Rock music in the 1970s has its own easily identifiable sound. So many great rock songs were released in the 1970s, including these three songs. All out in 1977, they are so good that they still make me smile today.
โWe Will Rock Youโ by Queen
A rock anthem if there ever was one, โWe Will Rock Youโ is the B-side of Queenโs โWe Are The Championsโ. Written by Queenโs Brian May, โWe Will Rock Youโ remains one of Queenโs most popular songs today.
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The chorus of โWe Will Rock Youโ simply says, โWe will we will rock you / Sing it out / We will we will rock you.”
Queen intended both โWe Are The Championsโ and โWe Will Rock Youโ to be played together. The two songs remain among the most popular tunes played at sporting events to this day.
โFeels Like The First Timeโ by Foreigner
โFeels Like The First Timeโ is Foreignerโs debut single. It is also their first Top 5 hit. The song, written by the bandโs Mick Jones, is on their eponymous first record.
A song about falling in love, โFeels Like The First Timeโ says, โAnd it feels like the first time / Like it never did before / Feels like the first time / Like we’ve opened up the door / Feels like the first time / Like it never will again / Never again.”
Interestingly, itโs โFeels Like The First Timeโ that led Jones to form Foreigner. Before putting the rock group together, Jones was part of a band in Britain. He also worked as a songwriter, along with playing on other peopleโs projects.
โโFeels Like The First Timeโ was the first song I wrote for the new chapter,โ Jones tells Songfacts. โAnd that led subsequently to putting a band together. There I was, finally the primary writer, and that song set the ball rolling for me.โ
โJet Airlinerโ by the Steve Miller Band
By the time the Steve Miller Band released โJet Airlinerโ, they already had several hits to their credit, including โThe Jokerโ, out in 1973, which became their first No. 1 single. The Steve Miller Band also had other Top 20 singles, like โTake The Money And Runโ, โFly Like An Eagleโ, and more. So itโs not surprising that โJet Airlinerโ, on their Book Of Dreams album, also became a successful single for them.
Written by Paul Pena, โJet Airlinerโ says, โBig ol’ jet airliner / Don’t carry me too far away / Oh, Oo big ol’ jet airliner / ‘Cause it’s here that I’ve got to stay.“
Pena originally wrote โJet Airlinerโ for New Train, a record he planned on releasing in 1973. Surprisingly, the record, Penaโs second and final project, was not released until 2000.
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