How many of these ’70s hit songs can you recognize from just 5 words?
Five words. That’s the whole clue.
Nine ’70s hits are coming at you, each described in five words, each with four choices. No titles. No humming. No scrolling down to peek at the answer, either.
Pick one, then read the story behind it. Keep a tally. There’s a verdict at the end.
Question 1
Clue: Music loud and women warm
Choices: A) Night Fever B) Stayin’ Alive C) Jive Talkin’ D) You Should Be Dancing
Answer
B, “Stayin’ Alive” by the Bee Gees.
103 beats per minute. That’s the tempo, and it’s why the song is now used to teach CPR. The three Gibb brothers wrote it over a few days at a studio near Paris, and it hit No. 1 on February 4, 1978, where it stayed for four weeks.
Question 2
Clue: Anybody could be that guy
Choices:
- A) Mamma Mia
- B) Take a Chance on Me
- C) Fernando
- D) Dancing Queen
Answer
D, “Dancing Queen” by ABBA.
Stockholm, June 18, 1976. The night before the king’s wedding, ABBA took the stage at a royal wedding gala and played a song nobody had heard. Their manager, Stig Anderson, had come up with the title. In April 1977, it became their first and only U.S. No. 1.
Question 3
Clue: Up ahead in the distance
Choices: A) Hotel California B) Take It Easy C) Desperado D) Lyin’ Eyes
Answer
A, “Hotel California” by the Eagles
The solo began as a guide track on Don Felder’s demo. Don Henley liked it so much that he wanted it played note-for-note on the record. No. 1 on May 7, 1977. Record of the Year the next February.
Question 4
Clue: And I find you here
Choices: A) Don’t Leave Me This Way B) Last Dance C) I Will Survive D) Never Can Say Goodbye
Answer
C, “I Will Survive” by Gloria Gaynor.
Nobody planned this one as a hit. The record label put a cover of “Substitute” on the A-side and tucked this on the back. Club DJs flipped the record over, and by March 1979, the B-side was No. 1.
Gaynor had been recovering from a fall, and she sang the vocal in a back brace. It won the only Grammy ever given for Best Disco Recording.
Question 5
Clue: Sends shivers down my spine
Choices: A) Stairway to Heaven B) Bohemian Rhapsody C) Don’t Stop Me Now D) Somebody to Love
Answer
B, “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen.
Radio told them no one would play a song that long. So a friendly DJ named Kenny Everett played it 14 times over a single weekend, and listeners took it from there. Released October 31, 1975, it spent nine weeks at No. 1 in the U.K., until ABBA’s “Mamma Mia” knocked it off, the Scotsman noted.
Question 6
Clue: I was out of luck
Choices: A) Vincent B) Piano Man C) Crocodile Rock D) American Pie
Answer
D, “American Pie” by Don McLean.
8 minutes and 36 seconds. No song that long had ever reached No. 1, and it’s still the longest song to do it. It stayed on top for four weeks in early 1972. McLean’s handwritten manuscript later sold at Christie’s in 2015 for $1.2 million.
Question 7
Clue: Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah River
Choices: A) Take Me Home, Country Roads B) Rocky Mountain High C) Annie’s Song D) Sunshine on My Shoulders
Answer
A, “Take Me Home, Country Roads” by John Denver.
Here’s the irony. None of the writers had been to West Virginia. John Denver hadn’t, and neither had Bill Danoff or Taffy Nivert. The idea came on Clopper Road, in Maryland, on the drive to a family reunion.
It peaked at No. 2. West Virginia named it one of its four official state songs in 2014.
Question 8
Clue: I’d give you my world
Choices: A) Dreams B) Rhiannon C) Go Your Own Way D) Don’t Stop
Answer
C, “Go Your Own Way” by Fleetwood Mac.
Lindsey Buckingham wrote it about leaving Stevie Nicks, or being left by her. She later said she resented one line and asked him to cut it. He kept it. It reached No. 10 on March 6, 1977, the band’s first Top 10 hit, Songfacts notes.
Question 9
Clue: Rid me of the problems
Choices: A) Higher Ground B) Superstition C) Sir Duke D) Signed, Sealed, Delivered
Answer
B, “Superstition” by Stevie Wonder.
It was a gift that got taken back. Wonder came up with the riff during sessions with guitarist Jeff Beck, and planned to give him the song. Then Motown boss Berry Gordy heard it and insisted Wonder’s version come out first.
It hit No. 1 on January 27, 1973. Wonder played the clavinet, the drums, and the Moog bass himself.
How did you do?
8 or 9: You were there. Possibly in platform shoes.
5 to 7: You know the hits, and a few slipped past you.
0 to 4: Dig out an old record. Start with Question 5.
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