1978

The new generation takes few risks; it graduates, looks for a job, endures. And once a week, on Saturday night, it explodes." So wrote Nik Cohn in a cover story for New York magazine in June 1976. It told of young people in Brooklyn's Bay Ridge district, who, every weekend, escaped their humdrum existence by dancing their cares away at a local disco. Cohn zeroed in on the club's best dancer, who was admired by all the guys and pursued by all the girls. Slowly, the young dancer came to realize that his time at the top would be as fleeting as it was then absolute. Cohn's article, "Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night," was turned into a film in 1978 starring John Travolta and Karen Gorney. Titled Saturday Night Fever, the picture earned over $108 million by the end of the year (and was the first R-rated movie to top $100 million in rentals). By April, the soundtrack album had sold over ten million copies, making the two-disc set the largest-grossing album to that time. It in itself was a first-rate disco sampler, featuring old and new tracks by the Bee Gees, Kool and the Gang, K.C. and the Sunshine Band, the Trammps, MFSB, Walter Murphy, Tavares, Yvonne Elliman and others. The album spent a total of 24 weeks at number one and eventually sold more than 30 million copies, making it the largest-selling album of all time, until Michael Jackson's Thriller ultimately beat that sales figure six years later.

 

Styx's history began in Chicago in 1963 when twin brothers Chuck and John Panozzo learned to play bass and drums, respectively, and were joined by neighbor Dennis DeYoung on accordion. By 1970, the trio had added two guitarists and adopted their group name. "Lady," a three-year-old album cut, became their first Top 10 hit in 1975, and after that Styx could not be stopped. Their seventh album, The Grand Illusion, stayed on the charts almost two years, sold over three million copies, and featured their 1978 gold single, "Come Sail Away." Later that year, the album Pieces of Eight and a triumphant tour solidified their popularity, and in 1979, Styx struck again with their first number one single, "Babe."

 

Other Music Highlights of 1978:

• The Sex Pistols arrive in America for their first tour.
• Howard Stein's Xenon opens as an alternative to Studio 54 in New York.
• The Beatles parody All You Need Is Cash starring the Rutles (featuring Eric Idle and Neil Innes) airs on NBC-TV.
• The Doobie Brothers, Dave Mason, and Kansas are a few of the acts to perform at Canada's first major rock festival, Canada Jam, held in Ontario.
• Rick James leaves the Mynah Birds to go out as a solo performer.
• After three albums as a mostly instrumental progressive rock band, Journey decides to go for a mainstream sound by adding a vocalist, Steve Perry, who was discovered via a demo tape.
• Billy Joel's 52nd Street becomes his first number one album.
• New wave group Talking Heads enjoys its first hit album with More Songs About Buildings and Food.
• The movie soundtrack album Grease, holds the number one spot for 12 weeks.
• On Friday, October 13, Sid Vicious, former bass guitarist for the now defunct Sex Pistols, is arrested in New York and charged with the stabbing murder of his girlfriend, Nancy Spungen.

 

The Top 40 Singles of 1978:

1. "Night Fever" - Bee Gees (First chart appearance: 2/11/78; Highest position: #1)
2. "Shadow Dancing" - Andy Gibb (4/22/78; #1)
3. "Stayin' Alive" - Bee Gees (12/24/77; #1)
4. "Kiss You All Over" - Exile (8/5/78; #1)
5. "Three Times A Lady" - Commodores (7/8/78; #1)
6. "Boogie Oogie Oogie" - A Taste of Honey (7/22/78; #1)
7. "Baby Come Back" - Player (11/19/77; #1)
8. "Emotion" - Samantha Sang (1/7/78; #3)
9. "You're The One That I Want" - John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John (4/8/78; #1)
10. "Grease" - Frankie Valli (6/17/78; #1)
11. "Miss You" - The Rolling Stones (6/10/78; #1)
12. "Hot Child In The City" - Nick Gilder (8/5/78; #1)
13. "MacArthur Park" - Donna Summer (9/30/78; #1)
14. "How Deep Is Your Love" - Bee Gees (10/8/77; #1)
15. "Love Is Thicker Than Water" - Andy Gibb (12/10/77; #1)
16. "Lay Down Sally" - Eric Clapton (2/4/78; #3)
17. "Just The Way You Are" - Billy Joel (12/10/77; #3)
18. "Baker Street" - Gerry Rafferty (5/13/78; #2)
19. "If I Can't Have You" - Yvonne Elliman (2/25/78; #1)
20. "Can't Smile Without You" - Barry Manilow (2/18/78; #3)
21. "It's A Heartache" - Bonnie Tyler (4/22/78; #3)
22. "With A Little Luck" - Paul McCartney and Wings (4/8/78; #1)
23. "We Are The Champions/We Will Rock You" - Queen (11/26/77; #4)
24. "Sometimes When We Touch" - Dan Hill (12/24/77; #3)
25. "I Go Crazy" - Paul Davis (10/29/77; #7)
26. "Short People" - Randy Newman (12/10/77; #2)
27. "Too Much, Too Little, Too Late" - Johnny Mathis & Denice Williams (4/22/78; #1)
28. "Feels So Good" - Chuck Mangione (3/18/78; #4)
29. "You're In My Heart" - Rod Stewart (11/26/77; #4)
30. "You Needed Me" - Anne Murray (8/19/78; #1)
31. "Dance, Dance, Dance" - Chic (12/10/77; #6)
32. "Hot Blooded" - Foreigner (7/8/78; #3)
33. "Hopelessly Devoted To You" - Olivia Newton-John (7/22/78; #3)
34. "Love Is Like Oxygen" - Sweet (4/15/78; #8)
35. "Jack And Jill" - Raydio (2/11/78; #8)
36. "The Closer I Get To You" - Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway (3/18/78; #2)
37. "Dance With Me" - Peter Brown (5/6/78; #8)
38. "Reminiscing" - Little River Band (8/12/78; #3)
39. "Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad" - Meatloaf (4/29/78; #11)
40. "Last Dance" - Donna Summer (6/3/78; #3)

 

Top Albums of 1978:

Aja - Steely Dan  City To City - Gerry Rafferty  Even Now - Barry Manilow  Feels So Good - Chuck Mangione  The Grand Illusion - Styx  Grease - Soundtrack  52nd Street - Billy Joel  Live and More - Donna Summer  London Town - Wings  Point of Know Return - Kansas  Simple Dreams - Linda Ronstadt  Saturday Night Fever - Soundtrack  Slowhand - Eric Clapton  Some Girls - The Rolling Stones

 

20 Popular Movies of 1978:

Grease  Superman: The Movie  National Lampoon's Animal House  Every Which Way But Loose  Jaws 2  The Buddy Holly Story  American Hot Wax  The Cheap Detective  Coming Home  Days of Heaven  Death On The Nile  The Deer Hunter  Halloween  Midnight Express  Oliver's Story  FM  I Wanna Hold Your Hand  Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band  Thank God It's Friday  The Wiz

 

The Top 20 Television Shows of 1978:

Laverne & Shirley  Three's Company  Mork & Mindy  Happy Days  The Ropers  What's Happening!!  Alice  M*A*S*H  One Day at a Time  Taxi  60 Minutes  Charlie's Angels  Angie  Alice  All in the Family  WKRP in Cincinnati  Soap  Eight Is Enough  Barney Miller  CBS Sunday Night Movie

 

News Highlights of 1978:

• Leon Spinks takes the world heavyweight boxing championship from Muhammad Ali in Las Vegas
• In response to threats of a farm strike, President Carter proposes increasing federal aid to the nation's farmers.
• After testifying at his own obscenity charge, Larry Flynt, owner of Hustler magazine, is shot by a would-be assasin and critically wounded.
• In a Pennsylvania plant, the first American-made Volkswagen automobile rolls off the assembly line.
• Despite the Vatican's insistence that it is homicide, abortion is legalized in Italy.
• Princess Caroline of Monaco marries French businessman Philippe Junot.
• The Nuclear Regulatory Commission halts the construction of a nuclear power plant at Seabrook, New Hampshire, because of public opposition.
• The first "test tube baby" is born to a British couple. Fertilization was performed in a glass dish; the fertilized egg was then planted in the mother.
• More than 900 American followers of cult leader Jim Jones commit mass suicide at their compound in South America.
• George Moscone, the mayor of San Francisco, and Harvey Milk, a member of the board of supervisors, are murdered in their offices by another board member, Dan White.
• The opposition Sandinista Party demands the ouster of dictatorial President Anastasio Somoza Debayle as battling continues in Nicaragua.
• The joint winners of the Nobel Peace Prize are Israel's Prime Minister Begin and Egypt's President Sadat.

 

Sports Winners of 1978:

• Baseball: The New York Yankees beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 4 games to 2.
• Football: The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Dallas Cowboys 35-31 on January 21, 1979, at the Orange Bowl in Miami in Super Bowl XIII.
• Basketball: The Washington Bullets beat the Seattle Supersonics 4 games to 3.
• Hockey: The Montreal Canadiens beat the Boston Bruins 4 games to 2.