"Fernando" is a song written by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, from the Swedish musical group ABBA. The song was written for their fellow group member Anni-Frid Lyngstad and was included on her 1975 album Frida ensam.

The following year, "Fernando" was re-recorded by ABBA. It was released in March 1976 as the brand new track for the 1976 compilation album Greatest Hits, and was also included on the group's fourth studio album, Arrival, in Australia and New Zealand. "Fernando" is also featured on the multi-million-selling Gold: Greatest Hits compilation. The song is one of ABBA's best-selling singles of all time, with six million copies sold in 1976 alone. It is one of fewer than forty all-time singles to have sold 10 million (or more) physical copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling singles of all time.

"Fernando" was released in March 1976 and became one of ABBA's best-selling singles, topping the charts in at least 13 countries, and selling over 10 million copies worldwide. It was the longest-running No. 1 in Australian history (spending 14 weeks at the top and 40 weeks on the chart), and remained so for over 40 years, until it was surpassed by Ed Sheeran's "Shape of You", which achieved 15 weeks at No. 1 in May 2017. Prior to 1997, it was Australia's highest-selling single. "Fernando" also reached the top of the charts in Austria, Belgium, France, West Germany, the United Kingdom, Hungary, Ireland, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, South Africa and Switzerland. It was also a Top 5 hit in ABBA's native Sweden (although Lyngstad's version was No. 1 on Sweden's radio chart for nine weeks), Finland, Norway, Spain, Canada and Rhodesia.

The track became ABBA's fourth Top 20 hit on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, peaking at No. 13. It also reached No. 1 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart, the first of two chart-toppers for ABBA on this chart (the second being "The Winner Takes It All"). The song remains an airplay staple on American radio stations specializing in the MOR, adult standards and easy listening formats. Record World called the song "a classic!"

"Fernando" was the fourth-biggest single of 1976 in the UK. It spent 10 weeks in the UK Top 10 (more than any other ABBA single), and was also the second of three consecutive UK No. 1 singles for ABBA, after "Mamma Mia" and before "Dancing Queen". As of September 2021, it is ABBA's sixth-biggest song in the UK with 903,000 chart sales (pure sales and digital streams).

In Portugal the single sold 80,000 copies; in France it went to No. 1 and sold 850,000 copies.

The song was also chosen as the "Best Studio Recording of 1975", ABBA's first international prize.

ABBA are among the best-selling music artists in history, with record sales estimated to be between 150 million to 385 million sold worldwide and the group were ranked 3rd best-selling singles artists in the United Kingdom with a total of 11.3 million singles sold by 3 November 2012. ABBA were the first group from a non-English-speaking country to achieve consistent success in the charts of English-speaking countries, including the United Kingdom, Australia, United States, Republic of Ireland, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa. They are the best-selling Swedish band of all time and the best-selling band originating in continental Europe. ABBA had eight consecutive number-one albums in the UK. The group also enjoyed significant success in Latin America and recorded a collection of their hit songs in Spanish. ABBA were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2002. The group were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010, the first and only recording artists to receive this honor from outside an Anglophonic country. In 2015, their song "Dancing Queen" was inducted into the Recording Academy's Grammy Hall of Fame.

"I Need You," released in 1972, is the second single by the band America from their eponymous debut album America. The song was written by Gerry Beckley.

Cash Box described it as "a gentle, 'Something'-ish ballad."

George Martin remixed the studio recording for inclusion on History: America's Greatest Hits (1975) with the pitch brought down a quarter tone and the bass guitar brought up further in volume from the original release. An alternate mix from 1971 (otherwise based on the George Martin mix) appears on the 2015 release Archives, Vol. 1.

The song was a top ten hit and spent 10 weeks in United States Billboard Hot 100 charts wherein it peaked at number 9. It was the band's second top ten single, following the success of their previous hit "A Horse With No Name". It was also charted in Billboard Adult Contemporary Chart at number 7, and both Cash Box Singles Chart and Record World Singles Chart at number 8. Unlike their previous hit single, it didn't receive any certifications by RIAA.

America is a British-American rock band formed in London in 1970 by Dewey Bunnell, Dan Peek, and Gerry Beckley, all Americans. The trio met as sons of US Air Force personnel stationed in London, where they began performing live. Achieving significant popularity in the 1970s, the trio was famous for its close vocal harmonies and light acoustic folk rock sound. The band released a string of hit albums and singles, many of which found airplay on pop/soft rock stations.

The band came together shortly after the members' graduation from high school in the late 1960s. In 1970, Peek joined the band, and they signed a record deal with Warner Bros. The following year, they released their self-titled debut album, which included the transatlantic hits "A Horse with No Name" and "I Need You". Their second album, Homecoming (1972), included the single "Ventura Highway". Over the next several years, the band continued to release hit songs, including "Muskrat Love" on Hat Trick (1973), "Tin Man" and "Lonely People" on Holiday (1974), and "Sister Golden Hair" and "Daisy Jane" on their 1975 record Hearts. It was also in 1975 when America released History: America's Greatest Hits, a compilation of hit singles, which was certified multi-platinum in the United States and Australia. Peek left the group in 1977 and their commercial fortunes declined, though they returned to the top 10 in 1982 with the single "You Can Do Magic". The band's final Top 40 hit was "The Border", which reached no. 33 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1983. The group continues to record material and tour regularly. Its 2007 album Here & Now was a collaboration with a new generation of musicians who have credited the band as an influence.

America won a Grammy Award for Best New Artist and were nominated for Best Pop Vocal Group at the 15th Annual Grammy Awards in 1973. The group was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2006 and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2012.

"The Loco-Motion" is a 1962 pop song written by American songwriters Gerry Goffin and Carole King. "The Loco-Motion" was originally written for R&B singer Dee Dee Sharp, but Sharp turned the song down.

The song is notable for appearing in the American Top 3 thrice, each time in a different decade: in 1962 by Little Eva (U.S. No. 1); in 1974 by Grand Funk Railroad (also U.S. No. 1); and in 1988 by Kylie Minogue (U.S. No. 3).

The song is an enduring example of the dance-song genre; much of the lyric is devoted to a description of the dance itself, usually performed as a type of line dance. However, the song pre-dates the dance.

American rock band Grand Funk Railroad recorded a cover version of the song in 1974, produced by Todd Rundgren. The decision to play the song came about after guitarist Mark Farner was heard whistling the song in the studio. The Grand Funk version of the song featured guitars, several layers of harmony, and heavy drums.

During the 2000s, this version of the song was featured in advertisements for the Japanese technology and communications company SoftBank, featuring the pop group SMAP. SMAP also used the song on their television variety show SMAP×SMAP for a music video, singing along to the original Grand Funk recording rather than covering it.

"The Loco-Motion" appeared on Grand Funk Railroad's album Shinin' On and was released as a single in February 1974, eventually peaking at No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart for two weeks in May 1974. It also reached number 5 in Australia, peaked at number 1 in Canada, and reached number 11 in Germany.

Grand Funk Railroad (often shortened to Grand Funk) is an American rock band formed in Flint, Michigan, in 1969 by Mark Farner (vocals, guitar, keyboards, harmonica), Don Brewer (drums, vocals), and Mel Schacher (bass). The band achieved peak popularity and success during the 1970s with hit songs such as "We're an American Band", "I'm Your Captain (Closer to Home)", "Some Kind of Wonderful", "Walk Like a Man", "The Loco-Motion", "Bad Time" and "Inside Looking Out" (a cover of the Animals). Grand Funk released six platinum and seven gold-certified albums between their recording debut in 1969 and their first disbandment in 1976.

Known for a crowd-pleasing arena rock style, the band toured extensively and played to packed arenas worldwide, and was well-regarded by audiences despite a relative lack of critical praise. The original trio reunited at various times later into the band's career; after Farner's final departure in 1998, Brewer and Schacher have continued touring as Grand Funk Railroad.

"How Long" is the debut single by the English band Ace, from their 1974 debut album Five-A-Side. It reached No. 3 in the US and Canadian charts, and No. 20 on the UK Singles Chart.[5]

In a 1981 issue of Smash Hits, Phil Collins named the song as one of his top 10 favorites, describing it as a "classic single".

Although widely interpreted as being about adultery, the song was in fact composed by lead singer Paul Carrack upon discovering that bassist Terry ("Tex") Comer had been secretly working with the Sutherland Brothers and Quiver.[7] The ‘friends with their fancy persuasions’ cited in the lyrics are said to be in reference to the Sutherland Brothers and Quiver's management.[7]

The guitar solo is by lead guitarist Phil Harris. Alan 'Bam' King was the band's rhythm guitarist, formerly with the Action.

The band had originally tried to record the song as a "Motown"-type single for Anchor Records, but gave up in favor of recording their first album at Rockfield Studios in Wales. The song was recorded for the album.

Ace were a British rock band who enjoyed moderate success in the 1970s. Their membership included Paul Carrack, who later became famous as a vocalist for Mike + The Mechanics and as a solo artist. Ace are perhaps best known for their hit single "How Long", which was a top 20 single in the United Kingdom in 1974, and reached no. 3 in the United States and Canada in 1975.

The band were formed in December 1972 in Sheffield as "Ace Flash and the Dynamos", but the name was soon abbreviated to "Ace". The members were assembled from various professional bands. Carrack and Terry Comer had previously played with Warm Dust, and Alan "Bam" King with Mighty Baby, whose antecedents were the 1960s band The Action. Ace were popular on the pub rock circuit. Their music was a fusion of pop and funk.

Before the recording of their debut album, Five-A-Side, the former drummer of Bees Make Honey, Fran Byrne, replaced Steve Witherington. The single "How Long" was taken from this record, and was a significant chart success, achieving a top 20 place in the UK Singles Chart, and reaching number three in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart in the spring of 1975. The Five-A-Side album did well on its own, too, peaking at number 11 on the Billboard 200. Carrack, the band's keyboardist and chief songwriter, sang lead on "How Long", but was not the band's only vocalist. Follow-up singles were sung by other band members.

Ace eventually moved to the United States, and replaced Phil Harris with Jon Woodhead in June 1976, releasing their third and final album No Strings in January 1977. Unlike earlier Ace LPs, this album featured an emphasis on Carrack's vocals, and the two singles issued from the album both featured Carrack as lead singer. The singles, however, didn't chart and the group disbanded in July 1977, when Carrack, Comer and Byrne all joined Frankie Miller's backing band.

In addition to his solo career, Carrack has since played in Eric Clapton's band, Roger Waters' The Bleeding Heart Band, Roxy Music for the Manifesto album and tour, Squeeze in the early 1980s, and Mike + The Mechanics, for which he is best known. His solo re-recording of "How Long" became a UK top 40 hit again in 1996.

"Baba O'Riley" is a song by the English rock band the Who, and the opening track to their fifth album Who's Next (1971). It was issued in Europe as a single on 23 October 1971, coupled with "My Wife".

Roger Daltrey sings most of the song, with Pete Townshend singing the middle eight: "Don't cry/ don't raise your eye/ it's only teenage wasteland".

"Baba O'Riley" appears in Time magazine's "All-Time 100 Songs" list, Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time", and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as one of the 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll.

It also features on live albums: Who's Last, Live from Royal Albert Hall, Live from Toronto, and Greatest Hits Live. The original recording's violin solo is played on harmonica by Daltrey when performed live.

The song is often incorrectly referred to as "Teenage Wasteland", due to these oft-repeated words in the song's chorus refrain. "Teenage Wasteland" was in fact a working title for the song in its early incarnations as part of the Lifehouse project, but eventually became the title for a different but related song by Townshend, which is slower and features different lyrics. A demo of "Teenage Wasteland" features in Lifehouse Chronicles, a six-disc set of music related to the Lifehouse project, and in several Townshend compilations and videos.

The song's title refers to two of Townshend's major inspirations at the time: Meher Baba, and Terry Riley.

Townshend originally wrote "Baba O'Riley" for his Lifehouse project, a rock opera intended as the follow-up to the Who's 1969 opera, Tommy. In Lifehouse, a Scottish farmer named Ray would have sung the song at the beginning as he gathered his wife Sally and his two children to begin their exodus to London. When Lifehouse was scrapped, eight of the songs were salvaged and recorded for the Who's 1971 album Who's Next, with "Baba O'Riley" as the lead-off track.

According to Townshend, at the end of the band's gig at the 1969 Isle of Wight Festival, the field was covered in rubbish left by fans, which inspired the line "teenage wasteland". In another interview, Townshend stated the song was also inspired by "the absolute desolation of teenagers at Woodstock, where audience members were strung out on acid and 20 people had brain damage. The irony was that some listeners took the song to be a teenage celebration: 'Teenage Wasteland, yes! We're all wasted!'"

"Baba O'Riley" appears at No. 159 on Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". The song is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as one of the 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll.

"Beth" is a song by American rock band Kiss, originally released on their 1976 album Destroyer. Although drummer Peter Criss has gotten credit over the years for writing the song, he was not truly the composer. Criss had a hand in a demo called “Beck,” but his friend, Stan Penridge, was the main writer. Producer Bob Ezrin turned it into “Beth” for the album. Casablanca Records released it as a single in August 1976, after it was released as the B-side of "Detroit Rock City". "Beth" is Kiss's biggest commercial hit in the United States; it reached #7 on the Billboard Hot 100, received a Gold Record certification from the RIAA, and won the 1977 People's Choice Award for "Favorite Song". In 2003, "Beth" ranked #3 in VH1's 25 Greatest Power Ballads.

The demo,"Beck", was penned largely by Penridge when he and Peter Criss were in the band Chelsea. During the recording of Destroyer, Criss showed it to Ezrin, who rearranged it and changed the title to "Beth". The ballad has appeared on several compilations and live albums, including Kiss Unplugged (1996), where the group performed it acoustically.

During drummer Peter Criss's time in Chelsea, he and the group's guitarist Stan Penridge decided to write a song that mocked a woman named Becky, the wife of their bandmate, Mike Brand. According to Criss, she regularly called the group during rehearsals to ask when her husband would come home, and this gave them the idea of composing the first verse of the song: "Beck, I hear you callin', but I can't come home right now. Me and the boys are playin', and we just can't find the sound". Criss has said he composed the song for his first wife, Lydia. That claim, however, has been refuted by several people, including Kiss bassist Gene Simmons, guitarist Paul Stanley, Ezrin, and Penridge.

By 1975, Kiss had released three studio albums, in which Criss's compositional contributions were minimal; the only track on which he appeared credited was the instrumental track "Love Theme from Kiss", written by the four members of the band and included on their self-titled debut. Criss assumed the role of vocalist in other songs created by his bandmates; however, for Destroyer, Criss set himself the goal of adding one of his own compositions. During a limousine ride, Criss sang a fast-paced version of "Beck" for Simmons and Stanley, assuming they would not be interested in including a sentimental ballad on the album. Simmons and Stanley suggested that he sing it to producer Bob Ezrin, who agreed to record it and assured him that it would be a success. Ezrin's decision was motivated by the fact that the band's other songs were primarily about sex, and he believed that "Beck" was a love song that "everyone would relate to".

The song was a last-minute addition to the Destroyer album. According to Bill Aucoin, the manager of Kiss at that time, Simmons and Stanley did not want "Beth" on the album because it was not a typical Kiss song. Aucoin insisted on keeping the song on the record. During recording, Criss was the only band member in the studio, making "Beth" the only Kiss song to have no instrumentals from any member of the band. Criss was backed by a recording of a piano and harp, a dramatic departure from the band's usual hard rock sound.

"I Only Want to Be with You" is a song written by Mike Hawker and Ivor Raymonde. The debut solo single released by British singer Dusty Springfield under her long-time producer Johnny Franz, "I Only Want to Be with You" peaked at number 4 on the UK Singles chart in January 1964. Three remakes of the song have been UK chart hits, the first two by the Bay City Rollers (1976) and The Tourists (1979) matching the number 4 peak of the Dusty Springfield original, while the 1989 remake by Samantha Fox peaked at number 16. In the US on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, "I Only Want to Be with You" has been a Top 40 hit three times, with both the Dusty Springfield original and the Bay City Rollers' remake peaking at number 12 while the Samantha Fox remake peaked at number 31. "I Only Want to Be with You" has also been recorded by a wide range of artists, several of whom sing the song with lyrics translated from the original English.

The Bay City Rollers recorded "I Only Want to Be with You" for their 1976 album Dedication in June and July 1976 at Soundstage Studio in Toronto with producer Jimmy Ienner. Dedication was the first Bay City Rollers recorded under the auspices of Arista Records, and it was Arista president Clive Davis who suggested that the group remake "I Only Want to Be with You." Jimmy Ienner was chosen by Davis to produce the Bay City Rollers on the basis of Ienner's work with the Raspberries.

In the US "I Only Want to Be with You" was issued as advance single from Dedication in August 1976: that October the track reached a Billboard Hot 100 peak of number 12, besting the number 28 peak of the precedent Bay City Rollers' single "Rock and Roll Love Letter" while failing to match the Top Ten success the group had enjoyed in 1975–1976 with "Saturday Night" and in 1976 with "Money Honey". "I Only Want to Be with You" appeared to wrap up the group's burst of North American stardom as their next three US single releases were Top 40 shortfalls: however the group's fourth US single release subsequent to "I Only Want to Be With You": "You Made Me Believe in Magic", did afford the group a final Top Ten hit.

Issued in the UK as a non-album single on 3 September 1976, "I Only Wanna Be with You" – so entitled – reached number 4 UK, affording the Bay City Rollers' a tenth and final Top Ten hit.

It's noteworthy that the US and UK chart peaks of the Bay City Rollers' 1976 remake of "I Only Want to Be with You" exactly match the US and UK chart peaks achieved in 1964 by the Dusty Springfield original. However the Springfield original version had had a significantly stronger UK chart run holding at number 4 for 4 weeks – as opposed to the Bay City Rollers remake's one week chart peak – with the original's Top 50 tenure of 18 weeks being twice as long as the remake's. Conversely in the US the Bay City Rollers' remake had a Billboard Hot 100 tenure of 15 weeks while the Springfield original had maintained a Hot 100 presence for 10 weeks in total. (Comparisons between the chart impact of singles issued in distinct time periods should be considered imprecise, the methodology behind both the UK and US chart rankings having been frequently revised.)

Chicago radio superstation WLS, which gave the song much airplay, ranked "I Only Want to Be with You" as the 14th most popular hit of 1976. It spent two weeks at number two on their survey of 6 November 1976.

"Live and Let Die" is the theme song of the 1973 James Bond film of the same name, performed by the British–American rock band Wings. Written by English musician Paul McCartney and his wife Linda McCartney, it reunited McCartney with former Beatles producer George Martin, who produced the song and arranged the orchestra. McCartney was contacted to write the song by the film's producers Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli before the screenplay was finished. Wings recorded "Live and Let Die" during the sessions for Red Rose Speedway in October 1972 at AIR Studios. It was also the first rock song to open a Bond film. Another version by B. J. Arnau also appears in the film.

Upon release, "Live and Let Die" was the most successful Bond theme up to that point, reaching No. 1 on two of the three major US charts (though it only reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100) and No. 9 on the UK Singles Chart. The song also received positive reviews from music critics and continues to be praised as one of McCartney's best songs. It became the first Bond theme song to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song, but ultimately lost the award to Barbra Streisand's "The Way We Were". It was also nominated for the Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s) at the 16th Annual Grammy Awards in 1974.

"Live and Let Die" was previewed in the 1973 television special James Paul McCartney, which aired on 16 April in the United States and 10 May in the United Kingdom. In the segment, McCartney and Wings were shown performing the song in his studio, while clips of the film were shown, before the film's US theatrical release on 27 June. In his contemporary review of the single for the NME, Ian MacDonald wrote: "McCartney's fairly reasonable solution to the given problem 'Write, in less than 25 bars, a theme-tune for the new James Bond movie' is to 'Let It Be' for the first half, wailing absently and with a curious notion of grammar, about this 'ever changing world in which we live in', before sitting back to let a 3,000-piece orchestra do a man-in-the-street's impression of John Barry. It's not intrinsically very interesting, but the film will help to sell it and vice versa." Billboard's contemporary review called it "the best 007 movie theme" to that time and one of McCartney's most satisfying singles, by combining sweet melody, symphonic bombast and some reggae into one song. Cash Box said that the song was "absolutely magnificent in every respect".

"Live and Let Die" reached No. 1 on two of the three major US charts, though only reached No. 2 on the US Hot 100 for three weeks. It was kept from the No. 1 spot each week by three different songs, "The Morning After" by Maureen McGovern, "Touch Me in the Morning" by Diana Ross, and "Brother Louie" by Stories. "Live and Let Die" also peaked at No. 9 in the UK. The single was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America for sales of over one million copies.

Sir James Paul McCartney is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One of the most successful composers and performers of all time, McCartney is known for his melodic approach to bass-playing, versatile and wide tenor vocal range, and musical eclecticism, exploring styles ranging from pre–rock and roll pop to classical and electronica. His songwriting partnership with Lennon remains the most successful in history.

McCartney has written or co-written a record 32 songs that have topped the Billboard Hot 100, and, as of 2009, had sales of 25.5 million RIAA-certified units in the US. His honors include two inductions into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (as a member of the Beatles in 1988 and as a solo artist in 1999), an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, 18 Grammy Awards, an appointment as a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1965 and a knighthood in 1997 for services to music. As of 2020, he is one of the wealthiest musicians in the world, with an estimated fortune of £800 million.

"Nobody Does It Better" is a power ballad and the theme song for the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me (1977). Composed by Marvin Hamlisch with lyrics by Carole Bayer Sager, the song was produced by Richard Perry and performed by Carly Simon. It was the first Bond theme song to be titled differently from the name of the film since Dr. No (1962), although the phrase "the spy who loved me" is included in the lyrics. The song was released as a single from the film's soundtrack album, and became a major worldwide hit.

Among the most successful Bond themes, the song spent three weeks at No. 2 on the US Billboard Hot 100, kept out of the top spot by Debby Boone's "You Light Up My Life". It hit No. 1 on the Billboard Easy Listening chart, where it stayed for seven weeks, becoming the No. 1 Adult Contemporary hit of 1977. The song was certified Gold by the RIAA, signifying sales of one million copies in the US. It also reached No. 7 on the UK Singles Chart, and was certified Silver by the BPI. The song received Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nominations for Best Original Song in 1978, losing both to "You Light Up My Life" from the 1977 film of the same title. At the 20th Annual Grammy Awards held in 1978, "Nobody Does It Better" received a nomination for Song of the Year, and Simon was nominated for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female.

In 2004, "Nobody Does it Better" was honored by the American Film Institute as the 67th greatest film song as part of their 100 Years Series. In 2012, Rolling Stone ranked it the third-greatest James Bond theme song, while Billboard ranked it the second-greatest. In 2021, USA Today crowned "Nobody Does it Better" the greatest James Bond Theme Song. The song has been performed live by Celine Dion and Radiohead; indeed, Radiohead's lead singer, Thom Yorke, called it the "sexiest song ever written".

"Nobody Does It Better" is Simon's longest-charting hit, as well as the most successful hit of hers that she did not write herself. Her earlier hit "You're So Vain" spent three weeks at No. 1; however, its chart run was two months shorter than that of "Nobody Does It Better". The title of the theme was later used for Simon's 1999 greatest hits compilation, The Very Best of Carly Simon: Nobody Does It Better.

Lyrically, "Nobody Does It Better" is a "lust-drunk anthem" about James Bond's sexual prowess. In a 1977 documentary on the making of The Spy Who Loved Me, Marvin Hamlisch said that the decision to ask Simon to perform the song was made after lyricist Carole Bayer Sager remarked that the lyrics sounded "incredibly vain", in reference to Simon's 1972 song "You're So Vain".

Billboard Magazine described "Nobody Does It Better" as a "typically inventive and bombastic" James Bond theme song, stating that Simon sings it "as if she believed sincerely in the superhuman love powers of 007." Cash Box said that it is "strictly star material in every detail" and that it has "a good enough melody to stand on its own," even if it wasn't a James Bond theme song.

Carly Elisabeth Simon is an American musician, singer-songwriter, memoirist, and children's author. She rose to fame in the 1970s with a string of hit records; her 13 Top 40 U.S. hits include "Anticipation" (No. 13), "The Right Thing to Do" (No. 17), "Haven't Got Time for the Pain" (No. 14), "You Belong to Me" (No. 6), "Coming Around Again" (No. 18), and her four Gold-certified singles "You're So Vain" (No. 1), "Mockingbird" (No. 5, a duet with James Taylor), "Nobody Does It Better" (No. 2) from the 1977 James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me, and "Jesse" (No. 11).

One of the most popular of the confessional singer/songwriters who emerged in the early 1970s, Simon has 24 Billboard Hot 100-charting singles and 28 Billboard Adult Contemporary charting singles. Among her various accolades, she has won two Grammy Awards (from 14 nominations), and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame for "You're So Vain" in 2004. AllMusic called her "one of the quintessential singer-songwriters of the '70s". She has a contralto vocal range, and cited Odetta as a significant influence. Simon was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1994. She was honored with the Boston Music Awards Lifetime Achievement in 1995, and received a Berklee College of Music Honorary Doctor of Music Degree in 1998. In 2005, Simon was nominated for a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, but she has yet to claim her star. In 2012, she was honored with the Founders Award from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. On November 5, 2022, Simon was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

"Bad, Bad Leroy Brown" is an uptempo, strophic story song written by American folk rock singer Jim Croce. Released as part of his 1973 album Life and Times, the song was a No. 1 hit for him, spending two weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in July 1973. Billboard ranked it as the No. 2 song for 1973.

Croce was nominated for two 1973 Grammy Awards in the Pop Male Vocalist and Record of the Year categories for "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown". It was his only number-one single before his death on September 20 of that year.

The song's titular character is a 6'4" tall man from the South Side of Chicago whose size, attitude, and tendency to carry weapons have given him a reputation in which he is adored by women and feared by men. He is said to dress in fancy clothes and wear diamond rings, and to own a custom Lincoln Continental and a Cadillac Eldorado, implying he has a lot of money. He is also known to carry a .32 caliber handgun in his pocket and a razor in his shoe. One day in a bar he makes a pass at a pretty married woman named Doris, whose jealous husband engages Brown in a fight. Leroy loses badly, and is described as looking "like a jigsaw puzzle with a couple of pieces gone".

The story of a widely feared man being bested in a fight is similar to that of Croce's earlier song "You Don't Mess Around with Jim".

According to Billboard, it is "filled with humorous lines and a catchy arrangement." Cash Box described it as "a delightful new single in the same musical vein as his 'You Don't Mess Around with Jim' smash that started his career."

Croce's inspiration for the song was a friend he met in his brief time in the US Army: This is a song about a guy I was in the army with... It was at Fort Dix, in New Jersey, that I met this guy. He was not made to climb the tree of knowledge, as they say, but he was strong, so nobody'd ever told him what to do, and after about a week down there he said "Later for this" and decided to go home. So he went AWOL—which means to take your own vacation—and he did. But he made the mistake of coming back at the end of the month to get his paycheck. I don't know if you've ever seen handcuffs put on anybody, but it was SNAP and that was the end of it for a good friend of mine, who I wrote this tune about, named Leroy Brown.

James Joseph Croce (/ˈkroʊtʃi/; January 10, 1943 – September 20, 1973) was an American folk and rock singer-songwriter. Between 1966 and 1973, he released five studio albums and numerous singles. During this period, Croce took a series of odd jobs to pay bills while he continued to write, record, and perform concerts. After he formed a partnership with songwriter and guitarist Maury Muehleisen, his fortunes turned in the early 1970s. His breakthrough came in 1972; his third album, You Don't Mess Around with Jim, produced three charting singles, including "Time in a Bottle", which reached No. 1 after his death. The follow-up album, Life and Times, included the song "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown", which was the only No. 1 hit he had during his lifetime.

On September 20, 1973, at the height of his popularity and the day before the lead single to his fifth album I Got a Name was released, Croce and five others died in a plane crash. His music continued to chart throughout the 1970s following his death. Croce's wife Ingrid was his early songwriting partner. She continued to write and record after his death and their son A. J. Croce became a singer-songwriter in the 1990s.

On the night of Thursday, September 20, 1973, during Croce's Life and Times tour and the day before his ABC single "I Got a Name" was released, Croce and five others were killed when their chartered Beechcraft E18S crashed into a tree during takeoff from the Natchitoches Regional Airport in Natchitoches, Louisiana. Croce was 30 years old. Others killed in the crash were pilot Robert N. Elliott, Croce's bandmate Maury Muehleisen, comedian George Stevens, manager and booking agent Kenneth D. Cortese, and road manager Dennis Rast. An hour before the crash, Croce had completed a concert at Northwestern State University's Prather Coliseum in Natchitoches; he was flying to Sherman, Texas, for a concert at Austin College.

An investigation by the NTSB named the probable cause as the pilot's failure to see the obstruction due to physical impairment and because fog reduced his vision. The 57-year-old Elliott suffered from severe coronary artery disease and had run three miles to the airport from a motel. He had an ATP certificate, 14,290 hours total flight time, and 2,190 hours in the Beech 18 type airplane. A later investigation placed the sole blame on pilot error because of his downwind takeoff into a "black hole" of severe darkness, limiting his use of visual references.

Croce was buried at Haym Salomon Memorial Park in Frazer, Pennsylvania.

"Feels Like the First Time" is the debut single by British-American rock band Foreigner. It was written by Mick Jones and released in 1977 from the band's eponymous debut album. It reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Jones wrote "Feels Like the First Time" while putting together the band that would become Foreigner. According to Jones, "I started writing by myself. Before I knew it, I had two or three songs, and I wondered what to do with them. One of those songs was 'Feels Like the First Time.'"

Jones also said:
"Feels Like The First Time" was written about a bit of a change in my life. I was coming out of a previous marriage with somebody I'd met in France. I'd gone back to England and then finally made the journey to America while I was in the band Spooky Tooth. And to me it was this challenge of really going for a new start in my life. ... to me it was signifying a new start. I'd met somebody, I got re-married and moved with her to America, and that was the song that described that experience."

"Feels Like the First Time" was one of four songs (along with "Take Me to Your Leader," "At War with the World" and "Woman, Oh Woman") that Lou Gramm sang at his audition to become the lead singer of Foreigner. These same four songs were used on the demo Foreigner used to get their recording contract.

Billboard called "Feels Like the First Time" "tasteful, high energy rock" with "a direct, happy, love lyric. Billboard called the guitars "booming" and Gramm's lead vocal "intense but controlled." Cash Box said that "the heavy rock feeling is there at bottom, but glittering backing vocals and keyboard work add the patina necessary to soothe top 40" and also commented on the "spine-tingling guitar chords" that open the song. New York Times critic John Rockwell called the song a "none-too-imaginative" example of a "straightforward rock song" that combines "latter-day British rock with a hint of synthesizer progressiveness." Rolling Stone critic Dave Marsh said the song "combines Roxy Music-like synthesizer with the eternal thump" and said that Jones' songwriting on this song and its follow-up single "Cold as Ice" "places him among the better English hard-rock writers." Henry McNulty's contemporary review of Foreigner in the Hartford Courant said that "Feels Like the First Time" was a good choice for the album's first single due to "Jones' guitar blasting out metal-tinged chords at the outset and plenty of clever little hooks."

Allmusic critic Denise Sullivan described "Feels Like the First Time" as " one of those typically generic, much reviled by critics, '70s corporate rock hits" which nonetheless had "insta-appeal." Sullivan attributed its popularity in part to its ability to bridge between heavy metal and MOR rock, with "hard-hitting" snare drum, "layered instruments and fist-pumping guitar riffs." She describes lead singer Gramm as turning in a "blueprint metal screamer vocal performance." Livingston County Daily Press and Argus critic Scott Pohl said the song "expressed how anyone feels with a new lover."

Ultimate Classic Rock critic Matt Wardlaw ranked "Feels Like the First Time" as Foreigner's 7th greatest song, stating that it represented a new beginning for Jones "as he had gotten married, moved to America and started what would become a very successful rock 'n' roll band." Classic Rock History critic Janey Roberts ranked "Feels Like the First Time" as Foreigner's all-time top song. Billboard reviewer Gary Graff rated "Feels Like the First Time" to be Foreigner's 3rd greatest song, calling it "a perfect introduction and statement of purpose, brimming with optimism and intent."

Foreigner is a British-American rock band, originally formed in New York City in 1976 by veteran British guitarist and songwriter Mick Jones and fellow Briton and ex-King Crimson member Ian McDonald, along with American vocalist Lou Gramm. Jones came up with the band's name as he, McDonald and Dennis Elliott were British, whereas Gramm, Al Greenwood and Ed Gagliardi were American.

Simply 70's invites everyone on the rink for the "fast skate"! This not for the faint-hearted and there may be some blisters, bruised knees and egos but I promise that it will be one helluva skate!

"The Ballroom Blitz" (often called "Ballroom Blitz") is a song by British glam rock band The Sweet, written by Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman. The song reached number one in Canada, number two in the UK Singles Chart and the Australian Chart, and number five on the US Billboard Hot 100. It remains an enduring favorite with close to 30,000,000 streams on YouTube.

"The Ballroom Blitz" was inspired by an incident on 27 January 1973 when the band were performing at the Grand Hall in Kilmarnock, Scotland, and were driven offstage by a bottling.

The Sweet are a British glam rock band that rose to prominence in the 1970s. Their best known line-up consisted of lead vocalist Brian Connolly, bass player Steve Priest, guitarist Andy Scott, and drummer Mick Tucker. The group were originally called The Sweetshop.

The band were formed in London in 1968 and achieved their first hit, "Funny Funny", in 1971 after teaming up with songwriters Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman and record producer Phil Wainman. During 1971 and 1972, their musical style followed a marked progression from the Archies-like bubblegum style of "Funny Funny" to a Who-influenced hard rock style supplemented by a striking use of high-pitched backing vocals.

The band first achieved success in the UK charts, with thirteen Top 20 hits during the 1970s alone, with "Block Buster!" (1973) topping the chart, followed by three consecutive number two hits in "Hell Raiser" (1973), "The Ballroom Blitz" (1973) and "Teenage Rampage" (1974). The band turned to a more hard rock style with their mid-career singles, like 1974's "Turn It Down". "Fox on the Run" (1975) also reached number two on the UK charts. These results were topped in West Germany and other countries on the European mainland. They also achieved success and popularity in the US with the top ten hits "Little Willy", "The Ballroom Blitz", "Fox on the Run", and "Love is Like Oxygen".

The Sweet had their last international success in 1978 with "Love Is Like Oxygen". Connolly left the group in 1979 to start a solo career and the remaining members continued as a trio until disbanding in 1981. From the mid-1980s, Scott, Connolly and Priest each played with their own versions of Sweet at different times. Connolly died in 1997, Tucker in 2002 and Priest in 2020. Andy Scott is still active with his version of the band. Sweet have since sold over 35 million albums worldwide.

"Fly Like an Eagle" is a song written by Steve Miller for the album of the same name. The song was released in the United Kingdom in August 1976 and in the United States in December 1976. It went to number two on the Billboard Hot 100 chart during the week of March 12, 1977. The single edit can be found on Greatest Hits (1974–1978). The song has an unusually mellow and "dreamy" feel. It is usually played in tandem with "Space Intro", but the song also segues into "Wild Mountain Honey".

The band first performed the song in 1973 while performing at New York City's Felt Forum on a bill with The Marshall Tucker Band, Buddy Guy and Junior Wells.

An earlier 1973 version features a more bluesy and less funk-inspired rhythm, with the guitar taking the synthesizer parts (albeit with similar delay effects). The lyrics are slightly different, indicating that the place the eagle wants to fly away from is a Native American reservation. The final, funk-inspired album version pays homage to "Slippin' into Darkness" by War (1971).

It was re-recorded for the eponymous album released in 1976.

The intro riff was first used in a slightly different form on Miller's 1969 track "My Dark Hour" (which featured Paul McCartney).

The original Steve Miller Band version sold over one million copies.

Billboard described the Steve Miller Band version as "uncharacteristically thoughtful, but rivetingly attention grabbing." Cash Box said that the single edit "preserves the high points of the original while cutting the time just about in half."

Steven Haworth Miller is an American guitarist, multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter, known as leader of the Steve Miller Band. He began his career in blues and blues rock and evolved to a more pop-oriented arena rock sound during the mid-1970s through the early 1980s, releasing popular singles and albums. Miller was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2016.

Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Miller received his first exposure to music from his mother, Bertha, whom he described as a remarkable jazz-influenced singer, and his physician father, George, known as "Sonny" who, in addition to his profession as a pathologist, was a jazz enthusiast and an accomplished amateur recording engineer. Guitar virtuoso Les Paul and his musical partner Mary Ford were regular visitors at the Miller house. The Millers were best man and matron of honor at the December 1949 Paul/Ford wedding. Paul became Steve's godfather. Les Paul heard Steve, who was six, on a wire recording made by Dr. Miller, "banging away" on a guitar given to him by his uncle, Dr. K. Dale Atterbury. Paul encouraged Miller to continue with his interest in the guitar... and "perhaps he will be something one day."

"Dreamer" is a hit single from British band Supertramp's 1974 album Crime of the Century. It peaked at number 13 on the UK Singles Chart in February 1975. In 1980, it appeared on the band's live album Paris. This live version was also released as a single and hit number 15 on the US charts, number 36 in the Dutch Top 40, and number one on the Canadian Singles Chart. When "Dreamer" had been released in 1974, its B-side "Bloody Well Right" was more popular in North America leading it to chart instead, at No. 35 in the US and No. 49 in Canada, with "Dreamer" only charting in Canada, that being at No. 75.

"Dreamer" was composed by Roger Hodgson on his Wurlitzer piano at his mother's house when he was 19 years old. At that time he recorded a demo of the song using vocals, Wurlitzer, and banging cardboard boxes for percussion. Hodgson recalled, "I was excited – it was the first time I laid hands on a Wurlitzer." Supertramp cut their own recording of the song in imitation of this early demo.

The band performed the song on the BBC's Old Grey Whistle Test show in 1974, during which John Helliwell can be seen playing the rim of a wine glass on top of his keyboard to achieve a certain sound effect.

Cash Box called it a "funny little song" and said that it "maintains the group's stance on instrumentation, lyrics and structure while offering a great deal of commercial potential." Ultimate Classic Rock critic Nick DeRiso rated it as Supertramp's 10th best song, calling it a "diaphanous slice of sentiment" in which it became apparent that Supertramp had found its own "art-pop sound." Gary Graff of Billboard rated it as Supertramp's all-time greatest song, praising its twists and hooks.

Supertramp were an English rock band that formed in London in 1969. Marked by the individual songwriting of founders Roger Hodgson (vocals, keyboards, and guitars) and Rick Davies (vocals and keyboards), they are distinguished for blending progressive rock and pop styles as well as for a sound that relied heavily on Wurlitzer electric piano.[5][6] The group's lineup changed numerous times throughout their career, with Davies being the only consistent member throughout the decades. Other longtime members included bassist Dougie Thomson, drummer Bob Siebenberg, and saxophonist John Helliwell.

The band were initially a prog-rock group, but starting with their third album, Crime of the Century (1974), they began moving towards a more pop-oriented sound. They reached their commercial peak with 1979's Breakfast in America, which yielded the international top 10 singles "The Logical Song", "Breakfast in America", "Goodbye Stranger", and "Take the Long Way Home". Their other top 40 hits included "Dreamer" (1974), "Give a Little Bit" (1977), and "It's Raining Again" (1982). In 1983, Hodgson left the group to pursue a solo career. Davies took over as the band's sole leader until 1988, after which they disbanded and periodically reformed in various configurations.

As of 2007, Supertramp album sales exceeded 60 million. They attained significant popularity in North America, Europe, South Africa, and Australia. Their highest sales levels were in Canada, where they had two diamond-certified (ten-times platinum) albums (Crime of the Century and Breakfast in America), and their only number 1 singles anywhere ("The Logical Song" and "Dreamer").

"Foreplay/Long Time" is a song by American rock band Boston, written by bandleader Tom Scholz. It appears on the band's self-titled debut album, and as their second single, on Epic Records in 1976. The song combines an instrumental introduction, "Foreplay", with the main song "Long Time", generally played as one on the radio and listed as one track on the album. "Long Time" peaked at No. 22 on the Billboard Hot 100 the week ending March 5, 1977. It reached the Top 10 in Canada, peaking at No. 9. The standalone "Foreplay" was released as the B-side of Boston's next single "Peace of Mind", which was released in April.

In an interview for the Best of Boston CD, Scholz said that "Foreplay" was the first song he ever recorded, and he did this on a two-track machine in his basement. Scholz also stated that it was the first piece of music he ever wrote, and that he wrote it as far back as 1969.

An alternate mix of the song is available on the Epic Records Promo LP It's a Knockout. It was a sampler LP of artists that had releases coming up in 1976. This version has various differences in the mix and effects and also includes extra lyrics towards the end of the song. This version has never been available officially anywhere else.

Scholz originally sang all the vocal parts to "Long Time" in his basement during the making of the demo album, but his friend Brad Delp was invited to sing, and proved to be superior. Delp's voice is the only one heard on the 1976 studio recording. Scholz played several guitars, including lead electric guitar on "Foreplay", processed through a space pedal effect, and rhythm acoustic guitar on "Long Time". The three electric guitar solos on "Long Time" are played by Barry Goudreau.

Rolling Stone described "Foreplay/Long Time" as "a perfect marriage of Led Zeppelin and Yes that plays musical chairs with electric and acoustic sounds." Billboard said it had similar catchiness to its predecessor Boston single "More Than a Feeling" due to its "spacey electronic fills and soaring, full bodied vocal harmonies."

Boston is an American rock band from namesake Boston, Massachusetts, that had its most commercial successes during the 1970s and '80s. The band's core members on their most popular recordings included multi-instrumentalist founder and leader Tom Scholz, who played the majority of instruments on the band's debut album, and lead vocalist Brad Delp, among a number of other musicians who varied from album to album. Boston's best-known songs include: "More Than a Feeling", "Peace of Mind", "Foreplay/Long Time", "Rock and Roll Band", "Smokin'", "Don't Look Back", "A Man I'll Never Be", "Hitch a Ride", "Party", and "Amanda". The band has sold more than 75 million records worldwide, including 31 million units sold in the United States, of which 17 million were the band's 1976 self-titled debut album and seven million copies of the band's second studio album, Don't Look Back (1978), making the group some of the world's best-selling artists. Altogether, the band has released six studio albums in a career spanning over 47 years. Boston was ranked the 63rd-best hard rock artist by VH1.

"My Eyes Adored You" is a 1974 song written by Bob Crewe and Kenny Nolan. It was originally recorded by The Four Seasons in early 1974. After the Motown label balked at the idea of releasing it, the recording was sold to lead singer Frankie Valli for $4000. After rejections by Capitol and Atlantic Records, Valli succeeded in getting the recording released on Private Stock Records, but the owner/founder of the label, Larry Uttal, wanted only Valli's name on the label. The single was released in the US in November 1974 and topped the Billboard Hot 100 in March 1975. "My Eyes Adored You" also went to number 2 on the Easy Listening chart.[2] Billboard ranked it as the No. 5 song for 1975.

The single was Valli's first number 1 hit as a solo artist on Billboard's Hot 100, and remained there for one week, being knocked out of the top spot by another Crewe/Nolan-penned song, "Lady Marmalade" by Labelle. Although it was released as a Valli solo effort, the song is sometimes included on Four Seasons compilation albums. It is from the album Closeup.

Cash Box called it "a mellow ballad sung only the way Frankie's sweet vocal could sing it," saying "lush instrumentation heightens the record's overall effect which is one of a fine musical outing."[3]

The success of "My Eyes Adored You" triggered a revival of interest in recordings by The Four Seasons. The band was subsequently signed to Warner Bros. Records as Valli's follow-up single "Swearin' to God" was climbing to number 6 on the Hot 100.

Francesco Stephen Castelluccio (born May 3, 1934), known professionally as Frankie Valli, is an American singer, known as the front man of the Four Seasons beginning in 1960. He is known for his unusually powerful lead falsetto voice.

Valli scored 29 top 40 hits with the Four Seasons, one top 40 hit under the Four Seasons alias the Wonder Who?, and nine top 40 hits as a solo artist. As a member of the Four Seasons, Valli's number-one hits include "Sherry" (1962), "Big Girls Don't Cry" (1962), "Walk Like a Man" (1963), "Rag Doll" (1964) and "December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)" (1975). Valli's recording of the song "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" reached number two in 1967. As a solo artist, Valli scored number-one hits with the songs "My Eyes Adored You" (1974) and "Grease" (1978).

Valli, Tommy DeVito, Nick Massi and Bob Gaudio – the original members of the Four Seasons – were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990 and the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1999.

"Seasons in the Sun" is an English-language adaptation of the 1961 Belgian song "Le Moribond" (in English "The Dying Man") by singer-songwriter Jacques Brel with lyrics rewritten in 1963 by American singer-poet Rod McKuen, portraying a dying man's farewell to his loved ones. It became a worldwide hit in 1974 for Canadian singer Terry Jacks.

The first version of the song was recorded by Brel, who reportedly wrote it in a brothel in Tangiers. Sung in a marching tempo, it tells of a man dying of a broken heart and shows him saying his last farewells to his close friend Emile, a priest friend, an acquaintance named Antoine, and his wife who has cheated on him numerous times with Antoine. Despite knowing of Antoine being his wife's lover, he wishes no ill upon him but tells him to take care of his wife. American Rod McKuen translated the lyrics into English. In 1964, the Kingston Trio first recorded an English version of "Seasons in the Sun", which was later heard by Terry Jacks and became the basis for his rendition.

Jacks rewrote the lyrics, although he is uncredited for it. He justifies the rewriting by stating that he deemed the original version and its translations as "too macabre". The inspiration for the rewritten lyrics was a close friend of his who was suffering from acute leukemia and died four months later. The Terry Jacks rendition, which was later dedicated to the friend, has the dying man giving his last words to his loved ones with whom he shared his life, much like the original. However, unlike the Brel version, the man does not die broken-hearted but instead, acknowledges the rights and wrongs of his actions in life as he passes away peacefully.

In the rewritten version, the man first addresses a close friend whom he had known since childhood and reminisces about the happy times they had, such as playing and studying together ("climbed hills and trees", "learned of love and ABC's") and friendships with others ("skinned our hearts and skinned our knees"). He then addresses his father, who tried to give him a good upbringing and exert a positive influence on his undisciplined life ("I was the black sheep of the family", "You tried to teach me right from wrong", "wonder how I got along") which included overindulgence, vices, and revelry ("too much wine and too much song"). The man finally addresses a "Michelle", recounting how she had lifted his spirit up in times of despair.

Jacks released his version as a single in 1973 on his own label, Goldfish Records. "Put the Bone In", an original composition about burying a deceased pet dog, was included as the B-side. The single soon topped the record charts in the US (where it was released on Bell Records), in Canada, and the UK, selling over 14 million copies worldwide.

Jacks's version was released in the United States in December 1973 and made the Billboard Hot 100 a month later. On March 2, 1974, the song began a three-week run at number one atop the Hot 100 and remained in the top 40 until almost Memorial Day weekend. Jacks's version also spent one week on the Easy Listening charts. Billboard ranked it as the number two song for 1974. Although he released several other singles that were moderately successful in Canada, "Seasons in the Sun" would become Jacks's only major solo hit in the United States.[9] In Canada, the single (Gold Fish GF 100) reached number one on the RPM magazine charts January 26, 1974, and remained there four weeks.

Though the song enjoyed contemporary success, some modern critics take a dimmer view, considering it overly sentimentalized. Jacks's version has been held up as an example of bad music, such as having been listed as one of the worst pop songs ever recorded and ranking number five in a similar CNN poll in 2006.

"Without You" is a song written by Pete Ham and Tom Evans of British rock group Badfinger, and first released on their 1970 album No Dice. The power ballad has been recorded by over 180 artists, and versions released as singles by Harry Nilsson (1971), T. G. Sheppard (1983), Air Supply (1991) and Mariah Carey (1994) became international best-sellers. The Nilsson version was included in 2021's Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Paul McCartney once described the ballad as "the killer song of all time".

In 1972, writers Ham and Evans received the British Academy's Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically.

Harry Nilsson, at the time best known for his hit "Everybody's Talkin'" and for composing "One", recorded by Three Dog Night, heard Badfinger's recording of "Without You" at a party, and mistook it for a Beatles song. After realizing it was not, he decided to cover the song for his 1971 album Nilsson Schmilsson. The single was released by RCA in the autumn of 1971, and first charted on radio stations across the US in early December. "Without You" debuted at number 99 on the Billboard Hot 100 on 18 December 1971, and on its tenth week, in the chart dated 19 February 1972, started its four-week run at number one. Billboard ranked it as the number four single of 1972. The record topped Billboard's Easy Listening chart for five weeks.

The record spent five weeks at number one on the UK Singles Chart, beginning on 11 March, eventually selling almost 800,000 copies. It went to number one in several other countries, including Australia (for five weeks), Ireland (two weeks) and New Zealand (two weeks).

The single, Grammy-nominated for Record of the Year, was produced by Richard Perry, who later explained, "It was a different record for its time. It was a big ballad with a heavy backbeat, and although many artists have cut songs like it since, no one was doing it then." Gary Wright, who worked with Badfinger on George Harrison's projects, played the piano. Also featured are Klaus Voormann (bass), Jim Keltner (drums) and John Uribe (acoustic guitar). The string and horn arrangements are by Paul Buckmaster. In 1973, the single won Nilsson the Grammy award for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male. While Nilsson rarely gave live concerts, he did perform the song with Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas in September 1992.

In 2021, this version was ranked 496th on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

"Dream On" is a power ballad by Aerosmith from their 1973 debut album, Aerosmith. Written by lead singer Steven Tyler, this song was their first major hit and became a classic rock radio staple. Released in June 1973, it peaked at number 59 on the Billboard Hot 100[5] but hit big in the band's native Boston, where it was the number one single of the year on WBZ-FM, number five for the year on WRKO and number 16 on WMEX (AM).[citation needed] The song also received immediate heavy airplay on the former WVBF (FM), often showing up in the #1 position on "The Top Five at Five" in June 1973.

The album version of "Dream On" (4:28, as opposed to the 3:25 1973 45 rpm edit where most of the intro has been edited out and the first chorus is replaced with the second chorus) was re-issued in late 1975, debuting at number 81 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on January 10, 1976, breaking into the top 40 on February 14 and peaking at number 6 on April 10. Columbia Records chose to service top 40 radio stations with both long and short versions of the song, thus many 1976 pop radio listeners were exposed to the group's first top 10 effort through the 45 edit.

In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked the song at number 172 on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.[6] It was moved to number 173 in 2010, and re-ranked at number 199 in 2021. In 2007, Aerosmith would perform a re-recording of the song, amongst some of their other songs, for the game Guitar Hero: Aerosmith as the master track was missing during the game's development. In 2018, the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

Aerosmith is an American rock band formed in Boston in 1970. The group consists of Steven Tyler (lead vocals), Joe Perry (guitar), Tom Hamilton (bass), Joey Kramer (drums) and Brad Whitford (guitar). Their style, which is rooted in blues-based hard rock, has also incorporated elements of pop rock, heavy metal, glam metal, and rhythm and blues, and has inspired many subsequent rock artists. They are sometimes referred to as "the Bad Boys from Boston" and "America's Greatest Rock and Roll Band". The primary songwriting team of Tyler and Perry is often known as the "Toxic Twins".

Aerosmith is the best-selling American hard rock band of all time, having sold more than 150 million records worldwide, including over 85 million records in the United States. With 25 gold, 18 platinum, and 12 multi-platinum albums, they hold the record for the most total certifications by an American group and are tied for the most multi-platinum albums by an American group. They have achieved twenty-one Top 40 hits on the US Hot 100, nine number-one Mainstream Rock hits, four Grammy Awards, six American Music Awards, and ten MTV Video Music Awards. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001, and were ranked number 57 and 30, respectively, on Rolling Stone's and VH1's lists of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

"Show Me the Way" is a song by the English rock musician Peter Frampton. Originally released in June 1975 as the lead single from his fourth studio album Frampton, it gained popularity after being recorded live and released in February 1976 as the lead single from his live album Frampton Comes Alive! In the US, the song reached number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 10 on the UK Singles Chart, becoming his biggest US hit until "I'm in You" in 1977.

Cash Box said of the studio single that "Peter turns in a dynamic performance both instrumentally and vocally" and that "his highly emotive vocals are matched by some of his usually dexterous guitar playing". Like "Do You Feel Like We Do," another single from the Frampton Comes Alive! album, the song prominently features a talk box effects pedal.

Peter Kenneth Frampton (born 22 April 1950) is an English guitarist, singer and songwriter. He was previously associated with the rock bands Humble Pie and the Herd. As a solo artist, he has released several albums, including his international breakthrough album, the live release Frampton Comes Alive!, which spawned several hit singles and has earned 8× Platinum in the United States to date. He has also worked with Ringo Starr, the Who's John Entwistle, David Bowie, and both Matt Cameron and Mike McCready from Pearl Jam, among others.

Frampton is best known for such hits as "Show Me the Way," "Baby, I Love Your Way," "Do You Feel Like We Do," and "I'm in You," which remain staples on classic rock radio. He has also appeared as himself in television shows such as The Simpsons, Family Guy, and Madam Secretary. He is known for his work as a guitar player (including his work with a talk box), and his tenor voice.

"Love Hurts" is a song written and composed by the American songwriter Boudleaux Bryant. First recorded by the Everly Brothers in July 1960, the song is most well known from the 1974 international hit version by Scottish hard rock band Nazareth.

Performed as a power ballad, the Nazareth version is the most popular version of the song and the only rendition of "Love Hurts" to become a hit single in the United States, reaching No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 in early 1976. Billboard ranked it as the No. 23 song for 1976. As part of the "Hot Tracks (EP)" it also reached No. 41 in the UK in 1977. Nazareth's version was an international hit, peaking at No. 1 in Canada, the Netherlands, Belgium, South Africa and Norway. The Nazareth single was so successful in Norway that it charted for 61 weeks on the Norwegian charts, including 14 weeks at No. 1, making it the top single of all time in that country.

A later recording by Nazareth, featuring the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, peaked at No. 89 in Germany.

The lyrics of the song were changed for Nazareth's 1975 recording, where the original line "love is like a stove/it burns you when it's hot" was changed to "love is like a flame/it burns you when it's hot".

Nazareth are a Scottish hard rock band formed in Dunfermline in 1968 that had several hits in the United Kingdom, as well as in several other Western European countries in the early 1970s. They established an international audience with their 1975 album Hair of the Dog, which featured their hits "Hair of the Dog" and a cover of the ballad "Love Hurts". The band continues to record and tour.

"Bohemian Rhapsody" is a song by the British rock band Queen, released as the lead single from their fourth album, A Night at the Opera (1975). Written by lead singer Freddie Mercury, the song is a six-minute suite, notable for its lack of a refraining chorus and consisting of several sections: an intro, a ballad segment, an operatic passage, a hard rock part and a reflective coda. It is one of the few progressive rock songs of the 1970s to achieve widespread commercial success and appeal to a mainstream audience.

Mercury referred to "Bohemian Rhapsody" as a "mock opera" that resulted from the combination of three songs he had written. It was recorded by Queen and co-producer Roy Thomas Baker at five studios between August and September 1975. Due to recording logistics of the era, the band had to bounce the tracks across eight generations of 24-track tape, meaning that they required nearly 200 tracks for overdubs. The song parodies elements of opera with bombastic choruses, sarcastic recitative, and distorted Italian operatic phrases. Lyrical references include Scaramouche, the fandango, Galileo Galilei, Figaro, and Beelzebub, with cries of "Bismillah!"

Although critical reaction was initially mixed, "Bohemian Rhapsody" became regarded as one of the greatest rock songs of all time, as well as Queen's most popular. The promotional video is credited with furthering the development of the music video medium.[4][5] It has appeared in numerous polls of the greatest songs in popular music,[6] including a ranking at number 17 on Rolling Stone's list of "the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. A Rolling Stone readers' poll ranked Mercury's vocal performance as the greatest in rock history.

In 2004, the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Following the release of the 2018 biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, it became the most streamed song from the 20th century. In 2021, it was certified Diamond in the US for combined digital sales and streams equal to 10 million units.

Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1970. The band comprised Freddie Mercury (lead vocals, piano), Brian May (guitar, vocals), Roger Taylor (drums, vocals) and John Deacon (bass). Their earliest works were influenced by progressive rock, hard rock and heavy metal, but the band gradually ventured into more conventional and radio-friendly works by incorporating further styles, such as arena rock and pop rock.

Before forming Queen, May and Taylor had played together in the band Smile. Mercury was a fan of Smile and encouraged them to experiment with more elaborate stage and recording techniques. He joined in 1970 and suggested the name "Queen". Deacon was recruited in February 1971, before the band released their eponymous debut album in 1973. Queen first charted in the UK with their second album, Queen II, in 1974. Sheer Heart Attack later that year and A Night at the Opera in 1975 brought them international success. The latter featured "Bohemian Rhapsody", which stayed at number one in the UK for nine weeks and helped popularize the music video format.

"Magic Man" is a song by the American rock band Heart released as a single off their debut album, Dreamboat Annie. Written and composed by Ann and Nancy Wilson, the song is sung from the viewpoint of a young girl who is being seduced by an older man (referred to as a Magic Man), much to the chagrin of her mother, who calls and begs the girl to come home. In an interview, Ann Wilson revealed that the "Magic Man" was her then boyfriend, band manager Michael Fisher, and that part of the song was an autobiographical tale of the beginnings of their relationship. The album version of "Magic Man" features an over-two-minute instrumental break which consists of a guitar solo and usage of a Minimoog synthesizer, while the single version of the song edits out most of this break, cutting it down from 5:28 to 3:29.

Cash Box said that "a funk rhythm is established quickly with some screaming guitar licks, and the vocal, handled by the female lead, plays well against the arrangement."

"Magic Man" was originally released in Canada in June 1975 as the second single from the yet-to-be released Dreamboat Annie, the first single having been the folksy "How Deep It Goes". "Magic Man" spent 9 weeks on the RPM Singles Chart peaking at number 62 on August 16, 1975. The success of "Magic Man" prompted the release of the album and, in March 1976, a third single, "Crazy on You". After "Crazy on You" had a chart run, "Magic Man" gained popularity in new areas of the country almost a full year later and re-entered the RPM Singles Chart on September 11, 1976 for 14 weeks peaking at number 26 on October 30, 1976.

In America, "Magic Man" received its first release in summer 1976, after the first US single "Crazy on You" had primed audiences to the group's sound. It became Heart's first Top 10 hit, peaking at No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 on November 6, 1976. In the Netherlands and Belgium, "Magic Man" was the first single released from the album, that being in late 1976, and it peaked at number 7 and 10, respectively, in early 1977. It was also successful in Australia where it peaked at number 6 while it reached number 26 in nearby New Zealand.

Heart is an American rock band formed in 1967 in Seattle, Washington, as The Army. Two years later they changed their name to Hocus Pocus. The year following they changed their name to White Heart, and eventually changed the name a final time to Heart, in 1973. By the mid-1970s, original members Roger Fisher (guitar) and Steve Fossen (bass guitar) had been joined by sisters Ann Wilson (lead vocals and flute) and Nancy Wilson (rhythm guitar, backing and occasional lead vocals), Michael Derosier (drums), and Howard Leese (guitar and keyboards) to form the lineup for the band's initial mid- to late-1970s success period. These core members were included in the band's 2013 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Heart rose to fame with music influenced by hard rock and heavy metal, as well as folk music. The band's popularity declined in the early 1980s, and the band began a successful comeback in 1985 which continued into the mid-1990s. Heart disbanded in 1998, resumed performing in 2002, went on hiatus in 2016, and resumed performing in the summer of 2019. Heart's US Top 40 singles include "Magic Man" (1975), "Crazy on You" (1976), "Barracuda" (1977), "What About Love" (1985), "Never" (1985), and "All I Wanna Do Is Make Love to You" (1990), along with no. 1 hits "These Dreams" (1986) and "Alone" (1987).

Heart has sold over 35 million records worldwide, including approximately 22.5 million albums in the United States. They have placed top 10 albums on the Billboard 200 in the 1970s, 1980s, 1990 and 2010s. Heart was ranked number 57 on VH1's "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock" and ranked number 49 on Ultimate Classic Rock's Top 100 Classic Rock Artists.

From the moment that I first heard this song I was hooked! Masterful storytelling, great composition and an amazing guitar riff! Mark Knopfler has me at that pub with the smell of the booze and cigarettes...while enjoying Guitar George, he knows all the chords.

"Sultans of Swing" is a song by British rock band Dire Straits, written by lead vocalist Mark Knopfler. The demo of the song was recorded at Pathway Studios, North London, in July 1977 and quickly acquired a following after it was put in rotation on BBC Radio London. Its popularity soon reached record executives, and Dire Straits were offered a contract with Phonogram Records. The song was then re-recorded in February 1978 at Basing Street Studios for the band's eponymous debut album.

The song has since largely remained a staple of classic rock radio, and is one of the band's most recognizable songs.

"Sultans of Swing" was composed by Mark Knopfler on a National Steel guitar in open tuning. He thought the song was "dull" until he bought his first Stratocaster in 1977: "It just came alive as soon as I played it on that '61 Strat ... the new chord changes just presented themselves and fell into place."

The lyrics were inspired by a performance of a jazz band playing in the corner of an almost empty pub in Deptford, South London. At the end of their performance, the lead singer announced their name, the Sultans of Swing; Knopfler found the contrast between the group's dowdy appearance and surroundings and their grandiose name amusing.

Ken Tucker of Rolling Stone singled out "Sultans of Swing" as a highlight of the album for its "inescapable hook" and compared Knopfler's vocal stylings to those of Bob Dylan. Cash Box said that "the phrasing of the vocals is reminiscent of Lou Reed" and that "the arrangement of moderate beat and excellent guitar work are exceptionally fluid and engaging." The New Rolling Stone Album Guide called the song "an insinuating bit of bar-band mythmaking" whose lyrics "paint a vivid picture of an overlooked and underappreciated pub combo". The Spokane Chronicle's Jim Kershner wrote that "Sultans of Swing" is "remarkable, both for its lyrics that made fun of hip young Londoners and the phenomenal guitar sound of Knopfler", which "sounded like no other guitar on radio". Jon Marlowe of The Palm Beach Post called it "an infectious, sounds-damn-good-on-the-car-radio ode to every bar band who has ever done four sets a night, seven nights a week". Classic Rock critic Paul Rees rated the live version on Alchemy to be Dire Straits' greatest song.

The song is on The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll list, Dire Straits' only appearance. In 2006, Mojo included it in a list of the 50 best British songs. Guitar World ranked its guitar solo at the 22nd greatest, and Rolling Stone named it the 32nd greatest guitar song.

"Driver's Seat" is a 1978 song by the British band Sniff 'n' the Tears that appears on their debut album, Fickle Heart. The band is considered a one-hit wonder as "Driver's Seat" was their only hit, except in the Netherlands, where they had a second Top 40 single.

The genesis of the song dates back to 1973 and a demo tape recorded for a French record label by Sniff N' The Tears with singer/guitarist Paul Roberts, guitarists Laurence "Loz" Netto and Mick Dyche, and bassist Chris Birkin. The drummer Luigi Salvoni was a new addition at the time coming from the breakup of Moon, the band he'd been in. They shopped the demo tape and signed with the small Chiswick label in 1977. Keith Miller played the Moog solo and also toured America with the band. Noel McCalla sang the backup vocals.

According to Paul Roberts, "Driver's Seat" isn't about driving, but rather "fragmented, conflicting thoughts and emotions that might follow the break-up of a relationship". One of the key decisions in arranging the song was to start with drums and progressively introduce other instruments.

"Driver's Seat" reached number 15 on the American Billboard Pop Singles chart in the fall of 1979, and reached the top 10 (four) in The Netherlands in November 1980.

In Canada, the song reached number 17, and was in the Top 100 for 21 weeks.