No. 1 Hits of the 70s Vol.3 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Shocking Blue

In 1969, the Dutch band Shocking Blue recorded "Venus" and took it to number one in early February 1970 in the U.S. on the Billboard charts as well as reaching number one in five other countries. There was a rumor at the time that the song was sung phonetically because the group could not speak English, but that rumor was never proven.

The Shocking Blue version was covered by Bananarama in 1986 and went to number one again. Frankie Avalon scored with the tune "Venus", in 1959 but that was a completely different tune.

Answer: The Osmonds

"One Bad Apple" was released in late 1970 and had a five week stay at the top of the charts in the late winter of 1971. It was the first release for The Osmonds and also hit number six on the R & B charts. It was written by George Jackson, who had the Jackson 5 in mind when he wrote it, but the Jacksons chose to record the song "ABC" instead.

Answer: Al Green

Al Green is the right guy for this song, which topped the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 charts for one week in February 1972. The song also topped the R & B charts for an amazing nine week run. The song was later covered by Tina Turner. Green's version is listed by Rolling Stone Magazine at number 60 on their "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" compilation.

Answer: Crocodile Rock

"Crocodile Rock" was written by Elton John along with his partner Bernie Taupin, and was a cut from the album "Don't Shoot Me I'm Only The Piano Player" which was released in 1973. The song got to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 charts in the U.S. and stayed there for three weeks. It also became Elton's first number one single in the U.S.

Answer: Al Wilson

"Show and Tell" was first recorded by Johnny Mathis in 1972, but had little success. Al Wilson a soul/gospel singer tried the song again in 1974 and was much more successful, taking the song to the top of the U.S. Billboard charts for a one week stay. "The Snake" was a Wilson entry on the charts that had some marginal success reaching number 27 in the U.S and number 41 in the U.K. in 1968.

Answer: Please Mr Postman

"Please Mr. Postman" was originally a smash hit for The Marvelettes in 1961. The Carpenters covered the song and took it back to the top of the charts in 1975. The other notable cover of the song was by The Beatles, but they never released it as a single.

The Carpenters version spent a week at the top of the U.S. Billboard charts in the winter of 1975. It was also number one in Canada and number two in the U.K.

Answer: False

It is actually one of his few hit songs that he didn't have a hand in writing. The song was written by Bruce Johnston of The Beach Boys. It was recorded by not only Malinow, but also The Captain and Tenille as well as David Cassidy, but it was the Manilow version which stuck, shooting to the top of the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 charts in the winter of 1976. Manilow won a 1977 Grammy Award for this song as Song of The Year, and it has become one of his signature songs.

Answer: I Wish

"I Wish" was the Stevie Wonder hit that spent a week at the top of the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 charts in January of 1977. The song lyrics were a recollection of Wonder's memories of his early years, and they lyrics describe some of his early antics. The chorus lines are significant though.
"I wish those days could come back once more. Why did those days ever have to go? I wish those days could come back once more. Why did those days ever have to go cause I love them so."

Answer: Andy Gibb

Andy Gibb, the youngest of the Brothers Gibb (The BeeGees) took this song to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 charts for a two week stay in March of 1978. It was his second straight number one hit following "I Just Want to Be Your Everything" which had made the top of the charts a year earlier.

The song was written in part by older brother Barry Gibb, who had also written in part the BeeGees tunes "Stayin' Alive", and "Night Fever", along with "If I Can't Have You" which was recorded by Yvonne Elliman.

These four songs were consecutive number one hits on the Billboard charts in 1978, and it is generally acknowledged that Barry Gibb is the only person in history to write four consecutive U.S. number one singles.

Answer: Da Ya Think I'm Sexy

All four choices were Stewart releases but it was "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy" that the critics panned when it was released in 1979. They claimed that Stewart had strayed from his blues oriented roots. No matter what the critics thought, the song spent four weeks at the top of the U.S. Billboard charts in the winter of 1979. Rolling Stone Magazine rated the song at number 301 on their list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". So much for critics.