The music I was listening to as of April 17th 1979, here listed roughly in order of frequency (links in italics go to YouTube, subject to link rot; links in bold have posts of their own):
- Knock On Wood – Amii Stewart (#1 on the US pop chart)
- What a Fool Believes – The Doobie Brothers (#5)
- I Will Survive – Gloria Gaynor (#2)
- Heart of Glass – Blondie (#3)
- Tragedy – The Bee Gees (#8)
- Lady – Little River Band (#17)
- Disco Nights (Rock-Freak) – GQ (#28)
- I Got My Mind Made Up (You Can Get It Girl) – Instant Funk (#23)
- I Just Fall In Love Again – Anne Murray (#19)
- Take Me Home – Cher (#14)
- In the Navy – The Village People (#12)
- Music Box Dancer – Frank Mills (#4)
- He’s the Greatest Dancer – Sister Sledge (#13)
- Da Ya Think I’m Sexy? – Rod Stewart (#27)
- Reunited – Peaches & Herb (#6)
- Sultans of Swing – Dire Straits (#10)
- I Want Your Love – Chic (#9)
- Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now – McFadden & Whitehead
- Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground) – The Jacksons (#16)
- Stumblin’ In – Suzi Quatro and Chris Norman (#7)
- Precious Love – Bob Welch (#21)
- There But For the Grace of God Go I – Machine
- Goodnight Tonight – Wings (#11)
- At Midnight – T-Connection
- Hot Stuff – Donna Summer
- Love Ballad – George Benson (#20)
- Superman – Herbie Mann (#26) *
- Big Shot – Billy Joel
- Blow Away – George Harrison (#22)
- Love You Inside Out – The Bee Gees (#37)
- Love Is the Answer – England Dan & John Ford Coley (#18)
- Love Takes Time – Orleans (#25)
- Just When I Needed You Most – Randy Vanwarmer (#38)
- Fire – The Pointer Sisters
- A Little More Love – Olivia Newton-John
- I Don’t Know If It’s Right – Evelyn “Champagne” King (#40)
- Keep On Dancin’ – Gary’s Gang
- Livin’ It Up (Friday Night) – Bell & James (#15)
- Haven’t Stopped Dancing Yet – Gonzalez
- Don’t Cry Out Loud – Melissa Manchester
- Heaven Knows – Donna Summer with Brooklyn Dreams (#30)
- We Are Family – Sister Sledge
- Pick Me Up, I’ll Dance – Melba Moore
- Star Love – Cheryl Lynn *
- Touch Me Baby – Ultimate *
- One More Minute – Saint Tropez *
- Happiness – Pointer Sisters (#35) *
- My Baby’s Baby – Liquid Gold *
- Don’t Give It Up – Linda Clifford *
- Work That Body – Taana Gardner *
- Dancer – Gino Soccio
- Dancin’ – Grey & Hankes *
- (Everybody) Get Dancin’ – The Bombers *
- Let’s Fly Away – Voyage *
- Souvenirs – Voyage
- Fly Me on the Wings of Love – Celi Bee *
- Fire Night Dance – Peter Jacques Band *
- Love and Desire – Arpeggio
- Dance With You – Carrie Lucas
- Forbidden Love – Madleen Kane *
- I’m A Bad, Bad Boy – Theo Vaness *
- Bang A Gong – Witch Queen *
This is based on WABC-AM in New York, what I mainly listened to back then. They were a Top 40 Radio station, so I assumed stuff like “Souvenirs” by Voyage, or “Dancer” by Gino Soccio, were top-40 hits nationwide. They weren’t! Also, WABC did not play the whole Top 40. In this case eight songs are missing, six of them rock:
- #24 Shake Your Groove Thing – Peaches & Herb
- #29 Renegade – Styx
- #31 What You Won’t Do For Love – Bobby Caldwell
- #32 Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy – Bad Company
- #33 Crazy Love – Allman Brothers *
- #34 Roxanne – The Police
- #36 Roller – April Wine *
- #39 Sweet Lui-Louise – Ironside *
* = songs I don’t remember.
The Peaches & Herb song at this point was on its way out.
In short: I remember 90% of the Top 40 but thought disco was bigger than it was.
– Abagond, 2019.
Sources: WABC MusicRadio 77 Survey/17 April 1979; Billboard Hot 100 for April 21st 1979 (the one that most closely matches the above).
See also:
- other time warps (subject to YouTube link rot):
- The 1970s
- Donna Summer
- Cher
- related songs:
- 1976 Bee Gees: Love So Right
- 1977 Donna Summer: I Feel Love
- 1978 Chic: Le Freak
- 1979 Chic: Good Times
- 1979 GQ: I Do Love You
- 1979 Blondie: Dreaming
- 1979 Michael Jackson: Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough
- 1980 Bonnie Pointer: I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)
- 1980 Olivia Newton-John ft ELO: Xanadu
- also 1979:
- Rufus and Chaka: Do You Love What You Feel
- Isaac Hayes: Don’t Let Go
- Shalamar: The Second Time Around
- Phyllis Hyman: You Know How to Love Me
- The Crusaders ft Randy Crawford: Street Life
- Prince: I Wanna Be Your Lover
- Frank Wilson: Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)
- Hall & Oates: Wait for Me
- Stevie Wonder: Send One Your Love
- Ritchie Family: American Generation
668
Very interesting! At this time I was a 10 yr old living in Irvington, NJ and I also listened to WABC radio. In 6th grade I made the switch to WBLS.
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@ naturallymine68
I switched to WBLS too.
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Did you not purchase Vinyl records Aba?
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wow, that’s interesting, this was so far back, and sort of the sands of time! in terms of trying to remember this sort of thing for me! Pink Floyd the Wall came out that year, I’m positive my mom took me to Sears to buy it on vinyl with my paper route money. Other than that, Carol Miller on WPLJ was schoolin me on hard rock (now classics)!
I was in central NJ, Middlesex Borough, literally midway between Philly and NYC, at night the Philly stations came in better for a little bit heavier music experience!
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@ Cherry Boy
Not till 1980.
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@ v8driver
In 1979 I did not know about Carol Miller or WPLJ or even album rock because I did not have an FM radio till 1980. Most of what I know about hard rock in the 1970s comes from the 1980s. For example, I love “Thunder Road” by Bruce Springsteen but did not hear it till 1981 – six years after it came out.
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It’s amazing how just the title of a song can transport you in time.
I love a lot of those songs but even I’m amazed that there one that got me was Big Shot by Billy Joel. I mean I like lot of Billy Joel but I can remember imitating the attitude of that song and the hubris of those chords.
There’s so much I’d like to tell Billy Joel about what his music has meant to me. And so many of the others.
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well my 5th grade teacher, Mrs. Goodwin, turned me on to Pink Floyd. She lent me Ummagumma, the record, I was hooked; it was so wierd and different.
I specifically remember these cardboard displays they had set up in a shocking waste of retail floor space (they jam it in nowadays) of all these records, like 30 feet wide….
Album Oriented Rock, I haven’t heard that phrase in about 30 years!
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Carol Miller still does ‘Get the Led Out’ on some sirius channel… She’s awesome, she got me into the group Heart also.
That Night Flight TV show she did later? Very forward thinking for the time!!!
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