Throwing back to the week of November 23, 1974, we find country singer-songwriter Billy Swan atop the Billboard Hot 100 with his only hit single, ‘I Can Help.’
This was Swan’s first-ever single, which had me wondering how many artist’s had reached #1 with their debut. Turns out it’s quite a lot — more than 200. If you’re interested in learning the rest, somebody was diligent enough to create a Spotify playlist compiling them all.
Throwing back to the week of November 9, 1974, we find Bachman-Turner Overdrive atop the Billboard Hot 100 with their only #1 hit (and only one to reach the top ten), ‘You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet.’
This is a case of a song stumbling its way to success without really trying. Songwriter and frontman Randy Bachman says he wrote the song as a joke for his brother, who had a stutter, and the band recorded it with the intention that it would only ever be heard by him. (Incidentally, I’m not sure that’s a very funny joke, but I guess brothers find weird things amusing.)
Throwing back to the week of October 26, 1974, we find Dionne Warwick atop the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘Then Came You,’ covered here a couple of weeks ago.
At #2 was Stevie Wonder’s political screed ‘You Haven’t Done Nothin’.’ which would reach the top spot the following week before dropping out of the top ten. Wonder was backed up on this track by the Jackson 5, whom he calls out by name after the second and third choruses.
Throwing back to the week of Oct. 12, 1974, we find Billy Preston atop the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘Nothing from Nothing,’ one of his three #1 hits, and one I’ve already featured on the blog.
At #2 that week was a collaboration between Dionne Warwick and The Spinners — ‘Then Came You’ — that eventually gave both artists their first chart-topping hit.
Throwing back to the week of September 21, 1974, we find Barry White atop the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘Can’t Get Enough of Your Love, Babe,’ a soul classic that I wrote about when covering the albums of 1974.
In the #2 spot was ‘Rock Me Gently’ by Canadian singer-songwriter Andy Kim. The song eventually hit #1 and was Kim’s only chart-topper in the U.S., though his ‘Baby, I Love You’ had reached #9 five years earlier.
Meet Me In Montauk 