Top 200 1970s Songs Part I

The 1970s had it all-goofy clothes for disco, the birth of hard rock, heavy metal and punk, the success of disco, the whole nine yards. So here to celebrate the decade when people wore platform shoes to the local discotheque, danced to Saturday Night Fever, here are the Top 200 1970s Songs.

Rush
-2112
-1976
-Considered the most ambitious thing Rush ever did

Van Halen
Ain't Talking 'Bout Love
-1978
-This shows Eddie Van Halen experimenting with electric sitar

Free
-All Right Now
-1970
-Guitarist Paul Kossoff and singer Paul Rodgers knock this song out of the park. But sadly Paul Kossoff would be found dead from a drug overdose three years later

Mott the Hoople
-All the Young Dudes
-1972
-David Bowie wrote and produced this song. To this day, this song has been covered multiple times by multiple artists, such as Bruce Dickinson, Ozzy Osbourne, etc
-Personally I gotta go with Bruce Dickinson's heavy metal take on the David Bowie original!! Bruce gives it a heavy metal touch and it is awesome!!!

Tom Petty
-American Girl
-1977

The Guess Who
-American Woman
-1970
-This is their best known song

Sex Pistols
Anarchy in the UK
-1976
-This is their introductory song to the explosive power of British punk

Pink Floyd
-Another Brick in the Wall
-1979
-By far, out of all their albums, this is my favorite. This track has been covered by multiple musicians.

Jethro Tull
-Aqualung
-1971

The Who
-Baba O'Riley
-1971
-The opening keyboard is what sets this song off as one of the ultimate '70s era songs. Not to mention, if you're familiar with CSI:NY, you'll know this song is the opening song to the show

Eddie Money
-Baby Hold On
-1978
-One of his better known songs next to "Two Tickets to Paradise"

Bruce Springsteen
-Backstreets
-1975
-This particular musician gave a lot of artists back in the 1970s a run for their money in terms of getting on to a label. Most labels wanted musicians like Springsteen instead of musicians like Aerosmith or Kiss

The Sweet
-Ballroom Blitz
-1973
-The song was inspired by an incident in Scotland where the crowd started throwing bottles at the band, a literal "ballroom blitz"

Paul McCartney and Wings
-Band on the Run
-1974
-Perhaps his best known non-Beatles song

T. Rex
-Bang a Gong (Get It On)
-1971
-This is perhaps their best known song. Known for jazzy saxophone and buzzsaw guitar, this is one of the ultimate 1970s glam rock songs

Heart
-Barracuda
-1977
-This song comes with a bit of a dark side. It was suspected that Ann and Nancy Wilson, both the founding members of Heart, were romantically involved. And to take out their frustration, along comes "Barracuda"

Rolling Stones
-Beast of Burden
-1978
-This song makes a reference to Keith Richards' drug use of the 1970s. Not to mention, you'll probably never listen to it the same way after hearing it played in the film Fifty Shades of Grey

Elton John
-Bennie and the Jets
-1974
-This is from one of Elton John's most successful albums, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

Ram Jam
-Black Betty
-1977
-This is probably the ONLY song this band is known for

Kiss
-Black Diamond
-1974
-Composed by Paul Stanley and sung by Peter Criss, this legendary Kiss song is beloved by fans of all ages.

Led Zeppelin
-Black Dog
-1971

Santana
-Black Magic Woman
-1970
-This song is highly reminiscent of old Fleetwood Mac

Manfred Mann
-Blinded by the Light
-1977
-This was originally written by Bruce Springsteen for his debut album

The Ramones
-Blitzkrieg Pop
-1976
-This song ushered in New York-era punk

Queen
-Bohemian Rhapsody
-1975
-Six minutes long is a lot to ask for some songs. But this is one of Queen's most legendary songs. It became even more well known when it was used in the film Wayne's World. To this day, when the song gets to one certain part, people start banging their heads like in the film

Bruce Springsteen
-Born to Run
-1975
-Not one of his best songs, but a lot of people like it, so be it

Thin Lizzy
-The Boys are Back in Town
-1976
-This is their best known song

Pink Floyd
-Brain Damage
-1973
-A reference to previous member Syd Barrett's mental state

The Pretenders
-Brass in Pocket
-1979

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
-Breakdown
-1976
-One of my favorites by him

Simon and Garfunkel
-Bridge over Troubled Water
-1970

Rolling Stones
-Brown Sugar
-1971
-If you listen to the lyrics, you almost start suspecting that the song is about a slave owner forcing an interracial relationship with a slave. Not to mention Mick Jagger wrote this while filming Ned Kelly in Australia

Bad Company
-Can't Get Enough
-1974

Van Morrison
-Caravan
-1970

Kansas
-Carry On Wayward Son
-1976

Ted Nugent
-Cat Scratch Fever
-1977
-The Motor City Madman takes a song and makes it sound suggestive. To this day, this is one of his most heavily requested songs at his concerts

David Bowie
-Changes
-1972
-This is the song that sort of introduced him to the world

ZZ Top
-Cheap Sunglasses
-1979
-This band is known for taking all types of music and infusing it into their own to make a truly unique sound

The Doobie Brothers
-China Grove
-1973

Eric Clapton
-Cocaine
-1977
-This first appeared on his 1977 album Slowhand

Styx
-Come Sail Away
-1977

Pink Floyd
-Comfortably Numb
-1979

Neil Young
-Cortez the Killer
-1975

Heart
-Crazy on You
-1976

Van Halen
-Dance the Night Away
-1979

Steely Dan
-Deacon Blues
-1977

Steely Dan
-Do It Again
-1972
-I honestly thought Carlos Santana did this song, idk why!

Peter Frampton
-Do You Feel Like We Do
-1976

Jackson Browne
-Doctor My Eyes
-1972

Van Morrison
-Domino
-1970
-This is Van Morrison's interesting tribute to Fats Domino

Electric Light Orchestra
-Don't Bring Me Down
-1979

Tom Petty
-Don't Do Me Like That
-1979

Blue Oyster Cult
-Don't Fear the Reaper
-1976
-This is probably their best known song

Foreigner
-Double Vision
-1978
-Despite suspicions that this song was about drugs, it was actually about Lou Gramm and Mick Jones going to see the New York Rangers hockey game and seeing their goalie complain of double vision after sustaining a concussion

Aerosmith
-Dream On
-1973
-This is the song that wrote the book on power ballads

Fleetwood Mac
-Dreams
-1977

Van Halen
-Eruption
-1978
-Most people love hearing Eddie shred on this song. I think it's nothing more than just Eddie Van Halen egotistically showing off

Electric Light Orchestra
-Evil Woman
-1975

Bad Company
-Feel Like Making Love
-1975
-It seems as though during the 1970s "love" was on the minds of all members of Bad Company

Rush
-Fly by Night
-1975
-This was inspired by drummer Neil Peart's first airplane ride away from home

Boston
-Foreplay/Long Time
-1976

The Edgar Winter Group
-Free Ride
-1973

Lynyrd Skynyrd
-Free Bird
-1974

Elton John
-Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding
-1973

James Gang
-Funk #49
-1970

Lynyrd Skynyrd
-Gimme Three Steps
-1973

Supertramp
-Give a Little Bit
-1977

Fleetwood Mac
-Go Your Own Way
-1977

The Cars
-Let the Good Times Roll
-1978

Supertramp
-Goodbye Stranger
-1979

Nazareth
-Hair of the Dog
-1975

The Rolling Stones
-Happy
-1972
-Keith Richards, who sings this track, is the only original member of the Stones to appear on this song

Blondie
-Heart of Glass
-1978

Neil Young
-Heart of Gold
-1972

Pat Benatar
-Heartbreaker
-1979

Todd Rundgren
-Hello It's Me
-1972

Joni Mitchell
-Help Me
-1974

AC/DC
-Highway to Hell
-1979
-Singer Bon Scott died right after this album was made. So he was unable to do the band's next album, Back in Black, which was sung entirely by new singer Brian Johnson

Bob Seger
-Hollywood Nights
-1978

The Eagles
-Hotel California
-1976

Cheap Trick
-I Want You to Want Me
-1977

Yes
-I've Seen All Good People
-1971

John Lennon
-Imagine
-1971
Even to this day, after being covered by dozens of musicians, this song still stands the test of time as the ultimate song of peace

John Lennon
-Instant Karma
-1970

Black Sabbath
-Iron Man
-1971
-Even to this day, this song remains one of their most heavily requested songs at concerts and on radios, not to mention it's also heavily used in films

Thin Lizzy
-Jailbreak
-1976

Steve Miller Band
-The Joker
-1973

Harry Nilsson
-Jump Into the Fire
-1971

The Cars
-Just What I Needed
-1978

Led Zeppelin
-Kashmir
-1975
-Known for their long, droning songs with equally long drum or guitar solos, this song has influenced almost every type of music under the sun

Queen
-Killer Queen
-1974

Bob Dylan
-Knocking on Heaven's Door
-1973

The Doors
L.A. Woman
-1971

ZZ Top
-La Grange
-1973

Genesis
-The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
-1974

Fleetwood Mac
-Landslide
-1975

Warren Zevon
-Lawyers Guns and Money
-1978

Derek and the Dominoes
-Layla
-1970
-An ode to his crush on Patti Boyd, who was married to then Beatles member George Harrison

The Beatles
-Let It Be
-1970
-This is one of their more popular tracks because of it's church hymn-like rhythm, this song could conceivably be a church song