The List

3 Songs From 1974 That Could Single-Handedly Keep Clubs Open Today

Not everything about the 70s was perfect. The fashion and the hair were sometimes questionable, and politics were all over the place. However, when it came to club music, these guys had it going on. Here are a few hit songs from the year 1974 that make the 70s seem like the best time to be alive.

“Hooked On A Feeling” by Blue Swede

Technically, this one was first released by Blue Swede in Sweden in 1973, but we’ll let it slide. “Hooked On A Feeling” went international in February of 1974 and made the band a one-hit wonder. Even though the group wasn’t able to replicate the success they had with this song later on, there’s no denying that these lyrics still get stuck in our heads today.

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I’m hooked on a feelin’
I’m high on believin’
That you’re in love with me.

“The B*tch Is Back” by Elton John

Elton John embraced the negative connotation of the word “b*tch” and gave it a new meaning in “The B*tch Is Back”. Apparently, when Bernie Taupin was married, his wife, Maxine, would say “the bitch is back” whenever John had an attitude. As it turns out, that made a great title for a song about feeling empowered and confident too.

I’m a bitch, I’m a bitch, oh, the bitch is back
Stone-cold sober, as a matter of fact
I can bitch, I can bitch ’cause I’m better than you
It’s the way that I move, the things that I do, oh.

“Rock Your Baby” by George McCrae

In 1974, the disco era was just on the horizon, and George McCrae was one of the first to take a step in that direction with his songs. It used the Roland TR-77 to create a drum beat, making it the first pop song to do so, and sparkled with McCrae’s falsetto vocals. Even John Lennon shared in an interview that he was super inspired by Black disco music, and this song in particular.

“…I still like Black music, disco music…” he told Spin. โ€œ’Shame, Shame, Shame’ or ‘Rock Your Baby’, Iโ€™d give my eyetooth to have written that. But I never could. I am too literal to write ‘Rock Your Baby’. I wish I could. Iโ€™m too intellectual, even though Iโ€™m not really an intellectual…”

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