Going to add in some
Funky Town
YMCA
Flashlight
Superstition
You Light Up My Life
Afternoon Delight
Slow Ride
Sky Rockets in Flight. It even spawned a cheesy 70s variety show that Letterman wrote for. That song is an avocado green fridge in a leisure suit driving an AMC Pacer.
Stayin’ Alive - Bee Gees
That’s Afternoon Delight. (Love it).
I might have said Baker Street, but the 70’s were really just too much to be encapsulated by one song!
“Born to Run”
Whatever it is, it absolutely has to feature a Fender Rhodes piano.
Remember, the Sixties didn’t end until Nixon resigned in 1974. “Hotel California” and “Stairway to Heaven” would have been from the Decadent Era of the Sixties, as creativity was stagnating and genius was giving way to commercial rock product.
I vote for “Don’t Worry About the Government” by Talking Heads. My building has every convenience! It’s gonna make life easy for me!
Babe by Styx. Unfortunately quintessential. Jeez, it was the Big Slow Song™ at a few high school dances I went to. Argh.
Clearly the answer is “Boogie Fever.” We’re done here.
Layla
I think the 70’s had an awful lot of ‘cringe-y’ songs so I, too, nominate ‘Afternoon Delight’.
No, I understand what he’s saying. He’s looking for an ephemeral song that could only be recorded and chart in the 70s–a disposable song that is tied to the decade and is largely forgotten today but was a hit back then that exemplified the 70s. You know, something like, I don’t know, “Pac Man Fever” for the early 80s, but maybe not quite that much of a novelty song.
I wasn’t really around in the 70s, so I don’t have a good answer. Maybe something by Captain and Tenille, but maybe something more obscure.
Love that fun little pop dance song.
Do me a favor, here’s a live version off The Midnight Special: The Sylvers - Boogie Fever (Midnight Special 1976) - YouTube
When the main riff starts, start singing the first verse from The Beatles’ Day Tripper: “Got a good reason, for taking the easy way out”…
Totally fits, right?
The entire Donna Summer Bad Girls album…especially after some weed and beer.
What was that Chuck Mangione song? You know, the one with the trumpet.
Feels So Good. I think he plays Flugelhorn on that one.
Or maybe Convoy.
It has to be Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. It was the constant background theme music of my senior year in high school.