Thomas debuted on last year’s list with the lovely “Hooked On A Feeling” and reappears here with the mellow “I Just Can’t Help Believing” (#75), as well as “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head” (#4) like “Close To You”, the latter was written by the songwriting team of Burt Bacharach and Hal Davis and is also a terrific theme for the terrific film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Even Neil Diamond takes an ascent into soft-rock, with the poppy “Cracklin’ Rosie” (#17). With its soulful, delicate delivery and elegant production of strings atop crooning, romantic lyrics, Bread’s “Make It With You” (#13) is another prime example of the genre. Of course, this group isn’t the only visible presence of soft rock on this year’s list. This is all tied together with Karen Carpenter’s truly angelic voice, bringing an ethereal quality to their songs as a whole. 1970 billboard top 100 series#Led by a series of combination of acoustic instruments (particularly piano, percussion, and horns), with an emphasis on melody, vocal harmony, and themes of romantic love, The Carpenters introduced everything wholesome and wonderful about this fresh kind of pop-rock. The adult contemporary sound – defined by its techniques of rock music merged with pop and folk influenced to create a lighter, lush quality of production – is almost completely realized with these two singles alone. This couldn’t have been encapsulated any better than with The Carpenters’ duel singles on this list, “We’ve Only Just Begun” (#65) and “(They Long To Be) Close To You” (#2). Before listening to this list, I’ve already had a rough sketch of the kinds of music that remained the most commonplace through this decade. One of the more prominent changes in the trend of popular music appears in the form of a softer, more toned-down sound that appeared in both rock and pop sectors. Although the age of the hippie may be dead and gone, its willpower lives on through the music it creates. Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young’s cover of Joni Mitchell’s “Woodstock” (#94) captured the cultural significance of this event, as did Melanie’s “Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)” (#23) what these both also have in common, however, is their understanding that the collective gathering of Woodstock also signified a sort of spiritual awakening, one that surpasses the supposed success of failures of any external fight for social justice. Without a doubt, the Woodstock festival was one of the most important bits of musical history, and even as early as 1970 there were songs already composed about it. Yet these good vibes aren’t completely fruitless. The deaths of young musical icons Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix this year also seem symbolic of this era’s failures. As the cynicism in various singles from ’69 indicate, the counterculture movement’s efforts toward a more accepting, peace-and-love demonstrating existence have come to seem futile, in relation to the harsh realities that overpower these dreams. For one thing, the general mood overall that introduces this decade is one of exhaustion, particularly in relation to the various social movements and pushes for change that defined the latter half of the 60s. Yet as the year-end Hot 100 of 1970 suggests, such changes may come in a very different form than had been seen in the past. – Time of the Season: Billboard’s Hot 100 of 1969Īs the start of a new decade arises, the promise for potential new forms of creativity in the music field (the likes of which had been strong in the previous two decades) also comes into fruition. – Dance to the Music: Billboard’s Hot 100 of 1968 – Land of 1000 Dances: Billboard’s Hot 100 of 1966 – Like A Rolling Stone: Billboard’s Hot 100 of 1965 For reference, here are the last five entries I’ve covered in my Billboard Hot 100 challenge:
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