Daily Dirt: The 1970s were a great time to grow, thanks in part to these one-hit wonders

May 3, 2022 | By Steve Eighinger, Muddy River News Minister of Culture and Doctor of Love

Mungo Jerry

1. Ahh … the 1970s, when the majority of baby boomers came of age.

They were graduating high school, going to college, trying to avoid being drafted into the Vietnam War and starting families.Those young adults of the 1970s were still listening to the radio, too. Most of that listening time was spent on AM, although FM was making some definitive inroads. Part of that 1970s listening dealt with wound up being an above-average number of one-hit wonders for that particular decade. Here’s one man’s top 10 when it comes to those one-hit groups/artists that we never heard from again. Do you remember any of these from your AM car radios or hand-held transistors?

Peter McCann

1. “Do You Wanna Make Love,” Peter McCann: A great sing-a-long type of pop hit in the warm weather months of 1977. Even though the song reached No. 5 for the year on the final Billboard Hot 100, McCann never again saw his name on the charts.
2. “My Maria,” B.W. Stevenson: Although Stevenson enjoyed a mild degree of success in 1973 with release, it was the Brooks and Dunn 1996 remake in that was really huge.
3. “In the Summertime,” Mungo Jerry: one of the premier hits in 1970, the song still receives play in a number of genres. Front man Ray Dorset is always remembered for those amazing sideburns.
4. “Brandy (You’re A Fine Girl),” Looking Glass: A great sound, great lyrics, great rhythm … and never again did we hear any music from Looking Glass. It’s been exactly 50 years and we’re still waiting, guys.
5. “My Baby Loves Lovin’,” White Plains: This might have been the most popular song in high schools in 1970.
6. “Play That Funky Music White Boy,” Wild Cherry: One of the true anthems of the decade, Wild Cherry shot from nowhere to the zenith of the music industry in 1976. And then immediately returned to where it had come from.
7. “Video Killed The Radio Star,” the Buggles: Still catchy, all of these years later, the Buggles will always lie in infamy as the first video on MTV in 1979. Remember when MTV actually played music vodeos?
8. “Stuck In The Middle With You,” Stealers Wheel: Another catchy, bouncy effort, this one from 1973. It was later a fixture in the graphically violent 1992 “Reservoir Dogs” film.
9. “Tighter and Tighter,” Alive and Kickin’: Two things — 1. I could never remember if the song was “Alive and Kickin'” by Tighter and Tighter, or vice versa; 2. Tommy James wrote this song.
10. “Afternoon Delight,” Starland Vocal Band: I hate this song the first time I heard it in 1976 and still hate it today. It was just so sweet, so sugary … and so suggestive.

The Washington D.C.-based folk-rock group (Bill and Taffy Danoff, Jon Carroll, and Margot Chapman) started out as John Denver’s backup group and ended up with their own TV show on CBS. The comedy was provided primarily by veteran D.C.-based satirist Mark Russell and David Letterman, who got his first national exposure with this program. It lasted six episodes.

2. The Great Plate rankings are being slightly revamped — call it a work in progress.

Each week we’ll see the yearly leaders in medal-stand form, followed by the best five license plates spotted over the previous week:

2022 Medal-Winners To Date

Gold medal: LUV YADI. It’s the 10th straight week atop the rankings.

Silver Medal: GOL D LOX.

Bronze medal: TAXED.This Week’s Top 5

1. GA DAWG: I’m legitimately surprised how many University of Georgia football fans apparently reside in West-Central Illinois.
2. BUGEYE 9: I have no idea what was behind this choice, but it makes me laugh.
3. I TINK 1: I tink, too.
4. DJ BANG 1: Read No. 2 again.
5. MY TIME 1: Which is how feel every day …

3. The best of “Found on Facebook” this week:

“Before the crowbar was invented, crows used to drink at home.”
“A new study found that humans eat more bananas than monkeys. I can’t remember the last time I ate a monkey.”
“I’m stuck in a kayak, and there is nothing I canoe about it.”
“On Monday we start Diarrhea Awareness Week. Runs until Friday.”
“It turns out that Chewbacca is from Wisconsin. He was born in Milwookie.”

Steve Thought O’ The Day — Back to the “My Baby Loves Lovin'” song … Steve got in serious trouble during a high school driver’s education class in 1970 when that song was playing on the radio. Concentrating on the song rather than the road, Steve was severely chastised by the driver’s education instructor for going 50 mph (maybe 60 … ) through a school zone.