The 1970s were a fantastic decade for music, except in cases such as the songs that follow. Many people will love them still, but blindly. That is meant as no disrespect. What we find we love about art is difficult to explain sometimes.
We also cannot base what is good or bad on how well a song charts. Some tunes find surprising success, and some others fail. Timing is everything.
That is partly the problem with the songs below. They sound like the 1970s, and that limits their relevance in later decades. In some cases, the lyrics are just, well...silly.
Six 1970s songs that charted higher than they should have
Fleetwood Mac - "Dreams"
The problem with this song is the same issues from the album the track comes from, Rumours. The songs are mostly self-important as the band takes turns writing songs about breaking up with likely one of the other members of the band. The whole thing feels self-gratifying even while singing about the individual band member's pain.
The Eagles - "New Kid in Town"
The band knew how to take the bones of a melody, add some harmonies, and make a hit. If the Eagles were about one thing, it was about making a bunch of money. They were successful that way.
This song also became a successful selling tune, but that does not mean it has much merit. It feels slight, and the words do not strain for much originality. That is OK, though, because the band made money from it which was the ultimate goal.
America - "Horse with No Name"
The song was banned on some radio stations in the United States because of the word "horse." It would be nice to leave that there without any explanation, but that would be too easy. "Horse" is another word for heroin and some stations thought the track was a reference to the drug. Instead, the tune is about trying to find a peaceful place.
What might have been a better excuse for the song to be banned is that it simply is not very good. It reached the top of the charts in many countries. Still, the words and tune sound more like a track children might sing in elementary school than a good pop tune.
Eric Carmen - "All By Myself"
Cash Box, which is no longer in circulation and with good reason based on bits like the one that is about to follow, said this song "captures the vocal power of at least two of the three Bee Gees and seems also to have tapped the lyric capabilities of a Paul McCartney." What? First of all, that seems like a slap to one of the Bee Gees, but Carmen is a wordsmith along the lines of McCartney? Silly.
The lines, "Hard to be sure/Sometimes I feel so insecure/And love's so distant and obscure/Remains the cure" surely had Carmen reaching for his thesaurus full of "-ure" words. And he did not even come up with an original melody. The song is based on a movement by Sergei Rachmaninoff. This track is an example of the worst part of the shimmery 1970s sound.
Dave Loggins - "Please Come to Boston"
Loggins sure does make it difficult for his love to pin him down. The song is a plea for her to join him as he misses her ever so much, but then he keeps moving around. Sure, "Boston" is in the title, but the singer also shows up in Denver and Los Angeles.
Somehow, the track, with a sound of its time but seemingly overwrought five decades later, was nominated for the Best Male Pop Vocal Performance Grammy. It also reached number five on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Just goes to show you that you don't have to be good to be popular.
Styx - "Babe"
One does not have to dislike Styx to dislike this song. The issue is that it is unbelievably cheesy and saccharine that one might use the track as more of a joke in a film. In fact, that has happened previously with the song in the movie Big Daddy, though in the most respectful way one can diss a track.
Written by vocalist Dennis DeYoung, there is one cool bit of the song. DeYoung wrote it for his wife, Suzanne, and the two are still together after 50 years. Maybe the track has worth, after all.