00:00By putting your hand in the hand of the man from the Galilee
00:05Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for those 1970s musical artists
00:10who hit and quit the Billboard Hot 100 with a singular defining tune.
00:21Number 10, Tighter Tighter, Alive and Kickin'.
00:30The psychedelic rock scene of the 1960s and 70s was often notable for its hard-edged fuzz guitar and wild musicianship.
00:38At the same time, however, groups such as Alive and Kickin' combined legitimate pop hooks
00:42with commercially viable psychedelia to create a hit.
00:51Tighter Tighter was one of those flashes in the pan that climbed to number 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 back in 1970.
00:56The tune was co-composed by a certified legend in the form of Tommy James,
01:01who had miles of credits to his name.
01:03As a result, Tighter Tighter is a pop psych gem in the mold of Janis Joplin with Big Brother and the Holding Company.
01:09A horn section backs up a killer groove, while some heavier guitar accents a big-sounding chorus.
01:15It's great stuff.
01:16Honey, don't you let me go now
01:19So baby, just a little bit tighter
01:23Albert Hammond has achieved more than his fair share of hits.
01:38They're just not usually credited to him as a solo artist.
01:41Nevertheless, this prolific songwriter achieved success on his own terms back in 1972
01:46with It Never Rains in Southern California.
01:55The tune is one of those story songs that was immensely popular during the 1970s.
02:00A tale as old as time about a young and hungry artist with big dreams.
02:05Unfortunately, the protagonist of It Never Rains in Southern California
02:09finds out the hard way about how sometimes those same dreams can wind up in a skid row gutter.
02:13The song's actual composition belies this negativity, however.
02:17A melodic and sunny pop song with impeccable production and Hammond's strong vocals.
02:22It never rains in California
02:26But girls, don't they warn ya
02:31Success found Mungo Jerry largely outside of North America.
02:43Along with us
02:44This group actually had eight top 40 hits in their native UK
02:49Yet it's In the Summertime that remains Mungo Jerry's primary musical calling card.
02:59Perhaps it's the tune's skiffle arrangements that made In the Summertime so popular in Britain
03:04since that style of folk music became so prevalent in that area.
03:07Elsewhere, In the Summertime feels evocative of those hazy and lazy days,
03:12a non-aggressive tune that celebrates rest and relaxation.
03:16This is despite modern critical appraisal of the song's lyrical content,
03:20which some have labeled as problematic.
03:21Number 7
03:30Seasons in the Sun
03:32Terry Jax
03:33With Seasons in the Sun by Terry Jax,
03:44The fatalistic energy of the source material feels omnipresent.
03:56This isn't necessarily a bad thing,
03:59since this take on Le Moribon by France's Jacques Brel still feels melancholic,
04:03just with a semi-brightened reworking by Jax.
04:06We had joy, we had fun, we had seasons in the sun
04:11The latter tooled around with the lyrics to make the story of a regretful and dying man feel more optimistic.
04:16Meanwhile, the overall musicality of Seasons in the Sun
04:19feels roughly analogous to Jax's former work in the psychedelic pop mold
04:23with his wife Susan and the Poppy family.
04:25It's a spooky, ghostly tune that's probably not as depressing as it could have been,
04:29yet still feels indicative of the anything-go sentiment of 1970s pop radio.
04:34But the wine and the song
04:37Like the seasons have all come
04:39All our lives we had fun
04:42We had seasons in the sun
04:44Number 6
04:45Love Grows Where My Rosemary Goes
04:47Edison Lighthouse
04:48The music business is exactly that,
04:58a business,
04:59with lots of groups coming, going, and being forgotten.
05:01Edison Lighthouse may not be a name immediately recognized by everyone,
05:06but those of a certain age will likely remember their huge hit from 1970.
05:15Well, maybe that isn't entirely accurate,
05:17because Love Grows Where My Rosemary Goes
05:19was initially recorded by pop singers Jeff Turton and Tony Burroughs,
05:23the latter alongside some session musicians.
05:25The surprising chart success of this version necessitated the formation of a quick group to take advantage.
05:30Enter the local group Greenfield Hammer,
05:33who became Edison Lighthouse,
05:34and this hooky pop rock tune entered the chart chat for good.
05:38Number 5
05:46Ring My Bell
05:47Anita Ward
05:48The disco era was in no shortage of blinkin' you miss them hits.
05:59This isn't said to necessarily disparage the genre,
06:02but disco chart success was often fleeting.
06:04Yet this is also why so many disco defenders still appreciate hits like
06:08Ring My Bell from Anita Ward.
06:10You can ring my bell
06:12Ring my bell
06:16These tunes have endured to the modern day without that retro irony
06:19that's accompanied many other novelty tunes from the era.
06:22Instead, this jam can still be found in clubs today,
06:25thanks to Clear as a Bell,
06:27pardon the pun,
06:28production from songwriter Frederick Knight.
06:30You can ring my bell
06:32You can ring my bell
06:33Ding, don't ring my bell
06:36Ding, don't ring my bell
06:37Ward's work on the chorus is particularly memorable,
06:40with just enough kitsch to be fun,
06:42while definitely evoking a certain time and place,
06:45one where dancing and fabulous fashion ruled the day.
06:47You can ring my bell
06:50Ring my bell
06:53Number 4
06:54Wildfire
06:55Michael Martin Murphy
06:56The story of Michael Martin Murphy is one of those where his legacy as a one-hit wonder arrives with an asterisk.
07:07That's because this country and western artist has achieved other chart success.
07:11It's just that he's primarily associated with the 1975 hit Wildfire.
07:16Murphy had formerly been a part of the psychedelic folk rock group The Lewis and Clark Expedition,
07:20and this experience of composing more progressive-minded music served him well.
07:24The arrangements of Wildfire are smooth, but never boring,
07:28and contain interesting guitar licks that drive home satisfying melodies.
07:31Winter came killing Frost
07:35And the pony she named Wildfire
07:41Meanwhile, the warmth of that chorus feels thick like molasses,
07:46and sounds capital S-70s in the best way possible.
07:49She ran calling Wildfire
07:54She ran calling Wildfire
08:00Number 3
08:01Dancing in the Moonlight
08:02King Harvest
08:03We get it almost every night
08:07And when that moon gets so big and bright
08:11The influences of the French-American act known as King Harvest ranged from pop and rock to folk,
08:16but it was their take on this 1970 track from Bufalongo that eventually became their biggest international hit.
08:21Dancing in the Moonlight
08:23Everybody's feeling warm and right
08:27There's an irrepressibly funky groove present on King Harvest's Dancing in the Moonlight
08:31that makes it virtually impossible not to, well, dance.
08:34It's such a fine and natural sight
08:37Everybody's dancing in the moonlight
08:41It's a wonderful mix of upbeat drumming and that all-time classic keyboard intro.
08:46It's one of those tunes that you may hear at a cool supermarket,
08:49but don't think for a second Dancing in the Moonlight is mere muzak.
08:52This song still jams.
08:54Everybody's dancing in the moonlight
08:58Number 2
08:59Mr. Big Stuff
09:00Gene Knight
09:01Patient and dedicated crate diggers already know that the world of soul music from the 1960s and 70s
09:15can be a paradise of one-and-done obscurities.
09:18I never give my love to a boy
09:20that has a love that's for you
09:23Mr. Big Stuff from Gene Knight doesn't exactly fall into that category,
09:27but it was the only major hit for which the singer was known.
09:37Knight's single and album of the same name for Stax Records is basically soul music 101,
09:42a poppy and catchy tune with a recognizable hook and economical arrangements.
09:47Knight's voice is in charge,
09:48possessing strength as she evokes an almost effortless sense of cool.
09:52Mr. Big Stuff is one of those songs that always seems to appear on greatest hits compilations from this era.
09:57And with good reason, it is an absolute classic.
10:00You're never gonna break my heart
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10:18Number 1. Vehicle, The Ides of March
10:22It's known by a number of names.
10:32Call it horn rock or even jazz rock,
10:35but there was definitely something in the water back in the 1970s.
10:38Something that emerged after Chicago's debut LP from 69,
10:41where more rock groups started incorporating brass into their arrangements.
10:52The Ides of March was one of those groups,
10:54and Vehicle was their big song.
10:56The song was the fastest selling in the history of Warner Brothers records up until that point,
11:01a hyper-energetic horn-dominated anthem that screamed 70s.
11:05Vehicle boasts a gritty vocal from guitarist Jim Peterick,
11:16and a brassy hook to die for.
11:18It's time capsule stuff, sure,
11:20but almost certainly a defining tune that got heavy replay
11:23from just about every aspiring lounge act in town.
11:26Break out in heaven, you know I love you
11:31Do you celebrate one-hit wonderdom like we do?
11:39Shout out your favorite obscurity in the comments.
11:41We had joy, we had fun, we had seasons in the sun,
11:46but the hills that we climbed were just seasons out of time.
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