8 Famous Bands That Scored Smash Hits in 1970 – Then Were Never Heard From Again
Nineteen seventy was not only the year that we stumbled out of the turbulent ’60s and into the more laid-back, soon-to-be-disco-fied ’70s, but also the year that nearly 50 bands made their Top 40 debut — only to later discover that their debut was also to be the last Top 40 hit they’d ever have. In some cases, there was no reason to think these bands would necessarily be successful long term. There were those doing covers (Frijid Pink’s “House of the Rising Sun,” Assembled Multitude’s “Overture from Tommy”), novelty songs (Ernie’s “Rubber Duckie,” The Pipkins’ “Gimme Dat Ding”), or artists that just — I’m not sure how to explain it other than to say you kinda knew their song was good but there was nothing there to suggest the artist would have staying power (Bobby Bloom’s “Montego Bay,” Robin McNamara’s “Lay a Little Lovin’ On Me,” The Tee Set’s “Ma Belle Amie”).
But there were other groups who sounded so good, and the band or singer sounded so polished, that you could have bet the farm they would be very, very big for a long time. Below, in the order that their record peaked that year, is a list is dedicated to those bands who had a debut Top 40 single in 1970 that promised so much more. But for whatever reason, they didn’t deliver, and were never successful in the US after 1970.
1) “Venus,” Shocking Blue (Billboard #1)
Shocking Blue’s “Venus” was 1970’s #3 hit in terms of worldwide sales, second only to the Beatles’ “Let It Be” and another song I’ll highlight below. This Dutch band was formed in 1967, and in 1970, “Venus” raced up the charts around the world. In the United States, it held the #1 position for three weeks, sold more than a million copies, and earned a gold record. Despite that phenomenal success, the group was never able to get another record into the Top 40 in this country, despite continued success in Europe. By 1974, lead singer Mariska Veres decided to go solo, and the band broke up.
In 1981, another Dutch act, Stars on 45, used a segment of “Venus” in their mega-hit “Stars on 45 Medley,” and in 1986, another European band, England’s Bananarama, would also take their cover of “Venus” to #1. Oddly enough, to this day “Venus” holds the record as the only song ever to hit #1 three times in the US.
2) “Hey There Lonely Girl,” Eddie Holman (Billboard #2)
Eddie Holman wasn’t a one-shot flash in the pan, because he’d been recording singles since the early 60s; he simply hadn’t had any chart success. It seemed though, that when he released his cover of Ruby and the Romantics “Hey There Lonely Boy” in late 1969, his ship had finally come in. Holman’s impressive falsetto carried the song all the way to #2 on the charts in 1970, and became one of the biggest, smoothest soul songs of the year — and it’s still an R&B classic. Try as he might though, he could never land another Top 40 hit, and thus he never lived up to the hype that surrounded his one and only hit single.
3) “My Baby Loves Lovin,'” White Plains (Billboard #13)
Also “Love Grows Where My Rosemary Grows,” Edison Lighthouse (Billboard #5); “United We Stand,” The Brotherhood of Man (Billboard #13); “Gimme Dat Ding,” The Pipkins (Billboard #9)
I listed White Plains with Edison Lighthouse, the Brotherhood of Man, and the Pipkins (though the later two songs are nothing special) for one simple reason: the lead vocalist for all four groups, all of whom debuted in 1970, was the same singer: Tony Burrows. The late ’60s and early ’70s were a time when studio groups flourished, when singers sometimes recorded under contrived group names although there wasn’t really an established group under that name at all. Then, if the song was successful, and the label needed a group to tour and promote the record and the album that was sure to follow, the label would usually create a band to tour, with — or without — the person who actually sang on the recording. If you look up the videos for the songs above you’ll see different people fronting the groups, but rarely will you see Tony Burrows. In fact, in the clip accompanying this song, Burrows isn’t the guy who appears to be the lead singer, even though those are his vocals you hear. To show you just how ridiculous this could be, go to YouTube and watch this other video of “My Baby Loves Lovin'” and you’ll hear exactly the same song, but you’ll see yet another person appearing to sing. It’s still not Burrows (it’s Roger Greenaway, one of the song’s writers), but at least Burrows is there: he’s the guy on the far left.
This wasn’t a new practice, and Ron Dante, lead singer of several “ghost groups” (his term), once noted that in 1969, he was recording as the Archies and the Cuff Links and, “I had two different singles in the Top 10 at the same time under two different group names and nobody seemed to notice. The same week that ‘Tracy’ entered the Top 10, ‘Sugar, Sugar’ was the #1 record in the country.” Burrows, consequently, must have set some kind of record, with four Top 40 records under four different group names in 1970. Both White Plains and Edison Lighthouse sounded good enough to perhaps have some staying power, but of course they weren’t really groups at all. Funny thing is, Burrows would front yet another Top 40 band, First Class, would would hit with “Beach Baby” in 1974. Not a one of these “groups” would see any continued success in this country.
4) “Spirit in the Sky,” Norman Greenbaum (Billboard #3)
I wrote about this record in December when I did a piece on ’70s Jesus rock, and this song was by far the most famous, and has had the greatest shelf life, of any of the ’70s “Jesus rock” songs, I think. Why? It really stands alone as a great rock song, and its signature riff makes it a classic, even today. Greenbaum had been in the business for a decade before “Spirit in the Sky” hit, and despite the quality of the song, and the fact that it sold two million records, no more hits followed.
Greenbaum, however, didn’t get too depressed about that apparently. On an episode of Comedian’s in Cars Getting Coffee last year, Jimmy Fallon noted that Greenbaum told him, “I have two houses and a boat. I wrote one song.” That’s the power of positive thinking!
5) “Vehicle,” The Ides of March (Billboard #2)
Personally, I never liked Blood, Sweat, and Tears at all, and though I really did like Chicago’s very early stuff (“Questions 67 and 68,” “25 or 6 to 4,” “Make Me Smile”), I was not a fan of most of their later, schmaltzier music. But a lot of people did like everything these two bands produced, therefore, one would have thought that another horn band that started as successfully as the Ides of March did, just barely missing peaking in the #1 spot on the charts, was a lock to make a name for themselves. They sounded polished and had a solid song despite the fact that it’s kind of creepy.
The band formed in 1964 as the Shon-Dels, changed their name to the Ides of March in 1966, and after a few regional hits on the Parrot and Kapp labels they signed with Warner Brothers. Soon they had a national hit with a song written by the group’s vocalist and guitarist Jim Peterik, “Vehicle,” which reportedly became the fastest selling single in the label’s history. Thereafter they toured with and opened for some of the biggest A-list acts, including Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, and Led Zeppelin. Despite the fact that it would have appeared they were just a hair away from superstardom, none of their releases after that cracked the Top 40. By 1973, they had dropped their horn-band sound and finally split up the same year.
There’s happy ending here though: Peterik was one of the founders of Survivor (with hits such as “Eye of the Tiger” and “I Can’t Hold Back”), and he also wrote or co-wrote a number of Top 40 hits for 38 Special (including “Hold on Loosely” and “Rockin’ Into the Night”) and Sammy Hagar. Peterik and the Ides reformed in the ’90s and are touring again, but to date they have yet to score another Top 40 hit.
6) “Mississippi Queen,” Mountain (Billboard #21)
Mountain was a hard-rock band formed in 1969 featuring guitarist extraordinaire Leslie West and producer and bass player Felix Pappalardi as the band’s two most notable principals. The band was fortunate enough to play at Woodstock during their inaugural year, and after altering their lineup a bit, they released their first album, Climbing!, in March 1970. Both the featured single “Mississippi Queen” and the album sold well, as did their second album, 1971’s legendary Nantucket Sleighride. But everything wasn’t well within the band, and plagued by problems from drug use to Pappalardi’s hearing problems, and after releasing their third album in late 1971, the band broke up in early 1972, leaving many music fans feeling as if they hadn’t lived up to their potential for greatness. “Mississippi Queen” has remained an iconic song and one of the most famous rock songs of all time, despite the band’s failure to rise to the level of greatness enjoyed by many of their contemporaries..
7) “In the Summertime,” Mungo Jerry (Billboard #3)
Mungo Jerry’s monster hit was 1970’s #2 hit in terms of worldwide sales, second only to the Beatles’ “Let It Be.” The single outsold efforts by Led Zeppelin, the Kinks, CCR, the Jackson Five, Simon and Garfunkel, and a number of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame-caliber bands. In England, Mungo Jerry immediately followed up the hit with another #1 (“Baby Jump”), then a #13 and a #21 hit, all in 1971. They looked to be off to a great start.
While they did sustain some chart success in England for the next three years (and later they were especially big in South Africa, with two #1’s in 1981), in the US “Mungo Mania” lasted the extent of the one song, as they never made the Top 40 here again.
8) “All Right Now,” Free (Billboard #4)
Free formed in 1968 in England when the oldest band members were just 18 years old. It wasn’t until their third album, Fire and Water, which contained the hit single “All Right Now,” that they really started to sell any records. “All Right Now” became one of the most popular songs of 1970 in both England and America, and by 1990, the song would be credited with more than a million radio plays in the US and a few years later with two million in England. The song was and is a classic.
The band, not so much. Like many groups, drug use and personal acrimony led to a rift within the band, and in 1971, they broke up. They reformed then broke up again, and eventually members Paul Rodgers and Simon Kirke would go on to form Bad Company. Like the other artists and acts on this list, Free promised so much greatness, but just couldn’t get past the internal issues that kept them from realizing their potential.
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George L