'70s Memories

Grab hold of a golden moment in pop. In the days of sideburns and Nixon, while FM radio boomed out the stadium-stomping sounds of the era's arena-rock gods, the AM band overflowed with a polyester paradise of sunny pop confections bearing more hooks per square inch than a fisherman's tackle box. Bay City Rollers offshoot Pilot must've sprinkled some Scottish faerie dust on "Magic" to make its lone U.S. Top 40 tune twinkle with such pure-pop charm. You can almost smell the sea air and hear the buoys clanking when the Looking Glass tell their tale of a wayward sailor's star-crossed romance with portside barmaid "Brandy." But they weren't all one-hit wonders, either — Roberta Flack was a willing victim of the pop-soul success of "Killing Me Softly with His Song" (which didn't end with her — the Fugees had a smash with their version 23 years later).

Move further into the strange and beautiful world of '70s pop in Next Steps

The reason folks call some of these '70s smashes "guilty pleasures" is becaue something that feels this good just has to be bad for you — doesn't it? The doors were wide open for pop's possibilities back then: Canadian Terry Jacks turned an English adaptation of Jacques Brel's literally morbid "Le Moribond" into a dreamy, sing-along smash with "Seasons In the Sun." Carol Burnett's comedic TV costar Vicki Lawrence kicked off her music career with a bang, courtesy of "The Night the Lights Went Out In Georgia," a complex, twisting tale of murder, corruption, and mystery. And who could've guessed that one of 1975's biggest hits would be Michael Murphey's sweet 'n' spooky ghost story about the unearthly return of a woman and her faithful horse "Wildfire"?

Get up close to the personalities behind those '70s pop smashes in Deep Cuts

In the '70s, pop radio was the medium of reinvention for everyone from TV stars to advertising execs. David Soul made millions swoon as the fair-haired star of Starsky & Hutch, but he could croon a tender tune, too, bagging a whole new haul of hearts with his passion plea "Don't Give Up On Us." William Fries was an ad man who first dreamed up his C.W. McCall alter ego for a commercial, but as McCall he rode the wave of C.B. radio fever to the top of the charts with trucker anthem "Convoy." And guitar slinger Elvin Bishop was a blues player who wandered into pop stardom when he "Fooled Around and Fell in Love," with vocal assistance from future Jefferson Starship singer Mickey Thomas.

Don't take the deceptively seamless-sounding sonic perfection of these '70s memories for granted — they're the perfect pop storm of larger-than-life production, heart-piercing hooks, and, of course, drama-filled — often damn near Oscar®-worthy — performances. From Bo Donaldson & The Heywoods' sob-filled story of a battle-bound soldier and the girl he leaves behind on "Billy, Don't Be a Hero" to the Shakespeare-with-a-steel-guitar pathos of country star Charlie Rich's forlorn search for "The Most Beautiful Girl," here's a heaping helping of '70s memories that will take up permanent residence in your heart and keep your ears aquiver in a state of delirious delight.