No. 1 Hits of the 70s Vol.2 Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Jackson Five

Michael Jackson was ten years old when The Jackson Five hit number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 charts in January 1970 with "I Want You Back". The song only remained at the top spot for one week, but it established the Jacksons as an up and coming force in music.

The song also spent four weeks at the top of the Soul charts as well as gaining the number two spot on the U.K. charts. It was originally intended for Gladys Knight and the Pips, and later Diana Ross, but was ultimately released as the Jackson Five's first single.

The song has sold over six million copies worldwide and is listed on "Rolling Stone" magazine's "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" at number 120.

Answer: Tony Orlando

Tony Orlando had been around since the early 1960s and had scored a couple of top 40 hits in 1961 with "Halfway to Paradise" and "Bless You", and also scored a top 40 hit in 1969 called "Make Believe" as lead singer for the studio group called Wind. However, it was the emergence of first "Candida" and then this number one song that finally propelled Orlando to the top of the charts.

The song spent three weeks at the top of the charts in the winter of 1971 and hit number one in the U.K. as well. Billed as Dawn, the Orlando-led trio went on to have a number of other hits throughout the early 1970s and even ended up with a weekly television variety show.

Answer: American Pie

"American Pie" was a number one song on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 charts for four weeks in the winter of 1972, a mere 13 years after the tragic deaths of Holly, Valens and The Big Bopper ( J.P. Richardson). The song itself was a major breakthrough for McLean, a floundering folk singer at the time.

A couple of notes on the song: at 8:36, it is generally recognized as one of the longest number ones song in Billboard history. Also of note is that in 2001 a poll was taken by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) and the National Endowment of the Arts and this song was voted the number five greatest song of the 20th century.

Answer: Superstition

"Superstition" was Stevie Wonder's first number one tune on the Billboard U.S. Hot 100 in nine years. Not since his initial release of "Fingertips Pt. 2" had he hit the top spot, but he made it this time when "Superstition" enjoyed a one week stay there.

Interestingly, Wonder had actually written the song for Jeff Beck, but Wonder's manager insisted he record it. Good choice. The song is listed by "Rolling Stone" magazine at number 74 on their "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" compilation.

Answer: The Joker

"The Joker" was a song from The Steve Miller Band originally recorded for the 1973 album of the same name. It reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 charts in January 1974 for a one week stay. The song is sometime erroneously called "Space Cowboy", because of the lyrics in the first line of the song.

The interesting note about this song is that it was used for a Levi's Jeans advertisement and was subsequently re-released in 1990. The song then proceeded to hit number one in the U.K. as well as a number of other countries worldwide, making this one of the longest gaps between a number one U.S. song and the same song being number one in the U.K.

Answer: Mandy

Barry Pincus (a.k.a. Barry Manilow) had been in the music business since the early 1960s and had written some of the most popular television ad jingles in the early 1970s (see McDonald's, Band-Aid, Dr. Pepper, Kentucky Fried Chicken). He also worked with Bette Midler for a number of years, and finally in 1974 recorded his first album astutely called "Barry Manilow".

The song "Mandy" was a cut from that album and it went to the number one position on the Billboard Hot 100 during the winter of 1975.

It established Manilow as a major force in pop music. Manilow would dominate the charts over the next several years with many Billboard Top 10 recordings and 18 Billboard Top 40 hits over the next six years.

Answer: Convoy

"Convoy" was a number one Billboard charting hit for C.W. McCall (Bill Fries) in early 1976. It uses many of the popular slang terms that CB'ers generally use to chart a convoy of tractor trailers moving cross country in the U.S. The late 1970s saw a marked increase in the use of CB radios by average citizens in their automobiles.

Much of this was credited to the popularity of this song, as well as it being the genesis for the motion picture also titled "Convoy", which was released in 1978 and starred Kris Kristofferson, Ernest Borgnine and Ali McGraw.

Answer: You Make Me Feel Like Dancing

Leo had had his first major success in the U.S in 1974 with "Long Tall Glasses", although he had some prior success reaching the U.K. top 10 twice before. His first number one in the U.S. was "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing" in the winter of 1977. It spent one week at the top of the charts as well as hitting number two in the U.K. It's off an album called "Endless Flight".

Answer: Stayin' Alive

"Stayin' Alive" is the right choice. It is the first cut on the "Saturday Night Fever" soundtrack and is played over the opening credits in the film as we see Tony Manero walking down the street on his way to work in his Brooklyn neighborhood. It's one of a number of tunes by The Bee Gees, who were the major contributors to the soundtrack.

It spent four weeks at the top of the U.S. Billboard charts in the winter of 1978. The song won a Grammy Award, and was also listed on "Rolling Stone" magazine's "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" at number 189 as well as number 46 on Billboard's "All Time Top 100" compilation.

Answer: Le Freak

"Le Freak" was the brainchild of Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards. Rodgers was a musician and producer. He, along with Edwards, formed the band Chic in 1976. They had hits such as "Dance, Dance, Dance" and "Everybody Dance" in 1977 before "Le Freak" hit the charts in late 1978.

The song first got to number one in December of 1978 for a week, before being displaced by the Barbra Streisand/Neil Diamond duet of "You Don't Bring Me Flowers Anymore". One week later "Le Freak" was back at the top of the charts again and stayed there for two weeks before being replaced by The Bee Gees "Too Much Heaven" as 1979's first number one song. But...after two weeks, guess which song was back on top? Incredibly "Le Freak" got back to the top of the charts for a third time and remained there for three weeks this time, for a total of six non- consecutive weeks. Got all of that?