2004 Hit List: 24 Hot 100 American Chartbusters of the 1970

2004 Hit List: 24 Hot 100 American Chartbusters of the 1970
Various Artists
Louie Shelton - Producer

Following in the tradition of its previous series The Golden Age of American Rock & Roll (which documented the 1950s) and Chartbusters (tracking the 1960s), the U.K. reissue label Ace moves into the Me Decade with The Hit List: 24 Hot 100 American Chartbusters of the 1970s. Its subtitle to the contrary, the first volume in the series actually focuses almost exclusively on Top 20 chart entries, documenting the autumn of AM radio's commercial heyday: sure, the pop hits of the 1970s have been maligned in many quarters, and novelties like John Sebastian's theme to the TV smash Welcome Back, Kotter and cheese like Seals & Crofts' "Summer Breeze" won't change naysayers' minds, but as these two-dozen songs prove, the decade was unmatched for the sheer variety of music that accessed the top of the charts, with hard rock, country-pop, disco and bubblegum pop all vying for commercial success.