US #1s of 1970

Y'ALL BETTER NOT FUCK THIS ONE UP

2. "Tears of a Clown"
3. "Thank You"
4. "ABC"
5. "War"

pretty easy:

The Jackson 5, "I Want You Back"

dope year overall, btw

Literally can't choose between "Venus" and "Tears of a Clown."

Actually, no, I keep trying to remember the verses of "Venus" and wind up segueing into "She's Not There" instead. Smokey then.

venus

(even though send me a postcard is a vastly better SB song and shoulda been as big)

has there been a jackson 5 poll yet

The Jackson 5, "I Want You Back"
Sly & the Family Stone, "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)"
The Carpenters, "(They Long to Be) Close to You"
Diana Ross, "Ain't No Mountain High Enough"

gone with Want you Back in other polls, so briefly considered voting for something else. Then remembered that it is on of the best songs ever recorded, and couldn't justify not voting for it.

L&WR hit number one?!? what the fucking fuck.

amazing year though

gotta go with Sly

Sly is taller than the rest

Man, music really was better back then.

korn ruelz

The Carpenters, "I Think I Love You"????

the partidge family, no?

Bridge Over Troubled Water vs Three Dog Night.

My Sweet Lord
spirit > flesh
--slide guitar--
Hare Krishna > do lang do lang

oh fuck, my bad xxp

can't change poll options tho :/

Three Dog Night, "Mama Told Me (Not to Come)"
The Carpenters, "(They Long to Be) Close to You"
Bread, "Make It With You"

^^^^ one of this trio for me
i'm white btw

this one hurt -- I like my pick but I feel like I sold out one of my all-time faves for another all-time fave

"Tears of a Clown" is one of the most perfect things ever recorded, so this, despite formidable competition. I wonder if I'm the only person who finds "Raindrops" formidable competition? That song is beautifully strange.

What a fucking year!

I voted for Smokey.

Sad note: I had never heard of Shocking Blue and only know the song from the ladies' razor commercials. (I'm 24)

Bridge Over Troubled Water.

I count at least 10 possibilities. No one's going for "Raindrops." It's too bad but I won't either. Has to be "I want you back."

Even the Ray Stevens record is OK, and while the Guess Who song is WTF, it does have a great riff.
Everything else up there is basically gold.

I voted Raindrops, after much deliberation.

"The Love You Save," by the way. Cleverest lyrics of the J5's "kiddie" phase.

Also, is "My Sweet Lord" the only Apple 45 with green labels on both sides?

My favourite (in an extremely strong list) is "I Want You Back" but just so that Canada does get a vote I'm going for "American Woman."

love the J5, but Sly beats anything. ever.

Also, is "My Sweet Lord" the only Apple 45 with green labels on both sides?

1) It doesn't (The UK version anyway, I have a european e.p. which does, but that has Bangladesh on side 2)
2) "Power to the People"/"Open Your Box" does.

I think there's another.

Strong year. Went for "I'll Be There" in the end, but it might as well have been "Let It Be", "Bridge Over Troubled Water", "Tears of a Clown" or "I Want You Back".

And, yep, "Raindrops" is great too.

"I Want You Back" despite heavy traffic.

tough, but "I Want You Back"

(probly wd've been my runnerup to "I Think I Love You' in '70)

"Bridge Over Troubled Water" will be around for as long as there are humans on Earth, so that's something.

"Cracklin' Rosie"

"Bridge Over Troubled Water" will be around for as long as there are humans on Earth, so that's something.

― Eazy

same's probably true of raindrops and let it be

Jacksons and Smokey > everything else.

It's kind of a shame that the Jacksons will have their votes split because those are all such winning tracks. ABC = grooviest, I Want You Back = finest bassline, Love You Save = cleverest lyrics. But aahh, then there's Tears of a Clown.

Went with Love You Save because I'm a sucker for clever lyrical conceits like the shout-outs to Newton, Franklin, Bell, and Columbus.

That so many fantastic songs coexisted with (say) Bread is mind-boggling.

the wealth of awesome here is just embarrassing.

Going with J5's "The Love You Save" (where Michael introduces paranoid pathologies that would serve him well for decades); these also in the running:

The Jackson 5, "I Want You Back"
The Shocking Blue, "Venus"
Sly & the Family Stone, "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)"
The Jackson 5, "ABC"
The Guess Who, "American Woman"
Three Dog Night, "Mama Told Me (Not to Come)"
The Carpenters, "(They Long to Be) Close to You"
Edwin Starr, "War"
Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, "Tears of a Clown"

Should note that Smokey song was written by Stevie Wonder, and was my #1 pick before settling on Raindrops (Cracklin' Rosie was a strong consideration too)

If I'm not mistaken, Stevie co-wrote the music with I forget who; Smokey wrote the lyrics (reusing his Pagliacci line).

never liked the 3dn Newman cover anywhere near as much as Randy's. still kinda surprised it ranked that high.

In 1970 (I was 12) I would have voted 3 Dog Night.
1980 (influenced by English Beat) it would have been Smokey.
1990 (getting more and more into funk) Sly.
And now?
I Want You Back.

Why didn't these hit #1? :-(

King Floyd - Groove Me
Five Stairsteps - Ooh Child
Tyrone Davis - Hands of Time
Badfinger - Come and Get it
Badfinger - No Matter What
Bobby Bloom - Montego Bay
George harrison - What is Life
Gordon Lightfoot - If You Could Read My Mind
John Lennon - Instant Karma
Mungo Jerry - In the Summertime
joni Mitchell - Big Yellow Taxi
Paul McCartney - Maybe I'm Amazed
The Carpenters - We've Only Just Begun
Partridge Family - Come On Get Happy

Such a great year

Anyone who hasn't voted should listen to Ain't not Mtn High Enough with headphones on and then vote.

wow. with a list like this i have to fall back on totally subjective what-meant-most-to-me measures, and i have this really fond memory of finding a used vinyl copy of a smokey/miracles greatest hits collection my freshman year of college. so, smokey.

(man, ashford & simpson are on tavis smiley right now and making me feel bad for not voting for "ain't no mountain")

v v good year, gut says sly.
tempted to vote for bread, but that's not really my jam. i'm more of a 'baby i'ma want you' kinda guy.

Sorry Rev, "Tears of a Clown" came close but "I Want You Back" altered my cellular composition forever, that jam will forever be the true jam

then Diana, then "I'll Be There"

j5 ringtone

On a list of great pop singles, particularly the Miracles, that Sly and the Family Stone record stands out as something earth shattering and different.

I think I voted "Ain't No Mountain" in the end, but man if "Falettin Me" wasn't close.

Impulsively went "Raindrops," could as easily have gone "Thank You" or "My Sweet Lord" or any of the J5s. Great list.

J0hn, if you'll notice, "Tears of A Clown" was my #2. XD

As in, my #1 went without saying.

it is so obviously 'I Want You Back' that i'm kind of shocked this other stuff is on here. especially the fucking beatles. Let it Be and Long and Winding Road are both excruciating.

J0hn, if you'll notice, "Tears of A Clown" was my #2. XD

ha, no I hadn't, I just saw something other than "I Want You Back" in the top spot and blanked on the #

incredible year for Motown imo, though as far as I'm concerned you can keep most of the rest

oh boy, "I Want You Back" and "Bridge Over Troubled Water"

actually not too big on a lot of these. sly in a cakewalk. "thank you" has sly's best ever lyric:

lookin' at the devil
grinnin' at his gun
fingers start shakin'
i begin to run

bullets start chasin'
i begin to stop
we begin to wrestle
i was on the top

as greil marcus says in 'mystery train,' the beauty of those lines is the way they seem to happen in slow motion ("begin to...," "start...").

Is "Thank You" what started the style of thumb-slapping the bass?

I've heard it called the first song to use slap bass, but I have no idea how accurate that is.

The lyrics that have me voting Thank You are actually the last verse, the vocals are buried in the mix but the lyrics exploded in my mind when I found out what they were saying. Starts off with a powerful sense of paranoia and alienation ("Flamin' eyes of people fear, burnin' into you/Many men are missin' much, hatin' what they do") and then asks the youth movement ("Youth and truth are makin' love, dig it for a starter") what it would do now that it was growing up ("Dyin' young is hard to take, sellin' out is harder"). The opposite of peace and love, and the choice between death or the death of an ideal. If 1970 was the tombstone of the 60's, those lyrics are the engraving.

nice. kinda makes Riot seem inevitable.

xp

Bootsy Collins himself gives tribute to Larry Graham as the originator of the slap bass style in some '90s BBC documentary or other (Heroes of Rock 'n' Roll?).

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

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

Thank you.

Y'all right -- what an amazing year.