Fabulously bad, hopefully more to come...
People need reminders like this when older people start hyping up about how "better" their music was back in their day...
Tie a Yellow Ribbon 'Round the Ole Oak Tree - Tony Orlando. I could think of a thousand other songs to put on this list before this one... "Knock Three Times" being one of them, and all New Yorkers know Tony very well from Labor Day telethons... This one also got a lot of play on the radio when the Iran hostage thing happened in '79.
The Night Chicago Died - The synth beginning, the goofy lyrics.. I can hear the plaidness. Billy, Don't Be a Hero - Vietnam era reference, the whistles and drums are a little annoying...
(You're) Having My Baby, Paul Anka. The man who co-wrote "My Way" wrote this ode to men who wanted their women barefoot, pregnant and grateful to the hubby. Should've stopped writing after 1960.... one of the all-time worst.
Playground in My Mind- the kids are annoying!! Think this one was on Mike Douglas or Merv Griffin every week...
Feelings - Morris Albert. The "Freebird" of lounge songs.. Want to turn a karaoke bar violent? Sing this one...ties with Sometimes When We Touch.
Candy Man - Sammy Davis, Jr. From "Willy Wonka". Where were the Oompa Loompas, babe? koo koo ka-choo... not the rat packer's finest moment...
But the last 4 are undeniably gloriously bad...
Afternoon Delight. Will Ferrell brought this one back for "Anchorman". The song is fabulously annoying.
Torn Between Two Lovers - goes with "Feelings" and "Sometimes When We Touch". Gloriously sappy ballads..
Escape (The Piña Colada Song)... the song will never go away. Kids who watch "Shrek" even know this one now...
Muskrat Love.. America did this one, C&T covered it with synth noises... kids love it anyway.
Overall, a commendable job of showing the best of the bad in the 70s and one that warrants sequels from different eras.
But it was definitely missing a few...*MacArthur Park (this is one that was sorely missing as well as the other asterisked ones), *I've Never Been To Me, Lovin' You,Sugar Shack, *In the Year 2525, *Honey (Bobby Goldsboro), *Him (by the Pina Colada guy), Shannon, Wildfire, Edmund Fitzgerald, Alone Again (Naturally), Seasons in the Sun, You Light Up My Life, Into the Night (Benny Mardones), Kisses For Me, Saturday Night (bay city rollers), theme from Ice Castles, The Morning After, Run Joey Run, Timothy, Convoy, Travolta's "Let Her In", 98.6, You Take My Breath Away, All By Myself, Don't Give Up On Us Baby, *Watchin Scotty Grow, Sylvia's Mother, Kiss You All Over, Daddy Don't You Walk So Fast, You Make Me Feel Like Dancing... and that's the short list...
There's enough from the other eras to make "gloriously bad" compilations...Ballad of the Green Berets, Achy Breaky, Macarena, Britney's "My Perogative", We Built This City, Ice Ice Baby,Meat Loaf "I Would Do Anything for Love", Party All The Time, Ode To Billy Joe, Freebird/Baby I Love Your Way, Sunglasses at Night, Rico Suave, She Bangs,etc...
This one will be a favorite by old and young alike and a guilty pleasure, and I'd also recommend tracking down a velvet painting, some plaid bellbottoms, along with some late-60s-early 70s French and Italian instrumental and Moog music as well as "Players Pimps and Private Eyes".
Party Favorites? What the Hell?
I grew up in the 70s and if anyone had tried playing any of these songs for a party they'd have gotten stomped to death.
Maybe gaggles of pimply fat girls liked and played these songs, after all they did sell enough copies to become hits, but no one who even thought about being cool would even tolerate these coming on the radio.
Look elsewhere.
Simply deadful.
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If you and I set out to make a "worst of the 70's album," we would have a hard time matching wits with the geniuses that put this one together.
Of the thousands of 70's compilations I have examined, this is the worst. This album deserves no stars.
scottie