7 of the 70s: 4/17/14 (1978)...

Throwback Thursday 70's style is here, and I've got seven more nuggets from 1978, the year that Woody Allen's Annie Hall won "Best Picture" at the 50th Academy Awards.

Randy Newman - "Short People"
from the album Little Criminals (1977)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #2
Songwriter: Randy Newman

What started out as a Colbert-esque parody of prejudice, the song became a novelty smash by people mostly oblivious to the message.

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Paul Simon - "Slip Slidin' Away"
from the album Greatest Hits, Etc. (1977)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #5
Songwriter: Paul Simon

Simon hired on the Oak Ridge Boys to provide backup to his hipster-ish smooth-pop jam. Delores!

Joe Walsh - "Life's Been Good"
from the album But Seriously, Folks (1978)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #12
Songwriter: Joe Walsh

An anthem about rock star excess, Walsh pours quite a bit of truth into this record, which typifies the SoCal music scene in the late 70s...

Steve Martin with the Toot Uncommons - "King Tut"
from the album A Wild And Crazy Guy (1978)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #17
Songwriter: Steve Martin

On the other hand, here's the rockstar-size comedian who had two top-ten albums pontificating about the excess of a certain possibly immortal Egyptian. "He gave his life for tourism."

Warren Zevon - "Werewolves Of London"
from the album Excitable Boy (1978)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #21
Songwriters: Warren Zevon, Leroy Marinell, Waddy Wachtel

If the backbeat on this single seems familiar, it's because it's from Fleetwood Mac's titular rhythm second of Mick Fleetwood and John McVie.

Jimmy Buffett - "Cheeseburger In Paradise"
from the album Son of a Son of a Sailor (1978)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #32
Songwriter: Jimmy Buffett

The song that launched a thousand non-local greasy spoon offerings in cruise destinations around the Caribbean, and eventually a chain from Jimmy himself.

Meat Loaf - "Paradise By The Dashboard Light"
from the album Bat Out Of Hell (1977)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #39
Songwriter: Jim Steinman

This rock suite was the Loaf's biggest moment, with a film's worth of material squeezed into its eight and a half minutes.

I'll return later with eight more from 1988...