What's Going On
1971 · From What's Going On
Party chatter, a sax that sighs, and Gaye asking the question Motown begged him not to ask.
★ 9.9
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1970s
1970 – 1979
Showing 312 songs from the 1970s
Bridge Over Troubled Water
1970
Garfunkel's voice climbing a gospel staircase, the last verse arriving like the cavalry.
★ 9.5
Stayin' Alive
1977 · From Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack
Barry Gibb's falsetto over a drum loop so metronomic that paramedics still use it to time chest compressions.
★ 9.4
Born to Run
1975 · From Born to Run
Months of wall-of-sound overdubs poured into one getaway car, and every word still sounds like escape.
★ 9.4
Stairway to HeavenLed Zeppelin
Stairway to Heaven
1971 · From Led Zeppelin IV
Eight minutes that climb from recorders to Page's solo, never released as a single and never needing to be.
★ 9.3
I Feel LoveDonna Summer
I Feel Love
1977
Moroder's pulsing synth track, Summer floating above it, and the record Eno reportedly called the sound of the future.
★ 9.3
JoleneDolly Parton
Jolene
1973 · From Jolene
Dolly pleading with her rival rather than fighting her, written the same day as "I Will Always Love You."
★ 9.3
London Calling
1979 · From London Calling
Strummer borrowing the BBC's wartime call sign to announce the end of the world, and sounding thrilled about it.
★ 9.2
Bohemian Rhapsody
1975 · From A Night at the Opera
Six minutes with no chorus and so many vocal overdubs the tape wore transparent. Still nothing else like it.
★ 9.1
Superstition
1972 · From Talking Book
Wonder wrote that clavinet riff for Jeff Beck, heard it back, and sensibly kept it for himself.
★ 9.1
Dancing Queen
1976 · From Gold: Greatest Hits
Seventeen and gliding across the floor, the rare disco record that sounds like joy and ache at once.
★ 9.1
HeroesDavid Bowie
Heroes
1977 · From "Heroes"
Recorded beside the Berlin Wall, Fripp's feedback howling while Bowie sings himself hoarse over a single defiant day.
★ 9.1
Rapper's Delight
1979
Big Bank Hank auditioned outside the pizzeria where he worked, rapping lines borrowed from Grandmaster Caz's notebook.
★ 9.0
Baba O'Riley
1971 · From Who's Next
That opening arpeggio is a Lowrey organ's marimba repeat function; Dave Arbus's violin sends the ending careening.
★ 9.0
Dreams (Fleetwood Mac)Fleetwood Mac
Dreams (Fleetwood Mac)
1977 · From Rumours
Nicks wrote it in a black velvet studio room at Sausalito's Record Plant; it remains the band's only US number one.
★ 8.9
Let it Be
1970 · From Let It Be
McCartney dreamed of his mother Mary telling him it would be all right; Harrison cut two different solos.
★ 8.9
Comfortably Numb
1979 · From The Wall
A tranquilizer shot before a 1977 Philadelphia show gave Waters the lyric; Gilmour brought the chords and the solo.
★ 8.9
No Woman, No Cry
1974 · From Natty Dread
Marley credited it to Tata Ford, whose Trenchtown soup kitchen the royalties kept running; the title means woman, don't cry.
★ 8.9
Hotel CaliforniaThe Eagles
Hotel California
1977 · From Hotel California
Felder demoed it on a four-track in Malibu, and his Les Paul duels Walsh's Telecaster through the outro.
★ 8.8
Layla
1971 · From Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs
Clapton wanted his friend's wife; Duane Allman's slide answers every line, then Jim Gordon's piano coda changes everything.
★ 8.7
Blitzkrieg Bop
1976 · From Ramones
Tommy wanted a Bay City Rollers chant; the album around it cost $6,400 and took seven days.
★ 8.7
Kashmir
1975 · From Physical Graffiti
Page tuned to DADGAD, Plant wrote it driving through southern Morocco, and none of them had seen Kashmir.
★ 8.6
Let's Stay TogetherAl Green
Let's Stay Together
1971 · From Greatest Hits
Willie Mitchell and Al Jackson handed Green a track; he reportedly had the lyric in five minutes.
★ 8.6
ParanoidBlack Sabbath
Paranoid
1970 · From Paranoid
Iommi's riff arrived as three-minute filler for the album, Butler wrote the words fast, and Sabbath had their biggest UK hit.
★ 8.5
Imagine
1971 · From Imagine
Grapefruit, Ono's book of poems, supplied the idea; Lennon supplied the piano; in 2017 she finally got the credit.
★ 8.5
Go Your Own Way
1977 · From Rumours
Buckingham aimed Mick Fleetwood at the Street Fighting Man groove, then sang a breakup line Nicks demanded he cut.
★ 8.5
Let's Get It On
1973 · From Let's Get It On
Ed Townsend conceived it as a spiritual; Gaye kept the backing track, rewrote the lyric, and Billboard number one followed.
★ 8.4
Changes (David Bowie)
1971 · From Hunky Dory
Rick Wakeman's piano, Bowie's own saxophone, and a stutter on the title that flopped before it defined him.
★ 8.3
God Save the QueenThe Sex Pistols
God Save the Queen
1977 · From Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols
Written as "No Future," banned by the BBC, and stuck at number two amid loud suspicion of chart rigging.
★ 8.3
Lean On Me
1972
Withers bought a small piano, ran his fingers up the keys, and found the coal-town kinship he missed.
★ 8.3
Papa Was a Rollin' Stone
1972
Nearly four minutes of bass, hi-hat and lone trumpet before anyone sings, and the groove never sags.
★ 8.3
September
1978
Willis wanted real words instead of ba-dee-ya; White refused, and the groove outlived any lyric she could have written.
★ 8.3
Thunder Road
1975 · From Born to Run
Bittan's piano, a harmonica, and a screen door slamming; Springsteen lifted the title from a Robert Mitchum film poster.
★ 8.3
One LoveBob Marley and the Wailers
One Love
1977 · From Exodus
A 1965 Studio One ska tune rebuilt for Exodus, with Mayfield credited to keep the borrowing legal.
★ 8.3
Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough
1979 · From Off the Wall
Jackson wrote it himself and steered the session; a whisper, a water-bottle rattle, then Louis Johnson's bass takes over.
★ 8.3
Anarchy in the UK
1976 · From Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols
Lydon picked anarchist because it rhymed with antichrist; EMI dropped the band six weeks later and punk was loose.
★ 8.2
Tangled Up in Blue
1975 · From Blood on the Tracks
Dylan recut it in Minneapolis with his brother producing, then spent decades rewriting a story already told out of order.
★ 8.2
War PigsBlack Sabbath
War Pigs
1970 · From Paranoid
Called Walpurgis until the label balked at the witchcraft, and Butler aimed the lyric at politicians who start wars.
★ 8.1
Walk on the Wild Side
1972 · From Transformer
Herbie Flowers doubled upright and electric bass for a session fee, and Bowie's old sax teacher played the closing solo.
★ 8.1
We Will Rock You
1977 · From Greatest Hits
May came home from a Stafford gig where the crowd sang back, and built a chorus from stomps and claps.
★ 8.1
Trans Europa Express
1977
Kraftwerk's rhythm rode a train across Europe, name-checked Bowie and Iggy Pop, then turned up inside Afrika Bambaataa's Planet Rock.
★ 8.1
I Will SurviveGloria Gaynor
I Will Survive
1978
Buried as a B-side until DJs flipped it, and Gaynor cut the vocal in a back brace after spinal surgery.
★ 8.1
Good Times
1979
Edwards' bassline turned up on Rapper's Delight within months; the settlement put Chic's names on rap's first pop hit.
★ 8.1
Iron ManBlack Sabbath
Iron Man
1970 · From Paranoid
Osbourne heard Iommi's riff and called it a big iron bloke walking; Butler built the science fiction around that.
★ 8.0
Won't Get Fooled Again
1971 · From Who's Next
Eight and a half minutes, a Lowrey organ run through a VCS3, and Daltrey's scream tearing into the final verse.
★ 8.0
Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd)
1975 · From Wish You Were Here
Gilmour's twelve-string comes through a recorded car radio, and Grappelli's violin sits buried near the very end.
★ 8.0
Highway to Hell
1979 · From Highway to Hell
Mutt Lange took over production, the band cut it in London in 1979, and America finally caught on.
★ 8.0
Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex MachineJames Brown
Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine
1970 · From Sex Machine
One of Brown's first dates with the new J.B.s, Bootsy Collins on bass at eighteen, Bobby Byrd answering every line.
★ 7.9
Another Brick in the Wall Part 2
1979 · From The Wall
Ezrin sent Gilmour to the discos, and twenty-three Islington schoolchildren got forty minutes to sing themselves onto a number one.
★ 7.9
Rocket Man
1972 · From Honky Chateau
Taupin borrowed the title from a Pearls Before Swine song, and Hentschel's ARP put the loneliness in orbit.
★ 7.9
Heart of Glass
1978
A demo kicked around since the mid-seventies, rebuilt on a Roland drum machine that appalled their punk friends.
★ 7.9
Theme from ShaftIsaac Hayes
Theme from Shaft
1971
Skip Pitts on wah-wah, Willie Hall riding sixteenths on hi-hat, and the first Academy Award won by a Black composer.
★ 7.8
Higher Ground
1973 · From Innervisions
Written and taped in a three-hour burst, Wonder on clavinet and drums, the keyboard snarling through a Mu-Tron filter.
★ 7.8
Living for the CItyStevie Wonder
Living for the CIty
1973 · From Innervisions
Wonder played most of it himself, then broke it open with a spoken street scene running past seven minutes.
★ 7.8
Smoke on the WaterDeep Purple
Smoke on the Water
1972 · From Machine Head
Blackmore's four notes in parallel fourths, written after a flare gun burned the Montreux Casino down during a Zappa show.
★ 7.8
Ain't No SunshineBill Withers
Ain't No Sunshine
1971
Withers was building airplane toilets when he cut this, and he left the unfinished bridge as twenty-six repeats.
★ 7.8
Killing Me Softly With His Song (Roberta Flack)
1973
Flack heard Lori Lieberman's version on a plane's in-flight audio, rewrote the chords, and took Record of the Year.
★ 7.8
Immigrant Song
1970 · From Led Zeppelin III
Zeppelin played Reykjavik in 1970, and Plant came back with Vikings, Valhalla, and that double-tracked wail.
★ 7.8
Your SongElton John
Your Song
1970 · From Elton John
Taupin scribbled the lyric over breakfast at a kitchen table, and Buckmaster's strings turned it into John's first Top 10.
★ 7.8
Family Affair (Sly and the Family Stone)
1971 · From There's a Riot Goin' On
A rhythm box edited into a heartbeat, Billy Preston on Pianet, and three weeks at number one.
★ 7.8
Sweet Home Alabama
1974 · From Second Helping
An answer record to Neil Young's "Southern Man," riding Ed King's riff and a name-check for the Muscle Shoals Swampers.
★ 7.8
Landslide (Fleetwood Mac)Fleetwood Mac
Landslide (Fleetwood Mac)
1975 · From Fleetwood Mac
Aspen in 1974, Nicks weighing whether to quit music, and Buckingham Travis-picking a Martin D-18 underneath.
★ 7.8
Wild HorsesThe Rolling Stones
Wild Horses
1971 · From Sticky Fingers
Cut at Muscle Shoals in December 1969, with Jim Dickinson on tack piano after Ian Stewart refused the minor chords.
★ 7.7
Ziggy Stardust
1971 · From The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust
Cut at Trident in November 1971, never a single, and Ronson's riff draws the character as sharply as the words.
★ 7.7
Heart of Gold
1972 · From Harvest
A back injury kept Young seated with an acoustic guitar; Taylor and Ronstadt were in Nashville and sang behind him.
★ 7.7
We are the Champions
1977 · From Greatest Hits
Mercury wrote it with audience participation in mind, and a 2011 study named it the catchiest song in pop.
★ 7.7
Free Bird
1973 · From Pronounced Leh-nerd Skin-nerd
Collins's chords sat unused for two years until Van Zant found the melody; the long outro was his onstage rest.
★ 7.7
Give Up the FunkParliament
Give Up the Funk
1975
Bootsy Collins on bass, Fred Wesley and Maceo Parker newly arrived from James Brown, and Parliament's first gold single.
★ 7.7
The ChainFleetwood Mac
The Chain
1977 · From Rumours
Razor-blade tape splices turned rejected scraps into the one Rumours song credited to all five, McVie's bass ending it.
★ 7.7
Ohio
1970
Seventeen days between the Life photographs from Kent State and four voices cutting it live in a Los Angeles room.
★ 7.7
Get Up, Stand Up
1973 · From Burnin'
Written with Tosh after Marley toured Haiti, and the last song he ever sang onstage, Pittsburgh, September 1980.
★ 7.7
Take it EasyThe Eagles
Take it Easy
1972 · From Eagles
Browne could not finish the second verse, Frey did, and Leadon's double-time banjo drives the Eagles' debut single.
★ 7.7
Money
1973 · From The Dark Side of the Moon
Seven beats to the bar, a tape loop of coins and cash registers, and Pink Floyd's first American hit.
★ 7.7
I'll Be There
1970
Hal Davis cut it at Hitsville West in June 1970, and Michael, eleven years old, made the ballad sound lived-in.
★ 7.7
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
1973 · From Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Sessions collapsed in Kingston, so the band regrouped at a French chateau and Taupin traded Oz for a Lincolnshire farm.
★ 7.7
Sir Duke
1977 · From Songs in the Key of Life
Wonder built it for Ellington after his death in 1974, then handed the melody to horns playing in unison.
★ 7.7
Walk This Way (Aerosmith)
1975 · From Toys in the Attic
Perry built the riff at a Honolulu soundcheck; Tyler wrote the words on a Record Plant stairwell wall.
★ 7.7
Lust for Life
1977
Bowie found the beat in an Armed Forces Network call sign; Hunt Sales hammered it out in Berlin.
★ 7.7
Search and DestroyThe Stooges
Search and Destroy
1973 · From Raw Power
Pop lifted the title from a Time column on Vietnam, and Bowie's mix made Williamson's guitar a threat.
★ 7.6
Rock With You
1979 · From Off the Wall
Rod Temperton offered it to Karen Carpenter first; Quincy Jones and Jackson took it to number one.
★ 7.6
Black Dog
1971 · From Led Zeppelin IV
Jones wrote the riff, Page took the stop-start idea from Fleetwood Mac, and a stray labrador supplied the title.
★ 7.6
Me and Bobby McGee
1971 · From Pearl
Joplin taped the vocal days before her death; Kristofferson did not hear it until the day after.
★ 7.6
Shine on You Crazy DiamondPink Floyd
Shine on You Crazy Diamond
1975 · From Wish You Were Here
Four notes known as Syd's theme, and Barrett himself turning up at Abbey Road mid-session, unrecognized by the band.
★ 7.6
I Wanna Be Sedated
1978 · From Road to Ruin
Joey wrote it stranded in a shut-down London at Christmas, and Johnny's solo is one note, repeated.
★ 7.6
Roxanne
1978 · From Outlandos d'Amour
Copeland turned Sting's bossa nova into a tango, and the piano clang at the top was an accident they kept.
★ 7.6
Brown Sugar (The Rolling Stones)
1971 · From Sticky Fingers
Cut at Muscle Shoals days before Altamont, Bobby Keys on tenor, and a lyric Jagger later said he would censor.
★ 7.6
New York, New York
1979 · From Trilogy: Past Present Future
De Niro called the first theme too weak, so Kander and Ebb wrote this one in anger.
★ 7.6
Midnight Train to Georgia
1973
Cissy Houston's version turned Weatherly's midnight plane to Houston into a train to Georgia.
★ 7.6
Rhiannon (Will You Ever Win)Fleetwood Mac
Rhiannon (Will You Ever Win)
1975 · From Fleetwood Mac
A novel called Triad set Nicks going; years later she learned she had described a Welsh goddess exactly.
★ 7.6
Maggie MayRod Stewart
Maggie May
1971 · From Every Picture Tells a Story
Released as a B-side until DJs flipped it, with a mandolin credited only to a name Stewart said slipped his mind.
★ 7.6
American Girl
1977 · From Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Petty cut it on the Fourth of July, 1976, and Roger McGuinn heard the Byrds so clearly he covered it.
★ 7.6
Psycho Killer
1977 · From Talking Heads: 77
A ballad first, written at art school, until Weymouth's French bridge and bassline turned it feral.
★ 7.6
Sweet Jane
1970 · From Loaded
Tucker was pregnant, so Yule played bass and drums, and the bridge stayed missing from the mix for twenty-five years.
★ 7.5
All the Young DudesMott the Hoople
All the Young Dudes
1972
Mott were splitting up when Bowie offered them this, written within hours of hearing the band was finished.
★ 7.5
Knocking on Heaven's Door
1973 · From Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid
Two short verses written for a dying sheriff in Pat Garrett, with Roger McGuinn on guitar and Jim Keltner drumming.
★ 7.5
Marquee Moon
1977 · From Marquee Moon
Ten minutes captured in one take; Ficca thought it was a rehearsal and Verlaine refused Andy Johns another go.
★ 7.5
Time (Pink Floyd)
1974 · From The Dark Side of the Moon
Alan Parsons taped antique-shop clocks as a quadraphonic test; Mason's rototoms follow, and the alarms still land like panic.
★ 7.5
The PassengerIggy Pop
The Passenger
1977
Gardiner found the riff wandering under apple blossom, and Bowie sings behind Iggy at Hansa by the Wall.
★ 7.5