4 Massive 1970s Hits That Radio Stations Barely Play Anymore

So much amazing music was released in the 1970s that many a great hit has slipped through the cracks today, and some radio stations barely play them anymore. Let’s celebrate a few now-underrated classics, shall we?

“Brother Louie” by Stories (1973)

I’ll credit this song’s lack of radio love to the fact that it was released mere months after Hot Chocolate released their hit original version in 1973. Though, at the time, both songs were substantial hits. Hot Chocolate’s version of this soulful tune was a No. 7 hit on the UK Singles chart. Stories’ version went a bit further, peaking at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

“Rock Me Gently” by Andy Kim (1974)

I truly can’t remember the last time I heard this song out in the wild. “Rock Me Gently” by Andy Kim was a smash proto-disco hit when it dropped in 1975. The song peaked at No. 1 on the Hot 100 and did similarly well in the UK, Ireland, and Canada. This was the song that scored Andy Kim a record deal, and it remains one of his most famous tunes.

“Hot Child In The City” by Nick Gilder (1978)

To a degree, I understand why radio often ignores this Nick Gilder power pop hit from 1978. It’s a song about child prostitution with a very… interesting title. But “Hot Child In The City” is a song meant to shine a light on the most marginalized group in the world: children. It’s almost a political song of sorts, meant to make people uncomfortable with the notion that so many young people were struggling to survive in L.A. at the time. Many understood what Gilder was trying to convey at the time, and “Hot Child In The City” made it all the way to No. 1 in the US and Canada in 1978.

“Still The One” by Orleans (1976)

I almost completely forgot about this song until I came across it a few weeks ago. And I realized that this song hasn’t made it to my ears in a while via radio, either. “Still The One” by Orleans is a lovely little soft rock tune. It did fairly well on the charts, too, peaking at No. 5 on the Hot 100 chart. It’s a uniquely refreshing song, one that was written by Johanna Hall after a friend asked her why there were so few love songs about staying together, rather than breaking up.

Photo by Richard E. Aaron/Redferns