Best #1 single of the year retrospective: 1975

[Shodan]

1975 was a year which, if possible, sucked even worse than 1974.

It is impossible to pick out just one of these assorted pieces of sloth dung as better than any other based on reason alone. So I closed my eyes and clicked. My deepest apologies - it was “Thank God I’m A Country Boy”.

The. 70s. Were. Awful. And it isn’t over-familiarity - I hated all these songs the first time I heard them. And even when the delicious and talented Linda Ronstadt makes the list, it is for one of her worst efforts. And come on - “Fire”? “Sister Golden Hair”? Gag me with a crowbar - the sounds I make will be much better than anything played off this list even if I vomit up bits of my tonsils.

No wonder drugs were common during the era - how wasted must I have been to consent to listen to KC and the Sunshine Band for longer than it take to lunge for the radio knob.

I think God was still angry at the US for Watergate and let us wallow musically in our own tinselly feces.

Regards,
Shodan

[Shodan]

@Eddie_F

I just looked at 1976’s offerings, and they make '75 (and '74, for that matter) look positively stellar by comparison.

Quick, Ralphie - shoot me!

Regards,
Shodan

[OneCentStamp]

@Eddie_F

I just looked at 1976’s offerings, and they make '75 (and '74, for that matter) look positively stellar by comparison.

There’s a reason punk rock happened when it did. Love it or hate it (I love it), it was a shotgun blast to the face of all this shit.

In the words of Joey Ramone (and they started playing together in '74, even though the first album and first UK tour weren’t until '76): “We decided to decided to start our own group because we were bored with everything we heard in 1974, there was nothing to listen to anymore. Everything was tenth-generation Led Zeppelin, tenth-generation Elton John, or overproduced, or just junk. Everything was long jams, long guitar solos. We missed music like it used to be before it got “progressive”. We missed hearing songs that were short, and exciting and . . . good! We wanted to bring the energy back into rock n’ roll.”

[Dung_Beetle]

@Shodan

sloth dung snip tinselly feces

Mmmmmm…I guess there’s no accounting for tastes!

[pulykamell]

“Fame” is the winner for me, but there’s a good number of songs on that list that I enjoy. Pretty weak year overall, though, but I like some of the funk-disco stuff, and, of course, for me the Staple Singers can do no wrong.

[Eddie_F]

@OneCentStamp

There’s a reason punk rock happened when it did. Love it or hate it (I love it), it was a shotgun blast to the face of all this shit.

In the words of Joey Ramone (and they started playing together in '74, even though the first album and first UK tour weren’t until '76): “We decided to decided to start our own group because we were bored with everything we heard in 1974, there was nothing to listen to anymore. Everything was tenth-generation Led Zeppelin, tenth-generation Elton John, or overproduced, or just junk. Everything was long jams, long guitar solos. We missed music like it used to be before it got “progressive”. We missed hearing songs that were short, and exciting and . . . good! We wanted to bring the energy back into rock n’ roll.”

Thank the lord for Messrs. Hyman, Cummings, Colvin, and Erdelyi. Seriously.

[control-z]

I like about 1/3 of these songs. Had to go with “Sister Golden Hair”, it was the best non-disco song on the list.

[Eddie_F]

@Eddie_F

I just looked at 1976’s offerings, and they make '75 (and '74, for that matter) look positively stellar by comparison.

And if you think the 1970s are bad, you’re REALLY gonna be depressed when you take a gander at the first half of the '90s. (All this is to say that I love these polls, and I anxiously await the posting of the next year whenever a new year is posted. Has the OP considered posting them, say, hourly?) (Yes, that was a joke. Loaded with a lot of desperately addicted seriousness.)

[Dung_Beetle]

I think when these polls are all over, we oughta go back and do each year again, only this time we’ll be voting for our most hated. Whaddaya say, Smapti?

[Chefguy]

@Gordon_Urquhart

A five-octave range – it’s amazing what she does emotionally in the higher registers most people can’t dream of reaching. Minnie Riperton was the mother of former SNL cast member Maya Rudolph, for those unaware, and wrote the song for her daughter; Riperton passed away from breast cancer at the age of 31 in 1979.

Re: the poll; I went with Lady Marmalade – it’s as close to timeless as any song can be.

The highest range that you’re referring to is called the “whistle register”, and is mostly found with female singers like Mariah Carey, but men can also get there. I recall reading that it’s very difficult to study the mechanics of it, as the throat constriction at that range prevents seeing what the vocal cords are doing.

[Orwell]

Wow, what a bunch of crap. Worst year yet. I struggled to find many songs I like - Fame and Thank God I’m a Country Boy are about it. Of course, at that time I wasn’t listening to Top-10, I was listening to Pink Floyd, Queen, Zep and (still) Beatles, Kinks, Who, etc.

[DChord568]

I find it interesting that there is not a single mention of the song for which I’m the lone voter, “Laughter in the Rain” (other than someone who inexplicably put it in a list of songs with a “downbeat sound”).

It’s a wonderful pop song with sparkling accompaniment and harmonies, and it’s anything but “downbeat.” I know a lot of people will find it to twee, but I’m not one of them. I was very glad that Sedaka was back. The excellence of this single from his revival period is eclipsed only by “The Immigrant,” which, predictably, wasn’t as successful.

The other really good pop song on the list, which also has gone virtually unmentioned, is “Fallin’ in Love.” Nicely played and sung, with a lot of hooks. It’s among the few on this list that I would turn up on the radio rather than off.

And it’s another illustration of my previously articulated theory, “different music for different purposes.” Most of the songs by so-called “significant” artists here (Bowie, Doobie Brothers, and most certainly The Eagles) are at best OK and at worst awful.

And there are those who will automatically vote for an R&B song in these polls as somehow having more guts or soul than anything else. I’ll certainly vote for a great R&B/soul song, but there are none on this list…just good ones at the very most.

(By the way, this is the first time in ANY of these lists that I’ve encountered a song I don’t know. I can remember most of the other Staple Singers’ Top 40 entries, but “Let’s Do It Again” completely escapes me.)

John Denver? Just no. I like exactly one song he ever made. I have a fair amount of respect for Elton John, and like some of his songs a lot. But even the rabid Elton fans I know agree that two out of the three entries here are among the worst singles in his career.

With disco rearing its head with “Jive Talkin’” (I LOVE 60s-era Bee Gees, but…), I fear for what the next few years will hold in these polls.

[Smapti]

@Dung_Beetle

I think when these polls are all over, we oughta go back and do each year again, only this time we’ll be voting for our most hated. Whaddaya say, Smapti?

An overall “worst single of the year” series might be too repetitive of what we’re doing here. I do intend to do a “best of the songs that didn’t get any votes” poll, and then possibly a “worst of the songs that didn’t even get any votes in the ‘best of the songs that didn’t get any votes poll’ poll”, and we’ll see where we go from there.

[Smapti]

@Eddie_F

And if you think the 1970s are bad, you’re REALLY gonna be depressed when you take a gander at the first half of the '90s. (All this is to say that I love these polls, and I anxiously await the posting of the next year whenever a new year is posted. Has the OP considered posting them, say, hourly?) (Yes, that was a joke. Loaded with a lot of desperately addicted seriousness.)

Honestly, the early '90s aren’t even that bad IMO. The real nadir of the Hot 100 is roughly about 2000-2007 or so; I mean, when you can look at a list of #1 singles and say that Nickelback is the best of the lot, it’s not a good sign.

[pulykamell]

@Smapti

Honestly, the early '90s aren’t even that bad IMO. The real nadir of the Hot 100 is roughly about 2000-2007 or so; I mean, when you can look at a list of #1 singles and say that Nickelback is the best of the lot, it’s not a good sign.

Well, if all you’re looking for is rock music, yeah, not the right era. But the 2000s were, for me, a bit of a renaissance for Top 40 music. Lots of good stuff there. Nickelback was among the worst of the lot, though.

[Ponch8]

The problem with doing a least-favorite poll is that there are so many terrible songs in many of these years (particularly the 1970s). There would be quite a lot of ties for me. For favorites, there’s only going to be one year in which two songs tie for my favorite of the year.

[Nema98]

@Dung_Beetle

I think when these polls are all over, we oughta go back and do each year again, only this time we’ll be voting for our most hated. Whaddaya say, Smapti?

We should do a Canadian version of number 1 singles, some singles that hit the top of the charts in America also di so in the North, though some variety.

Take for instance Bohemian Rhapsody, which never hit number 1 here.

[Baron_Greenback]

@OneCentStamp

I voted for Minnie Riperton. Because I could. Because it’s 1975.

So did I. It’s a great song and performance. I don’t know a fair few of the songs on this list (different continent, only 8 at the time) but there’s some great stuff on it: Fame, Rhinestone Cowboy, Jive Talkin’

I’m looking forward to the disco years, because I love dance music, and because I’m curious to see what got to No 1 in the US at the time.

[Nema98]

@DChord568

I find it interesting that there is not a single mention of the song for which I’m the lone voter, “Laughter in the Rain” (other than someone who inexplicably put it in a list of songs with a “downbeat sound”).

It’s a wonderful pop song with sparkling accompaniment and harmonies, and it’s anything but “downbeat.” I know a lot of people will find it to twee, but I’m not one of them. I was very glad that Sedaka was back. The excellence of this single from his revival period is eclipsed only by “The Immigrant,” which, predictably, wasn’t as successful.

The other really good pop song on the list, which also has gone virtually unmentioned, is “Fallin’ in Love.” Nicely played and sung, with a lot of hooks. It’s among the few on this list that I would turn up on the radio rather than off.

And it’s another illustration of my previously articulated theory, “different music for different purposes.” Most of the songs by so-called “significant” artists here (Bowie, Doobie Brothers, and most certainly The Eagles) are at best OK and at worst awful.

And there are those who will automatically vote for an R&B song in these polls as somehow having more guts or soul than anything else. I’ll certainly vote for a great R&B/soul song, but there are none on this list…just good ones at the very most.

(By the way, this is the first time in ANY of these lists that I’ve encountered a song I don’t know. I can remember most of the other Staple Singers’ Top 40 entries, but “Let’s Do It Again” completely escapes me.)

John Denver? Just no. I like exactly one song he ever made. I have a fair amount of respect for Elton John, and like some of his songs a lot. But even the rabid Elton fans I know agree that two out of the three entries here are among the worst singles in his career.

With disco rearing its head with “Jive Talkin’” (I LOVE 60s-era Bee Gees, but…), I fear for what the next few years will hold in these polls.

I agree, that Neil Sedaka song is a great song.

[Nema98]

@OneCentStamp

There’s a reason punk rock happened when it did. Love it or hate it (I love it), it was a shotgun blast to the face of all this shit.

In the words of Joey Ramone (and they started playing together in '74, even though the first album and first UK tour weren’t until '76): “We decided to decided to start our own group because we were bored with everything we heard in 1974, there was nothing to listen to anymore. Everything was tenth-generation Led Zeppelin, tenth-generation Elton John, or overproduced, or just junk. Everything was long jams, long guitar solos. We missed music like it used to be before it got “progressive”. We missed hearing songs that were short, and exciting and . . . good! We wanted to bring the energy back into rock n’ roll.”

True, but punk rock never dominated the charts, and it’s life span was pretty short.