive flop for the band over here, however it was more of a success in NZ where the band were on a roll thanks to their earlier entry.

Following the success of her film Grease, Olivia Newton John decided to use the transformation that her character in the film Sandy went through and apply it to her real-life music career as she went in a more risqué direction with her music. This was the first song she released in this vein which while quite tame to what would come in the 80's, was still sexier than anything she had released up until this point.

This is a reading from radio host Les Crane of a 1927 poem about world peace, naturally it was a massive success for the American disco jokey given how this was at a time where there was a higher drive for world peace than ever when it was delivered over his program and then released as a single worldwide. Honestly, I wouldn't mind if this sort of thing was done in this day and age due to how divided the world is currently.

This was the lead single to the latest album that Bay city rollers released this year, given how they released two new albums every year since their initial breakthrough (that's not even counting their album they released exclusively in America) I think it's safe to say that the band was a tad overexposed by this point. It doesn't help that their latest single was a cover of a Dusty Springfield classic.

If the production on this track sounds familiar to you, that's because it was sampled in Len's one and only hit "Steal my sunshine" over two decades after this came out. This is another song I feel got the short end of the stick here in Australia as this was a massive hit throughout the rest of the world, I guess Countdown listeners were put off by the seductive nature of the song in a way that didn't apply to Donna Summer.

It seems odd that Glen Campbell would score so much success here in Australia and have his sellout track about well...... selling out be his final hit single here. Indeed, this song about how Glen was going to be as he puts it, a rhinestone cowboy to the masses was his final hit here in Australia despite it being the first of two Billboard chart toppers for the country legend.

This was the third hit single to come out of Abba's self-titled album, although technically this was the second song released from the album as "Mamma Mia" was released very early in Australia likely due to how much we Aussies loved that track. This likely resulted in the Swedish quartet's complete monopoly on our charts during the midpoint of the decade, although thankfully for their nonfans, this monopoly didn't last that long.

This sounds like it was recorded forty years prior, I can assure you it wasn't as Fiddler's dram were a British band from the 70's who scored their one and only hit just as they were calling it quits but this really does sound like something made for a vintage Gene Kelly flick. I have no idea how this became a hit during the height of the disco era, but it somehow did.

This is the only notable hit that Joan Baez had here in Australia, it's a cover of a song from the Canadian band err... the Band about the fallout of the American civil war. Naturally it connected with audiences at the time due to the recent outcome of the Civil rights movement, which is often compared to the Civil war when it comes to fighting for the basic human rights of the everyman.