Back into time to a great year for music, 1976, and this week's local top 10 singles. Blastoff!

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  • 10

    "The Best Disco In Town" by The Ritchie Family

    (New on survey) Two-hit wonders (their other hit was '75's "Brazil"), the Ritchie Family was the brainchild of Jacques Morali, who also put together the Village People. Their name came from producer Richie Rome. One of the first "medley" hits, a craze that resurfaced in 1981.

  • 9

    "I'd Really Love To See You Tonight" by England Dan & John Ford Coley

    (#9 last week) Barry Manilow covered this on his recent album "Summer Of 78". Um...Barry...two years off.

  • 8

    "Let 'Em In" by Wings

    (#5 last week) You haven't lived until you've seen Bert Parks mangle this on the 1976 Miss America telecast. It's on my Facebook page if you're lazy.  :-)

  • 7

    "Play That Funky Music" by Wild Cherry

    (#7 last week) Like many hits, this started as a B side. The original A was a cover of the commodores "I Feel Sanctified". "..Funky Music" was inspired, said writer Rob Parissi, by the Ohio Players "Fire".

  • 6

    "You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine" by Lou Rawls

    (#2 last week) Rawls had been Sam Cooke's backup singer (that's Lou you can hear on "Bring It On Home To Me"), then went solo in the mid 60s, almost immediately winning Grammys. This was his biggest hit by far.

  • 5

    "Lowdown" by Boz Scaggs

    (#8 last week) The album peaked ahead of the single: it' would  peak at #1. Scaggs gained semi-fame as part of the Steve Miller Band, then went solo.

  • 4

    "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" by Elton John & Kiki Dee

    (#1 last week) I remember this having its American premiere on "American Bandstand". Last year, I couldn't find this, but better luck this time. You don't hear it along with Elton's other 70s hits on classic ROCK radio, but here on "classic hits", its endured very nicely.

  • 3

    "(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty" by KC & The Sunshine Band

    (#6 last week) Who knew? "(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty" holds the record for being the only #1 song title with a word repeated more than three times in it. The chorus consists of the title expression with the word "shake" appearing eight times. It's always interesting to me when my 11 year old son likes a song not currently on the charts, & he was shaking his booty all over the living room to this one!

  • 2

    "A Fifth Of Beethoven" by Walter Murphy & The Big Apple Band

    (#4 last week) Talk about a one-hit wonder! And one of the greatest disappearing acts of all time. Murphy was both. He had briefly worked with Doc on the "Tonight Show" band before they moved to Burbank. By the way, there was no "Big Apple Band". Even though Murphy played nearly every instrument on the instrumental, his record company cautioned that the record would stand a better chance if credited to a group rather than an individual. To Murphy's annoyance, they came up with the name Walter Murphy & The Big Apple Band, only to discover two days after its release that there was already a Big Apple Band. The name on the label was changed to The Walter Murphy Band and then simply to Walter Murphy.

  • 1

    "You Should Be Dancing" by The Bee Gees

    (#3 last week; 1st week at #1) The Gibb brothers second #1 hit in their comeback period. Everyone remembers this from "Saturday Night Fever" (both the movie & the soundtrack album), but it was first a hit over a year ahead of the movie.

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