American Top 40 - Fourth of July 1979 Special: "The Top 40 Hits of the Disco Era, 1974-1979"

---

For the American Top 40 episode of July 7, 1979, Casey counted down "The Top 40 Hits of the Disco Era, 1974-1979." Methodology for determining chart placement is never discussed in the episode, but Casey states that "The Disco Era" started on July 4, 1974 when "Rock the Boat" hit #1 on the pop chart. In his words, it was the first song to hit #1 that had that "disco sound and disco feel." For comparison, I'll note here that Billboard magazine published its first disco chart on October 26, 1974, titled "Disco Action." Also, I share the opinion of many who believe the first disco song was "Soul Makossa" by Cameroonian saxophonist Manu Dibango, which peaked at #35 in 1973. But here's how the countdown is described in a June 30, 1979 memo to AT40 subscribing stations:

Rather vague, no? But here's what they came up with:

---

AT40 Extra #1: "Rock the Boat" by The Hues Corporation for reasons mentioned above.

Rank	Song	Artist	Top 40 Debut	Top 40 Peak	Disco Chart Peak	R&B Chart Peak
40	"Love To Love You Baby"	Donna Summer	12/20/75	2	1	3
39	"Shake Your Groove Thing"	Peaches & Herb	1/27/79	5	2	4
38	"(Every Time I Turn Around) Back in Love Again"	L.T.D.	11/12/77	4	19	1
37	"Last Dance"	Donna Summer	6/3/78	3	1	5
36	"Turn the Beat Around"	Vicki Sue Robinson	6/19/76	10	1
35	"Keep It Comin' Love"	K.C. & The Sunshine Band	8/13/77	2	9	3
34	"Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)"	The Jacksons	3/31/79	7	20	3
33	"Dance With Me"	Peter Brown	5/6/78	8	4	5

AT40 Extra #2: "How Deep Is Your Love" by The Bee Gees. The AT40 staff interviewed "dozens of disco DJs all around the country" and asked them which song they used to "cool things off a bit." This song was the third most mentioned.

Rank	Song	Artist	Debut	Top 40	Disco	R&B
32	"That's the Way (I Like It)"	K.C. & The Sunshine Band	11/1/75	1	18	1
31	"I Feel Love"	Donna Summer	9/3/77	6	3	9
30	"Dazz"	Brick	11/20/76	3	7	1
29	"Disco Inferno"	The Trammps	3/25/78	11	1	9
28	"Knock On Wood"	Amii Stewart	2/24/79	1	5	6

AT40 Extra #3: "The Twist" by Chubby Checker. Included as "the biggest dance hit of all time."

Rank	Song	Artist	Debut	Top 40	Disco	R&B
27	"You Should Be Dancing"	The Bee Gees	7/17/76	1	1	4
26	"Get Up and Boogie (That's Right)"	Silver Convention	4/17/76	2	5	5
25	"In the Navy"	Village People	3/31/79	3	14	30
24	"You Sexy Thing"	Hot Chocolate	12/6/75	3		6
23	"Got to Give It Up"	Marvin Gaye	4/23/77	1	1	1

AT40 Extra #4: "Three Times a Lady" by Commodores. Second-most popular slow song as voted by Disco DJs.

Rank	Song	Artist	Debut	Top 40	Disco	R&B
22	"Fly, Robin, Fly"	Silver Convention	10/25/75	1	1	1
21	"Hot Stuff"	Donna Summer	4/28/79	1	1	3
20	"Star Wars Theme/Cantina Band"	Meco	8/27/77	1	6	8
19	"More, More, More"	Andrea True Connection	4/24/76	4	2	23
18	"Miss You"	The Rolling Stones	6/10/78	1	6	33

AT40 Extra #5: "Disco Duck" by Rick Dees & His Cast of Idiots. Included because it was a #1 tune that wasn't played in discos and, instead, mocked disco music. Casey claims that the popularity of this novelty song was "a declaration that disco had arrived. If disco could be taken seriously enough to poke fun at it, then it wasn't just a passing fad, it had become a legitimate part of our pop culture."

Rank	Song	Artist	Debut	Top 40	Disco	R&B
17	"Car Wash"	Rose Royce	12/11/76	1	3	1
16	"If I Can't Have You"	Yvonne Elliman	2/25/78	1
15	"(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty"	K.C. & The Sunshine Band	7/31/76	1	9	1

AT40 Extra #6: "Reunited" by Peaches & Herb. The top slow song as voted by Disco DJs.

Rank	Song	Artist	Debut	Top 40	Disco	R&B
14	"I'm Your Boogie Man"	K.C. & The Sunshine Band	4/27/77	1	9	3
13	"Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)"	Chic	12/10/77	6	1	6
12	"MacArthur Park"	Donna Summer	9/30/78	1	1	8
11	"Don't Leave Me This Way"	Thelma Houston	1/29/77	1	1	1
10	"Y.M.C.A."	Village People	11/11/78	2	2	32
9	"Boogie Oogie Oogie"	A Taste of Honey	7/22/78	1	1	1
8	"I Love the Nightlife (Disco Round)"	Alicia Bridges	9/9/78	5	2	31

AT40 Extra #7: "The Hustle" by Van McCoy & Soul City Orchestra. Included as it "introduced the most popular dance step in American discos," according to Casey.

Rank	Song	Artist	Debut	Top 40	Disco	R&B
7	"Do Ya Think I'm Sexy"	Rod Stewart	12/23/78	1	1	5
6	"I Will Survive"	Gloria Gaynor	1/20/79	1	1	4
5	"A Fifth of Beethoven"	Walter Murphy & The Big Apple Band	7/4/76	1		10

AT40 Extra #8: "San Francisco (You've Got Me)" by Village People. Included as the song that "did the best on the disco chart without making the pop chart." Not to be pedantic, but the song topped the chart as an album cut alongside the other three tracks on the album. Casey mistakenly claims the song wasn't released as a single. It was actually the very first single released by the group and would peak on the Bubbling Under chart at #102 in January 1978.

Rank	Song	Artist	Debut	Top 40	Disco	R&B
4	"Best of My Love"	The Emotions	7/2/77	1	11	1
3	"Stayin' Alive"	The Bee Gees	12/24/77	1	3	4
2	"Night Fever"	The Bee Gees	2/11/78	1	3	8
1	"Le Freak"	Chic	11/18/78	1	1	1

Would make a helluva playlist. Artists appearing more than once in the countdown: Chic (2), The Bee Gees (2), The Village People (2), K.C. & The Sunshine Band (4), and Donna Summer (5). These 5 acts are responsible for 37.5% of the 40 tunes. The soundtrack for Saturday Night Fever fares quite well, too.

I could complain about the inclusion of the Rolling Stones or the low ranking of my all-time favorite disco tune, If I Can't Have You, but I won't because I'm happy to see Chic in the #1 spot. Plus, there were some great Nile Rodgers & Bernard Edwards disco tunes still to come with the likes of Sister Sledge and Diana Ross.

---

---

Previously, I've looked at these AT40 episodes:

May 26, 1984

July 2, 1983 - "The Forty Top Acts of the Eighties - So Far"
November 6, 1982
September 18, 1982
October 24, 1981
July 19, 1980
July 5, 1980 - "The Book of Records"
February 16, 1980
August 4, 1979
June 9, 1979 - Guest host: Bruce Philip Miller
September 16, 1978

July 1, 1978 - "The 40 Biggest Acts of the 70's"
April 1, 1978 - "AT40 Goes to the Movies"
April 23, 1977
July 4, 1976 - "4th of July's Greatest Hits"

Top Albums of March 1979

Let's take a look at what was topping the various album charts on March 17, 1979.

	Billboard	CashBox	Record World	Rolling Stone*
1	Spirits Having Flown Bee Gees	Spirits Having Flown Bee Gees	Spirits Having Flown Bee Gees	Briefcase Full of Blues The Blues Brothers
2	Blondes Have More Fun Rod Stewart	Minute by Minute The Doobie Brothers	Blondes Have More Fun Rod Stewart	Blondes Have More Fun Rod Stweart
3	Minute by Minute The Doobie Brothers	Blondes Have More Fun Rod Stewart	Briefcase Full of Blues The Blues Brothers	Dire Straits Dire Straits
4	Dire Straits Dire Straits	Dire Straits Dire Straits	Minute by Minute The Doobie Brothers	Spirits Having Flown Bee Gees
5	Cruisin' The Village People	52nd Street Billy Joel	Dire Straits Dire Straits	Minute by Minute The Doobie Brothers
6	Love Tracks Gloria Gaynor	Briefcase Full of Blues The Blues Brothers	52nd Street Billy Joel	52nd Street Billy Joel
7	Briefcase Full of Blues The Blues Brothers	Cruisin' The Village People	Totally Hot Olivia Newton-John	Armed Forces Elvis Costello
8	Totally Hot Olivia Newton-John	Love Tracks Gloria Gaynor	Cruisin' The Village People	Best of, Vol. 1 Earth, Wind & Fire
9	52nd Street Billy Joel	Totally Hot Olivia Newton-John	Love Tracks Gloria Gaynor	Toto Toto
10	Armed Forces Elvis Costello	Armed Forces Elvis Costello	2 Hot! Peaches & Herb	Totally Hot Olivia Newton-John

*March 22 issue

---

Exclusive MFD meta-analysis of the above charts:

1. Spirits Having Flown (37 pts)
2. Blondes Have More Fun (35 pts)
3. Minute by Minute (30 pts)
4. Dire Straits (28 pts)
5. Briefcase Full of Blues (27 pts)
6. 52nd Street (18 pts)
7. Cruisin' (13 pts)
8. (tie) Love Tracks, Totally Hot (10 pts)
10. Armed Forces (6 pts)
11. Best of Earth Wind & Fire, Vol. 1 (3 pts)
12. Toto (2 pts)
13. 2 Hot! (1 pt)

Blog post #750

Counting down my Top 78 of '78: Singles #10 - 1

A breakdown of my top singles from 1978

WARNING! The following post contains excessive amounts of hair.

---

Peg

Steely Dan

Weeks in Hot 100: 19

Peaked: March 11

Album: Aja (ABC)

U.S. charts:
Hot 100	11
Adult Contemporary	30

The third Steely Dan tune on this list. I distinctly remember this tune blaring on the radio as the car I was riding in neared the intersection of Andrews Hwy and E 42nd St in Odessa. Probably KRIG 1410 AM but who knows. I had never heard anything like it before - and haven't since, though many have tried. So many of my favorite artists play on the track: Tom Scott, Bernard Purdie, Michael McDonald, and of course, Jay Graydon on the iconic guitar solo. I finally got a copy of the Aja album from Columbia House record "club" in 1982 and my eyes were fully opened.

---

Stayin' Alive

Bee Gees

Weeks in Hot 100: 27

Peaked: February 4

Album: Saturday Night Fever (RSO)

U.S. charts:
Hot 100	1
Adult Contemporary	28
R&B	4
Disco	3

In seventh grade ('78-'79), I befriended two brothers that lived down the street: one my age, one a year older. Those boys introduced me to "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant," the FM Soundtrack, and the Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack. (I quickly picked up The Stranger and SNF Soundtrack, but for some unknown reason, didn't get FM until much later). In classic preteen style, the three of us also worked up a choreographed lipsync routine for this tune. However, it kind of all fell apart when we couldn't figure out what the lyrics were. (Thank goodness we didn't have video capabilities on our phones and social media back then so the only thing keeping that routine alive is our memories.) I didn't see the movie until the PG version was released in 1979, but then I was treated to this song's use in the film's memorable opening scene (yeah you've seen it before, but you're gonna click anyway):

Sadly, those two brothers moved to Corpus Christi in the summer of 1979. I visited them once, but those friendships are usually destined to fade away after awhile.

---

Le Freak

Chic
Weeks in Hot 100: 25

Peaked: December 9

Album: C'est Chic (Atlantic)

U.S. charts:
Hot 100	1
Adult Contemporary	48
R&B	1
Disco	1

Nothing much to report here other than to say this song makes me happy and makes me dance and who wouldn't want to hear a song like that? I'm usually up and dancing before the count off gets to "2." I sang the first two seconds of this song quite often in 7th grade, much to the chagrin of my teachers and a disgruntled student or two. I didn't know it at the time, but this song would make me a life-long fan of Nile Rodgers and his immediately identifiable guitar style. Chic, of course, would go on to be the backing band for numerous artists, including Diana Ross, Sister Sledge, Madonna, Bowie, etc.

---

I Just Wanna Stop

Gino Vannelli

Weeks in Hot 100: 21

Peaked: December 9

Album: Brother to Brother (A&M)

U.S. charts:
Hot 100	4
Adult Contemporary	4

I have visceral reactions to every song in this top 7. Some punch me in the gut, some immediately relax every muscle in my body, some make me overly nostalgic, some all of the above, but they all have some inexplicable effect on me. I'm quickly relaxed with this sophisticated tune, right from the opening note through the Ernie Watts sax solo. And is that Jimmy Haslip of Yellowjackets on bass? Some might argue that "sophisticated soft rock" is an oxymoron, but they'd be wrong. To that argument, I present Exhibit A.

---

Mr. Blue Sky

Electric Light Orchestra

Weeks in Hot 100: 12

Peaked: August 12

Album: Out of the Blue (Jet)

U.S. charts:
Hot 100	35

Easily my favorite ELO tune (and I loves me some ELO). A happy shuffle with lyrics to match. Seems to me this is where Jeff Lynne stopped trying to sound like The Beatles and started trying to sound like Jeff Lynne. Granted, that period didn't last long, but no matter - we're treated to this beautiful pop concoction full of strings, vocoder, tight background vocals, and hooks galore. Why this wasn't more popular in '78 is a mystery. Sure made a impression on recent movie soundtracks, though.

---

With a Little Luck

Wings

Weeks in Hot 100: 18

Peaked: May 20

Album: London Town (Capitol)

U.S. charts:
Hot 100	1
Adult Contemporary	5

Described in the most basic of terms, Sir Paul's music has gotten me through life. I got it kind of backwards, though, as I first heard his solo & Wings stuff on the radio before delving into The Beatles stuff (the blue and red greatest hits albums sure made high school a lot easier, but that's a story for another time). London Town isn't the best Wings by a long shot, but this tune, with it's opening electric piano, positive lyrics, and easily singable melody, is easily the highlight of the album. There's also a lot of synth pads for 1978. It transports me back to '78, one time so suddenly I actually welled up for no immediately discernible reason. Music, right?

---

Reminiscing

Little River Band

Weeks in Hot 100: 20

Peaked: October 28

Album: Sleeper Catcher (Harvest)

U.S. charts:
Hot 100	3
Adult Contemporary	10

Immediately relaxing. Reminds me of 7th grade. And that trumpet solo fits perfectly; can you imagine any other instrument getting a chance at that solo? As I wrote when I proclaimed this to be the best LRB single:

"Reminiscing" is not only my favorite Little River Band tune, it's one of the great soft-rock songs of the late '70s.  Apparently I'm in good company as John Lennon and Frank Sinatra are reported to have declared their love for it as well; the latter calling in "the best 1970's song in the world."  The laid back groove, the smooth just-off-the-beat vocals, the sublime electric piano, the references to Glenn Miller and Cole Porter, the string and background vocal arrangements, the Bob Venier trumpet solo - it all works for this soft rock kid."

---

Whenever I Call You 'Friend'

Kenny Loggins

Weeks in Hot 100: 20

Peaked: October 28

Album: Nightwatch (Columbia)

U.S. charts:
Hot 100	5
Adult Contemporary	9

I moved from the desert of west Texas to the humidity of the gulf coast in August 1978. I quickly found a Top 40 radio station (KILT 610 AM) and listened to it almost constantly when I was home. This song reminds me that time - new school, new house, new church, new climate, integrated schools (you read that right, my previous school district still wasn't yet integrated in the 1970's), the search for new friends, etc. Love the writing, the harmonies, the arrangement. Fast forward a few years: I learned that the Nightwatch album was produced by Bob James and this song was co-written by Melissa Manchester. And it all made sense.

---

Always and Forever

Heatwave

Weeks in Hot 100: 20

Peaked: April 8

Album: Too Hot to Handle (Epic)

U.S. charts:
Hot 100	18
Adult Contemporary	33
R&B	2

Simply put, this is THE BEST SLOW JAM OF ALL TIME. For further research, click here. Or here. Or here.

---

If I Can't Have You

Yvonne Elliman

Weeks in Hot 100: 22

Peaked: May 13

Album: Saturday Night Fever (RSO)

U.S. charts:
Hot 100	1
Adult Contemporary	9
R&B	60

I wish I knew what it was about this song that appeals to me so dadgum much. As soon as hear the opening strings, I drop everything and simply listen (admittedly, that's a problem when I'm driving). Maybe it's because it's a disco tune that's driven by toms instead of hi-hat? The harmonies? The sweet french horn arrangements? All of the above and more. Elliman makes it sound so easy. The song reminds me of the summer of 1978, a carefree time between elementary school and junior high. In my highly selective memory, I spent everyday that summer at either the movies, the pool, or playing soccer (my dream at the time was to be a member of the US soccer team in the 1984 Olympics).

This is my all-time favorite disco record. Book it.

For the record (pun not intended), I've heard the Bee Gees version a few times and it does nothing for me but make me yearn for the Yvonne Elliman version.

---

All chart positions are peak positions from Billboard charts. These are my personal top 78 singles of those that peaked on the Billboard charts in 1978. The list is solely my opinion. Using Joel Whitburn's book, Pop Annual 1955-1999, I started with the 451 singles that peaked on Billboard Magazine's Hot 100 chart in 1978. An initial pass through that list narrowed it down to 117 tunes, then listening, ranking, and editing began. The top 78 are presented here, in order.

Top Albums of April 1978

Let's take a look at what was topping the various album charts on April 8, 1978.

	Billboard	CashBox	Record World
1	Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack	Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack	Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack
2	Slowhand Eric Clapton	Even Now Barry Manilow	Even Now Barry Manilow
3	Even Now Barry Manilow	Slowhand Eric Clapton	Running on Empty Jackson Browne
4	The Stranger Billy Joel	The Stranger Billy Joel	Slowhand Eric Clapton
5	Aja Steely Dan	Running on Empty Jackson Browne	Point of Know Return Kansas
6	Weekend in L.A. George Benson	Weekend in L.A. George Benson	The Stranger Billy Joel
7	Point of Know Return Kansas	Aja Steely Dan	Aja Steely Dan
8	Running on Empty Jackson Browne	Point of Know Return Kansas	News of the World Queen
9	Earth Jefferson Starship	Earth Jefferson Starship	Rumours Fleetwood Mac
10	The Grand Illusion Styx	News of the World Queen	Weekend in L.A. George Benson

---

Exclusive MFD meta-analysis of the above charts:

1. Saturday Night Fever (30 pts)
2. Even Now (26 pts)
3. Slowhand (24 pts)
4. The Stranger (17 pts)
5. Running on Empty (17 pts)
6. Aja (14 pts)
7. Point of Know Return (13 pts)
8. Weekend in L.A. (11 pts)
9. Earth (4 pts)
10. News of the World (4 pts)

Bracketology: 1978 Adult Contemporary singles, Semifinals

Let's see how the quarterfinal match-ups panned out (for me, at least):

• Quarterfinal #1: No upset here. I love Roberta Flack's voice, but there's not much to this waltz movie theme that was the follow-up to "You Light Up My Life" and shares many of that song's characteristics. The #1 seed is a great soft rock tune with just a sprinkling of country.
• Quarterfinal #2: This was a tough decision, but I'm going with "Bluer Than Blue" because I've loved it since I first heard it and it's better than a slowed down cover of a Sam Cooke tune. I gotta admit, though, those three voices (Simon, Garfunkel & Taylor) blend together beautifully.
• Quarterfinal #3: One of the first albums I ever purchased was The Stranger and I absolutely crush "Just the Way You Are" on karaoke night.
• Quarterfinal #4:  I like the synthdrum/electric piano intro of the Chris Rea tune and the chorus is imminently singable, but it's up against a tune that won the most recent edition of bracketology. 

Check back for the final round match-up and head over to Twitter to cast your vote there.

Bracketology: 1978 Adult Contemporary singles, Quarterfinals

I've created this bracket of the top eight Adult Contemporary/Easy Listening singles from 1978 and we'll match them against each other, round by round, until a winner emerges. I hope you'll play along as I'm sure your bracket will turn out differently from mine. Singles and seedings taken directly from the December 23, 1978 issue of Billboard magazine:

• Quarterfinal #1: "We'll Never Have to Say Goodbye Again" by England Dan & John ford Coley (#1 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary charts for 6 weeks) vs. "If Ever I See You Again" by Roberta Flack (#1 for 3 weeks)
• Quarterfinal #2: "(What a) Wonderful World" by Art Garfunkel (#1 for 5 weeks) vs. "Bluer Than Blue" by Michael Johnson  (#1 for 3 weeks)
• Quarterfinal #3: "Just the Way You Are" by Billy Joel (#1 for 4 weeks) vs. "Three Times a Lady" by Commodores (#1 for 3 weeks)
• Quarterfinal #4: "How Deep is Your Love" by The Bee Gees (#1 for 6 weeks) vs. "Fool (If You Think It's Over)" by Chris Rea  (#1 for 3 weeks)

Fill out your bracket with your personal favorites and check back for the semifinal round.

Bracketology: 1977 singles, Champion

I really struggled with this one. As it should be, the final match-up was a tough one.  So tough that this post didn't get published last week because I couldn't make up my mind on a clear winner.  Since I kept going back and forth on my decision, I invented a tie-breaker: which song would the 11 year old version of me prefer? And if memory serves, I preferred the BeeGees tune back then. Photo finish.

Sgt. Pepper movie bubble gum cards (1978)

You can view the entire 66 card series from Donruss here. The following cards are from the my personal archives; I evidently just bought the one pack. The brittle stick of gum isn't still around, but knowing me, I promptly ate it back in 1978.

Pros: I got cards with Billy Preston and the Future Villains (sans Aerosmith)
Cons: I got cards depicting the funeral procession for Strawberry Fields and Sgt. Pepper's heart attack. You know, for kids.

When placed in the correct order, the back of the cards formed some sort of picture, but I've been unable to find a photo or scan of that complete mosaic and I'm not looking to purchase the rest of the set, so I'll leave it alone.

---

---

Movie review the August 24, 1978 edition of Rolling Stone:

click to enlarge

If you'd like to read the RS review of the soundtrack, it is transcribed here.  Robert Christgau gave it a D+, allmusic gave it just ★, but the most thorough panning comes over at The Worst Albums Ever blog.  You can love to hate it all you want, but how can it be all bad when it gave us Earth, Wind, & Fire's version of "Got to Get You Into My Life"" which remains one of the best Beatles covers of all time.

And before you ask, yes, I had the paperback novelization of the movie as well.  Alas, my well-worn copy of that book has gone on to the landfill that great library in the sky.

Yet another insert in the Sgt. Pepper soundtrack album (1978)

If you had this soundtrack on 8-track, you really missed out.  The 2 LP set came with this 22" x 33" poster featuring a drawing of the Lonely Hearts Club Band riding/lounging/posing on an oversized tuba-ish instrument with strawberries in its bell.  LHCB in the sky with berries.
 

---

Soundtrack ad from the August 24, 1978 edition of Rolling Stone: