John Holton (john_holton) wrote,
John Holton
john_holton


You know the drill: go to http://www.musicoutfitters.com/, enter the year of your high school graduation in the search box. The first item returned should be the top 100 songs from that year. Cut and paste them into your journal. Bold the ones you like, underline your favorite, and strike through the songs you loathe.

Here's mine, complete with comments, a la anahata56...

1. The Way We Were, Barbra Streisand "Everyone knows, I've got a big bulbous nose..." I do not like this woman. Her talent as a singer and an actress is highly overrated.
2. Seasons In The Sun, Terry Jacks Anyone else remember the Zippy the Pinhead cartoon that featured this?
3. Love's Theme, Love Unlimited Orchestra I was so sad to hear about Barry White, thought to be a sex symbol even if he was bigger than me.
4. Come And Get Your Love, Redbone These guys never got the recognition they deserved.
5. Dancing Machine, Jackson 5 Can't remember it. Probably would be humming along to it if I heard it again, though.
6. The Loco-Motion, Grand Funk Railroad They didn't do too bad of a job of this. From Mark Farner's pre-conversion days.
7. TSOP, MFSB A hit long before it made it to the radio; it was the theme to the Chicago-produced "Soul Train", which started out as local TV (remember those days, kids?).
8. The Streak, Ray Stevens Boogety-boogety! I just like Ray Stevens.
9. Bennie And The Jets, Elton John One of my two birthday twins on the list (there are probably a couple of others). I wasn't all that fond of Elton, but I liked this song.
10. One Hell Of A Woman, Mac Davis Really can't remember it. I wasn't all that fond of Mac Davis, although he was quite a talented cuss.
11. Until You Come Back To Me (That's What I'm Gonna Do), Aretha Franklin The other birthday twin on my list. Aretha's great. 'Nuff said.
12. Jungle Boogie, Kool and The Gang Oh, yeah, Kool and the Gang. I like just about everything they've done.
13. Midnight At The Oasis, Maria Muldaur Maria Muldaur was HOT, and this song featured Amos Garrett's incredible guitar solo. Maria's ex, Geoff, and Amos Garrett were in the late Paul Butterfield's band Better Days. Just thought I'd mention it.
14. You Make Me Feel Brand New, Stylistics Listen to the harmony in this one. 70's soul is one of my favorite flavors of music, if you hadn't noticed.
15. Show And Tell, Al Wilson I loved Al Wilson's "The Snake" as well. He had a great voice. I have a long story to tell about this one, which I'll relate one of these days.
16. Spiders And Snakes, Jim Stafford It's one thing to do something funny. It's another to do something funny well. Jim Stafford was a very talented guy, and very funny. I can remember hearing him play a BB King-type solo on the BANJO, then do a rendition of "Classical Gas" that was out of this world...and funny because of the facial expressions. My all-time favorite was "My Girl Bill." Come on, you remember it...
17. Rock On, David Essex Yeah, I liked it. So?
18. Sunshine On My Shoulder, John Denver John Denver was mildly entertaining, but I never particularly liked him.
19. Sideshow, Blue Magic Can't say that I remember it.
20. Hooked On A Feeling, Blue Swede Oooga-chucka! Oooga Oooga!
21. Billy Don't Be A Hero, Bo Donaldson and The Heywoods Sucked. Period.
22. Band On The Run, Paul McCartney and Wings McCartney's talent was wasted on crap like this.
23. The Most Beautiful Girl, Charlie Rich Loved the Silver Fox's voice.
24. Time In A Bottle, Jim Croce Another solid singer-songwriter. Liked this one because it really showed Jim's voice against the stark solo guitar.
25. Annie's Song, John Denver See above.
26. Let Me Be There, Olivia Newton-John The best singing I've ever heard out of Olivia is the soundtrack from "Grease". I love her on "Better Shape Up," or whatever the name of that song is. Can't say the same for anything else she did, although "Let's Get Physical" comes close. And, let's face it, she's a total babe. Her material was awful.
27. Sundown, Gordon Lightfoot A solid entry by one of the best singer-songwriters, though not my favorite of his ("Carefree Highway" and "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" are at the top of that list).
28. (You're) Having My Baby, Paul Anka Not much of a melody, stupid words, can't dance to it...sorry, Paul. Loved the Tonight Show theme.
29. Rock Me Gently, Andy Kim I didn't really like it that much, but it wasn't an immediate "twist the knob" song.
30. Boogie Down, Eddie Kendricks The high voice from The Temptations. After a while, his material all sounded the same, but he was still pretty unique at this time.
31. You're Sixteen, Ringo Starr Let's face it, Ringo is unique. Gotta love him.
32. If You Love Me (Let Me Know), Olivia Newton-John See above.
33. Dark Lady, Cher Can't say that I remember this one all that well.
34. Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me, Gladys Knight and The Pips Gladys Knight has a fantastic voice.
35. Feel Like Makin' Love, Roberta Flack After the somnolent "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face", this was downright perky. One of those songs that gets into you and won't get out until you start moving.
36. Just Dont Want To Be Lonely, Main Ingredient 1970s Soul. What more needs to be said?
37. Nothing From Nothing, Billy Preston Billy Preston, the "Fifth Beatle". I love this guy, and his music, maybe because there's some "church" in there.
38. Rock Your Baby, George McCrae Fun to dance to.
39. Top Of The World, Carpenters I'm sorry, just a little too perky. You know, Karen Carpenter had a hell of a voice, and she was a very, very good drummer, and I can remember her and Richard hosting a summer variety show in the late 1970s, and they were quite entertaining. Nevertheless...
40. The Joker, Steve Miller Band Steve Miller is a hell of a guitar player; why he had to do this one is beyond me.
41. I've Got To Use My Imagination, Gladys Knight and The Pips I don't remember this one...
42. The Show Must Go On, Three Dog Night They did a great job of covering Leo Sayer's song. Not as good as the original, but a good song nevertheless.
43. Rock The Boat, Hues Corporation 1970s Soul again. Fun to dance to, loved the voices of the singers.
44. Smokin' In The Boys Room, Brownsville Station I got suspended for smoking in the boy's room.
45. Living For The City, Stevie Wonder OK, not great, not a definite dial-twister.
46. The Night Chicago Died, Paper Lace Uh, guys? The east side of Chicago is Lake Michigan. Idiots.
47. Then Came You, Dionne Warwick and The Spinners You know the drill...1970s Soul, a great matching of voices.
48. The Entertainer, Marvin Hamlisch Enjoyed it maybe once a week; once an hour was overkill.
49. Waterloo, Abba Not one of my favorite groups.
50. The Air That I Breathe, Hollies Not one of my favorite Hollies songs.
51. Rikki Don't Lose That Number, Steely Dan A classic.
52. Mockingbird, Carly Simon Dumb, dumb, dumb. Done with James Taylor before he went back into rehab. AGAIN.
53. Help Me, Joni Mitchell Like it for much the same reason as I liked "Midnight at the Oasis" and "Feel Like Makin' Love". Very seductive.
54. You Won't See Me, Anne Murray Not a bad cover of a Beatles tune by a woman with a great voice and wonderful taste in material.
55. Never, Never Gonna Give You Up, Barry White Another goodie by an unlikely sex symbol.
56. Tell Me Something Good, Rufus Two words: Chaka Khan.
57. You And Me Against The World, Helen Reddy Can't say that I remember this one.
58. Rock And Roll Heaven, Righteous Brothers Another rock 'n' roll eulogy. Depressing.
59. Hollywood Swinging, Kool and The Gang 1970s Soul.
60. Be Thankful For What You Got, William Devaughn Don't remember it.
61. Hang On In There Baby, Johnny Bristol Don't remember this one, either.
62. Eres Tu (Touch The Wind), Mocedades Loved the voice of the singer.
63. Taking Care Of Business, Bachman-Turner Overdrive I always thought that Randy Bachman would be a great endorsement for Holton Guitars, with the concave back to get around the midsection. "Holton, for guys with guts!"
64. Radar Love, Golden Earring Saw these guys on "The Midnight Special" a few times, and this one always ended with the drummer being blasted into the audience. Gotta love it.
65. Please Come To Boston, Dave Loggins Next to "This is a test," the noise from the radio that sent me for the dial.
66. Keep On Smilin', Wet Willie Saw this band's lead singer years later as the opening act for Robert Cray. Didn't like him then, either.
67. Lookin' For Love, Bobby Womack I'm drawing a blank. Bobby Womack was cool, though.
68. Put Your Hands Together, O'Jays Drawing a blank again. Love the O'Jays.
69. On And On, Gladys Knight and The Pips Three in a row.
70. Oh Very Young, Cat Stevens Can't say I liked anything by Cat Stevens.
71. Leave Me Alone (Ruby Red Dress), Helen Reddy Liked this. Helen Reddy was pretty good, actually. Liked "Delta Dawn", too. I think that's coming up.
72. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Elton John Can't say I liked it or hated it.
73. I've Been Searchin' So Long, Chicago The first single off of Chicago VII; I think I was just happy that it wasn't like any of the stuff off of V or VI.
74. Oh My My, Ringo Starr Another quirky Ringo tune.
75. For The Love Of Money, O'Jays You know why.
76. I Shot The Sherrif, Eric Clapton Apart from his work with Cream and Blind Faith, and his work on various George Harrison projects, I've never really liked Clapton. A great guitar player.
77. Jet, Paul McCartney and Wings Again, Paul was wasting his time with a lot of this.
78. Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me, Elton John Don't really have an opinion.
79. Tubular Bells, Mike Oldfield I'm a big fan of instrumental music, particularly the instrumental music of the 1970s. This was a great album, as I recall.
80. Love Song, Anne Murray See my previous comments on Anne Murray.
81. I'm Leaving It All Up To You, Donny and Marie Osmond Come on, it shoudl be obvious. You know, these two are not nearly as annoying now as they were then. Donny, to his credit, has shown a remarkable ability to poke fun at himself, and Marie is just gorgeous.
82. Hello, It's Me, Todd Rundgren Soupy Sales' sons were his side men on this one.
83. I Love, Tom T. Hall I love Tom T. Hall's voice.
84. Clap For The Wolfman, The Guess Who I loved this entire album, and thought the Wolfman was a riot.
85. I'll Have To Say I Love You In A Song, Jim Croce Again, a beautiful vocal and tasteful arrangement, and I even like the lyrics.
85. The Lord's Prayer, Sister Janet Mead Come on, Sister, this is taking guitar Masses a little too far.
87. Trying To Hold On To My Woman, Lamont Dozier Can't remember it.
88. Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing, Stevie Wonder Not bad, not awful.
89. A Very Special Love Song, Charlie Rich Can't remember it.
90. My Girl Bill, Jim Stafford A funny, funny, funny song. Whatever happened to him? Is he in Branson?
91. My Mistake Was To Love You, Diana Ross and Marvin Gaye I knew there was another birthday twin! Actually, she's the day after, making her my mother's birthday twin. Can't remember the song, but just thought I'd mention that.
91. Helen Wheels, Paul McCartney and Wings So bad, I would turn the radio off unless I knew that there was an EBS test running on another station, in which case I'd put that on.
93. Wildwood Weed, Jim Stafford Jim Stafford again.
94. Beach Baby, First Class Hay-ted it.
95. Me And Baby Brother, War Always loved War's attitude. Lee Oskar was a remarkable harmonica player. His band mates used to refer to him as "the colored guy." Dig it!
96. Rockin' Roll Baby, Stylistics Can't remember the song, but loved the Stylistics.
97. I Honestly Love You, Olivia Newton-John I honestly hate this song.
98. Call On Me, Chicago The other single off of VII, an album where they tried a lot of new stuff. This was their excursion into Latin, and it came off very well.
99. Wild Thing, Fancy Was this really necessary?
100. Mighty Love, Pt. 1, Spinners Can't remember it. Liked the Spinners, though.

'Nuff said.

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