As we approach the end of the first decade of the 2000’s, I’ve decided to add my lists of personal favourites from the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s in preparation for the end of this decade.
My list from the 70’s is a unique list, the only one written in retrospect. The list would have been significantly different had I written it when I was 19 in 1979, but many, many favourites remain from my teen years. What I enjoyed most about the 70’s were the random one-or-two hit artists, 70’s R&B, rock acts like the Electric Light Orchestra and Aerosmith, and that totally underrated phenomenon, disco. By the time I was 16 I was looking for music of different shapes and colours. I learned that my local hit radio station wasn’t playing all the hits. I began actively following national trade magazines such as Billboard and, in Canada, RPM Weekly. I started listening to radio shows that offered hit music from the UK, which is where I first encountered Kate Bush’s “Wuthering Heights” and Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love”. I became a college radio DJ and fell in love with alternative rock of the day as disco began to wane. But the 70’s were all about 45’s and 12″ dance singles for me, and so my list does not include any album-only tracks. The link to my Favourite 100 Singles of the 70’s is below or on the right sidebar.
And while two of my favourite songs of 2009, “Symphonies” by Dan Black and “We Are Golden” by Mika drop out of the Top 10, Mr. Black and Mr. Penniman have the top two songs on the new chart. Black’s “Alone” puts him back at #1 after 100 Akres and Roz Bell ruled the roost with “Pink Cadillac” for a month, and Mika’s insanely catchy “Blame It On The Girls” moves to the runner-up spot. The remainder of the Top 10 sees songs by David Rush & Friends, Hot Chelle Rae, and Joshua Radin moving up, while new entries belong to another track from Dan Black’s UN, “Pump My Pumps” and Roz Bell again, with “Heart Attack” from his overlooked CD October. 
BILLCSMUSIC BLOG 
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