Ranking each year of music in the 1970s from worst to best

1974 (52 points)

1. The Way We Were
2. Seasons in the Sun
3. Love’s Theme
4. Come & Get Your Love
5. Dancing Machine
6. Loco-Motion
7. TSOP
8. The Streak
9. Bennie and the Jets
10. One Hell of a Woman

No other year in the ’70s had an instrumental in the year-end top 10 but 1974 somehow had two. Well, almost two. “Love’s Theme” is a pure instrumental. “TSOP” has some voices chanting “people all over the world” at random moments for some reason. Both are pretty good. “TSOP” is a good dance number, while “Love’s Theme” is Barry White without the vocals.

The top of ’74 is average at best, weighted down by Terry Jacks’ trite “Seasons in the Sun” at number two. But in the middle of the top ten, you get the Jackson’s solid dance funk “Dancing Machine,” Grand Funk’s peppy cover of the old Carole King-penned “Loco-Motion,” and one of Elton John’s good hits “Crocodile Rock,” (as opposed to one of Elton’s bad hits – the following year’s “{Philadelphia Freedom.”)

1976 (54 points)

1. Silly Love Songs
2. Don’t Go Breaking My Heart
3. Disco Lady
4. December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)
5. Play That Funky Music
6. Kiss and Say Goodbye
7. Love Machine
8. 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover
9. Love is Alive
10. A Fifth of Beethoven

1976 has a weaker top three songs than any other year in the decade, but it is buoyed by some strong numbers toward the bottom of the top ten. Speaking of bad Elton John – “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” isn’t exactly his worst hit (That would be “Island Girl”), but it isn’t very good either. “Silly Love Songs” and “Disco Lady,” though radically different songs, kind of fit the same pattern. They’re catchy, peppy numbers. They’re not objectionable, but I don’t know anyone who is going to say that any of those songs are among their favorites.

As you go down the list to The Four Seasons’s “December, 1963,” Wild Cherry’s “Play That Funk Music,” and the Miracles’s “Love Machine,” you get songs with better staying power. Paul Simon’s “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover,” with the iconic groove provided by drummer Steve Gadd, is the best song of the top ten. Even Walter Murphy’s “A Fifth of Beethoven” is a better gimmick song than Ray Steven’s “The Streak,” from ’74.