# The most 70s song **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 10, 2014, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-70s-song/700959 "2014-10-10T13:14:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-70s-song/700959/1 "2014-10-10T13:14:12Z")
You know the drill\* - music buffs, I’m after your suggestions for the song that is most evocative of the decade in which it was made, my metric being if you played it to 1000 randomers the more who get that it’s from the '70s the more '70s it is. This time, we’ve turned up the difficulty _considerably_. There’s so much going on in the '70s, so many different phases, isolating one song as ‘the most’ of the decade is pretty much impossible. But let’s try anyway! I know I’m going to get ripped to shred for this one and they’ll be many many better suggestions, but my tentative answer is the Bee Gees - [_Stayin’ Alive_](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_izvAbhExY) from 1977. - Oh, and last one of these I’ll post. I don’t know enough about the '50s and don’t care enough about the '90s/00s/10s. ---
**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:** [October 10, 2014, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-70s-song/700959/2 "2014-10-10T13:26:27Z")
First thing that comes to mind is the Eagles’ “Hotel California,” but there are a hundred equally worthy picks. ---
**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:** [October 10, 2014, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-70s-song/700959/3 "2014-10-10T13:31:07Z")
Thread over. ---
**Author:** ![SaharaTea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@SaharaTea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SaharaTea)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-70s-song/700959/4 "2014-10-10T13:31:43Z")
> [@Mr.Kobayashi](#): > > I know I’m going to get ripped to shred for this one and they’ll be many many better suggestions, but my tentative answer is the Bee Gees - [_Stayin’ Alive_](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_izvAbhExY) from 1977. I agree with you. Fairly or unfairly, when someone says “70s music” I immediately think of disco. No other song embodied that era quite as well. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-70s-song/700959/5 "2014-10-10T14:20:00Z")
For me, the quintessential Seventies songs are: “Straiway to Heaven” by Led Zeppelin “Color My World” by Chicago I don’t particularly LIKE either song (even if I once did, I’d be sick to death of both), but those songs immediately transport me to the mid-Seventies. ---
**Author:** ![Ken001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/43a26b/32.png) [@Ken001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ken001)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-70s-song/700959/6 "2014-10-10T14:22:14Z")
> [@SaharaTea](#): > > I agree with you. Fairly or unfairly, when someone says “70s music” I immediately think of disco. No other song embodied that era quite as well. Oh dear. Really? Disco was a late entry to the 70s - 1977 at best. IMHO the 70s were as rich a decade as the 60s for new pop/rock music. David Bowie, Led Zeppelin, Emerson Lake and Palmer, The Sex Pistols, the Ramones etc etc. Heck, even Supertramp. Disco was a bland fun blight on the music landscape, played in pubs but not at the parties I went to. ---
**Author:** ![Ken001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/43a26b/32.png) [@Ken001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ken001)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-70s-song/700959/7 "2014-10-10T14:25:04Z")
Bohemian Rhapsody closely followed by Blinded By The Light. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-70s-song/700959/8 "2014-10-10T14:33:15Z")
[Backstabbers](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzTeLePbB08). I know there are more iconic songs, but this one is what came to mind when I read the thread topic. ---
**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 10, 2014, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-70s-song/700959/9 "2014-10-10T14:45:56Z")
For some reason, the theme from Shaft is what first came to mind. ---
**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 10, 2014, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-70s-song/700959/10 "2014-10-10T14:47:25Z")
When I saw 70s, Elton John popped into my head, and then “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.” There are no doubt other songs that exemplify the 70s better. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-70s-song/700959/11 "2014-10-10T14:54:16Z")
Dobie Gray - Drift Away It may not be one of the first hundred you think of, but that wasn't the stated criterion. This song, the sound screams SEVENTIES!!! to me, and I'm guessing to your test group as well. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-70s-song/700959/12 "2014-10-10T15:11:42Z")
Going in a different direction, I’m going to say something like Do You Wanna Make Love [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ailu5CdWgas) -because it is absolutely impossible to listen to that song in any time other than the 70s. It is the opposite of “timeless.” It is only 70s. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-70s-song/700959/13 "2014-10-10T15:16:16Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > When I saw 70s, Elton John popped into my head… I think Levon to me is the song that exemplifies the 70s. But, perhaps to be truly a 70s song, it needs a Fender Rhodes piano. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-70s-song/700959/14 "2014-10-10T15:32:25Z")
Fleetwood Mac, “Dreams.” Take _that_, “Hotel California”! ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-70s-song/700959/15 "2014-10-10T15:46:16Z")
The Who: ‘Won’t get fooled again’. ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-70s-song/700959/16 "2014-10-10T15:49:03Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > But, perhaps to be truly a 70s song, it needs a Fender Rhodes piano. Bloody Well Right? My first thought was More Than a Feeling by Boston. ---
**Author:** ![No\_umlaut\_for\_U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ea5d25/32.png) [@No\_umlaut\_for\_U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/No_umlaut_for_U)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-70s-song/700959/17 "2014-10-10T15:52:37Z")
“Philadelphia Freedom,” (blecch) by Elton John. Personally, I’d choose “More than a Feeling.” ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-70s-song/700959/18 "2014-10-10T15:57:40Z")
Non-disco: American Pie. Disco: Dancing Queen. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-70s-song/700959/19 "2014-10-10T16:00:44Z")
> [@Ken001](#): > > Oh dear. Really? Disco was a late entry to the 70s - 1977 at best. Not really true. “Love Train” by The O’Jays, “The Love I Lost” by Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes and “Rock The Boat” by The Hues Corporation were all considered disco, and were released in (respectively) 1972, 1973 and 1974. '74 was also the year NYC’s WPIX started the first disco radio show and when Love Unlimited Orchestra’s “Love’s Theme” went to #1 (thanks, Wiki). Anyway, to me personally, I’d pick either “Dancing Queen” or “Bohemian Rhapsody”. ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-70s-song/700959/20 "2014-10-10T16:10:48Z")
These threads just show how different the era was to different people. I can’t disagree with most or all of the choices so far, yet I offer another most 70’s song. [Chevy Van, by Sammy Johns](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBNRfZlGatw) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-70s-song/700959.md?page=2)