What song held the number one spot for the longest in 1970?
Does the turn of the decade mean anything in the modern world? Is 2020 waving goodbye to the 2010s, the same as 1970, waving goodbye to the 1960s?
In retrospect, the decades seem to perfectly differentiate themselves from one another, giving each their own sense of sonic identity. But maybe that’s largely down to the bands who occupy each decade.
In the 1960s, The Beatles were truly dominant, sweeping up every chart number one spot possible while innovating music at the same time. Their exit perfectly gave way for Led Zeppelin in the 1970s, who could have well been “the band” of the decade, hadn’t it been for the sheer fact that every single musician of that era was truly phenomenal.
The 1980s felt like a more forward thinking departure, with the introduction of electronic textures while the 1990s and 2000s each had their own indie music identities. Then that brings us on to the present day where it feels like the only identifiable trait we actively seek is nostalgia, or some form of insight into those eras past.
Largely, it’s a good thing. The very premise of an unprofiled decade should foster diversity, but I can’t help but feel as though I’m lost as a fan, without no real discernible identity to clutch on to when I look to mythologise my youth. Because when I come back to the original question, about one decade being ushered out by the next, via a changing of the guard, the song that held the top spot for the longest in 2020 doesn’t do that. The Weeknd’s ‘Blinding Lights’ was just an overspill of manufactured pop that dominated the 2010s.
But am I thinking too much? Sure, previous decades have more of a tangible feel to them, but in the moment, the transition wouldn’t have been as stark as history tries to paint it out. Because when the free-thinking 1960s gave way to the innovative 1970s, what radical new sound would replace The Beatles?
So what song held the number one spot for the longest in 1970?
Well in complete proof that I am overthinking it, the transition was certainly indistinct. In the US, the masterful songwriting of The Beatles was replaced by yet another songwriting force, playing with similar tender melodies and stunning lyrical takes. It was Simon and Garfunkel, with their heartfelt hit ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’, which topped the Billboard Hot 100 for six consecutive weeks and the UK singles chart for four weeks.
In fact, the lines of transition were so blurred, that many considered ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ and The Beatles hit ‘Let It Be’ to be carbon copies of one another. That was interesting to me that we both wrote these songs that were very similar,” Simon confessed, when asked about the topic. “The first time I heard ‘Let It Be’, I couldn’t believe that [Paul McCartney] did that. They are very similar songs, certainly in instrumentation, sort of in their general musical feel, and lyrically. They’re sort of both hopeful songs and resting peaceful songs.”
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