# 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:** 4
**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, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1976/699977/61 "2014-10-01T02:16:50Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > 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.) Neat song. I’m often surprised by how little music relatively gets across the border. I remember driving across the border listening to top 40 radio in Canada and recognizing only maybe half the songs on there. ---
**Author:** ![SeldomSeen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ba0ec/32.png) [@SeldomSeen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeldomSeen)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2014, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1976/699977/62 "2014-10-01T02:50:32Z")
“A Fifth of Beethoven” it is, partly because it’s a well-played instrumental and partly for nostalgic reasons. Anyone remember quadraphonic stereo? My older and more sophisticated cousin was showing off his new system and chose this song to demonstrate. It was the first time I’d heard either the song or a really first-rate sound system. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2014, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1976/699977/63 "2014-10-01T09:47:11Z")
Jesus, the year Punk broke and this is the chart? Anyway, I went with “_Love Rollercoaster_”. It was either that or “_Oh What A Night_” ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2014, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1976/699977/64 "2014-10-01T12:56:15Z")
> [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](#): > > 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. In the sense that it is better to have your nuts bit off by a rabid wolverine than to be boiled alive in moose diarrhea. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![DChord568](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@DChord568](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DChord568)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2014, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1976/699977/65 "2014-10-01T13:17:26Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > But another vote for “50 Ways.” It’s smug, skeevy, and a little too self-consciously clever… This is the perfect description of almost all of Paul Simon’s solo work (or the radio hits, anyway). The only good thing I can say about “50 Ways” is that it’s not “Kodachrome.” All down to personal taste, I know, but the appeal of these songs (the second one in particular) utterly baffles me. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2014, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1976/699977/66 "2014-10-01T13:25:23Z")
I should never have read this thread. I was extremely comfortable not remembering any of these songs. (I turned 14 that year, lots of it was overplayed middle school fare.) But alas, I was ignorant of my comfort, and only now know it in hindsight. ---
**Author:** ![Eddie\_F](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/22d042/32.png) [@Eddie\_F](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eddie_F)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2014, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1976/699977/67 "2014-10-01T14:03:30Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > 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! Hey, I’d never noticed that before. It lends it a sort of Beatles vs. Jackson 5 feel that predated “The Girl Is Mine” by several years. Nifty! ---
**Author:** ![Learjeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/94ad74/32.png) [@Learjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Learjeff)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2014, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1976/699977/68 "2014-10-01T14:53:52Z")
Wow, what a dreadful year! But as I recall there was a lot of great music that year, it’s just not on the list. 75-76 was my Freshman year at UM. My roommate looked like Roger Daltry in Tommy. His name was Lee. I remember his year-long girlfriend, near the end of the year, saying “DROP OFF THE KEY, LEE!” ---
**Author:** ![Abracadebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f04885/32.png) [@Abracadebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abracadebra)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2014, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1976/699977/69 "2014-10-01T16:25:17Z")
I was 15 in 1976. It was the year my father and I camped out for Paul McCartney tickets outside the Omni in Atlanta. I look back on that time and am floored by my father’s patience and generosity. He would have never denied me that concert experience. In '76, this was Wings Over America. I’ve never not been a fan of McCartney, so he gets my sentimental vote here. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2014, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1976/699977/70 "2014-10-02T17:10:28Z")
1976 would’ve been the year I turned 8, and I had 45s of “50 Ways To Leave Your Lover” and “I Write the Songs.” I let my 8-year-old self vote in this poll for “I Write the Songs,” even though my current self can see how bombastically over-the-top it is. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2014, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1976/699977/71 "2014-10-02T17:27:47Z")
Chicago’s “If You Leave Me Now” is arguably one of the best love songs ever written, so I am going with that. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2014, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1976/699977/72 "2014-10-02T18:50:46Z")
Skyrockets in flight! A sappy pop song but it stays in my head. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2014, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1976/699977/73 "2014-10-03T13:42:51Z")
Had to go with Wild Cherry’s “Play That Funky Music.” It’s the only one on the list that actually sounds good. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2014, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1976/699977/74 "2014-10-03T23:51:09Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I picked 50 Ways. Love the drum part in that one. Song’s got a nice groove. I recall an episode of either “Sesame Street” or the Muppets where Simon appeared with a satire of that song titled “50 Ways To Love Your Lever”… Can’t find it on YouTube but I swear I’ve seen it… ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2014, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1976/699977/75 "2014-10-03T23:55:53Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > I recall an episode of either “Sesame Street” or the Muppets where Simon appeared with a satire of that song titled “50 Ways To Love Your Lever”… > > Can’t find it on YouTube but I swear I’ve seen it… It wasn't a song, just a little throwaway gag at the very beginning of the clip. (Though as I post this, I haven't watched the rest of it, so maybe there's a song too) ---
**Author:** ![Moonchild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@Moonchild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonchild)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2014, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1976/699977/76 "2014-10-04T03:28:12Z")
> [@gregorio](#): > > No way, man! That list is awesome!!! > > Says nine/ten year old me. The 10/11-year-old me, still rattling around in this cage, completely agrees. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2014, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1976/699977/77 "2014-10-04T14:41:07Z")
I love Paul Simon as much as the next guy, but I’ve never really enjoyed “50 Ways.” For me it was a toss-up between “Love Rollercoaster” and “If You Leave Me Now” (mmm…Peter Cetera’s voice…). The Rollercoaster won. How much of that decision is due to my enjoyment of the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ cover twenty years later I leave as an exercise for the reader. ---
**Author:** ![DonLogan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/51bf81/32.png) [@DonLogan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DonLogan)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2014, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1976/699977/78 "2014-10-04T18:49:39Z")
It would take a Quaalude, a six pack and a gram of coke to get me to vote for any of these. Love Rollercoaster still makes me laugh, though. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2014, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1976/699977/79 "2014-10-04T19:57:05Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > There was definitely a big wave of Beatles nostalgia hitting around this time - Elton John’s cover of “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds” had been a #1 the previous year, and it additionally showed up this year on the soundtrack of the all-but-forgotten (and with good cause, so I’ve heard) _All This and World War II_, which combined WWII stock footage with Beatles covers. The musical adaptation of _Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band_ had already become a hit off-Broadway at this point, and was headed for its eventual movie adaptation. I remember hearing “Back in the USSR” a _lot_ during the summer of '76. ---
**Author:** ![notquitekarpov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@notquitekarpov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notquitekarpov)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2014, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1976/699977/80 "2014-10-06T11:50:23Z")
“50 Ways” reluctantly - what a crappy set of songs. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1976/699977.md?page=3)