20 pop classics from the 1970s that should not be called soft-rock

“You’re the One That I Want” by John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John from Grease (1978)

“You’re the One That I Want” was not in the original stage production of Grease. It was written for the movie by John Farrar, a constant collaborator for one of the film’s stars, Olivia Newton-John. The song became a hit independent of the movie and served as a rousing finale. It was so enchanting that no one seemed to mind how badly the film bungled its attempt at an O Henry-style ending. The ending makes no sense, but the song erases all that.

Grease was monster huge. I personally know people who have seen it approximately fifty-thousand times. I certainly haven’t, but I suspect I could pretty much recite it word for word. I certainly know all the songs. The nostalgic overlay allowed a song like “You’re the One That I Want” to be dancey without seeming too discoey. That mattered back then, and it has continued to matter.

The song has retained its appeal in part because it intentionally recalls an earlier era and not an artifact of its own era. That’s a convoluted way of saying “You’re the One That I Want” didn’t sound like every other song pouring out of discos in the late ‘70s. The fact that I had to make up the words “dancey” and “discovery” only adds to that convolution.

That’s twenty songs, but I realized late in the game that I intended to have at least one song from each year – and that I have nothing from 1979. So I’m throwing in Rickie Lee Jones’1979  jazzy pop confection “Chuck E’s in Love” as a bonus. But that’s all I’m going to say about it because, you know, I’m trying to be brief.

Oh, and I didn’t mean to piss off all the Journey fans out there. So let me say, without qualification, that “Wheel in the Sky” is a good song. But maybe that’s because it isn’t really soft rock or pop at all.

More music news and analysis: