Fifty years ago, I made my first appeared on the Earth. In celebration, we are going to take a look at the year-end Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for each year of my life and see what songs resonated with me at the time and if they continue to do so to this day.
We continue our look back at the music of my lifetime with 1975, the first full year of my life. Given my first birthday took place in late-October, I have no knowledge of these songs from their original release. Only fifteen of the Hot 100 are familiar to me now, with only six of them appearing in my collection in one way or another.
#98: Bachman-Turner Overdrive – You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet
iTunes stats: N/A
Released in September of 1974, the song peaked at #1 on the Hot 100 charts in just seven weeks.
#67: Joe Cocker – You Are So Beautiful
iTunes stats: N/A
Released in November of 1974, the track, originally performed by Billy Preston earlier that year, became Cocker’s highest-charting solo hit, peaking at #5 on the charts.
#65: KC and the Sunshine Band – Get Down Tonight
iTunes stats: 18 plays
The beginning of the disco influence on the charts, the song, released in February of 1975, became the band’s first of five #1 hits.
#61: Styx – Lady
iTunes stats: N/A
Originally released in 1973 on a small, local label, the song was re-issued in November of 1974 after the band moved to A&M Records and made it to #6 in March of 1975.
#49: Barry White – You’re The First, The Last, My Everything
iTunes stats: 14 plays
Originally written as a country song in the early 1950s, White re-worked the lyrics and turned it into a disco song, which became his fourth top ten hit.
#39: Harry Chapin – Cat’s In The Cradle
iTunes stats: N/A
Chapin’s only #1 song, it was nominated for the 1975 Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2011.
#36: Barry Manilow – Mandy
iTunes stats: 21 plays
Switching from the original name of Brandy, the song became Manilow’s first #1 hit on the Hot 100 and Easy Listening charts.
#24: War – Why Can’t We Be Friends?
iTunes stats: N/A
The song, which required eight credited songwriters for its highly repetitive lyrics, managed to top out at #6 on the Hot 100 chart in the summer of 1975.
#23: Labelle – Lady Marmalade
iTunes stats: N/A
The track, which I only became aware of due to the 2001 cover featured in Moulin Rouge!, hit the top of the charts for one week in the spring of 1975.
#22: Van McCoy and the Soul City Symphony – The Hustle
iTunes stats: N/A
A staple of weddings for the last 40-some odd years, the disco track hit #1 during the summer of 1975 and took home the Grammy for Best Pop Instrumental Performance.
#18: B.J. Thomas – (Hey Won’t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song
iTunes stats: 26 plays
Winner of the 1976 Grammy award for Best Country Song, the song became Thomas’ second #1 single in April.
#15: Carl Douglas – Kung Fu Fighting
iTunes stats: 20 plays
Owing its initial popularity to dance clubs, the tune, which ranked #100 in VH1’s listing of the greatest one-hit wonders, was released in the US after topping the British charts in September of 1974.
#11: John Denver – Thank God I’m a Country Boy
iTunes stats: N/A
The live version of the song released as a single became one of six songs released in 1975 that topped both the Hot 100 and the Hot Country Singles charts.
#2: Glen Campbell – Rhinestone Cowboy
iTunes stats: 11 plays
A cover of a song Campbell had heard on the radio while on tour in Australia, his version spent two weeks atop the Hot 100 during the summer of 1975.
#1: Captain & Tennille – Love Will Keep Us Together
iTunes stats: N/A
Originally recorded by Neil Sedaka in 1973, the title track from the duo’s debut album spent four weeks at #1 in June and July of 1975.
