These 3 Classic Rock Songs From 1979 Are Best Played With the Volume Up

At the end of the 1970s, some of the best classic rock songs were released. Among the ballads and soft rock songs are these three classic rock songs. All out in 1979, they still sound just as good, or better, today, especially with the volume turned way up.

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“Hot Stuff” by Donna Summer

Donna Summer was enjoying a long string of hits when she released “Hot Stuff“. On her Bad Girls record, Pete Bellotte, Harold Faltermeyer, and Keith Forsey are the three writers of the song.

The sexy song says, “Looking for some hot stuff baby, this evening / I need some hot stuff baby tonight / I want some hot stuff baby this evening / Gotta have some hot stuff / Gotta have some love tonight / I need hot stuff / I want some hot stuff / I need some hot stuff.”

“Hot Stuff” was not at all autobiographical for Summer. Still, she loved performing the song in all of her live shows.

 “She knew immediately what the character of the song was because she was an actress who sang,” Summer’s husband, Bruce Sudano, tells Songfacts. “She just jumped right on that and injected it with the rock and soul that that song required, quite naturally.”

“My Sharona” by The Knack

The Knack’s most popular song, “My Sharona” is best sung at the top of your lungs. The group’s debut single, and only No. hit, “My Sharona” is written by Berton Averre and Doug Fieger. The song is on their freshman Get The Knack record.

A multi-week No.1. hit, “My Sharona” begins with, “Ooh, my little pretty one, pretty one / When you gonna give me some time, Sharona? / Ooh, you make my motor run, my motor run / Gun it coming off of the line, Sharona.”

The song was inspired by Fieger falling for a 17-year-old girl named Sharona Alperin.

“Rock With You” by Michael Jackson

A massive hit for Michael Jackson, “Rock With You” is on his fifth album, Off The Wall. Written by Rod Temperton, the song was reportedly first offered to Karen Carpenter. But it’s Jackson who made the song one of his biggest hits.

“Rock With You” says, “I wanna rock with you (all night) / Dance you into day (sunlight) / I wanna rock with you (all night) / We’re gonna rock the night away.”

The song is significant not only because it became one of Jackson’s most successful singles. But it also went to the top of multiple charts at a time when disco music was coming to the end of its popularity.

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