Have a Nice Decade: The 70s Pop Culture Box CD4 Poll

wonder if those Coors Light commercials have hurt "Love Train" from getting some votes. i went to the DMV today and brought this CD along so i can make up my mind. "Midnight Train", "Hello", "Seasons", "Air" and "Radar" really stood out. have to go with Todd Rundgren for this poll.

"Love Train." Fuck Coors.

"The Night Chicago Died" please.

Midnight Train but wish it wasn't here so I could vote for Hello It's Me

"Tell Me Something Good" ... I always forget until I'm actually hearing it again just how effing steamy that one sounds.

"Long Train Runnin'"!! That guitar!! How fucking awesome is that guitar???

They picked "Hello It's Me" instead of "I Saw the Light"? Whatever.

Always pretty much cringed at "Love Train" (though I pretty much love the O'Jays otherwise, go figure.)

Voting "Midnight Train To Georgia" -- a boring choice, but I'm just being honest. Also rans: "Brother Louie," "Rock The Boat," "Radar Love," "Night Chicago Died." Then maybe "Midight At the Oasis," "Do It (Til You're Satisfied)," "Long Train Runnin," "Billy Don't Be A Hero," a few more.

Cool how the first four tracks go: Train, Train/Georgia, Georgia, Train though.

Lady. Just bein' honest. Hello, It's Me is second.

those drums in "Lady" and That guitar! in "Long Train Runnin" just rule. :-)

"Hello It's Me". I haven't actually heard "Brother Louie" though, but I have the impression Stories may be my kind of thing so maybe that's what I should have voted for then.

Also love "Long Train Runnin" and "The Air That I Breathe"

I think I head the Stories' version of "Louie" by Hot Choc.

Voted for AirthatI

"The Payback" by a huuuuge margin, but then "The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia" and "Midnight Train to Georgia" next.

This disk seems to have more jokey one-off hit singles than the other disks.

"you're no good." i love that groove, and linda doesn't get nearly enough love (or even enough hate) on ILM.

i really don't know anything about Linda Ronstadt outside a few songs, is there something i should check out?

"The Air That I Breathe"!

i really don't know anything about Linda Ronstadt outside a few songs, is there something i should check out?

Heck yeah! How Do I Make You and I Can't Let Go. I like Nu-Wave Linda.

"Love Train" at a canter. However, somebody please vote for "Seasons in the Sun"; it gets far too much undeserved h8.

If Todd Rundgren is a choice in just about any poll, I'll take it.

Gotta say I'm amazed and totally perplexed by all the Rundgren support here. I mean, "Hello It's Me" is okay, sure -- I still have the 45. But I kind of never saw what the big deal with that guy was, in general. He seems like somebody Geir would love, mainly (and Geir voting for his song makes perfect sense.) Has he become some kind of hero for fans of wimpy indie pop lately, or something? Either way, I just never had any idea he (and that song) had such a following here. (Ditto "The Air That I Breathe" which is...pretty. Just never cared about it much.)

i like a good bit of rundgren, "hello it's me" included. but he's basically exactly what you suspect -- some kind of hero to a LOT of people like geir, the basic big star raspberries posies crowded house left banke jellyfish wondermints power pop massive. strong melodic sensibility. check. lotsa harmonies. check. plays-all-instruments studio perfectionist sensibility. check. wore bellbottoms at one time or another. check. turned into a bitter grouch somewhere along the way. check.

can't remember if i voted o'jays cuz it's my real answer or midnight at the oasis cuz it's the one that made me smile most to see it here. like 'hello it's me', it'd probably be number six or seven of these for me. almost definitely would've voted for 'i saw the light' if it had been up there. have never been that crazy about him, the fanbase is this weird mix of the powerpop devotees and zappa fans. thought that one rundgren song sounded great in the daft punk movie. thought the rundgren sample on the hot chip was by far one of the worst ideas i've heard this year.

this weird mix of the powerpop devotees and zappa fans

see also: sparks

Gotta be Rufus. Funkiest thing here, edging out JB by a nose hair.

Like "Hello it's me" enough for it to edge out "Radar Love" and "Midnight Train." But I love about 5 Rundgren songs and can't stand the rest.

Some really awful 70s AM radio schlock on this list, "Lady," "Air," "Seasons," and "Night the Lights Went Out." Not nostalgic for any of that. But judging by the comments above... what can I say? Thankfully it was almost time for punk to blow everything up.

(edit) Just re-listened to "Billy," yikes, that's crap, too. "Night Chicago Died," "Rock the Boat," and "Midnight at the Oasis" still sounding good.

Some really awful 70s AM radio schlock on this list

OTM, more so than the previous entries in this series ... I think some items that are getting love here might fall out of favor if people had to hear them over and over and over again, as some of us once did.,

I had "Love Train" in my head when I woke up a few days ago, so that.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

But I kind of never saw what the big deal with that guy was, in general.

Todd Rundgren has released a lot of great songs and a lot of rubbish. "Hello It's Me" belongs to the former category, which is better represented on "Something/Anything" than on any other album by him.

Hmm. I now discover I have voted for "Hello It's Me" while I really thought I voted for "I Saw The Light".

I love the original version of "Hello It's Me" by Nazz, but not too keen on the live in studio version from "Something/Anything"

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

So...The O'Jays' biggest and dumbest hit. Beats me why people like it so much, but there you go.

some ppl like big and dumb and disco. some ppl even LOVE it.

So how come nobody voted for the BT Express song, which is just as big and dumb and a lot more disco (and a lot better)?

Nobody was sure whatever it was..

LOTSA (great) big dumb disco and incipient disco tracks up there, true; but I seriously would've had to vote for "Lady" if I bothered to vote. What other 1974 hit managed to squeeze in Elton John, Uriah Heep and Yes into under three minutes and take it to the top 5?

Anywyas, George McCrae totally shoulda won this poll. ("Rock Your Baby" totally should've been included on this CD.)