Welcome to My Weekly Mixtape, a podcast that
takes the classic mixtape approach to building
a modern playlist. I'm your host, Brian Colburn.
Joining me tonight as guest curator is Big Rick
of Rock Talk Studio. Rick, welcome to the program,
my friend. Thanks, Brian. It's great to be here.
One of my favorite podcasts, and I finally get
to be on it, so very cool. Well, thank you so
much, and I'm glad to have you on it. But as
a first -time guest, I'd like to start by asking
you, what does the word mixtape? mean to you?
My brother, right off the bat, it means my brother.
I lived in Los Angeles for many years and I moved
from Connecticut and my brother stayed in Connecticut
and I moved to LA and I was working in the music
industry and I was blessed to get a lot of promos
and a lot of new music. And I was always mixing
up tapes and sending it back to him in Connecticut,
all kinds of crazy wild stuff, just the craziest
things. And he loved those mixtapes. So that's
the first thing I think of when I think of a
mixtape. is my brother, how much he enjoyed all
the music that I sent him. That's awesome. Yeah.
Tonight's topic is an interesting one as it's
number one hits of the 1970s. So just like episode
48, which was number one hits of the eighties
with Patreon mixtape or Ben checkness of the
two vague podcast and episode 58, number one
hits of the nineties with Jamie to Tringo of
the seas. There's no deep cuts tonight. As with
both of those episodes, the deepest of cuts you
and I could pull are number one hits that were
only number one hits for one week. But even then,
they were still a number one hit. So trivia time.
Okay. Something everyone can use if it ever pops
up on Jeopardy. Rick, do you care to wager a
guess as to how many songs reached number one
throughout the 1970s? I'm going 102. Well, the
answer is 253, which is much more than both the
80s and 90s decades, where as you went into the
80s and 90s, songs started staying number one
for longer and longer stretches of time. So tonight,
you and I are tasked with whittling down 253
songs to 20. How did you go about choosing what
songs you're bringing to the table tonight? Rock
and roll, baby. It's all rock and roll. It's
where I start. That's what my show is about.
I review rock and roll books and documentaries,
and I stick to the 60s through 90s, the classic
era, that golden era of rock and roll. So I'm
hunting rock and roll right off the bat. That's
what I'm looking for first. All right. Well,
you're speaking my musical language there. I
also have a couple of songs in my bank that might
be off the beaten path of rock a little bit.
Okay. But I don't know which one of us is going
to get to Disco Duck first. Let's just see if
we get there or not. I'll tell you what, the
70s are an interesting time because of that.
You know, there was a lot of novelty stuff. There's
a lot of fluff. There was, you know, rock and
roll. There is some, but it's not. prominent
it's not like wow i was kind of surprised by
where's all the rock and roll here it took me
a while to dig through it and find it oh there's
a lot of digging definitely involved with that
so let's get down to business tonight as i mentioned
at the top of the show rick and i are going to
curate the ultimate number one hits of the 70s
mixtape and we're going to use that old cassette
deck approach Rick, as my special guest, will
begin side A with his first song choice, and
then I'll add a song that I feel best follows
up that choice. We'll then flip -flop choosing
songs until we've mapped out 10 songs for side
A. We'll then give our mixtape a proverbial flip,
and we'll map out side B. Only this time, I'll
kick things off with Rick choosing second. Our
overall goal for the episode is to craft the
best number one hits of the 70s mixtape possible
through only 20 songs. At the end of the show,
you can take our conversation to the next level
by visiting the episode page at myweeklymixtape
.com to give our final mixtape a listen via the
embedded playlist. And if you like what you're
hearing on the show, you can help me out by either
telling a friend, leaving the show a five -star
review wherever you're tuning in, or becoming
a Patreon mixtaper at patreon .com forward slash
myweeklymixtape. There you can find ad -free
episodes of the show, gain early access to future
My Weekly Mixtape episodes, chime in on upcoming
topics, become a future guest, and so much more.
And a few of the Patreon mixtapers chimed in
with the songs they would use to kick things
off tonight, and I want to give a quick shout
out to a few of those. Brandon from Virginia
chimed in with Manfred Mann's cover of Blinded
by the Light, saying he knew every word of this
when he was five. which I think is amazing because
I'm in my late 40s and I still don't know exactly
what he's saying in that song. Philip Bergman
says, if you know me, Brian, you know my answer.
December 1963. Oh, what a night by the Four Seasons.
Chad Lamas is taking a completely different approach
with his song choice, going with One Bad Apple
by the Osmonds as it was number one the week
he was born. And Seeker liked that idea so much,
he did the same going with Brown Sugar by, and
I quote, some band called the Rolling Stones,
as this song was number one on the day he was
born. Tom Hutchinson chimed in with the disco
version of the Star Wars theme and cantina band
just because he was on a mission to make this
episode weird. And Sean Goff chimed in with Heart
of Glass by Blondie, saying this would be a fun
song to kick the mixtape off with, as you can
go in several different directions of new wave,
punk, or disco coming out of it. So once again,
if you'd like to chime in for future My Weekly
Mixtape episodes, come join the fellow mixtapers
at patreon .com forward slash myweeklymixtape.
Now, Rick, with those picks out in the atmosphere,
I'm officially pressing the record button on
our mixtape and passing the mic to you. What
song are you kicking off the ultimate number
one hits of the 70s playlist with? All right.
Well, I'm going to go with one of your Patreon's
picks. And I think we talked about this a little
bit. It's like, OK, are we going to go weird
with this mixtape or are we going to? Stick more
to what we were talking about. I think that's
more of the rock and roll. So it's Brown Sugar.
It's the Rolling Stones. It is the ultimate rock
and roll band, given one of its all -time classic
hits had to start with Brown Sugar. And it's
got Mick Taylor on guitar. I think he was in
the band there too. So that's a little extra
added bonus for me. I'm not going to lie. I love
the Mick Taylor era of the Rolling Stones. From
1971, Sticky Fingers, the song spent two weeks
at number one. In 2010, Rolling Stone ranked
this number 495 on its list of 500 greatest songs
of all time and number five on their list of
100 greatest guitar songs of all time. Now, in
the same year as Sticky Fingers, Little Richard
released a cover of this on his The King of Rock
and Roll album. Nice. That was back in the 70s
when artists would cover songs that were just
hitting the charts. You don't see much of that
anymore. But back in the 70s, this was something
that actually happened several times in just
the songs that I have in my bank alone. Right.
And once again, I want to give a shout out to
Patreon Mixtape Seeker, who also chimed in with
this one. Nice. And I bet you the Stones liked
that. I mean, Little Richard was such a big part
of who they were. And they loved Little Richard
so much. I bet you that was pretty cool to know
that he was doing Brown Sugar. Considering the
influence he probably had on the Rolling Stones,
I'm sure it's both a blessing, a hat tip, a compliment,
all those things rolled into one great musical
package as only Little Richard could do. Yeah.
And I think I'm going to follow this up with
a song that, well, it's going to check off both
the number one hits. of the 1970s playlist as
well as the i've got a fever and the only prescription
is more cowbell playlist and i am going to go
with grand funks we're an american band the title
track from their 1973 album of the same name
once again spent only one week at number one
but it also ranks number 99 on vh1's list of
the 100 greatest hard rock songs and this song
has been covered by Everyone from Poison to Rob
Zombie to the Village People. And what I find
most interesting about this song, it's one of
the small batch of Grand Funk tunes that wasn't
sung by Mark Farner, as Don Brewer sang the lead
vocals on this one. So following up Brown Sugar,
let's get that cowbell going with Grand Funk
and We're an American Band. Yeah, that's a good
one. And it's got one of the best intros, too.
That's a great rock and roll jam right there
in the beginning of that song. I don't know why.
I just saw. video of it the other day. So that's
interesting that you chose it. But I just realized,
man, that intro is a great jam. That's a really
great tune. Well, we've got Brown Sugar by the
Rolling Stones and We're an American Band by
Grand Funk. Where do we go from here? Well, I
told you I'm bringing the big rock and roll guns
out. So if I'm going Rolling Stones, I've got
to follow up with the Beatles, right? So I'm
going John Lennon, whatever gets you through
the night. Nice. Yeah. And it was Lennon's only
number one single, which was interesting. And
do you know the Elton John story behind this
one? Yeah. In the studio with Elton John, Elton
says, hey, this is a number one hit. John's like,
no way. He goes, okay, if it is a number one
hit, you come play live with me. The thing goes
number one and Lennon comes and plays with him
at Madison Square Garden. And that version is
really awesome too, by the way. Yeah, it is.
It is. Yeah. Whatever gets you through the night.
That's a great tune. And if I'm not mistaken,
that was also one of John Lennon's last major
concert appearances. But the lead single from
1974's Walls and Bridges, once again, only one
week at number one. And the fact that this is
Lennon's only number one single, like you mentioned,
I think that's an astonishing fact. I think that's
something that people overlook. And I bet you
if you asked any average music fan, which song
was John Lennon's only number one hit? Pretty
safe to guess that 9 out of 10 people are going
to get it wrong. Because even I would have guessed
Imagine prior to whatever gets you through the
night. And that's nothing against this song.
I absolutely love this song. But along with Elton,
I think we should also tip our hats to Bobby
Keys and Ron Apria, who totally nailed the sax
parts on this track. And for me, at least, I
can't picture this song without the saxophone.
Right. And that's interesting. You mentioned
Bobby Keys. He played on Brown Sugar also. Yeah,
these session musicians really made the rounds
making it with, and I have some songs in my bank
that also involve session musicians that we're
probably going to talk about at some point here.
He was a great session player. He played a lot
of great tracks, especially with the Stones.
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. But what I'm going to do
now for track four is slow it down a little bit.
All right. And I'm going to go with the third
song in a row that only spent one week at number
one. And I'm also going to go with an artist
who, like John Lennon, it's his only number one
song, at least in the U .S. And I'm going to
go with Neil Young from 1972's Harvest, his only
number one hit in the U .S., Heart of Gold. It
also hit the number one spot in his home country
of Canada, the Great White North as well. In
2021, Rolling Stone ranked at number 259 on their
list of the 500 greatest songs of all time. featuring
backup vocals from James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt.
I mean, think about that. These are people that
have their own roster of hits up and down the
charts, and they're just backing up Neil Young
on this song. This has always been a favorite
of mine. Besides Colburn and company playing
this song at pretty much every gig we've ever
done, it's been famously covered by the likes
of Willie Nelson, who's... Cover version hit
number 44 on the Hot Country Singles Chart in
1987. It's also been covered by Roxette, Betty
LeVette, Tori Amos, Johnny Cash featuring the
Red Hot Chili Peppers and Black Label Society.
So to me, this one's an absolute classic. Neil
Young, Heart of Gold. Good pick and a good tempo
too for what we're up to. So good time for Heart
of Gold in there. All right. So what are we going
to follow that up with for track five? I'm following
up with another crazy number one. This is actually
his first number one from David Bowie, and that
is Fame, the song he did with John Lennon. So
my connection is running pretty solid here. I
got Stones, Beatles, and David Bowie. Stones,
Beatles, Beatles, Stones. Yeah. The second single
from 1975's Young Americans spent... Two whole
weeks at number one. And it also hit number one
in Canada. Now, the song, because I was in high
school at the time, had a resurgence as Fame
90 was released as part of the Pretty Woman soundtrack.
That version hitting number six on the Billboard
U .S. Dance Club Songs chart. There you go. Yeah.
And I was reading about Bowie in this song. It
was his least favorite track on the record. He
hated it. He's like, nah, this is my least favorite
song. And Carlos Alomar and Lennon were... Lennon
played a small part in the research I did. He
played a small part, but he did come up with
a lick there in the beginning. And I think he
called it something other than fame. I can't
remember what he was saying. He was saying a
word and David... picked up on it and said, no,
let's go with Fame. And that's how they got that
pretty cool track. Oh, it's a great track. And
I don't think you get to like David Bowie and
Trent Reznor's I'm Afraid of Americans without
what he did on Fame. I feel like that vibe is
what kind of took you through into the 90s where
David Bowie was still seen as a prominent artist
because that sound was around on this song originally.
Yeah, very cool. Well, you've got this Stones,
Beatles, Beatles, Stones thing going. I'm going
to connect to one of my earlier songs as this
person I just mentioned was singing backup vocals
on Heart of Gold. But I'm going to bring her
to the front of the stage for this one. And we're
going to go with Linda Ronstadt's. You're No
Good from 1974's Heart Like a Wheel. Once again,
though, we're back to spending only one week
at number one. So a deep, deep pick here. Written
by Clint Ballard Jr. and first performed in 1963
by Dee Dee Warwick. It was also a hit for the
Swingin' Blue Jeans in 1964 before Linda made
the song, at least in my humble opinion, her
own. And yes, that includes Van Halen's cover.
At the beginning of 1979's Van Halen 2. I love
that version. But Linda Ronstadt's is just on
another level. And it's because of this cover
song that the majority of her hits throughout
the rest of the decade would be cover songs.
Think Blue Bayou, Tumble and Dice. It all started
with You're No Good. Wow, that's great. That's
such a great tune. That's a great trivia too.
Back to like all those weird. People who did
the song and I never knew that. I knew it was
a cover, but I didn't know it was that deep in
lore. And she's so good and such a great rock
and roll female force. That's a great tune. All
right. Well, we are now up to track seven. So
where are we going to go from here? All right.
So I'm gambling on this one. This has got to
be longer than one week on the charts for this
one. And I'm going to follow up Linda Ronstad
with my favorite female. vocalist and rock and
roll of all time. And that's Stevie Nicks and
the song is Dreams with Fleetwood Mac. And so,
tell me, did it stay on the charts more than
one week? It did not. One week at number one.
I would have put all in on that, man. I would
have put all in. Really, it did not. Because,
you know, Fleetwood Mac, if you look at the 70s,
you would say that's one of the bands that...
on the seventies, maybe the Eagles too, or, you
know, making huge hits, but you know, rumors
was so big. So I'm really surprised that dreams
wasn't more than one week as a number one hit
in the United States. Crazy. Agreed. And my mom
has told me over the years that my love of music
comes from the rumors album, because when she
was pregnant with me every single night. She
would put headphones on and listen to this album.
So it's all a Stevie's fault. She hypnotized
me in the womb and I've been a sucker for music
ever since. The song ranked number nine on Rolling
Stone's 2021 list of the 500 greatest songs of
all time. I love my cover songs and the Coors
version, which was originally on the legacy attribute
to Fleetwood Mac's Rumors, actually had a dance
remix by Oliver Lieber. And that became a top
10 hit for the cores in Canada, the UK, Iceland,
Hungary, and Scotland in the nineties. That's
awesome. So between the hypnotic drum loop and
yes, that's a drum loop in the song and Lindsay
Buckingham's ability to turn three chords into
various. segments of this song while keeping
that continuous drum beat loop really speaks
to all the members of Fleetwood Mac's talent
because every section of Dreams feels different,
but yet they're all the same. And obviously in
2020, the song had a viral resurgence because
of that TikTok moment when the guy went skating
around listening to the song while drinking ocean
spray cranberry juice. That made the song re
-enter the charts and also hit the charts on
Spotify and Apple Music some 40 plus years later.
So love the track. Yeah, all -time classic. Absolutely
an all -time classic. And I'm going to follow
it up with a song that, again, spent one week.
At number one, celebrate this record somewhere.
And I'm going to go off of their 1974 album,
not fragile. And we are going to go with Bachman
Turner overdrives. You ain't seen nothing yet.
Written by Randy Bachman. The song was also a
number one hit in Canada, Germany, Denmark, and
South Africa and became the band's only major
hit in the UK. We're reached number two on the
UK singles charts, which. Came to the surprise
of Randy Bachman because he wrote this song as
a joke and never intended it to be a single.
It was when radio stations across the country
started giving it airplay that Bachman actually
decided to wave the white flag and release it
as a single because he initially refused. That's
awesome. Awesome. I'm going to throw some Randy
Bachman stuff in here again because I do rock
and roll documentaries. He's got a new documentary
coming out. called Taking Care of Business and
it's about his lost Gresh guitar. Have you heard
the story of that one? No, I haven't. Yeah. Earlier
in his career, he had this Gresh guitar that
was like his number one and it was stolen. And
he searched for years and years and years and
he thought he saw it on a Thompson Twins video.
So he chased after them to try to find his guitar.
That wasn't it. He bought every garage possible,
he claims, in the world to try to find that sound.
Couldn't get it. And then during COVID, someone
brought to his attention that, hey, I think I
might have found it. I'm not going to spoil the
story, but the documentary is called Taking Care
of Business. I haven't seen it yet. It's coming
out. I don't think it's streamed just yet, but...
It sounds like it's going to be a great conclusion
to that story of what happened to this guy's
Gresham and all the years in between building
up to it. So that's my rock and roll documentary
recommendation for you. Oh, I can't wait to watch
it. I really hope it doesn't end in the fact
that he just picks it up and goes, nope, not
it. And then they roll the credits. No spoilers
here. All right. Well, we are up to track nine.
So what do we got for your last song on side
A? Last song on Saturday, we've got to do something
different. We got to go away a little bit here.
And like I said, I'm staying in the rock and
roll zone, but I'm going to pull back a little
bit and go with Stevie Wonder's Superstition.
And it's got some rock and roll roots to it because
he wrote that song with Jeff Beck. And Jeff Beck
was kind of slow getting to it and they released
Stevie's version first. And it's such a cool
jam. And I think Stevie actually played... All
the instruments on that record, too, which is
incredible. And then what I like about it, the
connection to Stevie was the Stevie Ray Vaughan
version. Oh, yeah. Stevie Ray Vaughan just took
and blew into the stratosphere with his version.
So Stevie Wonder's Superstition is such a great,
great tune. And then Beck also did the song with
Beck Bogart in a piece. Yes. You had Widespread
Paddock with the Dirty Dozen Brass Band and George
Michael. Everyone's covered this song. It's a
freaking anthem from 1972's Talking Book. It
spent one week at number one. We stay there.
In 2021, Rolling Stone ranked the song number
12 on its list of the 500 greatest songs of all
time. And the song won two Grammy Awards, one
for best rhythm and blues song and one for best
R &B vocal performance male. And finally, the
song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
A well -deserved induction there. One of the
greatest frigging funky -ass riffs ever. You
nailed it. You nailed it. Exactly. Coming out
of that, I think I'm going to stay with a little
bit of that funkiness, but I'm going to inject
a little bit of prog, a little bit of jazz, a
little bit of experimentation, and... Another
song that only spent one week at number one.
However, I think it's going to be our only instrumental
of the night. And I'm going to go with the Edgar
Winter Group's Frankenstein from 1972's They
Only Come Out at Night. It was also a number
one hit in Canada. Rolling Stone lists it number
seven on their list of the 25 best rock instrumentals.
It was originally not even intended to make the
album. It was only released as a B -side to Hanging
Around, but the single was quickly flipped by
the label when radio stations around the U .S.
and Canada were getting hammered with requests
for Frankenstein over Hanging Around. To me,
this song is lightning in a bottle. You have
Winter playing the bulk of the instruments on
the track, including the synth, the piano, the
saxophone, and the percussion. You have Rick
Derringer, who did Rock and Roll Hoochie Coo,
working production on this track with some guy
named Ronnie Montrose on guitar. You might have
heard of him. Nice. Dan Hartman, you know, the
I Can Dream About You singer on bass and Chuck
Ruff on drums. Believe it or not, I didn't discover
this song until the 90s when it was one of the
tracks. On the Encino Man soundtrack of all things,
which I had picked up on vacation when we were
down in North Carolina. I picked it up at a Radio
Shack because at the time in the 90s, at least
down in North Carolina, Radio Shack sold cassettes
and CDs. I ended up grabbing the Offsprings Smash
on cassette because they didn't have it on CD
and the Encino Man soundtrack on CD. So total
sidebar there. Fish has covered this song live
close to a hundred times over the years. This
song to me is just instrumental perfection. I
think it's a fun way to close out Side A. Great
ending aside one. Great job. Well, that mixtapers
concludes Side A of the ultimate number one hits
of the seventies mixtape, which consists of the
Rolling Stones, Brown Sugar, Grand Funks, We're
an American Band, John Lennon, Whatever Gets
You Through the Night, Neil Young's Heart of
Gold. David Bowie's Fame, Linda Ronstadt's You're
No Good, Fleetwood Mac's Dreams, Bachman Turner
Overdrive's You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet, Stevie
Wonder's Superstition, and the Edgar Winter Group's
Frankenstein. Head over to myweeklymixtape .com
to hear all the songs we've discussed in this
mix through the playlist embedded on the episode
page. And now I get the honor of kicking off
Side B, and I think I know exactly how we're
going to do this. Okay. This side is going to
start off with some drums, some iconic drums.
And we're going to go with a song that spent
six weeks. So we finally got a decent run for
a number one hit. And we are going to go off
of their 1979 debut. Get the knack, the knacks,
my Sharona. The song ranks number 75 on Billboard's
Hot 100 all -time songs list and number 16 on
the top Billboard Hot 100 rock songs. To further
put into perspective the legacy of My Sharona,
during the making of Michael Jackson's Thriller,
the now -late Quincy Jones, rest in peace, wanted
the album to have a rock -and -roll -inspired
song in the vein of My Sharona. With that advice,
Michael Jackson wrote Beat It. Oh, that is so
cool. And there's also that little parody by
Weird Al Yankovic called My Bologna. And I guess
since I mentioned Beat It, you also should mention
Eat It because you got to include Weird Al's
parody wherever. You can, at least in my world,
you have to. And finally, let's not forget the
resurgence that My Sharona had in the 90s as
a result of the Reality Bites soundtrack. So
a hit in both the 70s and the 90s, and to me,
a timeless classic to kick off Side B. Absolutely.
It's pretty crazy. There's six weeks on the charts.
You know, you're going up against Dreams and
Brown Sugar and Superstition, all these huge
monster hits. But I think Maestro, I think you
mentioned this earlier, is 79? It was in 79,
yes. So I think you start seeing a little bit
more longevity of charts as we got into the 80s,
I think you mentioned. So maybe that played a
part? I don't know. There's not a lot of songs
that had lengthy runs during the 70s, which is
a shame because every song we've talked about
so far, you would think. Including my Sharona,
there's only been three that have had a longer
than one week run, which is completely shocking
to me. Yeah, it is. It is. So I'm going to follow
that up with another one that's kind of a shock.
I don't know how many weeks it's been on the
charts. And I thought when we were doing this,
I'm like, all right, so I've got side one. Now
what do I need to do to side two? So this is
going to be my kickoff to side two. But it goes
back to the Rolling Stones, my favorite Rolling
Stones album, Some Girls, and the song is Miss
You. Nice. Yeah. What a great tune. Kind of took
them in a different kind of direction. They had
that New York City vibe going on for the Miss
You song in the Some Girls record. It was a little
bit different. It had a little, you know, dancey
disco flair. Mick was hanging out in the discos
a little bit there in New York, but such a great
tune. Timeless Stones tune. Couldn't agree more.
And depending on who you ask in the band, the
song is or isn't a disco tune because Mick Jagger
and Ronnie Woods insisted it wasn't written that
way. But Keith Richards said it was calculated
to be a disco tune. Keith and Mick, they're different
opinions. That's hard to believe. I'm shocked.
I'm flabbergasted by that notion. Right. I don't
think it's disco. Do you think it's disco? Would
you call it disco? I'd say there's a disco. to
the Rolling Stones sound. Right. I don't see
Mick up there doing the Saturday Night Fever,
John Travolta, Arm in the Air dance to this,
but you definitely want to get up and kind of
shake your groove thing to this song. There's
definitely a dance vibe to it. Oh, yeah. There's
a great groove to this one. But it's still Stones.
It's still a rock song at the end of the day.
Definitely. And it's a rock song that spent one
week at number one and also hit number one in
Canada. As was a top 10 hit in Australia, the
UK, Sweden, Ireland, the Netherlands, and New
Zealand. In 2010, Rolling Stone magazine ranked
Miss You as number 498 on its list of the 500
greatest songs of all time. So coming out of
that, we've talked disco. Do I rip the bandaid
and throw in disco duck here just for the hell
of it? That was Rick D's, wasn't it? Rick D's
and his cast of idiots. I had the 45 as a kid.
Wow. How did I remember that? Yeah, we're from
the same time period. And that thing was just
like, what? We certainly are. And I am not going
to go with Disco Duck as much as I love that
song. People that know me as a kid, I took that
45 everywhere. I thought it was frigging brilliant.
But I am going to go with something that is disco,
but also. I'm going to fully admit, kind of rocks.
And I'm going to go with the Bee Gees' Stayin'
Alive from 1977 Saturday Night Fever soundtrack,
lasting four weeks at number one. So another
quote -unquote massive hit. In 2021, Rolling
Stone ranked the song number 99 on its list of
500 greatest songs of all time. It made Time
Magazine's list of all time 100 songs and is
included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's
500 songs that shaped rock and roll. In the 90s,
again, back to my high school days, and Trance
covered the song as a dance version. And that
version hit number one in Australia, Canada,
Scotland, and the UK, as well as becoming a top
10 hit in countries all over the world. However,
my favorite cover of Stayin' Alive. is Ozzy Osbourne
and Dweezil Zappa's rock version that you can
find on Ozzy's Prince of Darkness box set. I
told you the song rocks, and if Ozzy blessed
it, it belongs in this list. Nice. There you
go. That's a good pick. So here comes another
connection to my rock and roll people, but it's
going to be, it's not as big as Bee Gees. It's
not as big as the Stones, but this guy was around
them, and it's Billy Preston's Funky. Nothing
for nothing in 1974. Great get down tune from
Billy Preston on the keyboards there. And one
of the cool things I really liked about this
song was this was the first performance on Saturday
Night Live. Yes. Yes. Isn't that crazy? I would
never pick. I would never have thought that.
The first performance was Billy Preston. That's
really cool. Yeah. We're dropping trivia left
and right on this episode. So you could use this
for your Jeopardy studies, I guess. From 1974's
The Kids and Me, Nothing from Nothing spent one
week at number one. It also charted in Canada
where it hit number five and Australia where
it hit 60. Billy Preston was rightly inducted
into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame class of
2021. And he's one of the very few musicians
to ever be given a credit. on a Beatles recording,
that being their 1969 single Get Back, as it
was credited as the Beatles with Billy Preston,
as per the band's request. As far as I'm concerned,
nothing from nothing is joy in musical form,
period. Absolutely. Yeah. Beautiful, beautiful
tune. And that Get Back documentary, have you
seen it? The Beatles Get Back documentary? Yes,
yes. It's so great when he comes into the room
and they just light up. And then when he starts
playing with them, it's just... Creates this
different magic within the four of those guys.
That was really cool. You used the perfect word.
He created magic with them. He really did. And
what I'm going to do is tap into some of that
magic, that funky vibe that you brought. And
I'm going to go with a song that came out in
1972 and spent a staggering one week at number
one. Written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett
Strong from Motown. This song was originally
recorded by The Undisputed Truth. However, it
was The Temptations that took Papa Was a Rolling
Stone to the top of the charts. It was also a
top 10 hit in the Netherlands, South Africa,
and New Zealand, and was a top 20 hit in Canada,
the UK, and Germany. Then again, my cover versions,
I'm sorry, in 1990, Was Not Was released a cover
that charted in the US. Canada, Australia, the
UK, and Austria, among several other countries.
And over the last few years, we've gotten some
killer versions of this song from both the Black
Crows on their 1972 EP and Slash featuring Demi
Lovato, of all people, on his Orgy of the Damned
album. That entire Slash Orgy of the Damned album
is a cover song's delight. But he brought the
rock to Papa Was a Rolling Stone. And Papa Was
a Rolling Stone is a funk R &B flavor tune. But
make no mistake, The Temptations rocked this
one as well. Yeah. Yeah. Very good choice there,
especially coming off of the Billy Preston tune.
So I'm going to double down on that and stay
with the master, kind of the father of that funk
R &B sound stuff. And that was Sly Stone. Sly
and the Family Stones. Thank you for letting
me. be myself again. I'm not going to try to
say it in that weird way they spelt it out. Even
his memoir was that. That was the title of it,
all spelt out crazy. But that was just a get
down tune. And Sly had so many of those great
tunes from that time where he just, he was in
the zone there for a while. Just one after another
of those really good, funky, rock, R &B soul
smashes. Oh, his greatest hit CD is a party.
You just put that in and you've got the party
set. And I'm not going to lie. I love the Mondegreen
spelling of the song title. This was before corn
and limp biscuit made it a thing in the 90s.
Sly and the Family Stone invented it in the 70s.
It was a double A side, including Everybody is
a Star that was released in December of 1969.
So this was actually a song that was recorded
and released in the 60s. but didn't hit that
number one spot until February of 1970, where
it stayed for a staggering two weeks at number
one. Two. Two weeks this time. Wow, that's some
great trivia. In the 60s, but it hit in the 70s,
so it snuck in there. Yes, and it was the fourth
number one hit of the entire decade following
B .J. Thomas' Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head,
the Jackson 5's I Want You Back, and Shocking
Blue's Venus. Don't know that one. You probably
know if you remember Banana Ram as Venus in the
80s. This was the original of that. Okay. Now,
Sly and the Family Stones' Thank You was ranked
number 410 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs
of All Time. And while it's not a cover per se,
Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation from the 1989 album
of the same name includes a really cool sample
from this song. Yeah. He talked about someone
who was sampled a lot. He was sampled. why not
i mean it's just screaming sample me sample me
really exactly well to follow that up i'm gonna
stay funky but i'm gonna bring us a little bit
out of the r &b realm and back into rock and
maybe even a little bit of folk As this song
was another double A -side single like Sly and
the Family Stone, but it happened in 1971 and
it was a double A -side with the single It's
Too Late. And I'm going to go with Carole King's
I Feel the Earth Move. Number one for five consecutive
weeks. So another long running song here. It
also reached number six in both the UK and Australia.
And together with It's Too Late, I Feel the Earth
Move was number 213. On the RIAA's 365 songs
of the century. Now there is some controversy
surrounding this song because It's Too Late technically
received more airplay in comparison. But coming
out of Sly and the Family Stone, I feel like
it was too much of a pivot to go with It's Too
Late. The vibe of I Feel the Earth Move, I think,
brings you out of that little run of R &B and
funk in a way where you could go somewhere else
with it. And I think people also have a blind
spot on this song because in 1989, Martika released
a cover of this song. And I think the entire
country was still basking in the glow of Toy
Soldiers because most people refer to Martika
as a one -hit wonder. But her cover of I Feel
the Earth Move hit number 25 on the Billboard
US Hot 100 and was a top 10 hit in the UK, Australia,
Ireland, and New Zealand. Wow. But even that's
not my favorite cover because in 2013, Shinedown
released a killer version on the Warner Sound
Live Room EP that if you haven't heard it, I
highly suggest checking it out. Total gender
flip on the song, but it works. so frigging well.
Very cool. And that song was funky, no doubt
about it. That piano piece there. And what I
found interesting in that song is, you know,
that starts the album off and then you have So
Far Away and It's Too Late. And you've got a
friend, these really different mellow songs.
It's Carole King. You're like, wait a minute,
what happened there in the beginning? Where'd
that go? You know? The tapestry record. Yeah,
I don't think that's what people were looking
for, which is why it didn't really hit on the
charts as much as It's Too Late did, because
It's Too Late, I think, follows into the songs
you mentioned there. Obviously, you mentioned
that one, but that's more of what people think
of when they think of Carole King. But for me,
the rock guy in me, it's I Feel the Earth Move.
Yeah, that's a good song. Good song. That's a
good one. Good. So we're going to stick with
a little rock here, and we've got to include
a guy who wrote a lot of really cool 70s songs,
and that's Steve Miller and Rock Me. The great
Rockin' Me classic that he wrote to kind of expand
his sound. I read where he was doing a lot of
shows, doing a lot of festivals. And he was playing
with Pink Floyd at the time. And he wanted to
have a song that could just hit that festival
audience and these big, large audiences that
he was playing to. And he came up with Rockin'
Me. And there's only three guys playing on that
song. It's him and the bass player and the drums.
That's it. And considering how beloved the song
is, I think you hit the nail on the head because
according to setlist .fm, it's one of the songs
that Steve Miller's performed the most in his
career over the decades, alongside of the Joker,
his cover of Paul Pena's Jet Airliner, Abracadabra
and Fly Like an Eagle. As somebody who grew up
with. the greatest hits 1974 to 78 album in his
collection. Yeah. I feel like this is a must
have on a seventies playlist. And I'm glad we
found a spot for at least one Steve Miller song
because I had both this and the Joker sitting
in my bank tonight, waiting to go. This song
spent one week on both the U S and Canada charts
at number one, and also charted in the UK, the
Netherlands. New Zealand and South Africa. So
one of the big ones from Steve Miller band, I'm
so glad we got that into the mix because I think
I would have felt some guilt if we didn't, because
I can't tell you how many times we spun 74 to
78 to me, even though it's a greatest hits album,
it's one of those ones that transcended the greatest
hits album, kind of like the Eagles greatest
hits and the Doobie brothers greatest hits. Steve
Miller band, 74 to 78 to me. Almost feels like
a Steve Miller studio album. Yeah. It's one of
those iconic pieces of the seventies. Like we
were talking earlier about rumors, of course.
And yeah, that Miller's greatest hits, you know,
everybody from that time has got a copy of that
one. Oh, gotcha. And the cassette and the eight
track. I was going to say, and I got the CD as
well. So I had to have that in the nineties when
I was in my car and I had to have the CDs with
me. Right. All right. Well, we're at that point
where we each have one song left. And I know
we've talked about the Beatles tonight, but we
only talked about the Beatles in a solo sense.
So I felt it's only fitting as my last song tonight
to at least put one Beatles song in the fold
for our discussion. That being the title track
from 1970s. Let it be where it spent two weeks
at number one. This was the Beatles final. single
released before Paul McCartney announced his
departure from the band. And in 2004, the song
was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, rightfully
so. In 2010, Rolling Stone ranked it number eight
on its list of 101 greatest Beatles songs, where
Mojo Magazine, in a very similar list, ranked
it 50, a lot lower. Rolling Stone also ranked
Let It Be number 20. on its 500 greatest songs
of all time list, and in the throwback to another
song we talked about on this side, the late,
great Billy Preston laying down that Hammond
organ on this track, making it work. I mean,
again, I can't picture Let It Be without that
organ. It's Billy Preston, man. I love the Beatles.
I take nothing away from it. But you pull that
organ out of the track, and I think you lose
a little bit of what made this song so magical
and such an iconic part of Beatles history. Big
time, big time. And so let's go back to what
a mixtape is and how you put them together. And
we've been bouncing around and putting things
together. So the end of the mixtape, just like
the beginning of the mixtape, you've got to end
on a grand finale. Right? You've got to have
that big moment at the end of a mixtape. So I'm
going to propose something to you, Ryan, that
I don't know if it's ever been proposed or done
on this show before. I've listened to a bunch
of them. I've never heard it before. All right.
You have my attention. I'm tapping out. Wow.
I have no final song. Let It Be is the final
song of this mixtape. You cannot beat Let It
Be. I had a song in there, but I'm like, you
can't really come with any song after Let It
Be. Probably one of the greatest. Finale songs
in rock and roll history. Paul, you know, any
concert, let it be. Come on. You can't be that.
That's it. It's a complete tape. Well, there
you have it, folks. Side B of the ultimate number
one hits of the 70s mixtape with a first on my
weekly mixtape as he's pressing that stop button
on the ninth song. Side B kicked off with the
Naxx My Sharona. Then we had the Rolling Stones,
Miss You, Bee Gees, Stayin' Alive, Billy Preston's
Nothing From Nothing, The Temptations, Papa Was
a Rolling Stone, Sly and the Family Stones, Thank
You for Letting Me Be Myself Again, Carole King's
I Feel the Earth Move, Steve Miller Band's Rockin'
Me, and the Beatles' Let It Be. Head over to
myweeklymixtape .com to hear all the songs we've
discussed in this mix. through the playlist embedded
on the episode page. Well, Rick, why don't you
tell listeners a little bit about Rock Talk Studio
and where they can find your show? Awesome. Rock
Talk Studio is a weekly show where I review,
preview, and I think most importantly, recommend
new rock and roll books and documentaries. So
every week I pick a spotlight title and I break
it down and kind of give you the inside to give
you enough information to say, okay. This is
where I want to spend my time and my money. So
I'm going to buy this book or I'm going to check
out this doc. It's one of my passions. I just
watch a ton of rock and roll documentaries and
read a bunch of books. And it's on any directory
where you can hear your podcast. It's on YouTube.
So it's all over the place. Again, once a week,
I take a title and just give you my best on why
I recommend you checking it out. Well, Rick,
this has been an absolute pleasure. Thank you
so much for joining me on My Weekly Mixtape.
Been great, Brian. Good fun. Thank you. Remember,
you can find My Weekly Mixtape on almost all
the social media haunts at My Weekly Mixtape.
You can also head to MyWeeklyMixtape .com to
check out the full catalog of My Weekly Mixtape
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That's all for this week. Thanks again for listening.
And until next time, enjoy the tunes.