4 Soft Rock Songs That Soared up the Charts in 1978

Who knows why some genres surged in popularity when others waned at particular times in music history? That’s a question for sociologists. We can say for sure that the soft-rock genre enjoyed a big boom in the late 70s.

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We’d consider 1978 to be the epicenter of the genre’s rise to prominence. These four massive hit songs made sure that was the case.

“Kiss You All Over” by Exile

Exile had been in existence for about 15 years and had tried many different styles of music in that time while trying to find their commercial footing. The turning point came when they connected with Mike Chapman as producer and showed a willingness to turn themselves over to his whims. Chapman teamed with his longtime writing partner Nicky Chinn (they were often labeled “Chinnichap”) to write “Kiss You All Over”. JP Pennington had been with Exile since the beginning but had rarely been utilized as lead singer. He took the reins on this No. 1 hit that combined a hint of disco with the boudoir style most associated with Barry White.

“Baby Come Back” by Player

You didn’t see too many British-American hybrid bands on the scene in the 70s. Player was one of those exceptions, formed by Brit Peter Beckett and American J.C. Crowley. They were joined by two other members on the band’s debut album, and they didn’t take too long to charm the pop charts. “Baby Come Back”, their debut single, soared to No. 1. The song was written by Beckett and Crowley, with Beckett taking the soulful lead vocals. These guys knew how to deploy their vocal harmonies for maximum impact. “Baby Come Back” lives up to the urgency promised by its title. Player scored one more Top 10 hit but faded after that.

“I Go Crazy” by Paul Davis

With his Mississippi roots and his long beard, Paul Davis looked the part of a Southern rocker. And his first Top 40 hit, “Ride ‘Em Cowboy”, certainly took him down that lane. But in the middle of 1977, Davis dropped “I Go Crazy”, which sounded more like blue-eyed soul. The song depicts the difficult scenario of someone who’s still in love with an ex but has to watch her as she goes about her life with someone new. The hints of synthesizer in the margins helped to modernize the sound for radio. But it succeeds mostly because it’s a well-constructed song sung with palpable emotion by Davis, who ended up with eight Top 40 hits in his career.

“Just The Way You Are” by Billy Joel

Billy Joel wasn’t particularly fond of “Just The Way You Are”. For a guy who fancied himself a rocker, it didn’t really move the excitement meter. Luckily, his producer Phil Ramone not only convinced him to put it on his album The Stranger, but he also pushed Joel to release it as a single. Considering it was his first ever Top 10 hit and won a pair of the big four Grammys in 1979, it’s safe to say that Ramone’s instincts were right. It certainly opened that balladic lane to Joel, and he’d travel down it often in years to come. Phil Woods, who had done outstanding session work for Paul Simon and Steely Dan, provided the slinky sax part that ties together the music.

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