A breakdown of my top singles from 1979
Minute by Minute
The Doobie Brothers
Weeks in Hot 100: 14
Peaked: June 23
Album: Minute by Minute (Warner Bros.)
| U.S. Billboard charts: | |
| Hot 100 | 14 |
| Adult Contemporary | 13 |
Heck, this thing might have cracked the top ten even if the entire single was only the electric piano intro on repeat for three minutes, but then the smooth groove hits and Michael McDonald's vocals and man-oh-man, I just can't help but sing along. It's the title track to a great album, but it's not even the best cut on the album (see below).
Chic
Weeks in Hot 100: 19
Peaked: August 18
Album: Risqué (Atlantic)
| U.S. charts: | |
| Hot 100 | 1 |
| Adult Contemporary | 28 |
| R&B | 1 |
| Disco | 3 |
And there it is. That bass line. One of the most important, most sampled, most imitated bass lines of all time (see Bowie's "Let's Dance," Queen's "Another One Bites The Dust,' and, of course, "Rapper's Delight"). But then add Nile Rodgers' guitar scratching, soaring strings, and precise vocals and, baby, you got a stew goin'. Ranked #229 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
The Knack
Weeks in Hot 100: 22
Weeks in Hot 100: 22
Peaked: August 25
Album: Get the Knack (Capitol)
| U.S. charts: | |
| Hot 100 | 1 |
According to Billboard, this was the #1 song of 1979, but #8 was the best I could do for it. New wave power pop like nothing I'd ever heard before. The Knack got more out of a one note bass line than any other. The first New Wave #1? Could be. I like to tell people that my wife's nickname is Sharona and that the song was written about her. Apparently, the real Sharona is a real estate agent in L.A.
Cheryl Lynn
Weeks in Hot 100: 18
Peaked: February 17
Album: Cheryl Lynn (Columbia)
| U.S. charts: | |
| Hot 100 | 12 |
| R&B | 1 |
| Disco | 11 |
There's absolutely nothing in this song that doesn't work: the bass and horns intro to the funky groove to the countermelody to the key change to the backing vocals, more horns, great vocals, and did I mention that groove. Never fails to get me moving. Written by Lynn, David Foster, and Toto keyboardist David Paich.
During the 1997-98 school year, I taught 8th grade English (holycowwasthatreally21yearsago?? Those kids are now in their mid 30s. Sheesh.). Not being much for classroom management, my classes were always a little loose (but test scores were fantastic - my administrators never could quite wrap their head around the dichotomy of noisy learning). One day, out of the blue, a student named Nick sang the intro to this song and, within seconds, the whole class joined in the singing, including myself. (It was probably just a few students and myself, but "whole class" makes for a better story.) That scene in room 104 always comes to mind when I hear this song now. (End of parentheticals).
Herb Alpert
Weeks in Hot 100: 25
Peaked: October 20
Album: Rise (A&M)
| U.S. charts: | |
| Hot 100 | 1 |
| Adult Contemporary | 1 |
| R&B | 4 |
| Disco | 17 |
If there's such a thing as a laid back disco tune, this is it. This song became popular as I was learning to play trumpet and I was hooked immediately. I even bought the sheet music so I could play along with Herb. It came with the lyrics which I've never heard sung other than by myself:
Of all the songs here in the top ten, this record was the first I purchased. Heck, I had lawn mowing earnings burning a hole in my pocket, so why not?
Cheap Trick
Weeks in Hot 100: 19
Peaked: July 21
Album: Cheap Trick at Budokan (Epic)
| U.S. charts: | |
| Hot 100 | 7 |
One of the great live singles and great love song to boot. A power pop song that rocks so hard that it needs two guitar solos, a drum break, and a live version that is miles ahead of the studio version. This song reminds me of my childhood friend Robert - we rode our bikes and threw the Frisbee a lot in the summer of '79.
Michael Jackson
Weeks in Hot 100: 21
Peaked: October 13
Album: Off the Wall (Epic)
| U.S. charts: | |
| Hot 100 | 1 |
| R&B | 1 |
| Disco | 2 |
One of the great album openers. Check your pulse if you can sit still during this one because the force got a lot of power. Just when you think it can't get any better, an instrumental bridge kicks in at 2:40 with a guitar solo over horns and there's so much going on I don't know what to listen to and it doesn't really matter. Just listening to the syncopated cowbell part gets me going.
The Doobie Brothers
Weeks in Hot 100: 20
Peaked: April 14
Album: Minute by Minute (Warner Bros.)
| U.S. charts: | |
| Hot 100 | 1 |
| Adult Contemporary | 22 |
| Disco | 40 |
According to the creators of the term "yacht rock," this is the ultimate yacht rock song, scoring a perfect 100 on their Yachtski Scale. All that is well and good, but this had quite the pedigree before that. In addition to topping the charts, it won three Grammy awards, including two top awards at the end of the broadcast:
- Record of the Year
- Song of the Year
- Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocals
I have tickets to see Michael McDonald in July and if he doesn't play both this song and "Minute by Minute" I can't be held responsible for my actions.
Sister Sledge
Weeks in Hot 100: 19
Peaked: June 16
Album: We are Family (Cotillion)
| U.S. charts: | |
| Hot 100 | 2 |
| Adult Contemporary | 30 |
| R&B | 1 |
| Disco | 1 |
I always call this song "the best Chic single of all-time" and that's tongue-in-cheek but it's really not, is it? The single version gets me dancing every time, but the 8:20 full version is spectacular because Bernard Edwards lays down a great bass solo. How could bass playing be both understated and funky at the same time? Check out his work at the break about 3:55 into the title track. It's one of the few overplayed '70s tunes that could be played every hour and it probably wouldn't bother me. To that short list, please add...
Earth, Wind & Fire
Weeks in Hot 100: 17
Peaked: February 10
Album: The Best of Earth, Wind & Fire, Vol. 1 (Columbia)
| U.S. charts: | |
| Hot 100 | 8 |
| Adult Contemporary | 41 |
| R&B | 1 |
Not only the best song of 1979, this is one of the all-time greats. I gave it a grade of A+ a few years back and that seems low.
All chart positions are peak positions from Billboard charts. These are my personal top 79 singles of those that peaked on the Billboard charts in 1979. The list is solely my opinion. Using Joel Whitburn's book, Pop Annual 1955-1999, I started with the 475 singles that peaked on Billboard Magazine's Hot 100 chart in 1979. An initial pass through that list narrowed it down to 105 tunes, then listening, ranking, and editing began. The top 79 are presented here, in order.
