Billboard Number One Hits of 1976 Quiz

Answer: Scotland

The Scottish group was extremely popular in mid-1975 so starting 1976 with a number one was inevitable. They members were all born in Edinburgh and derived their name from sticking a pin in a map. It landed on Bay City, Michigan. They began playing around Edinburgh and were discovered by Bell records after one of their executives missed his plane and caught their show. Clive Davis changed his label from Bell to Arista and let most of the acts go but kept the Bay City Rollers.

He released "Bye Bye Baby" in the US on the heels of the huge success of the song in Britain but it barely dented the charts.

Other singles failed to attract any attention so Clive took one of the band's album cuts for release. A live-via-satellite hookup to the ABC television show "Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell" featured the boys performing "Saturday Night". Twelve weeks later the song was number one.

The hits kept coming and soon the band appeared on "American Bandstand" and "The Midnight Special".

Answer: C. W. McCall

CB radios had been around since the fifties but the oil crisis brought them to mainstream use. In 1975 Time Magazine predicted that CB radios might be the fastest growing communication device since the telephone. Advertising agency director Bill Fries became the character of C. W. McCall for a Mertz Baking Company ad campaign.

He then recorded their Clio-award winning theme song on a small independent label. MGM Records was impressed and signed McCall. He was inspired to write "Convoy" while riding in his jeep.

It became the 16th and last number one for MGM records before it was purchased by Polygram. He was astute enough to keep his job at the ad agency because after "Convoy" he never saw top twenty success again. Sweet had a top five with "Fox on the Run" the same month. Rick Dees and his Cast of Idiots saw number one success in October, 1976, with "Disco Duck". "Dazz" was a number three for Brick in January, 1977.

Answer: Love Rollercoaster

The Ohio Players had a unique philosophy when it came to recording. In an effort to stay fresh they never went into the studio with a preconceived idea of what to record. Their sessions were so clandestine that only an engineer was allowed to be present.

They would start spontaneous jams and when something clicked they would tighten it up and record the tracks. Even though they were enjoying major success and formed their own booking, publishing and management subsidiaries they still performed free concerts for their hometown Dayton community. "I Love Music (Part 1)" was a top five for the O'Jays the same month. "You Sexy Thing" was number four behind "Love Rollercoaster" for the band Hot Chocolate and their "Love Machine (Part 1)" went number one March 6, 1977, for The Miracles.

Answer: Theme from S.W.A.T.

"Theme from S.W.A.T." became the first television theme to ever top the Billboard charts. The show premiered a year earlier but the theme wasn't available as a recording. Songwriter/producer Steve Barri liked the theme and had Michael Omartian do an arrangement under the name Rhythm Heritage.

Some of the musicians on the recording were Jeff Porcaro from ToTo, Ray Parker, Jr, lead guitarist Jay Graydon and bass player Scott Edwards. Steve was no stranger to TV themes, having written the theme to "Secret Agent Man". Prior to "Theme from S.W.A.T" the highest charted TV theme was the number four "Hawaii 5-O" by The Ventures.

The theme to "Welcome Back, Kotter", "Welcome Back" went number one May 8, 1976, for John Sebastian. "Sanford and Son" featured a great score by Quincy Jones and was ranked as the eighth TV show in 1976, but the theme never reached the top twenty. "Happy Days" was the tenth most popular show in 1976.

The theme song was written by Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel and was performed by Jimmy Haas backed by studio singers and musicians.

It didn't dent the Top 20.

Answer: Johnnie Taylor

The RIAA began certifying gold records in 1958 with "Catch a Falling Star." The first platinum record certified by the RIAA was "Disco Lady" by Johnnie Taylor. The demo was recorded as "Disco Baby" and it didn't really appeal to Johnnie at first. Another arrangement was done and Johnnie still thought it was awful.

When he finally put it on the correct speed on his turntable he changed his mind. Johnnie began singing in church in Arkansas and replaced Sam Cooke in the Soul Stirrers. Sam encouraged Johnnie to leave his gospel roots and record secular music. Upon Cooke's death Johnnie signed with Stax and had a hit with "Who's Making Love" follow by other hits.

When Stax folded he went with Columbia and recorded "Disco Lady". The Commodores hit number five with "Sweet Love" the following month. Starbuck reached number three in August, 1976, with "Moonlight Feels Right" and Orleans hit number five in October with "Still the One".

Answer: Bruce Johnston

Bruce Johnston was born Benjamin Baldwin in Peoria, Illinois. He relocated to Santa Monica, California, when he was 16 and started in the music business as a piano player with drummer Sandy Nelson. After stints with other surfer-sounding bands Bruce was asked to join the Beach Boys in April of 1965.

He related that he got the idea for the song while driving, and when he returned home he started working out an arrangement on the piano. It was recorded by two of his friends, Captain and Tennille on an LP.

It was the first single release from Barry's "Tryin' to Get the Feeling" album. Barry had already enjoyed number one success with "Mandy" in 1975. Barry composed advertising jingles for such products as State Farm Insurance, Band-Aids, Pepsi, Jack-In-The-Box and McDonald's.

Answer: The Manhattans

The Manhattans did not derive their name from the Big Apple. They were originally known as The Dulcets, but thought the name was awkward. The band then got the inspiration to change their name to The Manhattans from the popular cocktail drink. The founding members of the band started a doo-wop group upon discharge from the Air Force.

They got their break when Joe Evans from Carnival Records heard them at a show at the Apollo Theater and signed them. After some minor hits they switched to King Records subsidiary, Deluxe and eventually to Columbia records in 1972.

Founder Winfred "Blue" Lovett wrote the song and 14 weeks after release it was the second song after "Disco Lady" to be certified platinum. Brothers Johnson were number three behind the Manhattans with "I'll Be Good to You". Andrea True Connection had a top five the same month with "More, More, More (Part 1)" and England Dan and John Ford Coley had a top five in September with "I'd Really Love to See you Tonight".

Answer: Starland Vocal Band

Bill and Kathy "Taffy" Danoff were the founders of The Starland Vocal Band. Bill Danoff was working as a sound man when he crossed paths with John Denver while he was still with the Chad Mitchell Trio. John recorded Danoff's composition "I Guess I'd Rather be In Colorado". Denver then had a big hit with Danoff's "Take Me Home Country Roads". Bill and Kathy Danoff struggled on the folk circuit forming various bands and eventually teamed up with Jon Carroll and Margot Chapman.

They perfected their harmonies and signed with John Denver's new Windsong label.

After "Afternoon Delight" was released the label and the group had their first and only number one song. Silver Convention's top five in 1976 was "Get Up and Boogie". Captain and Tennille enjoyed top five success with "Shop Around" in July, 1976 and Earth, Wind and Fire hit the top five in February, 1976, with "Sing A Song".

Answer: The Bellamy Brothers

David Bellamy composed Jim Stafford's hit "Spiders and Snakes" and Stafford's manager, Phil Gerhard, wanted to groom him as a singer/songwriter. Phil used Neil Diamond's touring band as session musicians. One of the band members was Larry Williams, who wrote "Let your Love Flow". David recorded it but it was shelved. Meanwhile David's brother Howard was hired as a roadie for Gernhard.

He began singing while he worked and Gernhard was impressed with his voice so he had David and Phil record the song again as a duet. Upon hearing that another label had released the same song it was rush-released and soon hit number one. Elvin Bishop had top five success in May, 1976, with "Fooled Around and Fell In Love". Steve Miller topped the charts in November, 1976, with "Rock'n Me" and Wild Cherry topped the charts on September 18, 1976, with "Play That Funky Music".

Answer: The Big Apple Band

Walter Murphy was a commercial writer on Madison Avenue who had a vision of taking the classics to the pop charts in a similar manner that "A Lover's Concerto" had been done by the Toys and "Joy" by Apollo 100. He experimented with several classic works with a flat response. Eventually Larry Uttal at Private Stock Records consented to having Murphy record a disco version of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. Murphy played virtually every instrument on the recording but the label insisted that a group be credited to help guarantee sales. Murphy reluctantly allowed them to call the band the Big Apple Band.

The Sunshine Band, headed by Harry Wayne "KC" Casey topped the charts on September 11, 1976, with "(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty". Sylvers had a number one on May 15, 1976 with "Boogie Fever" and Staple Singers hit number one late in 1975 with "Let's Do It Again".