I discovered Mojo Nixon back in 2002-2003 or so, when he abruptly became the afternoon DJ on KGB-FM in San Diego (my favorite station when I lived there, one of the original “album rock” FM stations that gradually transitioned to classic rock over the years, and birthplace of the San Diego Chicken). I don’t think he’s doing that anymore, but he’s just as awesome a DJ as he is a musician, and would frequently go on silly rants between sets with topics such as “The government already has the flying cars and they’re not giving them to us” and “Jeff Gordon is a robot designed by Yankees to bring down NASCAR from the inside”, and they’d occasionally let him play some of his own songs and other stuff that didn’t really fit the station format.
Fair enough.
I didn’t watch MTV either but “Elvis is Everywhere” got a lot of airplay on Muchmusic as well.
The Dr. Dimento show was huge in the 80’s, it aired late Saturday nights here so we’d put it on at parties and laugh our drunk asses off. 
Neither am I, and I lived thru the 70s. But after the musical stylings of the earlier years of that decade, mediocrity was a giant relief.
Besides, look at the competition - I’m Your Boogie Man and Barry fucking Manilow.
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Except not the first part.
Regards,
Shodan
[QUOTE=It’s Not Rocket Surgery!]
I’m not sure a world where “You Light Up My Life” was the best song of the year is a world worth living in.
[/QUOTE]
I think referring to “You Light Up My Life” as mediocre is giving it far more praise than it deserves. The fact that this glurgy ballad which spent 10 weeks at the top of the charts in 1977 has only one vote in this poll gives me a slight feeling that there is at least some justice in the universe (not as much, however, if the song had been completely shut-out).
While we’re on the subject of YLUML, has anybody noticed how little airplay this song has had since it fell off the charts? Not even oldies stations that will play any bit of recorded dreck that charted during the 70s will go near it. You would almost think there’s some sort media conspiracy afoot to convince people born after 1977 that this song doesn’t exist. (If such a conspiracy exists, I for one heartily endorse it. Who says conspiracies have to be for bad purposes?)
Way overplayed? Definitely.
Still a great song.
The Eagles - Hotel California. The most 70s song of the 70s.
“Hotel California” is to the Eagles as “Freebird” is to Skynyrd as “Stairway” is to Zeppelin, and it’s been played and played a billion times…but that doesn’t make it a bad song in and of itself.
I voted for it as most of the rest of these songs are utter throwaways for the most part. Plus I despise most of disco so I had to go with a rock song.
\m/
My 12/13 year old self didn’t care for Hotel California. It was my least favorite song on the album (8 track, in my case). Of all the lists posted so far, this is the weakest to me. I wouldn’t be surprised if the #1 songs were worse during a lot of the eighties, though.
I’ve become addicted to these polls. C’mon, it’s already past 10:00, so where the hell is the 1978 poll? 
Went with the Bee Gees How Deep is Your Love.
Criminally underrated in my opinion.
mmm
Here it is. I work graveyard shift at the moment, so when these polls goes up depends on whether I’m working that night and what time I get home from work when I do.
Always adored that song, even when I was seven years old and thought they were singing “'cause we’re living in a world of food…”
Went with Fleetwood Mac. Am surprised that neither Gerry Rafferty nor Al Stewart is on the list. 
(Maybe next year?)
I’m afraid that Rafferty’s “Baker Street” only made #1 in Australia - it was a #2 in the US, with “Shadow Dancing” keeping it out of the top spot. Stewart never made #1 anywhere I’m aware of - “Time Passages” topped the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart, but peaked at #7 on the Hot 100.
And “Year of the Cat”? 
#8, I’m afraid.
Huh. I just listened to that one and, gotta admit, never heard it. I was born in '75, so it’s not something I’d know from the era, though.
I gotta admit too that I have a real fondness for “Dancing Queen.” It was at the top of the chart in September or early October of '76, the end of my summer in England. I remember hiking in Cornwall one evening in the rain and listening to it on the radio.
A wonderful time in my life! :o
Listen to the entire album, if you never have before. It’s really good!
Does anyone remember this show, which was a big hit in Britain during the same period? The songs got a lot of airplay while I was living in England.
“Shadow Dancing” kept “Baker Street” out for six weeks in 1978 which is another reason why I hate that song! At least you don’t hear it anymore even on oldies stations.
Six inches!
That was my reaction to it back in the 1970s.
Haven’t had reason to change.