Best Song: Free - All Right Now
In 1970 I was yet to be born and despite the fact this very much sounds like a 70s record, I think of this as being a 1990 record when it charted again thanks to the Wrigley's advert. Them personal memories of this record probably give it the advantage over the other good records in this chart.
Worst Song: Norman Greenbaum - Spirit In The Sky
I have no idea which version of this I heard first, but it's one of those records that's always irritated me. Some may see this as a surprise choice and may argue that this is proper music. But the reality is there are many records that are considered proper music that I just find annoying, we all have them and this is one of those for me.
Top 40 Review
Once again I'm going to start with a look at the Motown records. We have "It's All In The Game" by The Four Tops, "Abraham, Martin And John" by Marvin Gaye, "Up The Ladder To The Roof" by The Supremes, "ABC" by The Jackson 5 and "Psychedelic Shack" by The Temptations. Just The Supremes and The Temptations get full marks and the rest get half. There was no other soul music outside of Motown in this Top 40.
The genre outside of pop that has a notable presence is country which includes records by Elvis Presley and The Beach Boys. I'm not anti-country like some people, but it generally isn't my cup of tea and the only one that gets any marks is "Honey Come Back" by Glen Campbell which gets half marks.
The closest contender to Free for best song is "American Woman" by The Guess Who. I think of this as being more of a 60s song, perhaps to do with its inclusion in Austin Powers but it was actually recorded in 1969.
A number of the good records do sound more 60s than 70s to me. I'm talking records like "Up Around The Bend" by Creedence Clearwater Revival, "The Green Manalishi (With The Two-Prong Crown)" by Fleetwood Mac and "Love Like A Man" by Ten Years After.
One record I was quite surprised to like was "Love Of The Common People" by Nicky Thomas. I think I've mostly heard the Paul Young cover when hearing that song which isn't so good. The Nicky Thomas version is also a cover done reggae style and it really works for me.
One of the more obscure records that's a hidden gem is "I Will Survive" by Arrival. It's a completely different song to the Gloria Gaynor one of the same name, just simply a great pop record.
The 60s have always seemed more appealing to me than the 70s so I do expect the scores to fall. However, 1970 doesn't strike me as a stereotypical 70s chart much like 1960 wasn't stereotypical 60s. There's no glam rock or disco for example.
It was always a tough ask to beat the 1969 score and not surprisingly it hasn't beat it. But still a pretty respectable score.
Score: 17
Table
1969 remains top with 1970 coming above 1965 and below 1968:
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