top 50 "lost" US hits of the late '70s

Fuck Shaun Cassidy

below the top 50:

51. Average White Band - Cut The Cake
52. Meco - Star Wars Theme/Cantina Band
53. Donna Summer - MacArthur Park
54. The Beach Boys - Rock And Roll Music
55. Carpenters - Please Mr. Postman
56. Toby Beau - My Angel Baby
57. Alice Cooper - Only Women Bleed
58. Captain & Tennille - Shop Around
59. Paul Anka - I Don't Like To Sleep Alone
60. Ian Matthews - Shake It
61. Janis Ian - At Seventeen
62. Barbra Streisand & Neil Diamond - You Don't Bring Me Flowers
63. Electric Light Orchestra - Telephone Line
64. Shaun Cassidy - That's Rock 'N' Roll
65. Silver Convention - Get Up And Boogie
66. Larry Groce - Junk Food Junkie
67. Maxine Nightingale - Lead Me On
68. Barbra Streisand - My Heart Belongs To Me
69. Paul Anka - Times Of Your Life
70. Donna Summer - Love To Love You Baby
71. The Miracles - Love Machine (Part 1)
72. Player - This Time I'm In It For Love
73. Debby Boone - You Light Up My Life
74. High Inergy - You Can't Turn Me Off (In The Middle Of Turning Me On)
75. Randy Vanwarmer - Just When I Needed You Most
76. Tony Orlando & Dawn - He Don't Love You (Like I Love You)
77. Andy Gibb - (Love Is) Thicker Than Water
78. Engelbert Humperdinck - After The Lovin'
79. Leo Sayer - Long Tall Glasses (I Can Dance)
80. Johnnie Taylor - Disco Lady
81. Henry Gross - Shannon
82. Mike Post - The Rockford Files
83. Village People - In The Navy
84. Gladys Knight And The Pips - The Way We Were/Try To Remember
85. Sweet - Love Is Like Oxygen
86. Peter Brown - Dance With Me
87. Melissa Manchester - Midnight Blue
88. Alan O'Day - Undercover Angel
89. Raydio - Jack And Jill
90. Rex Smith - You Take My Breath Away
91. Nigel Olsson - Dancin' Shoes
92. Bonnie Pointer - Heaven Must Have Sent You
93. Frank Mills - Music Box Dancer
94. Ringo Starr - No No Song
95. Silver Convention - Fly, Robin, Fly
96. Dorothy Moore - Misty Blue
97. Freddy Fender - Before The Next Teardrop Falls
98. Phoebe Snow - Poetry Man
99. The Jacksons - Enjoy Yourself
100. Commodores - Sweet Love

i know more of these, unsurprisingly since they're further down the ranking. still surprising/slightly dismaying to see some of them there tho

and finally, the ten "least lost" year-end charting finishers from these years, which are now getting played far more than other hits of similar contemporary stature:

1. Kiss - Rock And Roll All Nite
2. Steve Miller Band - Take The Money And Run
3. Bachman-Turner Overdrive - You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet
4. Fleetwood Mac - Go Your Own Way
5. Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band - Hollywood Nights
6. Aerosmith - Walk This Way
7. Queen - Somebody To Love
8. Thin Lizzy - The Boys Are Back In Town
9. Michael Jackson - Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough
10. Van Halen - Dance The Night Away

(unsurprisingly they're almost all rock)

I've got time for all of these...

21. Bill Conti - Gonna Fly Now (Theme From "Rocky")
24. Rhythm Heritage - Theme From S.W.A.T.
30. Barbra Streisand & Donna Summer - No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)
31. Randy Newman - Short People
32. Cher - Take Me Home
33. Keith Carradine - I'm Easy
39. Barbra Streisand - The Main Event/Fight
41. Barbra Streisand - Evergreen (Love Theme From "A Star Is Born")
48. Barry Manilow - Could It Be Magic
49. B.T. Express - Express
53. Donna Summer - MacArthur Park
61. Janis Ian - At Seventeen
63. Electric Light Orchestra - Telephone Line
71. The Miracles - Love Machine (Part 1)
92. Bonnie Pointer - Heaven Must Have Sent You
95. Silver Convention - Fly, Robin, Fly
99. The Jacksons - Enjoy Yourself

Tho Donna Summer's version of the Manilow song is better.

It's the Vangelis disadvantage again, which puts the curse on some totally worthy instrumentals. In the real world there's nothing forgettable about:

Gonna Fly Now
Theme from SWAT
Gonna Swat That Fly Now Theme
A Fifth of Beethoven
Express

Out of #1-50 I'd have to go with
30. Barbra Streisand & Donna Summer - No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)

And I have a soft nostalgic spot for
6. Melissa Manchester - Don't Cry Out Loud

And hello, the first 45 I ever bought is here:
29. Leif Garrett - I Was Made for Dancin'

No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)

Gonna Fly Now for me

it is weird how radio nowadays basically pretends that instrumental hits in general never existed, even tho quite a few of them are still well liked and well known

I heard 'Jeans On' just the other week. Anyway got to be 'Short People' which doesn't belongon this list.

My snap judgment is BT Express, but there’s a couple I need to rehear before I vote.

Seriously though who does not get amped hearing Gonna Fly Now

...raises hand.

Gonna cry now

“Feelings” still popular enough in the 1990s to be the punchline in a terrible MC Hammer Pepsi commercial.

HAMMA

*throws Pepsi*

How is “gonna fly now” a “lost” hit?

Heh was kiiinda wondering that

I recall “A Fifth of Beethoven” as the opening song on a great disco compilation I had as a kid. “I’m Not Lisa” was a not-bad country tune on one of those “Super Hits of the 70s” comps that ILM polled a couple years ago. I’m a sucker for old country music. Have no memory of anything else on this list.

Don't Cry Out Loud got 2nd wind on that one ep of Schitt's Creek

61. Janis Ian - At Seventeen

One of the worst songs of all-time.

I was a little kid listening to Mom's AM radio in this era. Of the top 50, I knew 15 of these; of the remainder, I only recognized the two Kenny Nolan songs when I heard them.

I'm not generally a Streisand fan, but Evergreen is a perfectly written and performed song. I particularly love how each verse uses a slightly different chord progression to match the tone of the lyrics and provide support to the melody. The only other song I might vote for is A Little More Love.

The unusual discovery here is Dean Friedman, who seems to be some uncalled-for hybrid between Rupert Holmes and Billy Joel.

thanks or no thanks to Wikipedia I now know that "Don't Cry Out Loud" was likely inspired by co-writer Peter Allen's recollection of trying to deal with his father's suicide when he was 14

I haven’t heard all of these but I love “Express” so I’m voting that

How is “gonna fly now” a “lost” hit?

these lists are just about how "lost" they are on today's fm stations. it doesn't necessarily mean they're actually forgotten in general

tbh tho w/ "gonna fly now" i had forgotten that there was any lyrical content at all, for whatever reason i've tended to remember it as a pure instrumental consisting of basically just the intro section lol

~gonna FLYYYYYY nooooowwwww~

I guess "Star WARS.... nothing but STAR Wars.... " is not a lost late' 70s instrumental

Easy choice because of this on the Muppet Show when I was ten years old.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDgNNbyoWdk

I read the first entry backwards 5 times and was wondering why Deep Purple had a hit about the Osmonds

Jesus, all three Cooper songs... He really got sucked into that '70s easy listening thing for a minute there...

Surprised to say that I don't think there's a single song from the first 50 where I don't feel anything beyond indifference. (Know most except a handful.) From the second 50, "Misty Blue" followed by (I had to double-check off YouTube) "Midnight Blue." Didn't know Maxine Nightingale had a second hit.

“Feelings” still popular enough in the 1990s to be the punchline in a terrible MC Hammer Pepsi commercial.

― Mr. Snrub, Saturday, December 26, 2020 6:37 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

HAMMA

*throws Pepsi*

― Looking for Cape Penis house (Neanderthal),

PROPAH

only vote for - Leif Garrett - I Was Made For Dancin'

earlier this year i watched this video of silver convention performing "get up and boogie" for (i think) a german tv program and was v amused by how the audience looks like it could not be more bored

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKGrfC1860o

xp

you're saying that, but this is my shortlist:

29. Leif Garrett - I Was Made For Dancin' [for its bassline and breathless pop-disconess, very much enhanced back then for me by the hottness of The Garrett]
30. Barbra Streisand & Donna Summer - No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)
41. Barbra Streisand - Evergreen (Love Theme From "A Star Is Born")
49. B.T. Express - Express
50. Olivia Newton-John - A Little More Love [this is another one of my favourite ONJs, I voted for "Twist of Fate" in the previous poll]

("Could It Be Magic" would have been there too had it been the Donna Summer version)

I know about 60% of these (and 75% of the second 50) - either because they were (airplay) hits in the Netherlands as well or because I heard them on the Sunday afternoon broadcasts of Casey Kasem's American Top 40 on AFN Germany.

Checked out some of the interesting looking ones that I didn't know: Joe Simon, Eddie Kendricks, the two Sylvers tracks ("Hot Line" is fun), and the two Kenny Nolan tracks: so this is the guy who co-wrote and/or produced "Lady Marmalade", Jim Gilstrap's "Swing Your Daddy", and motherfucking Disco Tex and the Sex-O-lettes (he was the falsetto on "Get Dancin'" apparently!) - but you wouldn't know it from those hits that I didn't know he'd had.
That leaves the biggest surprise for me: Bazuka's "Dynomite" - had never heard of it, but it's great. Boogie/disco/funk which, unexpectedly, has a significant dose of Dave & Ansell Collins's "Double Barrel" in its dna. Fits quite well with Disco Tex, in fact. (I also learned that Mr. Bazuka, Tony Camillo, was involved in two of my favourite Gladys/Pips songs: "Midnight Train to Georgia" and "I Feel a Song (In My Heart)") Maybe I should shortlist this one as well!

you're right, dyl, it's German TV. love the socially distanced performing avant la lettre there.

xp

not one person got up and boogied despite being told to about 50 times

I have a weird love for "Baby Face." My first radio job at age 19 was a very staid MOR station, Tony Bennett and Robert Goulet mixed with the soft pop of the day, Carpenters, Anne Murray etc., but the occasional lite disco flavored song like this one made it into the playlist as well. Album cuts were permissible on the late night shift, so I used to play the 10 minute "Old Fashioned Medley" ("Swanee," "Toot Toot Tootsie," more) when I needed to take a break.

Oh my, that "Dynomite" is indeed great. I'm sure the "Dy-no-mite!" shout has been sampled on something.

I also somehow failed to notice B.T. Express - Express which might have got my vote. Oh well, Lucky Leif got it. I'm surprised how well that has aged.

Yeah,"Dynomite" is dynamite, that percolating rhythm track. One of the ones I thought I knew by the title, but it was new to me.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

I am mostly aware of Dynkmite due to being heavily sampled in this song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKKog8lyzRo

oh nice catch!

Jessi Colter was seriously hawt and is Scooter Jenning's mom.

https://images.genius.com/fbd5c52ac760d10d592a130275e65e46.640x640x1.jpg

I have never heard anything by Len except “Steal my Sunshine.” That video is so goofy it’s awesome.

my vote was soft as an easy chair

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Would have liked to have seen a vote for “Angie Baby” and “Ariel” - and more voters in general - but otherwise these results look about right.

Almost voted for “Angie Baby.”

i was certain I voted for Gonna Fly Now. I guess I just ate an eclair instead

Can’t remember what I ended up choosing, or if I even did.

I had no idea that Alice Cooper made music like that!

i would vote for so many of these

so torn between Hey Deanie & I Was Made For Dancin’

i represent the Tiger Beat vote :D

This was an especially stratified mix of those I kind of liked, those I detested and those I forgot about completely.