The most '70s song

[M2]

I'm not asking about the best '70s song here, though perhaps some think there's perfect overlap. I'm talking about the most '70s song. The one that sounds like a perfect time capsule of the 1970s. Like, if a member of Gen Z walked up to you and asked you to explain the '70s, you'd play this song and feel like you'd answered the question.

My answer is Head East's "Never Been Any Reason".



The song manages to both jam and boogie while referencing a dysfunctional relationship and more than casual drug use. It wants to party, but it's also a little fretful of perhaps not making it out of the decade. You can hear the long hair and the bellbottoms. Plus, major keytar rif***e (it's like jamming in space, whoa). Everything about the song is gratuitous, like the decade that spawned it.

Yet the '70s were fertile ground for distillations of place and time. So have at it.

[westofyou]

It's a good choice, another one is We're an American Band

[Larry Schuler]

I wasn’t here for the 70s and apparently this was released right under the wire in 79 but this what I imagine is the most 70s song of all-time.

[Revering4Blue]

Wild Cherry’s “Play That Funky Music” seems an obvious choice here. But I’m not sure that it’s a more defined choice than the Head East hit you (M2) posted.

That said, I’ll throw out Head East’s other Rock Radio hit from the ‘70s as fitting quintessential ‘70’s - “Since You’ve Been Gone”. Sure, Rainbow also covered that Russ Ballard-penned track a year later, but their version sounds more early 80’s to me.

Finally, Firefall’s “Strange Way” - with it’s use of staccato strings - is another track that screams ‘70’s to me.


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[mth123]

Wild Cherry’s “Play That Funky Music” seems an obvious choice here. But I’m not sure that it’s a more defined choice than the Head East hit you (M2) posted.

That said, I’ll throw out Head East’s other Rock Radio hit from the ‘70s as fitting quintessential ‘70’s - “Since You’ve Been Gone”. Sure, Rainbow also covered that Russ Ballard-penned track a year later, but their version sounds more early 80’s to me.

Finally, Firefall’s “Strange Way” - with it’s use of staccato strings - is another track that screams ‘70’s to me.


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Play That Funky Music was the song I first thought of.

If not that one, how about Redbone "Come and Get Your Love"

[WrongVerb]

Interesting question. What qualities would the "most 70s song" have to have? The first half of the decade was all about singer songwriters. The second half was disco. You'd need a song that encompassed both eras.

I mean the greatest 70s song would be Bohemian Rhapsody, or Hotel California. But that's not the question, is it?

I thinking it might be something from the Bee Gees. They had a foot in both eras. Kansas also crossed over. Blondie, Talking Heads, Michael Jackson, they were the vanguard to 80s pop, so I won't consider them.

Boogie Shoes could be a contender. So could Stayin' Alive.

I think Stayin' Alive is the song.

[*BaseClogger*]

70s was the peak of radio rock, and the biggest rock band of the 1970s was Led Zeppelin. Therefore, the answer has to be 'Stairway to Heaven'...

[Falls City Beer]

“Philadelphia Freedom.” That song has it all: schmaltz, proto-disco string sections, singer songwriter cred, a nod to the bicentennial, women’s liberation. It’s unvarnished 70’s.

[Revering4Blue]

Interesting question. What qualities would the "most 70s song" have to have? The first half of the decade was all about singer songwriters. The second half was disco. You'd need a song that encompassed both eras.

I mean the greatest 70s song would be Bohemian Rhapsody, or Hotel California. But that's not the question, is it?

I thinking it might be something from the Bee Gees. They had a foot in both eras. Kansas also crossed over. Blondie, Talking Heads, Michael Jackson, they were the vanguard to 80s pop, so I won't consider them.

Boogie Shoes could be a contender. So could Stayin' Alive.

I think Stayin' Alive is the song.

Any KC and the Sunshine Band and/or Bee Gees hit has to definitely be in the running. It’s no coincidence that neither band had an 80’s hit unless I’m miss-remembering.


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[ShyGuy]

[Betterread]

Marvin Gaye - got to give it up

[Kinsm]

When I think 70's, first 2 things that come to mind - the ending of Vietnan and rock and roll. FWIW, my uncle was in Nam and my father got lucky and drew a good lotto number.

[klw]

This is what immediately came to mind"


This was next:

[westofyou]

This is what immediately came to mind"


This was next:

I learned his to drink beer listening to that Frampton album at this friends house, that and The Fly like an Eagle album

Then I never listened to them again

[Tony Cloninger]

It’s Only Rock n’ Roll — Rolling Stones

Snowblind —— Black Sabbath

Fly like Superman —— Kinks