Where To Watch
You probably forgot these 11 albums all went to No. 1 in the 1970s
Do you have a Red Octopus or Brief Case Full of Blues in your collection?
Elton John, Fleetwood Mac and the Bee Gees dominated the album charts in the Seventies. No big surprise there. Other household names like Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and Paul McCartney also racked up and stacked up their platinum records that decade.
But there are some surprising albums that managed to play with the big boys. You certainly recognize the names of the acts, but these are far from their most remembered albums today. At the time, however, they moved units by the millions.
So, let's look back at some forgotten chart-toppers from the '70s. Do you have any in your collection?
1. Cat Stevens - Catch Bull at Four
1972
Cat Stevens is not so surprising a name to find atop the Billboard albums chart in the early 1970s, but this album in particular flies under the radar. It contains none of his most familiar songs — singles like "Wild World" and "Peace Train" came off earlier albums. The lone track to connect with radio off Catch Bull was "Sitting," which did manage to get to No. 16. Still, it was hardly the generation anthem of those earlier hits. Nevertheless, this LP topped the charts for three weeks during the Thanksgiving season.
2. The Moody Blues - Seventh Sojourn
1972
Oddly, it was an old single that boosted this album. In 1972, the Moody Blues re-released its five-year-old track "Nights in White Satin," which climbed to the top of the singles chart. The belated fame boosted the band's current album, Seventh Sojourn, which spawned the minor hit "I'm Just a Singer (in a Rock and Roll Band)." The LP knocked Cat Stevens from the top of the Billboard 200.
3. War - The World is a Ghetto
1973
Most people likely know the Latin-infused funk act for "Low Rider" and "Why Can't We Be Friends?" Before those commercial breakthroughs, War made a name for itself with "The Cisco Kid," the opening track off The World is a Ghetto. Inspired by the Western TV show, the song helped push this platter to the peak of the pop charts for two weeks in February.
4. Eric Weissberg & Steve Mandell - Dueling Banjos
1973
Yep, a bluegrass instrumental from one of the most disturbing scenes in 1970s cinemas really clicked with audiences. Perhaps you recognize the moment with Jon Voight seen on the album sleeve. The banjo jam from Deliverance sent this quasi-soundtrack to the top for three weeks in March 1973.
5. Jethro Tull - A Passion Play
1973
Flute was all the rage. Rock fans today overlook just how huge Tull was in the 1970s. Thick as a Brick and Aqualung were the two albums that you would find in most collections, but A Passion Play was statistically a bigger smash globally. No song from the lofty concept album charted higher than No. 80, and critics trashed the work. Today, when you sort Jethro Tull albums by popularity on streaming services, it hardly comes up. Yet, at the time, fans bought enough to send this to No. 1.
6. 'The Sting' Original Soundtrack
1974
Decades-old ragtime still had its fans. Marvin Hamlisch bashing out Scott Joplin piano rags managed to top the charts for five weeks in 1974 — as long as any record managed that year.
7. The Isley Brothers - The Heat Is On
1975
The Isleys had an incredible knack for changing with the times. From its earliest hit, 1959's dance party anthem "Shout," to "Twist and Shout" in 1962, to the psychedelic soul of 1964's "Who's the Lady," the soul icons steered the R&B ship for decades. The big cut off this album was the protest funk of "Fight the Power." It was their first No. 1 album… and only chart-topper until 2003. Yep, 2003. Their career is legendary.
8. Jefferson Starship - "Red Octopus"
1975
Most contemporary fans of the band probably check out after it shifted from Jefferson Airplane to Jefferson Starship. Others adore the guilty-pleasure '80s rock of Starship. The stuff between "White Rabbit" and "We Built This City" goes overlooked. Mostly thanks to "Miracles," Red Octopus popped up to the top of the charts in four separate weeks, between September and November that year.
9. Gerry Rafferty - "City to City"
1978
Rafferty is one of those rockers who quietly made two of the most recognizable songs in classic rock. He cut "Stuck in the Middle with You" with Stealers Wheel and dropped "Baker Street" as a solo act. The latter can be found on this album, which managed to best Saturday Night Fever and Grease for a week on the charts. Few records managed to do that in 1978.
10. The Blues Brothers - Brief Case Full of Blues
1979
Yes, the Blues Brothers topped the charts before their classic comedy hit movie theaters. A year earlier, to be exact. This live album of blues covers was recorded as the SNL duo opened a gig for Steve Martin. It might have been comedic, but people took the music quite seriously.
11. The Knack - Get the Knack
1979
The Knack is now largely considered a one-hit wonder, thanks to the continued ubiquity of "My Sharona." What's forgotten is that "Good Girls Don't" went to No. 11, a massive achievement for any other one-hit wonder by itself. Besides, can a band truly be a one-hit wonder when its album topped the charts for five solid weeks?
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