Hmmm. At this point I can’t decide if the large bias toward the rockier tracks is is more to do with my present-day tastes than 17-year-old me.
But my criteria when ordering the top 13 involves putting myself back in my sixth form shoes and visualising which records I actually bought (or taped from the top 20 run-down on Sunday – come on, we all did it!) and listened to while doing my homework.
Or the ones I danced around the kitchen to while making the evening meal for the family. And of course the ones I danced to in discos.
1) Manfred Mann’s Earth Band – Blinded By The Light – 09-1976
2) John Miles – Music – 04-1976
3) Chicago – If You Leave Me Now – 10-1976
4) Abba – Dancing Queen – 09-1976
5) Thin Lizzy – The Boys Are Back In Town – 07-1976
6) Dolly Parton – Jolene – 06-1976
7) Fleetwood Mac – Rhiannon – 02-1976
8) The Four Seasons – December ’63 (Oh What A Night) – 02-1976
9) Elton John & Kiki Dee – Don’t Go Breaking My Heart – 07-1976
10) Gladys Knight & The Pips – Midnight Train To Georgia – 06-1976
11) Queen – Somebody To Love – 11-1976
12) The Bee Gees – You Should Be Dancing – 08-1976
13) 10cc – I’m Mandy Fly Me – 04-1976
And the ones I couldn’t bear to leave out:
The Shangri-Las – Leader Of The Pack – 07-1976
Leo Sayer – You Make Me Feel Like Dancing – 11-1976
Steve Harley – Here Comes The Sun – 08-1976
The Isley Brothers – Harvest For The World – 08-1976
The Climax Blues Band – Couldn’t Get It Right – 11-1976
Bonnie Tyler – Lost In France – 11-1976
Neil Diamond – Beautiful Noise – 11-1976
Candi Staton – Young Hearts Run Free – 06-1976
Sailor – Glass Of Champagne – 01-1976
The Real Thing – You To Me Are Everything – 06-1976
Robin Sarstedt – My Resistance Is Low – 05-1976
Wild Cherry – Play That Funky Music – 11-1976
David Dundas – Jeans On – 08-1976
Tina Charles – I Love To Love (But My Baby Loves To Dance) – 02-1976
Andrea True Connection – More, More, More – 05-1976
Yvonne Fair – It Should Have Been Me – 02-1976
The Kursaal Flyers – Little Does She Know – 12-1976
Manuel & His Music Of The Mountains – Rodrigo’s Guitar Concerto De Aranjuez – 02-1976
Paul Nicholas – Dancing With The Captain – 11-1976
Sherbet – Howzat – 10-1976
JRo Author 