7 Songs You Were Definitely Dancing to if You Were a Teenager in the 1970s

The decade in which you spend your teen years always tends to have a kind of soft, glittery glow of nostalgia that makes the good outweigh the bad. Sure, there were the raging hormones and corresponding zits and homework and future college stress and bullies to deal with. But the music? “They just don’t make it like they used to,” says every person talking about the music that came out when they were 16.

Still, there’s something so spectacularly groovy and fun about the music of the 1970s that it makes people who weren’t even alive back then feel wistful over simpler, funkier times. Though I humbly admit to not being a teenager in the 1970s, through diligent research (i.e., talking to my folks and my own personal oldies taste), I’ve collected seven songs you were definitely dancing to as a teen in the 70s.

And if you were too cool to actually dance, you were definitely dancing internally.

“Dancing Queen” by ABBA

I can only imagine how intensely satisfying it must have been to actually be seventeen when “Dancing Queen” by ABBA came out. The lines, “young and sweet, only seventeen,” would probably give me the same ultra-feminine aggression that I get when I hear Shania Twain sing “let’s go girls” from “Man! I Feel Like A Woman”.

“Funk #49” by James Gang

Before Joe Walsh was laying down sweet guitar riffs in The Eagles, he was doing the same thing with James Gang. “Funk #49” is one of the band’s best-known songs, and for good reason. This is one of several dancing songs from the 1970s on this list that get bonus points for how fun it is to sing along.

“Some Kind Of Wonderful” by Grand Funk Railroad

From the opening drumbeat, Grand Funk Railroad’s “Some Kind Of Wonderful” practically begs you to start tapping your toes. With a groove sitting comfortably on the back of the beat, this is just the kind of song that makes people who don’t even think they can dance, dance. And that really is some kind of wonderful.

“Another Brick In the Wall, pt. 2” by Pink Floyd

Pink Floyd’s 1979 track from The Wall is one of those rare occasions where a song about thought control can also be infectiously rhythmic. (Maybe that’s the thought control working, though, who knows.) In either case, I can only imagine that if you were a teen in the 1970s, you would be dancing along while also screaming out the line, “Teacher! Leave those kids alone!”  

“Blame It On The Boogie” by The Jacksons

If it has “boogie” in the title, chances are the song will make you do just that, and The Jacksons’ “Blame It On The Boogie” is no exception. An older, funkier version of the Jackson 5, this track foreshadowed all of the dance-worthy offerings lead vocalist Michael Jackson would give the world in the following decade. The song was originally written for Stevie Wonder, but The Jacksons made it their own.

“Superstition” by Stevie Wonder

Speaking of Stevie Wonder, how could one not dance to Stevie Wonder’s 1972 hit single, “Superstition”? The distinct riff from the Hohner Clavinet model C is one of the nastiest, funkiest grooves of the decade, if I do say so myself. Having this be the kind of music that was coming out when you were in high school is something my millennial heart will always be jealous of.

“I Will Survive” by Gloria Gaynor

Finally, closing out the list of songs you were definitely dancing to if you were a teenager in the 1970s is “I Will Survive” by Gloria Gaynor, which is equally as fun to sing. A post-breakup power anthem that still slaps just as hard today, that emotional catharsis is just the kind of thing a teenager needs amidst the infamously horrible breakups and drama of high school.

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