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.

UK charts 70's VI

Now I'm not opposed to having a song that calls for racial peace and harmony (particularly in this day and age where racial tensions seem to be at their all-time worst due to idiots on the internet) the problem I have here is that we're having a call to action from someone who's infamous for their racially insensitive comedy tracks and that it's displayed as a ballad similar to that of "We are the world."

It's staggering to think that these guys would be considered yesterday's news here in Australia once "Please Mr postman" fell off our charts during the midpoint of the decade given how inescapable they were here during the first half of the 70's. Here they are with their big breakthrough hit which was far more popular than many other tracks that 70's afficionados will likely name these days.

This was the song that made Hot chocolate a household name outside their native UK as they had struggled to translate the success they had earlier in the decade internationally prior to its release, it's one of their low tempo ballads dedicated to an Emma in Errol Brown's life that naturally connected with audiences at a time where RNB struggled to find success here in Australia.

Sweet were on a roll when they released their biggest hit in Australia this year, although it's worth noting that around the time this became a massive success here and in their native UK, their earlier hit "Ballroom blitz" had only just crossed over to America where it became a huge success on Billboard. This is another song that was huge back in the day to be fondly remembered today by oldies stations.

#29 for 1970

It took him a while to release a new album following the demise of his band Simon and Garfunkel, however Paul Simon found instant success once he did release new music on his own given how much of an instant success said album and its lead single was throughout the world. True to the title, this is a song about a mother reuniting with her son after a long time apart which naturally connected with audiences.

This was the final hit that Shirley Bassey had anywhere in the world, although it's curious that it would be by far her biggest hit here in Australia given how her only other hit was with "Goldfinger" from the film of the same name from almost a decade prior. At least the Welsh woman of colour can take comfort in the fact that this ballad was more popular on our charts than many other well-known tracks worldwide.

This was originally released three years prior to deafening silence for the husband-and-wife duo, in fact from what I can gather, this song only ever became a success here in Australia once we learned about Tina leaving Ike and making this a success in order to show our support for her getting away from her abusive husband. Since this became a surprise success for her this year, it's been adapted as a popular line dance here.

OK to everyone who thought the Teletubbies were bizarre, allow me to present to you the 70's equivalent known as the Wombles who were massively popular in the UK and also in NZ if the success of their theme song is anything to go by. Then again, this was an excellent time for TV themes over there given how many we've looked at on this side of my site already.

You may be familiar with the name Carole Bayer Sager if you're a Burt Bacharach fan, after all she was a frequent writing collaborator with the songwriting legend and co-wrote some of his more well-known songs such as "That's what friends are for" and the theme to Arthur starring Dudley Moore. Here she is with her one and only hit as a lead artist, I'm guessing this was a success more for the lyrics than her vocal performance which isn't great.

This was the second hit that Yvonne Elliman was able to achieve worldwide following the success of her first single "Love me" from the previous year, although Kim Wilde would have a much bigger hit in Australia with her version fifteen years later. People like to rag on the lyrics of this track due to how depressing they are once you read them; however, I feel it matches the tone of the film very well.

This was originally released in 1962 where it was a massive hit for Bobby Picket in his native America, however it fell on death ears back then which is perhaps why it became a massive worldwide hit for him....... eleven years later. I have no idea why this Halloween classic was a hit when it was, however, it resulted in it being among the bigger hits of the early 70's here in Australia.

It looked like the Bee gees would be yesterday's news when their previous album flopped on the charts worldwide, however their fortunes changed when they decided to hop on the disco bandwagon early on in its popularity which single handedly revived their career worldwide as this topped the Billboard charts for them. For some reason, I always thought this was a Fleetwood mac single, possibly due to it lacking their trademark falsetto's which they would develop throughout the second half of the decade.

This was the only hit that country legend Crystal Gayle was able to achieve in Australia, although it was more of a sleeper hit here so perhaps it was less a hit and more something that just stuck around long enough to qualify for this list.

This is the song that the Fugees would sample over twenty years later for their magnum opus "Killing me softly," naturally this was originally a huge hit for Roberta Flack given how she by this point was a household name due to her earlier entry on this list. She would have one more hit on her own here in Australia with "Feel like making love" as well as one with Peabo Bryson with "Tonight I celebrate my love."

This was a massive hit for Jim Gilstrap in NZ, Jim is perhaps best known for singing TV themes such as the Good times theme which was one of the highest rated sitcoms at the time (as well as the first to feature a predominantly black cast.) This was a huge flop in his native America, which is perhaps why he stuck to singing TV themes rather than pursuing any further hits on the Billboard charts.

This is the biggest hit that Rod Stewart had over in America, although it's worth noting that regardless of what his biggest hit was in each country that he was one of the biggest names in music throughout the decade worldwide. To give you context, he released at least one mega hit every year for four consecutive years.

This was the first big hit that ELO had here in Australia, although they did score a hit in NZ and America with "Evil woman" the previous year which makes me wonder why that didn't also crossover here. This was the lead single from their magnum opus A new world record, so of course this was going to be huge given how it's the type of lush and opulent rock opera music that audiences gravitated towards this year.

Does this song remind anyone else of John Lennon's "Woman?" Something about the chord structure and vocal melodies on this one and only hit from husband-and-wife duo R&J Stone heavily reminds me of that track for some reason. If you want to know what happened to these two lovebirds, Joanne Stone tragically died of a brain tumour later in the decade which Robert never got over.

Well, if you wanted to hear what Disney's Snow white would sound like if she were played by an Australian woman who was popular in the 70's, then you've come to the right place as lead singer Noosha Fox channelled the Disney princess in her performance for her biggest hit in Australia and her band's native UK and even managed to achieve moderate success throughout Europe with this formula.

This is a rare case of a chart topper not being the lead single from an album, although I get the feeling this was only a huge success worldwide following the success of a country version from Lynn Anderson which compelled the duo to release it as a single a year after the album's release.

This had a very rocky road to success in Australia as it tried to find an audience and failed before finally succeeding after its third attempt. I'm not even sure why this song had such a hard time crossing over here as it was an instant success over in NZ and the rockabilly update that Ram jam gives to the ragtime original from the 30's was in line with what Ol'55 was serving up at the time.

This was the only hit for the two singers in question, both Dean Friedman and Denise Marsa managed to win over an audience with their ballad about how they felt lucky to have found each other the way they did and attributed their good fortunes to the lucky stars in the universe. Naturally this ballad didn't lead to any further success for them.

#26 for 1974

This is a song that works fine upon its initial release, but I feel becomes tiresome after repeated listens, I think it's because the yelping at the end of the second chorus feels unnecessary although that could just be a me problem. This was one of the biggest hits of the decade in Australia despite Bryan's band Roxy music failing to find any major success with one of their singles prior to him temporarily disbanding them to pursue his solo career.

While this wasn't the final hit single these guys were able to score in Australia (that honour goes to "Rocking all over the world" from the following year) it was the last massive hit they had which goes to show how little success these guys had compared to their native UK where they were massive hit makers as recently as the early 90's. At least you still hear all of these songs on oldies stations to this day.

Well at least Blondie were able to achieve success with their fourth album Eat to the beat in NZ given how that album didn't see much success here in Australia back in the day, it came instantly as well as the lead single was a massive hit over there as opposed to here where it didn't even break into our top fifty.

Bet you didn't know Billy Connolly had a singing career, did you? Well technically he doesn't as this "cover" of the Tammy Wynette classic is really a joke song he does in his typical sense of humour that nonetheless amused audiences back in the day. He was far from the only comic to score a hit down under over the years, heck he wasn't even the first as there were plenty of tracks like this prior to its success.

I guess Roxy music was able to achieve some success here in Australia after all as their final single they released before they went on hiatus for Bryan Ferry's solo career managed to be a massive sleeper hit for them here in Australia, although I get the feeling this was merely a warm up to what Bryan had to offer over the next two years given how this feels more like a solo project from him.

Much like her earlier entry on this list, this was initially a bomb in Australia for Tina Charles, likely due to the sudden rise in popularity of "Dance little lady dance" which prevented this from becoming a success upon its initial release here. This proved to be her final hit worldwide likely due to audiences finding her voice to be overbearing for a genre that was defined by stripped back vocals.

This is another song that was a huge success in NZ that was also a sleeper hit here in Australia, this time it's the breakthrough hit from Yvonne Elliman who was unable to have us Aussies shaking our groove things the way that Tina Charles and Donna Summer could when this first came out. Still, it did linger on our charts for quite some time, hence why it managed to appear on this list.

Of the four hits that these guys had in Australia back in the day, this was by far the most normal as it wasn't a cod reggae track like "Dreadlock holiday," a glam rock track like "Rubber bullets" or even a sophistopop track (or whatever the 70's equivalent of that was) like "I'm not in love." Instead, we have a fairly straight forward pop rock track from the band which came from their biggest album Deceptive bends.

Given how many musicians of colour made it big in their native America throughout the decade, it's interesting to see how the members of Odyssey wouldn't be among them as they were one of the first of their kind to find success in the UK and not on Billboard. As for their appearance on this list, it's due to them sticking around on the NZ charts for quite some time back in the day due to the kiwis love for disco.

This was the final chart topper the fab four had here in Australia, it was guaranteed to be a success given how they were still on top of the world as far as their success was concerned even if there were tons of behind-the-scenes drama which made their breakup inevitable. For me, this feels like "Hey Jude" part II musically, suggesting that this felt more like a contractual obligation than anything (although I'm not a Beatles fan so take that with a grain of salt.)

This was the second single from Elton John's album Don't shoot me I'm only the piano player, this is a more sombre ballad compared to "Crocodile rock" which I'm guessing was a reminder to his (then) older fans of his blues roots given how he had begun to dabble with glam rock around this time.

This was more in line with some of the bigger hits that Leo Sayer would score this decade, although it wasn't as big as what was still to come given how this has become one of his more forgotten songs in his catalogue over the years. Even so it was a good steppingstone for the likes of "You make me feel like dancing" and "Thunder in my heart."

This was the only notable success for Scottish singer/songwriter Frankie Miller, although I'm not sure how he made it big with this ballad considering it wasn't a huge hit for him in his native UK. I guess this was a hit here due to the ballad striking a chord with audiences who were beginning to grow tired of Rod Stewart's usual fare, although this didn't lead to Frankie having any more success of his own.

Following the success of MJ's earlier entry, this track from two years prior became a surprise success for his family band likely due to him being a welcome presence on our charts that he apparently wasn't upon this track's initial release. I don't even know why this song flopped in Australia initially as MJ didn't seem to have any problems with finding success with his album Off the wall when it came out.