- 5/6/2025
Dust off those vinyl records and prepare for a nostalgic journey! We're revisiting those unforgettable tunes that topped the charts once before disappearing into obscurity. From psychedelic rock to disco fever, these musical gems defined the 70s with their catchy hooks and unforgettable melodies. Which forgotten classic still gets your toes tapping?
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MusicTranscript
00:00By putting your hand in the hand of the man from the Galilee
00:05Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for those 1970s musical artists
00:10who hit and quit the Billboard Hot 100 with a singular defining tune.
00:21Number 10, Tighter Tighter, Alive and Kickin'.
00:30The psychedelic rock scene of the 1960s and 70s was often notable for its hard-edged fuzz guitar and wild musicianship.
00:38At the same time, however, groups such as Alive and Kickin' combined legitimate pop hooks
00:42with commercially viable psychedelia to create a hit.
00:51Tighter Tighter was one of those flashes in the pan that climbed to number 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 back in 1970.
00:56The tune was co-composed by a certified legend in the form of Tommy James,
01:01who had miles of credits to his name.
01:03As a result, Tighter Tighter is a pop psych gem in the mold of Janis Joplin with Big Brother and the Holding Company.
01:09A horn section backs up a killer groove, while some heavier guitar accents a big-sounding chorus.
01:15It's great stuff.
01:16Honey, don't you let me go now
01:19So baby, just a little bit tighter
01:23Albert Hammond has achieved more than his fair share of hits.
01:38They're just not usually credited to him as a solo artist.
01:41Nevertheless, this prolific songwriter achieved success on his own terms back in 1972
01:46with It Never Rains in Southern California.
01:55The tune is one of those story songs that was immensely popular during the 1970s.
02:00A tale as old as time about a young and hungry artist with big dreams.
02:05Unfortunately, the protagonist of It Never Rains in Southern California
02:09finds out the hard way about how sometimes those same dreams can wind up in a skid row gutter.
02:13The song's actual composition belies this negativity, however.
02:17A melodic and sunny pop song with impeccable production and Hammond's strong vocals.
02:22It never rains in California
02:26But girls, don't they warn ya
02:31Success found Mungo Jerry largely outside of North America.
02:43Along with us
02:44This group actually had eight top 40 hits in their native UK
02:49Yet it's In the Summertime that remains Mungo Jerry's primary musical calling card.
02:59Perhaps it's the tune's skiffle arrangements that made In the Summertime so popular in Britain
03:04since that style of folk music became so prevalent in that area.
03:07Elsewhere, In the Summertime feels evocative of those hazy and lazy days,
03:12a non-aggressive tune that celebrates rest and relaxation.
03:16This is despite modern critical appraisal of the song's lyrical content,
03:20which some have labeled as problematic.
03:21Number 7
03:30Seasons in the Sun
03:32Terry Jax
03:33With Seasons in the Sun by Terry Jax,
03:44The fatalistic energy of the source material feels omnipresent.
03:56This isn't necessarily a bad thing,
03:59since this take on Le Moribon by France's Jacques Brel still feels melancholic,
04:03just with a semi-brightened reworking by Jax.
04:06We had joy, we had fun, we had seasons in the sun
04:11The latter tooled around with the lyrics to make the story of a regretful and dying man feel more optimistic.
04:16Meanwhile, the overall musicality of Seasons in the Sun
04:19feels roughly analogous to Jax's former work in the psychedelic pop mold
04:23with his wife Susan and the Poppy family.
04:25It's a spooky, ghostly tune that's probably not as depressing as it could have been,
04:29yet still feels indicative of the anything-go sentiment of 1970s pop radio.
04:34But the wine and the song
04:37Like the seasons have all come
04:39All our lives we had fun
04:42We had seasons in the sun
04:44Number 6
04:45Love Grows Where My Rosemary Goes
04:47Edison Lighthouse
04:48The music business is exactly that,
04:58a business,
04:59with lots of groups coming, going, and being forgotten.
05:01Edison Lighthouse may not be a name immediately recognized by everyone,
05:06but those of a certain age will likely remember their huge hit from 1970.
05:15Well, maybe that isn't entirely accurate,
05:17because Love Grows Where My Rosemary Goes
05:19was initially recorded by pop singers Jeff Turton and Tony Burroughs,
05:23the latter alongside some session musicians.
05:25The surprising chart success of this version necessitated the formation of a quick group to take advantage.
05:30Enter the local group Greenfield Hammer,
05:33who became Edison Lighthouse,
05:34and this hooky pop rock tune entered the chart chat for good.
05:38Number 5
05:46Ring My Bell
05:47Anita Ward
05:48The disco era was in no shortage of blinkin' you miss them hits.
05:59This isn't said to necessarily disparage the genre,
06:02but disco chart success was often fleeting.
06:04Yet this is also why so many disco defenders still appreciate hits like
06:08Ring My Bell from Anita Ward.
06:10You can ring my bell
06:12Ring my bell
06:16These tunes have endured to the modern day without that retro irony
06:19that's accompanied many other novelty tunes from the era.
06:22Instead, this jam can still be found in clubs today,
06:25thanks to Clear as a Bell,
06:27pardon the pun,
06:28production from songwriter Frederick Knight.
06:30You can ring my bell
06:32You can ring my bell
06:33Ding, don't ring my bell
06:36Ding, don't ring my bell
06:37Ward's work on the chorus is particularly memorable,
06:40with just enough kitsch to be fun,
06:42while definitely evoking a certain time and place,
06:45one where dancing and fabulous fashion ruled the day.
06:47You can ring my bell
06:50Ring my bell
06:53Number 4
06:54Wildfire
06:55Michael Martin Murphy
06:56The story of Michael Martin Murphy is one of those where his legacy as a one-hit wonder arrives with an asterisk.
07:07That's because this country and western artist has achieved other chart success.
07:11It's just that he's primarily associated with the 1975 hit Wildfire.
07:16Murphy had formerly been a part of the psychedelic folk rock group The Lewis and Clark Expedition,
07:20and this experience of composing more progressive-minded music served him well.
07:24The arrangements of Wildfire are smooth, but never boring,
07:28and contain interesting guitar licks that drive home satisfying melodies.
07:31Winter came killing Frost
07:35And the pony she named Wildfire
07:41Meanwhile, the warmth of that chorus feels thick like molasses,
07:46and sounds capital S-70s in the best way possible.
07:49She ran calling Wildfire
07:54She ran calling Wildfire
08:00Number 3
08:01Dancing in the Moonlight
08:02King Harvest
08:03We get it almost every night
08:07And when that moon gets so big and bright
08:11The influences of the French-American act known as King Harvest ranged from pop and rock to folk,
08:16but it was their take on this 1970 track from Bufalongo that eventually became their biggest international hit.
08:21Dancing in the Moonlight
08:23Everybody's feeling warm and right
08:27There's an irrepressibly funky groove present on King Harvest's Dancing in the Moonlight
08:31that makes it virtually impossible not to, well, dance.
08:34It's such a fine and natural sight
08:37Everybody's dancing in the moonlight
08:41It's a wonderful mix of upbeat drumming and that all-time classic keyboard intro.
08:46It's one of those tunes that you may hear at a cool supermarket,
08:49but don't think for a second Dancing in the Moonlight is mere muzak.
08:52This song still jams.
08:54Everybody's dancing in the moonlight
08:58Number 2
08:59Mr. Big Stuff
09:00Gene Knight
09:01Patient and dedicated crate diggers already know that the world of soul music from the 1960s and 70s
09:15can be a paradise of one-and-done obscurities.
09:18I never give my love to a boy
09:20that has a love that's for you
09:23Mr. Big Stuff from Gene Knight doesn't exactly fall into that category,
09:27but it was the only major hit for which the singer was known.
09:37Knight's single and album of the same name for Stax Records is basically soul music 101,
09:42a poppy and catchy tune with a recognizable hook and economical arrangements.
09:47Knight's voice is in charge,
09:48possessing strength as she evokes an almost effortless sense of cool.
09:52Mr. Big Stuff is one of those songs that always seems to appear on greatest hits compilations from this era.
09:57And with good reason, it is an absolute classic.
10:00You're never gonna break my heart
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10:18Number 1. Vehicle, The Ides of March
10:22It's known by a number of names.
10:32Call it horn rock or even jazz rock,
10:35but there was definitely something in the water back in the 1970s.
10:38Something that emerged after Chicago's debut LP from 69,
10:41where more rock groups started incorporating brass into their arrangements.
10:52The Ides of March was one of those groups,
10:54and Vehicle was their big song.
10:56The song was the fastest selling in the history of Warner Brothers records up until that point,
11:01a hyper-energetic horn-dominated anthem that screamed 70s.
11:05Vehicle boasts a gritty vocal from guitarist Jim Peterick,
11:16and a brassy hook to die for.
11:18It's time capsule stuff, sure,
11:20but almost certainly a defining tune that got heavy replay
11:23from just about every aspiring lounge act in town.
11:26Break out in heaven, you know I love you
11:31Do you celebrate one-hit wonderdom like we do?
11:39Shout out your favorite obscurity in the comments.
11:41We had joy, we had fun, we had seasons in the sun,
11:46but the hills that we climbed were just seasons out of time.
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