1978 - The Best Year in Popular Music Ever
Note: I’ve mentioned this basic concept before in a previous post (Never Let 1978 Slip Away), but today I found a way to download a large amount of music ranking data and I was reminded that I’m still correct. I’ll say it again here, keep your mind open.
I'm Gen-X. I get it, I'm old. But hear me out. Just looking at how I've had to handle my personal music library over the years is dauting. I have had the need to rebuild my entire music collection over and over. I've gone from 45's and LP's (vinyl) and 8 track tapes, to cassette tapes, to CD's, to some DVD's, to digital, and then to streaming. Yes dear young one, streaming was not always around - in the early years of digital music you still had to buy or steal each song or album separately. I have sat with my cassette recorders for hours on end trying to catch the songs I wanted to add to my collection being played on the radio so I could quickly press record. In the 80's I joined the "Columbia Record House" club and recruited countless friends to join as well giving me hundreds of free tapes. I've purchased thousands of CD's just to sell them to used music stores for pennies years later. I've torrented, I've "Napster'd", and taped my albums. I've had cabinet sized "hi-fis" with record players built in, I’ve used and owned reel-to-reel tape players, I’ve strapped what seemed like a car radio with a battery around my neck so I could ski with music before the Sony Walkman came out, I’ve use and own every kind of portable music device invented.
I have also argued for a long time that 1978 was the greatest year in popular music. There are so many reasons way. Debut albums from the Police, Van Halen, Dire Straits, Prince, The Cure, Joy Division/New Order, B-52's, The Cars, Joe Jackson, Kate Bush, Pat Metheny Group and so many more. Rock was reemerging, disco was still out there, punk was in full swing, new wave was moving beyond CBGB's and getting massive radio time, everything we know of as yacht rock today was a current hit then, the early seeds of the Athens, GA sound as well as the Minneapolis sound were both being laid, Elvis Presley had three albums still at the top of the chart, Rolling Stones released their best album (some may disagree with that one), Doobie Brothers changed their sound, Dark Side of the Moon is still high on the charts, the last Chicago album with with Terry Kath was released (the most under rated guitarist in rock), radio was still a thing, we had cassette tapes, vinyl, and 8-track tapes . . . the world was a a great place for listening.
Below is a list of some of my favorite albums that I have had countless hours of listening to from 1978 right up to today - I pulled each of these from the weekly lists of the top 10 albums on Billboards Top 200. The entire list below was in the top 10 sometime during the year. I have many other examples of amazing music from 1978, but I will limit this post to only the most popular of the year. All of the albums below may not have been released in 1978, but being in the top 10 meant they were everywhere and you could not escape them. The list is alphabetical, not by order of greatness:
Al Stewart - "Time Passages"
Andy Gibb - "Shadow Dancing"
Barry Manilow - "Even Now" (Yes I listened to this, don't judge me)
Barry White - "Barry White Sings for Someone You Love"
Billy Joel - "52nd Street" and "The Stranger"
Bob Seger - "Night Moves" and "Stranger in Town"
Boston - "Boston" and "Don't Look Back"
Boz Scaggs - "Silk Degrees"
Bruce Springsteen - "Darkness At The End of Town"
Chicago - "XI"
Chuck Mangione - "Feels So Good"
Commodores - "Commodores" (they had 2 others on the chart as well, but I had this one)
Crosby, Stills, and Nash - "CSN"
Eagles - "Hotel California" and "Greatest Hits 11971-1975"
Earth, Wind and Fire - "All 'n' All" and "The Best of, Vol I"
ELO - "A New World Record" and "Out of the Blue"
Eric Clapton - "Slowhand" (he also had "Backless" but I didn't listen to that one much)
Fleetwood Mack - "Rumors" and "Fleetwood Mac"
Fogelberg and Weisberg - "Twin Sons of Different Mothers"
Foreigner - "Double Vision" and "Foreigner"
George Benson - "Weekend in L.A."
Gerry Rafferty - "City to City"
Heart - "Dreamboat Annie" and "Little Queen"
Heatwave - "Central Heating" (I never owned this but loved it on the radio)
Jackson Brown - "Running on Empty"
James Taylor - "JT"
Joe Walsh - "But Seriously Folks"
Kansas - "Point of No Return"
Kenny Loggins - "Nightwatch"
Pablo Cruise - "Worlds Away" (okay, this one may not have stood the test of time but I loved it then)
Paul McCartney and Wings - "Wings over America"
Peter Frampton - "I'm in You"
Pink Floyd - "Dark Side of the Moon" (not on the list is also "Animals" from 1977)
Queen - "Jazz" and "News of the World"
Roberta Flack - "Blue Lights in the Basement" (I got this one from my Dad's collection)
Rod Stewart - "Foot Loose + Fancy Free"
Rose Royce - "Rose Royce II / In Full Bloom" (another one I only heard on the radio but loved, I mean come on, the song "Wishing on a Star" is wonderful)
Santana - "Moonflower" (I didn't really discover Santana for a few years but it counts for this list)
Soundtracks for the movies - "FM", "Grease", "Saturday Night Fever", "Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band", "Star Wars"
Steely Dan - "Aja" (one of the best albums ever recorded)
Steve Martin had two comedy albums hit the top 10, I listed them them both hundreds of times
Stevie Wonder - "Songs in the Key of Live" (another one of the best albums every recorded)
Styx - "Pieces of Eight" and "The Grand Illusion"
Alan Parson Project - "I Robot"
Atlanta Rhythm Section - Champagne Jam"
The Beatles - "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", "The White Album", "1962-1966", and "1697-1970" all hit the top of the charts in 1978
Doobie Brothers - "Living On The Fault Line" (very under rated album)
The Isley Brothers - "Showdown"
The O'Jays - "So Full of Love" ("Use Ta Be My Girl" - come on, that one stays in your head forever)
The Rolling Stones - "Some Girls" (in my opinion their best), "Love you Live", "Sticky Fingers"
The Steve Miller Band - "Book of Dreams" and "Fly Like an Eagle"
The Who - "Who Are You"
Wings - "London Town"
There is so much more. There was every kind of listening available, and everyone listened to all of it. This list is but some small examples of the listening bonanza that was 1978.
