# Best #1 single of the year retrospective: 1976 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 30, 2014, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1976/699977 "2014-09-30T16:44:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2014, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1976/699977/41 "2014-09-30T20:29:32Z")
> [@Nema98](#): > > ABBA would feature next year. By the way OP, the “Disco Sucks” t shirts came out later when disco peaked, in 1976 it was only starting to becoming mainstream. Am I right or wrong, I was not around back then. I’m not sure if it was in 1976 or later that the incident occurred (my mother left school in '79, I believe), but my mother makes a point of bringing it up every time someone mentions disco in her presence, and I found it amusing enough to share. She even cringed and asked me to change the station once when “Get Lucky” came on the radio. ---
**Author:** ![Vashbul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Vashbul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vashbul)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2014, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1976/699977/42 "2014-09-30T20:36:09Z")
> [@Eddie\_F](#): > > Other choices were The Sylvers ([because of course …](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnCP-IJ1MIk)) Hey, that wasn’t bad. Maybe I should have picked them instead of the Miracles. But how did “boogie” get repurposed from John Lee Hooker to modern dance-club fare? ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2014, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1976/699977/43 "2014-09-30T20:36:38Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > How on earth did I make it thru the 70s and maintain my will to live? Probably by listening as little as possible to songs like these. ---
**Author:** ![DChord568](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@DChord568](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DChord568)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2014, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1976/699977/44 "2014-09-30T20:37:35Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > Ah - but it ["Afternoon Delight’] is Hooked On a Feeling awful! Meaning it is catchy and silly enough to use in current shows to evoke that 1975 feeling! > > I don’t know that I like it as a guilty pleasure, but I almost…respect it’s 1975-ness, if you follow. I don’t think I’ll ever cop to actually _liking_ “Afternoon Delight” — the cheese factor is just too high. But I will grudgingly acknowledge that it has some pretty amazing and unusually structured vocal harmonies…and I’m a sucker for that in almost any genre. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2014, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1976/699977/45 "2014-09-30T21:02:32Z")
> [@Eddie\_F](#): > > The choice to go with Paul Simon - and the LEGENDARY Steve Gadd - was easy. Heh. I didn’t even know that was Gadd on the drums there (though it looks like I should have, given that even Wikipedia lists it as one of his legendary grooves. :smack:. Really is a great drum part, as I said.) Well, that makes a lot of sense. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2014, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1976/699977/46 "2014-09-30T21:45:52Z")
> [@JohnGalt](#): > > Question: When did Paul McCartney write Silly Love Songs? > > Answer: All of his life. And what’s wrong with that, I’d like to know? It got my vote. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2014, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1976/699977/47 "2014-09-30T21:51:32Z")
This was the year that I was born, but Christ, there’s a lot of crap on this list. “Play That Funky Music” gets a few bonus points in the world-famous **Ponch8 Music Rating System** for being #1 the day I was born, but not nearly enough to win my vote. I went with “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart,” giving Elton John my second vote in a row. It was a very tight race between that song and “If You Leave Me Now.” “Shake Your Booty” finished third. There are quite a few songs I’ve never even heard of, and I’m scared to seek any of them out. As has happened so often in the 1970s, there’s a tie for dead-ass last in the **Ponch8 Music Rating System**. “Saturday Night,” “Let Your Love Flow,” and “Afternoon Delight” are all equally terrible. “Disco Duck” and “Silly Love Songs” aren’t too far ahead. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2014, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1976/699977/48 "2014-09-30T21:57:30Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Paul Simon gets the nod for a decent song in the midst of utter crap. That’s pretty much why I voted for “50 Ways” also. I can’t really think any serious contender to that song on this iist. I will grant honorable mention status to “Love Rollercoaster” and (especially) “Play That Funky Music” because they’re both goofy fun and add “Convoy” because it’s a personal guilty pleasure. I know McCartney gets flack for “Silly Love Songs” but I don’t consider it a bad record. It’s just forgettable. In fact, that’s the main fault with most of these of songs. A lot of #1 songs from 1974’s rotten roster may have been bad but they were memorably bad. They stuck in your mind and caused PTSD episodes decades later. In contrast, the bad (and even the somewhat decent) #1 songs from 1976 were generally forgettable (Starland Vocal Band’s being an exception :eek:). 1977 is next and, unfortunately, things aren’t going to get much better. I’ve looked ahead and right now I can say my pick will either be something by Stevie Wonder or Fleetwood Mac. ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2014, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1976/699977/49 "2014-09-30T22:06:57Z")
> [@Nema98](#): > > The helium sound is Barry, Robin and Maurice had distinct voices. In fact Andy Gibb who was never a Bee Gees member and a separate artist, sounded close to to Barry in falsetto. Their early material shows each brothers’ voices which were distinct. Yes, I enjoyed their earlier songs, as well. Barry had a distinct baritone and Robin had that interesting vibrato in his tenor voice. Good music! It was the song “Nights On Broadway” that started the falsetto phase, I’ve heard… ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2014, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1976/699977/50 "2014-09-30T22:08:27Z")
Pee-yoo! This makes the '73-'75 lists look like high art. But another vote for “50 Ways.” It’s smug, skeevy, and a little too self-consciously clever, but it does have a classic percussion part. (I always wanted to do a parody of this song naming different kinds of booze, to be called “50 Ways to Lose Your Liver.”) ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2014, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1976/699977/51 "2014-09-30T22:10:00Z")
> [@Eddie\_F](#): > > The choice to go with Paul Simon - and the LEGENDARY Steve Gadd - was easy. Other choices were The Sylvers ([because of course](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnCP-IJ1MIk)), The Ohio Players, The Miracles, and The Four Seasons. > > Like I said in the 1975 thread, '76 was a _dire_ year for chart toppers. I love Gadd drum lick, but that song just feels like another List Song, like We Didn’t Start the Fire or End of the World. Meh. As for the Sylvers - oh yeah! Check out this live version from the Midnight Special: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHKCHvpYq\_8](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHKCHvpYq_8) When the guitar kicks in, I hadn’t fully realized how it mimics the lick from Day Tripper! And it totally works! ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2014, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1976/699977/52 "2014-09-30T23:12:01Z")
KC. 1975 was a much better year, IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2014, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1976/699977/53 "2014-09-30T23:21:54Z")
There is no such thing as “a better year” once you get seriously into the 70s. I was there…I know. ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2014, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1976/699977/54 "2014-09-30T23:23:30Z")
1976 is a pretty threadbare year, but unlike the previous two years it only has one OMIGODCHANGETHESTATIONBEFOREIGETVIOLENT type of song. That song is the horrible, no good, very bad “Tonight’s The Night”. A lot of these songs have lame lyrics, but TTN has[lyrics that are downright sleazy and gross.](http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/rodstewart/tonightsthenightgonnabealright.html) Specifically, the lyric “Spread your wings and let me come inside”, which Spinal Tap would reject for being too salacious. Even the Steve Miller song is far superior, which, if you know me, is a shocking statement. Anyway, back to the list. Most of these songs induce nothing more than a “meh” from me, even “Afternoon Delight”, which as another poster mentioned, at least has some interesting vocal stuff going on. Even “Convoy” is too silly and nostalgia-inducing to dislike. There are certainly plenty of songs that I would never miss if I never heard them again, like both Diana Ross songs, “Silly Love Songs”, “I Write the Songs”, etc. There are a few songs on here that still get a fair amount of airplay, but that induce me to give not even one crap. 4 Seasons and “Play That Funky Music”, I’m talking about you. It looks like “50 Ways…” is winning in a runaway. It’s OK, I guess, but I’m going to go with the songs that I would leave on and even enjoy if I heard them right now on the radio. 3rd: “Love Rollercoaster”. This song shares a few funk cues with “Play That Funky Music” but it’s just the better song to my ear. 2nd: “Don’t Go Breakin’ My Heart”. In general I like plenty of Elton John songs, just not the ones that went to #1. This is the exception. Good pop song. 1st: As of this writing, I am the only person to vote for this song. It’s a cover, maybe the ultimate cover, but it’s not like the original artist was slighted for never making it to #1 on his own. My pick is “A Fifth Of Beethoven”. Since I stand alone with this pick, I’ll just defend it by saying it’s the song I enjoy the most on the list, and that’s enough for me. Side note: A couple of years ago I was playing a music trivia bar quiz, and “A Fifth Of Beethoven” was played and we had to name the artist. The answer they wanted was “Beethoven” and I answered Walter Murphy. Fortunately, the host accepted my answer without any fuss, and bloodshed was averted. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2014, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1976/699977/55 "2014-10-01T00:08:38Z")
THIS IS THE YEAR! This is the year that I started buying albums…Led Zeppelin, Yes, Pink Floyd, Mike Oldfield…and is it any wonder why? This has some of the lightest-weight, dumbest songs of any year, and you can practically smell the treacle as it leaks from your AM radio speaker. I do have to admit that 13YO me enjoyed most of these songs at one time or another, but in the same way that 5YO me enjoyed inanely singing “The Wheels on the Bus” over and over until someone punched me on the arm - that is to say, unheedingly, uncritically, and unironically. Looking them now, though - yeesh. I went with the most absurd of them all, admittedly with some irony, but also because some of the 13YO is still left in me. Skyrockets in flight, indeed. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2014, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1976/699977/56 "2014-10-01T00:48:29Z")
I know I’m in the minority, but I like a lot of songs on this list. I was 14 this year and just getting heavily into pop music. These and the next few years are the songs of my youth. I voted for “Silly Love Songs”, though “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” was a close second. ---
**Author:** ![IndianStones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ebca7d/32.png) [@IndianStones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IndianStones)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2014, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1976/699977/57 "2014-10-01T00:50:46Z")
How is Abba’s “Dancing Queen” not on the list? ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2014, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1976/699977/58 "2014-10-01T01:08:18Z")
> [@IndianStones](#): > > How is Abba’s “Dancing Queen” not on the list? Wrong year. It will be on the 1977 list. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2014, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1976/699977/59 "2014-10-01T01:34:35Z")
Well, this is as good a place as any to share one of my favorite Redd Kross songs, [1976](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ad2HWkH7FDY). ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2014, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1976/699977/60 "2014-10-01T01:47:31Z")
OK then, well here’s a cool [Max Webster](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmMfOvasjdY) song from 1976. (Totally famous in Canada, but no where else. Good band though.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1976/699977.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1976/699977.md?page=4)