Episode 10 - "Your Birth Year Hot 100"

We're taking it all the way back to our roots

Here’s the thing about your birth year: it is intimately familiar knowledge. I’ve paused more than once when caught off-guard by a question about the year my daughter was born, but I’m pretty sure you could wake me from a dead sleep and I’d be able to say my birthday without hesitation.

But, at the same time, it is the year in your life you know the least about. And everything that you do know is secondhand, narrated to you by family or gleaned from photographs. A year known and unknown all at once.

The initial inspiration for this episode wasn’t quite so “thinky,” as my ex-wife used to say. Chatting with my friend Kristin about the podcast, she kind of wondered aloud what we might do with the challenge to make a list out of hits (having, dilletantes that we are, maybe some predilection for the esoteric). Personally, I love creative prompts with restrictions, so putting our heads together, we came up with the challenge of building a list from the Billboard Hot 100 of your birth year.

I joined in the fun with the DJs this time, so we have four curated lists: 1970, 1972, 1976, and 1977. And I can’t fully speak for the others, but for me, that known/unknown paradox carried through to list creation, as I found so many familiar tunes on my Hot 100 but also more that were completely new to me than I would have guessed.

And it is always fun to shake up the format a little. We hope you’ll agree.

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José's list:

The Temptations | Psychedelic Shack | Psychedelic Shack | 1970

Chicago | 25 or 6 to 4 | Chicago II | 1970

Freda Payne | Band Of Gold (Single Mix) | Band Of Gold | 1970

Eric Burdon and War | Spill The Wine | Eric Burdon Declares "War" | 1970

Shocking Blue | Venus | At Home | 1969

The Pipkins | Gimme Dat Ding | Gimme Dat Ding! | 1970

Dionne Warwick | I'll Never Fall in Love Again | I'll Never Fall in Love Again | 1970

Ronnie Dyson | (If You Let Me Make Love to You Then) Why Can't I Touch You? | (If You Let Me Make Love to You Then) Why Can't I Touch You? | 1970

The Five Starships | O-o-h child | Stairsteps | 1970

Four Tops | Still Water (Love) | Still Waters Run Deep | 1970

Jim's list:

War | Slippin' Into Darkness | All Day Music | 1971

Alice Cooper | School's Out | School's Out | 1972

T. Rex | Bang a Gong (Get It On) | Electric Warrior | 1971

Elvis Presley | Burning Love | Elvis (Fool) | 1972

Redbone | The Witch Queen of New Orleans | The Witch Queen of New Orleans (aka Message from a Drum) | 1971

Todd Rundgren | I Saw the Light | Something / Anything? | 1971

Jim Croce | You Don't Mess Around with Jim | You Don't Mess Around with Jim | 1972

The Main Ingredient | Everybody Plays the Fool | Bitter Sweet | 1972

Bill Withers | Lean on Me | Still Bill | 1972

Three Dog Night | Never Been To Spain | Harmony  | 1972

Rob's list:

Walter Murphy | A Fifth of Beethoven | A Fifth of Beethoven | 1976

Boz Scaggs | Lowdown | Silk Degrees | 1976

Diana Ross | Love Hangover | Diana Ross | 1976

Donna Summer | Love To Love You Baby - Single Version | Love to Love You Baby | 1975

KC & The Sunshine Band | That's the Way (I Like It) | KC & The Sunshine Band | 1975

Andrea True Connection | More, More, More | More, More, More | 1976

Rufus, Chaka Khan | Sweet Thing | Rufus featuring Chaka Khan | 1975

Rhythm Heritage | Theme From S.W.A.T. | Disco-fied | 1975

Wild Cherry | Play That Funky Music | Wild Cherry | 1976

Parliament | Give Up The Funk (Tear The Roof Off The Sucker) | Mothership Connection | 1975

Zach's list:

Marvin Gaye | Got To Give It Up, Pt. 1 | Got To Give It Up | 1977

Stevie Wonder | I Wish | Songs In The Key Of Life | 1976

The Spinners | The Rubberband Man | Happiness Is Being with the Spinners | 1976

Hall & Oates | Rich Girl | Bigger Than Both Of Us | 1976

James Taylor | Handy Man | JT | 1977

Kenny Rogers | Lucille | Kenny Rogers | 1977

Elvis Presley | Way Down | Moody Blue | 1977

Heart | Barracuda | Little Queen | 1977

Crosby, Stills & Nash | Just a Song Before I Go | CSN | 1977

Donna Summer | I Feel Love | I Remember Love | 1977

Next time, we bring in our first guest DJ and take on the theme “rigidity is death” - I have no freaking idea what the Djs will do with that, but I can’t wait to find out!