Wasteland

1979 sucked. There's no way to sugar coat it or get around it, you might as well just look at it for what it was. I read somewhere recently that drug use in US high schools peaked in 1979 and I believe it. I'll spare you the gory details but trust me, I was there. Really, really, there.

Let's see...we had high unemployment and high inflation, job prospects for my class sucked, gasoline had shot through the roof to like 80 cents a gallon, the commies were making hay all over the world, later that year the Iranians took our diplomats hostage, and to guide us through all this we had the nice but brutally insipid Jimmy Carter, a man who couldn't inspire a fly to sit on dogcrap. No wonder we smoked a lot of dope. I was reminded about the worst thing though, the very worst thing, this morning via Rob and Sheila, the Top Hits of 1979.

Now, we all have our personal tastes when it comes to a lot of things in life, including music. I'm generally not judgmental about people's choices on such things so long as they're not jammed down my throat. I also don't remember a lot of the songs on the list, 9 and 10 don't ring a bell at all. That "there" thing might have something to do with that or it could be that they were just mediocre instead of stupefyingly bad. But look at the list below, try not to blow chunks on your keyboard, and tell me that there wasn't something seriously wrong with this country in 1979.

My Sharona was the top song. Not a top song, THE top song. My God, that's just embarrassing. No wonder my friends and I retreated to our basements and wore the grooves off our old Stones, Zeppelin, and Who records. That song was like some sort of mark of the beast, if you loved it and played it incessantly you were one of "them". Come to think of it, that still works. If you love that song I may like you, I may even love you....but I'll never entirely trust you.

Don't even get me started on Y.M.C.A.

Those were dark times.

To see your year,

A.) Go to musicoutfitters.com
B.) Enter the year you graduated from high school in the search function and get the list of 100 most popular songs of that year
C.) Bold the songs you like, strike through the ones you hate and underline your favorite. Do nothing to the ones you don't remember (or don't care about).

Top 100 Hits of 1979 / Top 100 Songs of 1979

1. My Sharona, The Knack
2. Bad Girls, Donna Summer
3. Le Freak, Chic
4. Da Ya Think I'm Sexy, Rod Stewart
5. Reunited, Peaches and Herb
6. I Will Survive, Gloria Gaynor
7. Hot Stuff, Donna Summer
8. Y.M.C.A., Village People
9. Ring My Bell, Anita Ward  (huh?)
10. Sad Eyes, Robert John  (huh?)
11. Too Much Heaven, Bee Gees
12. MacArthur Park, Donna Summer
13. When You're In Love With A Beautiful Woman, Dr. Hook
14. Makin' It, David Naughton
15. Fire, Pointer Sisters
16. Tragedy, Bee Gees
17. A Little More Love, Olivia Newton-John
18. Heart Of Glass, Blondie
19. What A Fool Believes, Doobie Brothers
20. Good Times, Chic
21. You Don't Bring Me Flowers, Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond
22. Knock On Wood, Amii Stewart
23. Stumblin' In, Suzi Quatro and Chris Norman
24. Lead Me On, Maxine Nightingale
25. Shake Your Body, Jacksons
26. Don't Cry Out Loud, Melissa Manchester
27. The Logical Song, Supertramp
28. My Life, Billy Joel
29. Just When I Needed You Most, Randy Vanwarmer
30. You Can't Change That, Raydio
31. Shake Your Groove Thing, Peaches and Herb
32. I'll Never Love This Way Again, Dionne Warwick
33. Love You Inside Out, Bee Gees
34. I Want You To Want Me, Cheap Trick
35. The Main Event (Fight), Barbra Streisand
36. Mama Can't Buy You Love, Elton John
37. I Was Made For Dancin', Leif Garrett
38. After The Love Has Gone, Earth, Wind and Fire
39. Heaven Knows, Donna Summer and Brooklyn Dreams
40. The Gambler, Kenny Rogers
41. Lotta Love, Nicolette Larson
42. Lady, Little River Band
43. Heaven Must Have Sent You, Bonnie Pointer
44. Hold The Line, Toto
45. He's The Greatest Dancer, Sister Sledge
46. Sharing The Night Together, Dr. Hook
47. She Believes In Me, Kenny Rogers
48. In The Navy, Village People
49. Music Box Dancer, Frank Mills
50. The Devil Went Down To Georgia, Charlie Daniels Band
51. Gold, John Stewart
52. Goodnight Tonight, Wings
53. We Are Family, Sister Sledge
54. Rock 'N' Roll Fantasy, Bad Company
55. Every 1's A Winner, Hot Chocolate
56. Take Me Home, Cher
57. Boogie Wonderland, Earth, Wind and Fire
58. (Our Love) Don't Throw It All Away, Andy Gibb
59. What You Won't Do For Love, Bobby Caldwell
60. New York Groove, Ace Frehley
61. Sultans Of Swing, Dire Straits
62. I Want Your Love, Chic
63. Chuck E's In Love, Rickie Lee Jones
64. I Love The Night Life, Alicia Bridges
65. Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now, McFadden and Whitehead
66. Lonesome Loser, Little River Band
67. Renegade, Styx
68. Love Is The Answer, England Dan and John Ford Coley
69. Got To Be Real, Cheryl Lynn
70. Born To Be Alive, Patrick Hernandez
71. Shine A Little Love, Electric Light Orchestra
72. I Just Fall In Love Again, Anne Murray
73. Shake It, Ian Matthews
74. I Was Made For Lovin' You, Kiss
75. I Just Wanna Stop, Gino Vannelli
76. Disco Nights, G.Q.
77. Ooh Baby Baby, Linda Ronstadt
78. September, Earth, Wind and Fire
79. Time Passages, Al Stewart
80. Rise, Herb Alpert
81. Don't Bring Me Down, Electric Light Orchestra
82. Promises, Eric Clapton
83. Get Used To It, Roger Voudouris
84. How Much I Feel, Ambrosia
85. Suspicions, Eddie Rabbitt
86. You Take My Breath Away, Rex Smith
87. How You Gonna See Me Now, Alice Cooper
88. Double Vision, Foreigner
89. Every Time I Think Of You, Babys
90. I Got My Mind Made Up, Instant Funk
91. Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough, Michael Jackson
92. Bad Case Of Lovin' You, Robert Palmer
93. Somewhere In The Night, Barry Manilow
94. We've Got Tonite, Bob Seger and The Silver Bullet Band
95. Dance The Night Away, Van Halen
96. Dancing Shoes, Nigel Olsson
97. The Boss, Diana Ross
98. Sail On, Commodores
99. I Do Love You, G.Q.
100. Strange Way, Firefall 

Comments

[Rob]

I kinda liked My Sharona the first 684 times. I might not put it in bold but I don't need to strike-through, either.

Like 17,34,49,54,61,82,88,92,94,95

Hate 4 & 63

Totally indifferent to most of this crop. That does suck.

[Dave E]

Well, I was using a little dramatic license there to illustrate the point. I would still say though that if that's the top song of the year either that year sucked for music or people in general were out of their minds. Take your pick.