These rock songs will put children of the 1970s in their younger shoes, heading to their best friend’s house after school. These songs have a sense of nostalgia and the energy of adolescence. If these songs don’t bring back these memories, I’m not sure what could.
“American Girl” — Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers
There’s a reason this song has been in so many 1970s movies. It’s the very essence of the decade. Listening to it will instantly transport you back to a time when afternoons seemed to stretch on forever, and nothing was on the agenda except having fun and living your youth to the fullest.
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“Well, she was an American girl / Raised on promises / She couldn’t help thinkin’ that there / Was a little more to life somewhere else / After all, it was a great big world,” the lyrics to this 1970s rock song read. It’s impossible not to feel like you’re in a different time when this song comes on. It bottles up the 1970s so well that you basically time-travel to a bygone era.
“Just What I Needed” — The Cars
This song feels like every sunny, cloudless day that seems to have become a convention of the 1970s in movies and other media. When we think of the 1970s, we get that mental image. This song helps foster that notion.
“I don’t mind you comin’ here / And wastin’ all my time / ‘Cause when you’re standin’ oh, so near / I kinda lose my mind,” the lyrics read. You may not have understood this rock song for everything it was in adolescence, but the bright, glimmering melody made it a must-listen back in the 1970s.
“More Than A Feeling” — Boston
Last but not least, we have Boston’s “More Than A Feeling”. Odds are, the first time you heard this track, the unassuming intro that erupts into a powerhouse chorus blew you away. Many kids of the mid-1970s likely remember this song as a fork in the road. Rock diverged on a different path thanks to this track’s influence.
Young rock fans’ lives went through a similar evolution. If you were lucky enough to have heard this song when it first came out, hearing it now likely takes you back to a tentpole moment in your life.
(Photo by Gary Gershoff/Getty Images)
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