Before you could instantly play any song you wanted, hearing your favorite on the radio felt like winning something.
You could be riding home from work, sitting in the passenger seat with your parents, driving around with friends or heading nowhere in particular. Then the first few notes came through the speakers.
Nobody was changing the station now.
You turned it up and hoped the DJ wouldn’t start talking before the song finished.
If you remember that feeling in the 1970s, these 10 songs will put you right back in that car.
1. “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl)” – Looking Glass
The second “Brandy” started, it was hard not to sing along. It had a story, an irresistible chorus and exactly the kind of sound that belonged on a 1970s car radio.
2. “Listen to the Music” – The Doobie Brothers
Even the title feels appropriate. This was windows-down music before anyone needed a playlist to tell them what to play.
3. “Go Your Own Way” – Fleetwood Mac
The guitar, the drums and Lindsey Buckingham’s voice made this one difficult to ignore. When it came through the speakers, turning it up was practically automatic.
4. “December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)” – The Four Seasons
Few songs can bring a smile as quickly as this one. It sounded nostalgic even when it was new, and decades later that feeling has only gotten stronger.
5. “Rich Girl” – Hall & Oates
Short, catchy and impossible to get out of your head, “Rich Girl” was made for radio.
6. “Dreams” – Fleetwood Mac
“Dreams” didn’t need to shout to grab your attention. Stevie Nicks’ voice floated over the music in a way that made the song unmistakable from its first seconds.
7. “Heart of Gold” – Neil Young
Sometimes the best radio songs were the simplest ones. Neil Young’s harmonica and unmistakable voice gave this song a warmth that still sounds just as familiar today.
8. “Dancing Queen” – ABBA
You didn’t need to be anywhere near a dance floor. If “Dancing Queen” came on while you were driving, the car became one.
9. “Baker Street” – Gerry Rafferty
That saxophone riff could cut through conversation instantly. Even people who couldn’t remember the title knew exactly what song had just come on.
10. “More Than a Feeling” – Boston
There may be no better song for this particular memory. “More Than a Feeling” was literally about the power of hearing an old song and being transported somewhere else.
Radio helped turn songs into shared experiences. Everyone wasn’t choosing a different track from an endless library. Thousands of people in the same city could be hearing the same song at the same moment.
Billboard has tracked America’s biggest songs through the Hot 100 since 1958, and the 1970s produced an extraordinary variety of chart-toppers, according to Billboard.
But you probably don’t remember the chart positions.
You remember where you were when the song came on.
What 1970s song made you immediately reach for the volume knob?
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