Anyone who was around in the 1970’s remembers the song “Undercover Angel” by Alan O’Day, which reached # 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for one week on July 9, 1977. The song was both written and performed by O’Day, who achieved a major feat when the song hit number one that few singer-songwriters have accomplished. He wrote a number one hit that someone else took to the top of the charts, as well as wrote and sang his own number one hit. O’Day wrote “Angie Baby” by Helen Reddy, which was the final number one hit of 1974, topping the Billboard Hot 100 for one week on December 28, 1974.

“Undercover Angel” entered the Top 40 on May 5, 1977 and stayed there for 17 weeks, while “Angie Baby” entered the Top 40 section of the Billboard Hot 100 on November 2, 1974 and stayed there for 13 weeks.

O’Day wrote songs for many major artists. He wrote “The Drum”, a hit for Bobby Sherman in 1971, as well as co-wrote “Rock and Roll Heaven”, a # 3 hit for The Righteous Brothers in 1974.

Actually, Alan O’Day first offered “Angie Baby” to Cher, immediately after her scoring a Top 40 hit with his song “Train of Thought”. However, Cher turned the song down. It was not the first time that Cher turned down a song that would go on to become a number one hit. She had passed on the song “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia”, which the previous year in 1973 had been a chart-topper for Vicki Lawrence.

“Undercover Angel” was O’Day’s only entry in the Top 40 as an artist. The song features Jeff Porcaro on drums, one year before he co-founded the band Toto. It was one of three number one hits on Jeff Porcaro played drums in the pre-Toto days as a much sought-after session drummer. The first was “Theme from S.W.A.T.” by Rhythm Heritage, which hit number one for one week on February 28, 1976; Porcaro was all of 21 years old at the time. The second was “Welcome Back” by John Sebastian, that topped the charts for one week on May 8, 1976. The third was “Undercover Angel”. Of course, Jeff Porcaro would go onto play drums on countless other number one hits in the 1980’s, not only for his band Toto, but also for artists like Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie, Elton John, Christopher Cross, and many more. He was the most accomplished American studio drummer.

This is O’Day’s 2013 obituary in the Los Angeles Times.

“Undercover Angel” is one of the classic 1970’s songs that is not a song that receives much airplay on oldies stations, but is fondly remembered by people from the 70’s generation.

Remember the awesome disco anthem “Native New Yorker” by Odyssey? It seemed like this song permeated the airwaves in late 1977/early 1978. At that exact time, “Native New Yorker” was used in the movie Eyes of Laura Mars, a thriller starring Faye Dunaway and the then unknown Tommy Lee Jones.

 
While the song only reached number 21 on the Billboard Hot 100, it reached # 3 on the U.S. Disco chart and # 6 on the Soul chart. With the massive airplay it received at the time, one would think that it would have scored higher than # 21 in the Top 40. Then again, any song to reach # 3 on the U.S. Disco chart in January 1978 with the prominence of the movie Saturday Night Fever certainly had staying power.
What is significant about “Native New Yorker” is that its lyrics are embedded in the lexicon of people who live in the New York City Metro area and who were aware of the song when it was on the radio. For instance, the phrase “No one opens the door for a native New Yorker” is still used to some extent, as well as the phrase “Up in Harlem, down on Broadway”.
The lead singer of Odyssey was Lillian Lopez, and the back-up was her sister Louise. Tony Reynolds looks like a happy bass player in the video. None of these three people were native New Yorkers themselves, as the Lopez sisters were born in the Virgin Islands and Reynolds was actually born in the Philippines.

There were tributes to Liilian Lopez at the time of her 2012 death, such as this obituary in The Independent.

“Native New Yorker” was written by the successful songwriting duo of Sandy Linzer and Denny Randell. The duo wrote songs for both The Four Seasons and Frankie Valli solo. Some of these songs are “Working My Way Back to You”, “Let’s Hang On!”, “Swearin’ to God”, “Dawn (Go Away), and Opus 17 (Don’t You Worry ‘bout Me). The two wrote other known songs both as a team and separately. For instance, Linzer wrote the song “Fresh” by Kool & The Gang.
Actually, “Native New Yorker” was written for Frankie Valli, who recorded the song for an album in early 1977 but did not release it as a single. Odyssey recorded it six months later.
Think back to December 1977 and early 1978. It was an easier time. “Native New Yorker” was definitely part of the distinctive soundtrack.

In terms of a Jefferson Airplane off-shoot, I loved Jefferson Starship. Paul Kantner did a great job with putting together that band, with him as the anchor from Jefferson Airplane, while three other Jefferson Airplane members (Grace Slick, Jack Cassady, Joey Covington) drifted in and out, not to mention other notable people in the band. Grace Slick was with them for most of the time.

Jefferson Starship was my generation. I remember in September 1976, the Jefferson Starship song “With Your Love”, which was on the charts at the time, came on the radio and I thought it was the greatest song. That memory sticks with me at that represented a totally cool time in my life, and that Jefferson Starship song is a major part of it. I also loved their songs    “Miracles”, “Count on Me”, “Jane”, and “Runaway”.

Of course, we all like to forget the next incarnation of the group, which was simply known as “Starship”. Paul Kantner fought some members of Jefferson Starship and some new people from putting out wimpy material under the moniker “Jefferson Starship”. Grace Slick and the others finally were able to only use the name “Starship”. Ironically, Grace Slick by far found her most commercial success in her career with Starship, as three of their songs hit number one, and other songs scored high in the top ten.

Starship’s most famous (infamous) song is “We Built This City”, which more than one major music magazine on both sides of the pond have declared as being the “worst # 1 song in history”. The song ironically was penned by Bernie Taupin, Elton John’s songwriting partner during his glory years and sometimes after. “We Built This City” hit number one for the last weeks of November 1985. The song prevented Glenn Frey’s “You Belong to the City” from hitting number one, which would have been a coup because no solo Eagle has ever had a number one hit. Glenn Frey actually hit # 2 on the charts twice in 1985 – first with “The Heat Is On” and then with “You Belong to the City”, which looked like it would make the jump to # 1 from # 2 until “We Built This City” shot up quickly. The Eagles had five number one hits between 1974 and 1979 (“Best of My Love”, “One of These Nights”, “New Kid in Town”, “Hotel California” and “Heartache Tonight”). Since their 1980 break-up, a member of the band never has had a solo # 1 hit, though Joe Walsh (who joined the Eagles late in the game) played lead guitar on the 1978 Andy Gibb # 1 hit “(Love Is) Thicker Than Water”.

Starship also hit number one in March 1986 with the soft rock classic “Sara”. Their song “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now”, penned by serial hit songwriter Diane Warren, hit # 1 in April 1987.
I guess it does not reflect well of the Billboard Hot 100 that neither Jefferson Airplane nor Jefferson Starship ever had a number hit while Starship had three number one hits. Go figure!
It is most ironic that famed lyricist Bernie Taupin, co-writer of countless classic hits with Elton John, wrote such a terrible song like “We Built This City”. Taupin penned another song that would hit number one a few months later, “These Dreams” by Heart, which topped the charts in March 1986.

While his famed and prolific writing partnership with Elton John is something of legend, their most successful song, in terms of both sales and chart toppings, is “Candle in the Wind 1997”, which was a re-working of the famous 1973 Elton John song “Candle in the Wind” off of the double album GOODBYE YELLOW BRICK ROAD. When Elton made the decision to sing a version of the song at Princess Diana’s funeral, he called Bernie and asked him to write new lyrics. Forty-five minutes later, Bernie faxed Elton the new lyrics. (can’t you tell?). The studio version of the single was produced by George Martin; oddly enough, it was more successful than any single Martin did in the eight years of producing The Beatles.

The single “Candle in the Wind: 1997” was a charity single in that all the proceeds went to the Diana, Princess of Wales, Memorial Fund. It broke the 13 year record of the 1984 charity single “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” by Band Aid, which was done for African famine relief, as the top selling single in UK history. It was the most successful single in UK history in terms of sales and chart positions. In the U.S., it topped the charts for an unprecedented 14 weeks on the way to being the only diamond-certified single ever. “Candle in the Wind: 1997” topped the charts in countless nations throughout the world en route to becoming the second-biggest selling single of all-time (for some reason “White Christmas” by Bing Crosby is the top selling single of all-time).

Until “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” and “Candle in the Wind 1997”, the top-selling single in the history of the UK was “Mull of Kintyre” by Wings, a 1977 smash hit that only hit # 37 on the U.S. charts and then slipped off the Top 40 after a week. It is largely unknown in the U.S. However, this Wings song still retains the distinction of being the top-selling non-charity single of all time in the UK. It eclipsed The Beatles’ “She Loves You” in 1977, which held the title of the top UK seller of all-time for 14 years. McCartney never plays this song in concerts in the U.S. because no one here knows it, but he does play it in all his concerts in Canada. He could not play it one night in Boston, and then play it the next night in Toronto or Montreal. “Mull of Kintyre” was penned by McCartney and Wings guitarist Denny Laine, who was the only constant member of Wings from its inception in 1971 until disbanding in 1981. Laine was the original lead vocalist for The Moody Blues before jumping ship early, providing lead vocals on their very early hit “Go Now”, which he would also perform at Wings concerts.

For the record, Grace Slick was forced out of Jefferson Starship in 1978 when she came on stage drunk at a big concert in West Germany and taunted the audience with “Hey, who won the war?” The band feared for their safety getting out of West Germany. She was able to re-join about two years later.

How can 1970’s television affect the political climate? Well, it is a generational thing. When Bill Clinton won the presidency in 1992, it marked the first time in forty years that someone who was not a World War II veteran was elected to the White House. Eisenhower (1952 & 1956), John Kennedy (1960), Lyndon Johnson (1964), Richard Nixon (1968 & 1972), Jimmy Carter (1976), Ronald Reagan (1980 & 1984), George H. W. Bush (1988). The election of Bill Clinton was the beginning of a new era in that a non-WWII veteran was elected.
Similarly, the election of Barack Obama in 2008 ushered the first president of the post-Vietnam generation. Obama could have watched The Brady Bunch and Room 222 as it was his generation. Other candidates of both parties are of this post-Vietnam generation in addition to Obama such as Rick Santorum and Sarah Palin.
A good indicator of a candidate from that era’s political views could be seen in what they watched on tv on Thursday evenings. The Waltons aired from September 1972 to May 1981 in the slot of Thursday at 8:00 PM, though the show lost countless viewers when Richard “John Boy” Thomas left after the 1976-1977 season. For the five seasons that Richard Thomas starred in the show (1972 – 1977), The Waltons achieved top ratings. For the show’s first three seasons, it had no competition in their time slot. However, in September 1975 ABC aired Welcome Back, Kotter in the 8:00 PM Thursday time slot opposite The Waltons.
Back in 1975 there were no VCR’s or DVR’s so shows could not be taped. You either had to watch The Waltons or Welcome Back, Kotter. There was no way to see both. I would speculate that Barack Obama watched Welcome Back, Kotter while Sarah Palin and Rick Santorum watched The Waltons.
Maybe the next ideological test discussed by the political pundits on Fox News and MSNBC will be whether candidates from this post-Vietnam generation watched The Waltons or Welcome Back, Kotter!
The theme song “Welcome Back, Kotter” by John Sebastian hit number one on the Billboard charts in 1976, making it the only one of two tv theme songs in the 1970’s to top the charts, with the only being “The Theme From S.W.A.T.” by Rhythm Heritage. The show was supposed to be called just”Kotter”, but when John Sebastian was hired to write the theme song and called it “Welcome Back”, it was decided to change the name of the show to Welcome Back, Kotter.
On 24 April 1976, John Sebastian performed “Welcome Back” on Saturday Night Live and totally flubbed the song, forgetting a lot of the lyrics. This performance is not on YouTube, unfortunately. But below is the official video for “Welcome Back”.
I wonder if the 2016 debates in Iowa and New Hampshire will ask candidates of both parties if they watched The Waltons or Welcome Back, Kotter?

With the tragic death last week of Robin Williams, there was ample talk of his appearing on an episode of Happy Days which lead to giving the Mork character his own show of Mork & Mindy. Mork & Mindy was unique in that it was a spin-off of a spin-off.
Happy Days was actually a spin-off of an episode of Love American Style in 1972 entited “Love and the Happy Days” which featured the Cunningham family. First airing in January 1972, Happy Days would spin-off the successful shows Laverne & Shirely and Mork & Mindy, in addition to the unsuccessful spin-offs Out of the Blue, Joannie Loves Chachi, and Blansky’s Beautys.
Prior to Mork & Mindy and Laverne & Shirely becoming spin-offs of spin-offs, this feat was accomplished a few times before. The first time was when The Andy Griffith Show spawned Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. and later Maybery R.F.D. Believe or not, The Andy Griffith Show, which aired from 1960 to 1968, was a spin-off of The Danny Thomas Show. At the end of the 1959-1960 season, there was an episode entitled “Danny Meets Andy Griffith” in which Danny Thomas is pulled over for a traffic violation, thus introducing viewers to both Mayberry and Sheriff Andy Taylor.
Second, Adam 12, which ran from 1968 to 1975, was a spin-off of Dragnet, as Officers Pete Malloy and Jim Reed were introduced in an episode of Dragnet specifically to fuel the spin-off. Adam 12 had its own spin-off, Emergency, which aired from 1972-1977. All three of these shows were created and produced by Jack Webb.
The classic 70’s sitcom Good Times was also a spin-off of a spin-off. It was a spin-off of Maude, which was a spin-off of All in the Family. Another All in the Family spin-off, the highly successful show The Jeffersons, had its own spin-off in 1981 called Checking In, which was short-lived.

The KC Konspiracy
These five songs by KC and the Sunshine Band all reflect a definite “conspiracy theory” ……. it  is time to call Oliver Stone !!!!

1. “Rock Your Baby” by George McRae was a # 1 hit for two weeks in July 1974. It was written by Harry Wayne Casey and Richard Finch, the two most prominent members of KC and the Sunshine Band who also wrote all the band’s songs. It would be another 13 months before KC and the Sunshine Band had their first number one hit with “Get Down Tonight”. Too bad they didn’t save this song for themselves!

2. “Get Down Tonight”, the band’s first of five # 1 hits, topped the charts for one week in August 1975. Harry Wayne Casey and Richard Finch, who both wrote and produced the hit, were inspired to write the song by the 1973 Top Ten hit “Get Down” by Gilbert O’Sullivan. After “Get Down Tonight” was a smash hit, Casey and Finch were dumbfounded to learn that O’Sullivan had written the song about his dog!

3. “Boogie Shoes” was the B-side of the # 1 hit “(Shake, Shake, Shake)Shake Your Booty”, but the forgotten song became a hit a couple of years later after being included in the soundtrack of Saturday Night Fever. As a result of its use in the blockbuster movie, it reached number 35 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1978 and became a staple song at disco clubs throughout the world. In recent years it has been included in numerous movies such as Boogie Nights, Detroit Rock City and Mallrats, in addition to the tv show Desperate Housewives.

4. “Please Don’t Go” is very unique. While KC and the Sunshine Band are heavily associated with the 1970’s, ironically “Please Don’t Go” was the first number one hit of the 80’s decade, staying in the top slot for the first week of January 1980. The song was the fifth and last number one hit for the group.
5. “Give It Up”, which reached # 18 in 1984, was supposed to be a comeback song of sorts for Harry Wayne Casey, who ran into hard times in the early 1980’s after the hits had ended. The song was written by the Casey/Finch songwriting duo and was recorded with the members of The Sunshine Band, yet for some reason it was released as a KC solo song. Go figure! ……….. (money and contractual issues figured prominently).

Casey Kasem passed away two days ago on June 15, 2014. The legendary host of American Top 40 did his very first broadcast of his famed show which first aired on July 3, 1970, but aired in most on the country the following day on July 4. The broadcast that week marked the last time that the Beatles and Elvis Presley would appear together in the Top 40 section of The Billboard Hot 100. Also, one band charted both in Casey’s first American Top 40 broadcast as well as in his last broadcast in 1988 (he would return to American Top 40 from 1998-2004 before retiring from the show). The Moody Blues had the song “Question” in Casey’s first broadcast in addition to charting “I Know You’re Out There Somewhere” in his final broadcast in 1998.
More compelling is which song was the number one song on his first broadcast on July 3, 1970, as it started a cycle for this band. “Mama Told Me Not to Come” by Three Dog Night was atop the charts for Casey’s first American Top 40 broadcast.

Three Dog Night songs written by someone with a famous family member
1.        “Mama Told Me (Not to Come)”, the band’s first number one song was written by Randy Newman.  It stayed on top for two weeks in July 1970. Randy Newman is the nephew of the famed composers Alfred, Emil and Lionel Newman; all three worked on film scores in Hollywood. Alfred Newman won nine Academy Awards, more than any other composer in Oscar history.  Emil Newman worked on over 200 films and tv shows, earning an Oscar nomination in 1941 for Sun Valley Serenade. Lionel Newman’s career with Twentieth-Century Fox spanned 46 years and 200 movies; he also wrote several classic TV themes, such as Dobie Gillis and Daniel Boone.
Since the 1980’s, Randy Newman has concentrated primarily on writing film scores (maybe it’s in the genes!).  It has been used in many movie soundtracks such as Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Boogie Nights.

2.       “Joy to the World” was Three Dog Night’s second number one hit, topping the charts for six weeks in April and May 1971. It was written by Hoyt Axton, who wrote such songs as the Ringo Starr hit “No No Song” and the Three Dog Night hit “Never Been to Spain”. The singer/songwriter was the son of famed songwriter Mae Boren Axton, who was known as “The Queen Mother of Nashville”. Mae Boren Axton’s most famous credit is co-writing the hit “Heartbreak Hotel” for Elvis Presley. Her list of songs is staggering and another one of her claims to fame is having introduced a very young Elvis Presley to Colonel Tom Parker. “Joy to the World” has been used in many movie soundtracks, most notably in The Big Chill and Forrest Gump.

3.       “Black and White” was the third and final number one hit for Three Dog Night, reaching the top slot for one week in September 1972. The song was co-written by David Arkin and Earl Robinson in 1955 as a civil rights song. It was recorded by several artists over the years but none were successful until Three Dog Night’s rendition. David Arkin is the father of actor Alan Arkin and the grandfather of actor Adam Arkin.
4.       “The Family of Man” reached # 12 in 1972. It was written by famed songwriter Paul Williams, who also wrote the songs “An Old Fashioned Love Song” and “Out in the Country” for Three Dog Night. Paul Williams is the brother of the late John Williams, a well-known rocket scientist for NASA, as well as Mentor Williams. Mentor Williams is a songwriter who although not as prolific as his brother, has written hit songs. Mentor Williams’ most famous song is “Drift Away”, the legendary hit for Dobie Gray which resurfaced as a major hit for Uncle Kracker in 2004. Mentor  is married to Lynn Anderson, whose biggest hit was “Rose Garden”, a song which successfully used 23 cliches to top the country charts in 1970 and stall at # 3 on the Top 40.

5.       “Eli’s Coming”, written by Laura Nyro, reached # 10 in 1969. Laura Nyro is the niece of famous artists Theresa Bernstein and William Meyerowitz. Highly revered in the art world for her paintings, Bernstein’s career spanned many decades as she died at age 112!
May it be noted that Three Dog Night recorded a song that did not chart that had been written by someone with a famous family member. The song was written by Reggie Dwight, whose cousin Roy Dwight was a British soccer star that could have been considered a David Beckham  figure of his generation. Reggie Dwight (a.k.a  Elton John) wrote “Your Song” with writing partner Bernie Taupin, which was covered by Three Dog Night on their fourth album It Ain’t Easy in 1970. Roy Dwight was a soccer star was Reggie Dwight was a young teenager who loved soccer. People would give him a hard time and say things like “Your last name is Dwight and you’re Roy Dwight’s cousin and you stink at soccer”, etc. Young Reggie was unable to pursue his love of soccer in anonymity because of his cousin, a national hero who starred for teams like Fulham and Nottingham Forest. It is safe to say that Reggie resolved this conflict by purchasing his lifelong favorite team, Watford F.C.