The summer of ’75 is a little bit soft, a little bit funky, and a whole lotta “Hustle.” It was a peak era for lite-FM, the dawn of disco, and the final toll for Richard Nixon’s presidency. Casey Kasem’s countdown has a few classics in its midst. But really, this one is more a tribute to the moment in time. Many of the biggest hits on this week’s countdown are fleeting charms, songs that remain familiar but perhaps not quite timeless, tunes that are not quite disposable, but pleasantly dated like dayglo floral wallpaper, shag carpeting and cars without seatbelts.
Before we get to the tunes, let’s travel back to that moment in time.
June 28, 1975—The Week at a Glance
On Monday, June 23, the Supreme Court voted unanimously to accept President Nixon’s resignation, bringing an end to a sad and shameful chapter in American history. Americans weren’t so much relieved as they were exhausted by Vietnam, Nixon, and the whole Watergate affair.
Perhaps the transitory nature of Casey’s Countdown reflects this desire to move on, turn the page, and start a new chapter. To wit, there aren’t too many heavy headlines from this week in 1975.
…which is why I’ll resort to telling you that on Friday the 27th, future Spider-Man Tobey Maguire was born. And on the very same day, golfers Jerry Heard and Lee Trevino were struck by lightning during the Western Open PGA Tournament. Both survived.
Sadly, Rod Serling would not survive…no he was struck by lightning…but he did pass away on Saturday, June 28th. The Twilight Zone creator and host Rod Serling was only 50. Serling’s influence and impact on the evolution of television cannot be overstated. Born on Christmas Day of 1924 to a Jewish family in Syracuse, New York, Serling would prove a pioneer of the form. Serling was a prolific writer, an innovative performer, and a vocal opponent of censorship, racial segregation, and the Vietnam War.
In fact, his writing and general worldview were shaped by his service in World War II. A certain surrealism, disillusionment and fascination with the macabre would permeate his writing. Even after his service, he demonstrated a particular fearlessness in the face of death, perhaps best exemplified by one of his early odd jobs. While still in college, Serling earned side money testing parachutes for the U.S. Air Force. The way it worked was, he was paid half of his fee upfront, and the other half if he survived the test.
Fortunately, he lived to conceive the groundbreaking weekly primetime show, The Twilight Zone, which is as iconic for Serling’s spoken word intros and outros as for the mind-bending content of the stories themselves.
Though The Twilight Zone was only marginally popular, even facing and overcoming cancellation twice during its original five-season run (1959-1964), it is rightly regarded today as one of the most important television shows ever produced.
Sadly, Serling’s four-pack-a-day cigarette habit caught up with him, leading to a series of heart attacks. The last of three ultimately claimed his life on the same day as Casey Kasem’s late June countdown.
Casey Kasem’s American Top 40 for the Week of June 28, 1975
Could the summer of 1975 be a peak moment for 70s soft rock? A countdown-topping entry from Captain & Tenille says yes.
“Love Will Keep Us Together” wasn’t just the biggest song this week. It was also the biggest song of 1975, and the winner for that year’s Record of the Year Grammy. Captain and Tenille originally rose to visiblity as keyboard players for a rotating cast of Beach Boys. In fact, to inner circles, Toni Tenille was recognized as the one and only “Beach Girl” in the band’s history.
Her partner, Daryl Dragon, also earned his nautical sobriquet while with the Beach Boys, It was then that he first donned his trademark Captain’s hat. When they landed a major label contract with A&M in 1975, Captain & Tenille launched their career a cover of the little-known Neil Sedaka song–“Love Will Keep Us Together.”
Sedaka, best known for teen-idol era smash hits like “Oh Carol” and “Calendar Girl”, recorded the original in 1973 but did not release it as a single. It was a minor hit in the Netherlands the following year for a brother-and-sister soul duo from Trinidad and Tobago named Mac and Katie Kissoon.
But Captain & Tenille, with backing on drums from Wrecking Crew legend Hal Blaine, rode Sadaka’s tune to massive success. The duo enjoyed one helluva run, getting married in November of 1975, landing their own ABC variety show in 1976, and performing for President Gerald Ford and Queen Elizabeth II during that year’s U.S. Bicentennial Celebration.
Not only was “Love Will Keep Us Together” a huge hit, but so was the duo’s Spanish-language cut, “Por Amor Viviremos”. Captain & Tenille became the first artists to chart simultaneously with two versions of the same song.
And love did indeed keep the pair together…until 2014, when Tenille filed for divorce. The two nonetheless remained close friends. Tenille was at the Captain’s side when he passed away from kidney failure in 2019.
Lite FM
Captain & Tenille merely sailed around the tip of the soft rock iceberg. This countdown suggests that the laid back sound of sunny, southern California had reached critical mass in the summer of ‘75. Evidence includes Pilot at #9 with “Magic”, America at #11 with “Sister Golden Hair”, Seal & Crofts at #18 with “I’ll Play for You (Hear the Band)” and Michael Murphy’s “Wildfire” all the way up at #3.
In the summer of ’75, the airwaves had a top-down, breeze-in-your-hair sort of energy. Clearly, the heaviosity of the last several years had taken their toll. There is little evidence in this playlist of the angst and darkness hanging over Americans during the Vietnam War, the Nixon Administration, and the Watergate scandal.
After a decade of turmoil, the summer of ‘75 sounds like a nation that just wants to sleep until noon, drink brunch cocktails all day, snort coke all night, and get it on pretty much the whole time.
Even the heavy rockers sound nicely chilled on this week’s countdown. Dig Bachman Turner Overdrive’s not-particularly-overdriven “Hey You,” Alice Cooper’s “Only Women Bleed” and Grand Funk Railroad’s blue-eyed soul nugget, “Bad Time”.
Post-it Notes
As usual, this week’s playlist offers a glimpse at some of what was happening in the world of primetime television. At #32, Mike Post’s theme song for “Rockford Files” layers synthesizers, Muzak production, and just a touch of film-score montage music.
Mike Post is actually a towering giant in the world of tv theme song production. Post began as a songwriter and arranger in the 60s, even winning a Grammy at age 23 for his arrangement work on the 1968 Mason Williams #2 hit “Classical Gas.” He also charted with his own instrumental Northern Soul one-off, “Afternoon of the Rhino.”
But it was as a composer and arranger of television theme songs that Mike Post made his music familiar to millions of households. Behold, in addition to the hit on this week’s countdown, Post’s resume includes the themes from Real American Hero, Law and Order, NYPD Blue, The A-Team and (my personal favorite), Hill Street Blues. It’s not an overstatement to suggest that every American with a television has heart Mike Post’s music at some point.
While Mike Post “Rockford Files” is just one in a long line of television-inspired hits, the other primetime entry here comes from a relatively unknown instrumental studio band called Bazuka. Bazuka reaches up to #23 this week with a pretty raw funk novelty built around a popular sitcom catchphrase.
Good Times For Funk
“Dynomite” liberally sampled its title and refrain from actor Jimmie Walker, who popularized the phrase as the breakout character JJ from the Normal Lear-produced Good Times.
The show itself was a groundbreaking primetime dramedy—it took place in a Chicago public housing project, was the first to feature a two-parent Black family, and episodes often tackled issues like poverty and family dynamics with unflinching honesty.
None of this is in evidence on Bazuka’s fairly frivolous hit. But Buzaka’s appearance here does point to the growing mainstream popularity of funk. So too do entries like “Spirit of the Boogie” by Kool and the Gang (#39), Jive Talkin’ by the Bee Gees (#33), Gwen McRae’s “Rockin’ Chair” (#27), and The Average White Band’s “Cut the Cake” (#10).
Americans Do the Hustle
Funk’s grittier, more beat-driven take on R&B was more commonly heard on the Billboard Hot Soul 100 and on disco floors. But in the summer of ’75, this sound began to occupy growing real estate on the mainstream Billboard Hot 100.
Van McCoy is a perfect case in point. Van McCoy is best known for the hit song that reaches #6 on this week’s countdown. The early disco smash hit “The Hustle” would ultimately become a #1 song on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Soul 100.
Van McCoy was, in fact, quite prolific as a songwriter before “The Hustle” unexpectedly surged into mainstream radio. However, most of his best material dominated the soul charts—penetrating with Black listeners but stalling on mainstream radio.
In November of 1975, as “The Hustle” continued its run at the Billboard Hot 100, Van McCoy was the songwriter behind five songs on the Billboard Hot Soul Singles chart—one of his own, and four for other artists.
“The Hustle” would be his greatest success though, and one that he would never really follow up. Though he remained active as a performer and songwriter, he tragically passed away from a heart attack in 1979, at just 39 years old.
Anyone For Tennis?
At #28 here is Elton John’s “Philadelphia Freedom,” an ode to tennis player Billie Jean King and a song that gets played a ton on 4th of July where I’m from. And even though it was technically just about Billie Jean’s professional tennis team, it also tapped into the broader sentiment of patriotism that Americans were feeling as the nation inched toward its Bicentennial.
This week’s countdown also includes two major country crossover hits. Glen Campbell’s “Rhinestone Cowboy” (#30) and John Denver’s “Thank God I’m a Country Boy” (#25) would both go on to top both the Billboard Hot 100 and the Hot Country Singles Chart.
And finally, just two weeks after this countdown aired, the United States and the Soviet Union would collaborate for the first time on a joint manned space mission.
The Apollo-Soyuz mission saw a crew of American astronauts and a crew of Russian cosmonauts launch separately before meeting up at the Russian Salyut space station. The mission was intended to signal a shared policy of detente—a ratcheting down of Cold War tensions and the opportunity for American and Soviet cooperation.
The astronauts and cosmonauts shared a handshake through the hatches of their respective capsules, performed a few joint experiments, shared a meal and played a few songs for one another. The Russian cosmonaut’s chose “Tenderness” by Maya Kristalinskaya.
The astronauts selected “Why Can’t We Be Friends” from Long Beach, California funk legends War, which comes it at #24 on this week’s countdown.
The Top 40 for June 28, 1975 in Order
40: I’LL DO FOR YOU ANYTHING YOU WANT ME TO – BARRY WHITE
39: EVERY TIME YOU TOUCH ME (I GET HIGH) – CHARLIE RICH
38: SPIRIT OF THE BOOGIE – KOOL & THE GANG
37: BLACK FRIDAY – STEELY DAN
36: SLIPPERY WHEN WET – THE COMMODORES
35: LAST FAREWELL – ROGER WHITTAKER
34: BAD LUCK (PART 2) – HAROLD MELVIN & THE BLUENOTES
33: JIVE TALKIN’ – THE BEE GEES
32: ROCKFORD FILES – MIKE POST
31: BAD TIME – GRAND FUNK
30: RHINESTONE COWBOY – GLEN CAMPBELL
29: I’M ON FIRE – THE DWIGHT TWILLEY BAND
28: PHILADELPHIA FREEDOM – ELTON JOHN
27: ROCKIN’ CHAIR – GWEN McCRAE
26: BABY THAT’S BACKATCHA – SMOKEY ROBINSON
25: THANK GOD I’M A COUNTRY BOY – JOHN DENVER
24: WHY CAN’T WE BE FRIENDS – WAR
23: DYNOMITE – BAZUKA
22: HEY YOU – BACHMAN-TURNER OVERDRIVE
21: MIDNIGHT BLUE – MELISSA MANCHESTER
20: MISTY – RAY STEVENS
19: THE WAY WE WERE – GLADYS KNIGHT & THE PIPS
18: I’LL PLAY FOR YOU (HEAR THE BAND) – SEALS & CROFTS
17: I’M NOT IN LOVE – 10 CC
16: ONE OF THESE NIGHTS – THE EAGLES
15: PLEASE MR. PLEASE – OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN
14: SWEARIN’ TO GOD – FRANKIE VALLI
13: SISTER GOLDEN HAIR – AMERICA
12: ONLY WOMAN – ALICE COOPER
11: TAKE ME IN YOUR ARMS (ROCK ME) – THE DOOBIE BROTHERS
10: CUT THE CAKE – THE AVERAGE WHITE BAND
9: MAGIC – PILOT
8: GET DOWN, GET DOWN (GET ON THE FLOOR) – JOE SIMON
7: LISTEN TO WHAT THE MAN SAYS – PAUL McCARTNEY & WINGS
6: THE HUSTLE – VAN McCOY & THE SOUL CITY SYMPHONY
5: LOVE WON’T LET ME WAIT – MAJOR HARRIS
4: I’M NOT LISA – JESSI COLTER
3: WILDFIRE – MICHEL MURPHY
2: WHEN WILL I BE LOVED – LINDA RONSTADT
1: LOVE WILL KEEP US TOGETHER – THE CAPTAIN & TENNILLE