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Finally, eight years in, it feels like we’re really, truly in the thick of the seventies, and this year’s worst list plays out like a greatest hits compilation of all the most unpleasant musical impulses the decade produced. From songs drowning in seas of goopy strings to empty-headed dancefloor filler to even emptier-headed rock, everythingContinue reading “The Top 10 Worst Hit Songs of 1977”

I know that in the intro to last year’s best list, I made a big to-do about ‘76 being THE year for ‘70s pop, an era-defining smorgasbord of enduring radio classics. I do stand by that, of course, but I also have to admit that you could probably make just as strong a case forContinue reading “The Top 10 Best Hit Songs of 1977”

Oddly, I kind of think the worst music of ‘76 is as in keeping with the year’s blockbuster quality as the best music is. This feels like one of the first years where the bad stuff is just as notorious and iconic as the good stuff, the first year where a casual reader might actuallyContinue reading “The Top 10 Worst Hit Songs of 1976”

The way I see it, 1976 is to 70s pop as 1967 is to 60s pop. We can quibble and squabble all we want over whether this year or that year was “better” or “worse” for the charts, but this has to be the top contender for the year that most defined the 70s: chock-fullContinue reading “The Top 10 Best Hit Songs of 1976”

In sharp contrast with the best songs of the year, I feel like anyone who has been following this series would be able to accurately guess the contents of at least half of this year’s worst list. There are not a ton of surprises here: plenty of returning worst-list entrants and a lot of musicContinue reading “The Top 10 Worst Hit Songs of 1975”

Bouncing back from the relative doldrums of ‘74, ‘75 was largely a return to the quality I’ve come to expect from the charts of this era. Oddly, as disco fever began sweeping the nation, I found that most of the best music of this year came from unexpected places, possibly as a function of beingContinue reading “The Top 10 Best Hit Songs of 1975”

When people say 1974 was a particularly bad year for music, I don’t think anyone is talking about Stevie Wonder or Barry White or ABBA. They’re not saying the good stuff wasn’t as good as usual, they’re saying the bad stuff is just that much worse. Again, I can point to plenty of other yearsContinue reading “The Top 10 Worst Hit Songs of 1974”

1974 is widely considered one of the worst years in pop music history. Now, I’m pretty heavily biased towards the 70s, so I’d say that calling it one of the worst ever is a bit hyperbolic; there are a good dozen or so years that handily outstrip ‘74 in terms of badness (just wait untilContinue reading “The Top 10 Best Hit Songs of 1974”

It’s hard to overstate what an incredibly great year ‘73 was music-wise, but as I’ve said before, every year has its high and low points. A “bad” year doesn’t mean there wasn’t anything I really enjoyed, and a “good” year (even a “best” year) doesn’t mean there wasn’t anything truly repugnant to get through. Also,Continue reading “The Top 10 Worst Hit Songs of 1973”

Oh my god. Oh my god. We’re finally here. Nineteen seventy-three, in my humble opinion the single, undisputed greatest year in the entire history of the Billboard hot 100. I’ve had to make some pretty painful cuts for nearly every best list since the mid-60s, but in ‘73, a year where the stars somehow alignedContinue reading “The Top 10 Best Hit Songs of 1973”