The 1970s wasn't just about bell-bottoms and disco balls. Honestly, if you look at the charts from back then, the sheer chaos of what people were listening to is kind of staggering. You’d have a hard rock anthem like "Stairway to Heaven" followed by the softest folk ballad imaginable. People often think of the decade as a single "vibe," but it was actually a decade of massive musical friction.
That friction gave us some of the best songs from 70s that still dominate our playlists today.
The Identity Crisis of 1970
When the Beatles officially called it quits in April 1970, the world didn't just stop. It pivoted. Suddenly, there was this massive vacuum, and everybody tried to fill it at once. You had George Harrison coming out with "My Sweet Lord" and John Lennon dropping "Imagine" just a year later.
It's funny. We look back at "Imagine" as this universal peace anthem now, but at the time, some critics found it almost too simple. They were wrong, obviously. The song has sold millions and basically defines the early decade’s search for meaning after the flower-power 60s wilted.
Then you had Led Zeppelin. While everyone else was getting sensitive, they were busy recording in head-on-fire stone mansions. "Stairway to Heaven" was never even released as a single in the US, yet it became the most requested song on FM radio for years. That’s a weird fact when you think about how we consume music now—instant, 15-second TikTok clips versus an eight-minute epic that builds from a recorder melody to a blistering Jimmy Page solo.
Why "Bohemian Rhapsody" Almost Didn't Happen
Queen’s 1975 masterpiece is arguably the king of the best songs from 70s. But let's be real: on paper, it’s a disaster.
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- Six minutes long? Check.
- An opera section in the middle of a rock song? Check.
- Nonsense lyrics about Scaramouche and Galileo? Double check.
The label told Freddie Mercury it wouldn't work. Radio wouldn't play it. Then Kenny Everett, a London DJ, played it 14 times in one weekend, and the rest is history. It’s now the highest-certified single of the entire decade, with over 17 million units moved globally. It proved that 70s audiences were actually way more adventurous than we give them credit for.
The Disco War You Forgot About
By 1977, the sound of the decade shifted. Hard.
The Saturday Night Fever soundtrack changed everything. The Bee Gees, who were basically a struggling folk-pop act before this, suddenly became the face of a global movement. "Stayin' Alive" is a masterclass in production, but people forget it was born out of a fairly dark place. The lyrics are actually about survival and the struggle of living in the city, not just dancing.
But not everyone was happy.
The "Disco Sucks" movement culminated in the infamous Disco Demolition Night at Comiskey Park in 1979. It was a literal explosion of vinyl. This cultural divide meant you were either a "rock person" or a "disco person." Songs like Chic’s "Le Freak" or Donna Summer’s "I Feel Love" weren't just dance tracks; they were revolutionary. Giorgio Moroder’s work on "I Feel Love" basically invented the blueprint for every electronic dance track you've ever heard. It was all synthesizers, no "real" instruments. David Bowie supposedly heard it and told Brian Eno, "This is it. This is the sound of the next twenty years."
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The Hidden Gems Nobody Talks About
While "Hotel California" plays for the billionth time on classic rock radio, there’s a whole layer of the best songs from 70s that get ignored.
Take Rodriguez. His 1970 track "Crucify Your Mind" is a poetic folk masterpiece that went absolutely nowhere in America. Meanwhile, in South Africa, he was bigger than Elvis, and he didn't even know it for decades. Then there’s Big Star. Their song "September Gurls" is the perfect power-pop song, yet they remained almost entirely unknown until years later when bands like R.E.M. started citing them as heroes.
The Technical "Dry" Sound
Ever notice how 70s drums sound like they’re being played in a padded room?
That was a deliberate choice. In the early 70s, engineers went through a "dead" phase. They’d put tea towels over the snare drums and record in tiny, carpeted booths to get a super-tight, upfront sound. Fleetwood Mac’s "Dreams" is the perfect example of this. The drums are so crisp you feel like Mick Fleetwood is sitting in your lap.
Contrast that with the late 70s punk explosion. The Ramones' "Blitzkrieg Bop" or The Sex Pistols' "Anarchy in the U.K." didn't care about "good" sound. They wanted noise. They wanted the feeling of a live basement show. It was a direct reaction to the "bloated" stadium rock of the mid-decade.
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Best Songs From 70s: The Essential List
If you're building a definitive 70s playlist, you sort of have to include these, even if they're "obvious." They’re popular for a reason.
- "Bridge Over Troubled Water" - Simon & Garfunkel (1970): The ultimate "friendship" song that marked the end of an era.
- "Superstition" - Stevie Wonder (1972): That clavinet riff is arguably the greatest in music history.
- "Go Your Own Way" - Fleetwood Mac (1977): A break-up song written by people who were currently breaking up while recording it. Awkward.
- "Sultans of Swing" - Dire Straits (1978): Proof that guitar virtuosity didn't need to be loud to be cool.
- "Heart of Glass" - Blondie (1979): The moment punk met disco and decided they actually liked each other.
The decade ended with Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)" hitting number one in late 1979. It was a weirdly cynical note to end on—kids shouting "We don't need no education"—but it fit the mood of a world heading into the neon-soaked, synth-heavy 1980s.
To really understand why the best songs from 70s still matter, you have to look at the lineage. You don't get Daft Punk without Nile Rodgers and Chic. You don't get modern indie rock without Big Star or The Velvet Underground's late-era influence.
The best way to experience this era isn't just through a "Greatest Hits" compilation. You've got to dig into the B-sides. Check out the "Nuggets" series for the weird psych-rock leftovers, or find the original 12-inch versions of disco tracks where the grooves actually have room to breathe. The 70s wasn't a polished decade. It was messy, experimental, and occasionally ridiculous, which is exactly why the music still feels so alive.
If you want to dive deeper, start by listening to the full albums rather than just the singles. Try Rumours by Fleetwood Mac or What's Going On by Marvin Gaye from start to finish. You’ll hear how these iconic songs were actually part of much larger, more complicated stories about a world in transition.