Tuesday, May 10, 2016

The Top 100 Songs of 1976*: #60-51

1976, the year that Paul Simon's album Still Crazy After All These Years captured the Grammy Award for Album of the Year and One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest was named Best Picture at the Academy Awards.  In sports, the Cincinnati Reds swept the New York Yankees in four games to win the World Series while the Boston Celtics turned back the Phoenix Suns 4-2 to win the NBA Championship.

In music, these 10 songs were among The Top 100 of the Year:








#60:

Do You Feel Like We Do
Peter Frampton

Frampton turned in one of the great guitar solos of the Rock Era with this one, which can only be heard and appreciated with the long version.





#59:

Sing A Song
Earth, Wind & Fire

We lost the great Maurice White earlier this year, the genius behind Earth, Wind & Fire.  In their career, the incredible group received 20 Grammy nominations.









#58:

Let 'Em In
Paul McCartney & Wings








#57:
Saturday Night
Bay City Rollers



This Scottish group was the teenybopper sensation of the mid '70s, with their first release going to #1.







#56:

Turn The Beat Around
Vicki Sue Robinson


This song became a big hit for Gloria Estefan years later, but there's nothing like the original.









#55:

She's Gone
Hall & Oates


This song represented the first single release for the Philadelphia duo Hall & Oates in 1974.  It peaked at #60, but two years later, the two decided to give it another try.  This time, it rose to #7, and just seems to get more popular with each passing year.







#54:

Welcome Back
John Sebastian


When we presented The Top 100 Songs of 1966*, the group Lovin' Spoonful was right in the thick of things.  Ten years later, the lead singer of that group had a big hit with this one, which also introduced the television series Welcome Back Kotter.  That sitcom starred John Travolta as Vinnie Barbarino--Travolta would go on to become one of the top actors of his generation.









#53:

That'll Be The Day
Linda Ronstadt


In 1976, Linda Ronstadt took a great song from Buddy Holly & the Crickets and scored a Top 10 hit with it.







#52:

Convoy
C.W. McCall


And we have this song.  Kids of today will have no idea what a "CB" is, so you'll have to explain to them that it was all the rage in 1976.







#51:

Show Me The Way
Peter Frampton


Formerly with Humble Pie, Peter Frampton used a magical night at The Winterland in San Francisco as well as taped concerts from the Marin County Civic Center in San Rafael, California, Long Island Arena in Commack, New York and SUNY Plattsburg in Plattsburgh, New York to catapult himself into the limelight in 1976.  Here's the strongest of three singles that year from Frampton.

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