OK. So, after being more than five years absent from this board, I have to respond to this thread.
Olivers Army.
Kind of obvious, huh?
The problem with lists like this is what is influencial now wasn’t necessarily then.
You Light Up My Life the biggest song of the 70s hasn’t lived much, but The Long And Winding Road is pretty much a standard (or as close as you get in the rock era)
The MTV list (with VH1) is too heavily dependent on songs with a video.
The problem with the 70s is everyone thinks Disco. But from 1970-1975 the overwhelming theme was soft (very soft) rock, as noted with the Carpenters or Olivia Newton-John (along with Rod Stewart one of the few artists to last the entire decade and a bit more, even Elton John died in the late 70s to come back in 84).
So you have to look at influence at what was the time.
Clearly a song like Stayin’ Alive did more than hit the top of the charts it changed the direction of the top 100. So it really depends on how you want to define it
I’m just going to be nitpicky for a moment and state that “Beach Baby” was by a band called First Class. The band Lighthouse, which was indeed a Canadian group, did exist, but instead of “Beach Baby,” its hits included “One Fine Morning,” “Pretty Lady,” and “Sunny Days.”
Noted.
Three more:
Clap for the Wolfman (The Guess Who)
Please Come to Boston (Kenny Loggins)
Wildfire (Michael Martin Murphy)
The “Have a Nice Day” series of compilation discs from Rhino contains many “One Hit Wonders”
E.g. Skylark/Wildflower
E.g. Jo Jo Gunne/Run Run Run
E.g. Pilot/Magic
E.g. Reunion/Life is a Rock (but the Radio Rolled Me)
And I don’t know if Rhino has it on one of these volumes, but:
Stampeders/Sweet City Woman:
She feeds me love and tenderness and macaroons…
Bon, c’est bon, bon bon c’est bon bon!
Y’all are phillistines. Where is the love for Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show?
Sylvia’s Mother (1972)
The Cover of the Rolling Stone (1972)
Only 16 (1976)
A Little Bit More (1976)
Sharing the Night Together (1978)
When You’re in Love with a Beautiful Woman (1979)
Sexy Eyes (1980)
“Please Come to Boston” was written and sung by Dave Loggins, not his second cousin Kenny Loggins.
It eill depend where you were but one of the super groups was Slade- Darling be home Soon and Cum Feel the Noize.
Bay City Rollers?
A nominee I just remembered, know the song title but not the band. Who did “One Toke Over the Line”?
Brewer & Shipley
Who Are You–1978
IMHO the definitive list is WABC’s “Top 100 of 197#”.
CMC +fnord!
Well, as usual, I’ll offer some of my obvious Cooper contributions (shame on no one else for having done so already – tsk, tsk!)…
I’m Eighteen
No More Mister Nice Guy
School’s Out
Welcome to my Nightmare