I recently acquired a neat audio artifact (from here): BBC Radio’s year-end countdown of the Top 50 songs of 1970!This combines three of my personal obsessions: popular music, foreign media, ’70s nostalgia.
In the early 1970s, during my pre-adolescence, I loved listening to Casey Kasem’s “American Top 40.” The U.K. equivalent was called “Pick of the Pops.” (Compared to Casey Kasem, I say the British host sounds rather corny.)
I’m streaming the final three songs of the 1970 British countdown on my Vox blog. I shan’t ruin the drama by revealing those titles here, except to say that the No. 1 song you probably remember fondly (but not that fondly).
I will say that “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” “All Right Now” and “Spirit in the Sky” were further down on the Top 10.
Also, there’s a cool extra bit at the very end of the show. So if you have 11 minutes to kill, click here and enjoy a trip back in time.
7 comments:
Well, I certainly recognize #3 and #1. #2 I recognize the singer, but not the song.
You must be older than I thought!
You must be older than I thought!
I'm definitely on the downhill side...
Just serves as a reminder that in any given year, the best-selling single is likely to be a novelty number. And what are later seen as the classics are not necessarily big hits at the time.
^ Indeed, Estiv. I was surprised most of all by the lesser placement of "Bridge Over Troubled Water."
I just now bothered to check Wikipedia. Turns out "In the Summertime" was a worldwide smash, selling 23 million copies. (Although it didn't reach No. 1 in the USA.)
And that Elvis live version of "The Wonder of You" only reached No. 9 in the USA, but was one of Elvis's biggest hits ever in the UK, topping the charts for six weeks. (Matter fact, it knocked "In the Summertime" off the perch.)
I started listening to American Top 40 in 1971, and from 1972 until 1977 I maintained a list of all the #1 songs. I still think that growing up on AM radio is one of the main reasons that my tastes are so varied and diverse. Where else could you conceivably hear a classic Stones rocker followed by a sublime Stylistics song followed by some dreck by the Osmond Brothers?
^ I'm with you, Jeff. Early-'70s Top 40 radio was fantastic! We even got the best of country music, like "Help Me Make It Through the Night."
Say what you will about #1 and #2 but Band of Gold is one of my all time favorites.
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