The top 40 from Billboard's Hot 100 for the week ending September 25, 1976. The good? The bad? The ugly?


THIS WEEK * LAST WEEK * WEEKS ON CHART * SONG * PERFORMER
01 * 01 * 15 * Play That Funky Music * Wild Cherry
02 * 03 * 16 * I'd Really Love to See You Tonight * England Dan & John Ford Coley
03 * 04 * 18 * A Fifth of Beethoven * Walter Murphy & The Big Apple Band
04 * 02 * 12 * (Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty * KC & The Sunshine Band
05 * 06 * 13 * Lowdown * Boz Scaggs
06 * 07 * 13 * Devil Woman * Cliff Richard
07 * 08 * 12 * Summer * War
08 * 09 * 07 * If You Leave Me Now * Chicago
09 * 13 * 07 * Disco Duck (Part 1) * Rick Dees & His Cast of Idiots
10 * 05 * 17 * You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine * Lou Rawls
11 * 11 * 13 * Say You Love Me * Fleetwood Mac
12 * 12 * 10 * With Your Love * Jefferson Starship
13 * 16 * 09 * Still the One * Orleans
14 * 15 * 15 * A Little Bit More * Dr. Hook
15 * 17 * 11 * Getaway * Earth, Wind & Fire
16 * 20 * 10 * She's Gone * Hall & Oates
17 * 19 * 15 * Wham Bam * Silver
18 * 18 * 14 * Who'd She Coo * Ohio Players
19 * 21 * 06 * That'll Be the Day * Linda Ronstadt
20 * 10 * 13 * You Should Be Dancing * The Bee Gees
21 * 23 * 07 * Rock'n Me * Steve Miller Band
22 * 22 * 13 * Shower the People * James Taylor
23 * 35 * 04 * I Only Want to Be With You * Bay City Rollers
24 * 26 * 11 * Magic Man * Heart
25 * 14 * 13 * Don't Go Breaking My Heart * Elton John & Kiki Dee
26 * 28 * 08 * One Love in My Lifetime * Diana Ross
27 * 31 * 09 * (Don't Fear) The Reaper * Blue Oyster Cult
28 * 25 * 17 * Heaven Must Be Missing an Angel (Part 1) * Tavares
29 * 24 * 13 * Let 'Em In * Wings
30 * 44 * 04 * Beth * Kiss
31 * 29 * 16 * This Masquerade * George Benson
32 * 39 * 06 * It's O.K. * Beach Boys
33 * 30 * 14 * Baby I Love Your Way * Peter Frampton
34 * 38 * 07 * Get the Funk Out Ma Face * Brothers Johnson
35 * 36 * 08 * Superstar * Paul Davis
36 * 40 * 07 * Sunrise * Eric Carmen
37 * 41 * 06 * You Are the Woman * Firefall
38 * 42 * 05 * The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald * Gordon Lightfoot
39 * 33 * 08 * Don't Stop Believin' * Olivia Newton-John
40 * 47 * 04 * Fernando * Abba

TommyRoss said:

Some of the others I don't know though. Maybe if I heard them I would.

minneapolisgenius said:

Didn't we make out to Beth? Get laced to Don't Fear the Reaper? Do it to Baby I Love Your Way?

TommyRoss said:

I can't recall. Those days are all a haze for me now.

minneapolisgenius said:

A...purple haze, even?

TommyRoss said:

Sometimes it was green though.

There's a lot of great songs in that list, except for "Disco Duck" of course.

minneapolisgenius said:

aLOT of on there


though some of it is the finest cheese in the world

TommyRoss said:

I should have guessed by the avvie.

I'd Really Love to See You Tonight * England Dan & John Ford Coley
(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty * KC & The Sunshine Band
Lowdown * Boz Scaggs
If You Leave Me Now * Chicago
You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine * Lou Rawls
Say You Love Me * Fleetwood Mac
With Your Love * Jefferson Starship
Getaway * Earth, Wind & Fire
She's Gone * Hall & Oates
Who'd She Coo * Ohio Players
You Should Be Dancing * The Bee Gees
Rock'n Me * Steve Miller Band
Magic Man * Heart
One Love in My Lifetime * Diana Ross
(Don't Fear) The Reaper * Blue Oyster Cult
Let 'Em In * Wings
Beth * Kiss
This Masquerade * George Benson
Baby I Love Your Way * Peter Frampton
Get the Funk Out Ma Face * Brothers Johnson

The red titles are favorites of mine. Rock'n Me is probably the singular Steve Miller song that I like.

TommyRoss said:

I could put "Lowdown" in a top 20 favorite songs of all-time list of mine.

You don't like "Fly Like an Eagle"?

minneapolisgenius said:

No. Maybe if I was high like an eagle I would. When I was 10, I thought Abracadabra was cool as shit.

TommyRoss said:

Me too! I still like it.

TommyRoss said:

AWESOME WEEK! And Orleans "Still The One" is underrated 70's fun rock.

Devil Woman. That was a hot one even if by Cliff Richard.

that's my favorite Wings song

TommyRoss said:

I like nearly every song on this chart.Many of these songs are so underrated,such as "Wham-Bam-Shang A Lang" by Silver....that's such a perfect,little catchy pop tune."Don't Fear The Reaper" by Blue Oyster Cult is another favorite...I've even considered starting a thread about it."Summer" by War is the ultimate,breezy summer anthem.1976 was a very memorable year for pop music.I'm thrilled to have been a part of it.

iconsweat said:

interestingly,several months earlier,ELO were riding high on the charts with their own tale of a shady lady..."Evil Woman"

CinisterCee said:

my favorite Wings song is "Jet"

some trivia/info about this chart and this week in music history....


***Stevie Wonder's 'Songs In The Key Of Life' was only a few weeks away from release.The official release date was October 9,1976 but many people insist that it was in stores a few weeks before that.

***On this chart,the Hall and Oates song "She's Gone" sits at Number 16.The song was actually recorded and released as a single in 1974,but surprisingly,it bombed the first time around! Hall and Oates then left Atlantic Records and quickly scored a big hit ("Sara Smile") on their new label RCA.Atlantic decided to "cash in" on the duo's newfound popularity.They re-released "She's Gone" and this time,it became the big hit it deserved to be.

***Two songs on this chart later appeared on the massively succsessful 'Saturday Night Fever' soundtrack..."A Fifth Of Beethoven" by Walter Murphy and the Big Apple Band,and "You Should Be Dancing" by The Bee Gees.Another song,"Lowdown" by Boz Scaggs,was also requested for the film but for some reason,Boz' camp refused to let them to use it.Apparently,they had already licensed the song to be used in the movie "Looking For Mr.Goodbar" and didn't want to over-expose it.


***speaking of Walter Murphy and The Big Apple Band....around this time,there was another up-and-coming band in New York that was calling itself "The Big Apple Band".However,when "A Fifth Of Beethoven" became a big hit,that other band was forced to change their name.They chose the name Chic.

SoulAlive said:

mine's Tug of War

SoulAlive said:

Then whutchoo waitin' for? Do it! I love that song.

MikeMatronik said:

Mine are "Bluebird" and "Junk".

minneapolisgenius said:

Paul has a bird/plane fixation - Wings, Jet, Blackbird, Bluebird...

TommyRoss said:

I know.

Actually, I can't pick a favorite Wings song I've realized.

minneapolisgenius said:

There are a lot of good ones, but I might say Band on the Run is my favorite. I love how each little section of it sounds like a small part of a great song. Did you check out Chaos and Creation in the Backyard? There's a beautiful song on there - This Never Happened Before - that sounds like it could have been a great Wings era ballad.

TommyRoss said:

No, I don't have that yet.

And yes there are a lot of great ones. But I think "Call Me Back Again" is my favorite right this minute.

My favourite Wings song is 'Coming Up'.

As for that chart, there's some amazingly good stuff in there and it's unbelievably diverse... Country Rock, Funk, Disco, Pop, Soft Rock etcetera... It's really, really sad how everything sounds the same these days. It's almost like there's only four genres which you can be successful in nowadays:

Pop;
Dance;
R'n'B;
Indie Rock.