Best Songs of 1977
For these year-end lists, I like to undertake the seemingly impossibly task of creating an hours-long mix. The order you see below represents that effort, which you can listen to via Spotify and Apple Music. Sadly all 100 tracks aren't available, but you get the general idea. Track notes to come eventually or maybe never.
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Like a Hurricane
Neil Young
American Stars ’N Bars
Reprise
Notes
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“Heroes”
David Bowie
“Heroes”
RCA
Notes
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Lust for Life
Iggy Pop
Lust for Life
RCA
Notes
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Anarchy in the U.K.
Sex Pistols
Nevermind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols
Warner Bros.
Notes
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(I’m) Stranded
The Saints
(I’m) Stranded
Sire
Notes
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Career Opportunities
The Clash
The Clash
Epic
U.K. version
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In the City
The Jam
In the City
Polydor
Notes
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Fall Out
The Police
Fallout / Nothing Achieving
A&M
UK release
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You’re No Fun
The Scruffs
“Wanna’ Meet the Scruffs?”
Power Play
Notes
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Let It Go, Let It Flow
Dave Mason
Let It Flow
Columbia
Notes
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Baby Hold On
Eddie Money
Eddie Money
Columbia
Notes
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Give a Little Bit
Supertramp
Even in the Quietest Moments
A&M
Notes
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Watch the Moon Come Down
Graham Parker & The Rumour
Stick to Me
EMI
Notes
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Dancing in the Moonlight (It’s Caught Me in Its Spotlight)
Thin Lizzy
Bad Reputation
Mercury
Notes
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Watching the Detectives
Elvis Costello
My Aim Is True
Stiff
Notes
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Three Little Birds
Bob Marley & The Wailers
Exodus
Island
Notes
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Slip Slidin’ Away
Paul Simon
Greatest Hits, Etc
Columbia
Notes
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Just the Way You Are
Billy Joel
The Stranger
Columbia
Notes
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Jolanta
Earl Klugh
Finger Paintings
Blue Note
Notes
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Birdland
Weather Report
Heavy Weather
Columbia
Notes
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Fantasy
Earth, Wind & Fire
All ’n All
Columbia
Notes
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Best of My Love
Emotions
Rejoice
Columbia
Notes
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Do Your Dance
Rose Royce
Rose Royce II: In Full Bloom
Whitfield
Notes
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Everybody Dance
Chic
Chic
Atlantic
Notes
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I Feel Love
Donna Summer
I Remember Yesterday
Casablanca
Notes
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Metal on Metal
Kraftwerk
Trans-Europe Express
Capitol
Notes
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Ghost Rider
Suicide
Suicide
Red Star
Notes
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Wide Boys
Ultravox
Ultravox!
Island
Notes
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Strange
Wire
Pink Flag
Harvest
1978 US release
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Neat Neat Neat
The Damned
Damned Damned Damned
Stiff
Notes
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Rockaway Beach
Ramones
Rocket to Russia
Sire
Notes
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Orgasm Addict
Buzzcocks
Orgasm Addict 7"
United Artists
Notes
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Blank Generation
Richard Hell & The Voidoids
Blank Generation
Sire
Notes
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See No Evil
Television
Marquee Moon
Elektra
Notes
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Sugar and Spice
Split Enz
Dizrythmia
Chrysalis
Notes
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Forever Young
Sparks
Introducing Sparks
Columbia
Notes
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Sleepwalker
The Kinks
Sleepwalker
Arista
Notes
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Hot Legs
Rod Stewart
Foot Loose & Fancy Free
Warner Bros.
Notes
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Gamblin’ Man
Bonnie Raitt
Sweet Forgiveness
Warner Bros.
Notes
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C’est La Vie
Emmylou Harris
Luxury Liner
Warner Bros.
Notes
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Ramblin’ Fever
Merle Haggard
Ramblin’ Fever
MCA
Notes
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East Bound and Down
Jerry Reed
Smokey and the Bandit
MCA
Notes
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Luckenbach, Texas (Back to the Basics of Love)
Waylon Jennings
Ol’ Waylon
Capitol
Notes
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Southern Nights
Glen Campbell
Southern Nights
Capitol
Notes
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Ten Years of This
Gary Stewart
Your Place or Mine
RCA
Notes
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Here You Come Again
Dolly Parton
Here You Come Again
RCA
Notes
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I Never Go Around Mirrors
Willie Nelson
To Lefty From Willie
Columbia
Notes
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Richland, Washington
James Talley
Ain’t It Somethin’
Capitol
Notes
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All I Want Is You
Barry Louis Polisar
My Brother Thinks He’s a Banana
Rainbow Morning Music Alternatives
Notes
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Help Me Somebody
NRBQ
All Hopped Up
Red Rooster
Notes
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Let This Be a Lesson to Ya
The Gregg Allman Band
Playin’ Up a Storm
Capricorn
Notes
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One More Time
Lynyrd Skynrd
Street Survivors
MCA
Notes
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Pacific Ocean Blues
Dennis Wilson
Pacific Ocean Blue
Caribou
Notes
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I Was Only Telling a Lie
James Taylor
JT
Columbia
Notes
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American Girl
Roger McGuinn
Thunderbyrd
Columbia
Notes
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Poor, Poor Pitiful Me
Linda Ronstadt
Simple Dreams
Asylum
Notes
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Heard It in a Love Song
The Marshall Tucker Band
Carolina Dreams
Capricorn
Notes
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Smoke From a Distant Fire
Sanford & Townsend
Smoke From a Distant Fire
Warner Bros.
Notes
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Cheeseburger in Paradise
Jimmy Buffett
Son of a Son of a Sailor
Dunhill
Notes
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Short People
Randy Newman
Little Criminals
Warner Bros.
Notes
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I Can’t Hold On
Karla Bonoff
Karla Bonoff
Columbia
Notes
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Waitin’ for the Night
The Runaways
Waitin’ for the Night
Mercury
Notes
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Barracuda
Heart
Little Queen
Portrait
Notes
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Oh Bondage, Up Yours!
X-Ray Spex
Oh Bondage, Up Yours! / I Am a Cliché
Virgin
Notes
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X Offender
Blondie
Blondie
Private Stock
Notes
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Psycho Killer
Talking Heads
Talking Heads ’77
Sire
Notes
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Zombie
Fela Kuti
Zombie
Celluloid
Notes
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I Don’t Love You Anymore
Teddy Pendergrass
Teddy Pendergrass
Philadelphia International
Notes
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Ain’t Gonna Bump No More (With No Big Fat Woman)
Joe Tex
Bumps & Bruises
Epic
Notes
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Peg
Steely Dan
Aja
MCA
Notes
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Footsteps in the Dark (Parts 1 & 2)
The Isley Brothers
Go for Your Guns
T-Neck
Notes
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You Gotta Make It Through the World
Van Morrison
A Period of Transition
Warner Bros.
Notes
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Feel the Need
The Detroit Emeralds
Feel the Need
Westbound
Notes
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Star Wars Theme/Cantina Band
Meco
Star Wars Theme/Cantina Band
Millennium
Notes
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Stayin’ Alive
Bee Gees
Saturday Night Fever
RSO
Notes
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Easy
Commodores
Commodores
Motown
Notes
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Wonderful Tonight
Eric Clapton
Slowhand
RSO
Notes
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Dreams
Fleetwood Mac
Rumours
Reprise
Notes
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Float On
The Floaters
The Floaters
ABC
Notes
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Loving You
Al Green
The Belle Album
Hi
Notes
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The Closer I Get to You
Roberta Flack
Blue Lights in the Basement
Atlantic
Notes
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Vitamin U
Smokey Robinson
Deep in My Soul
Tamla
Notes
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Lovely Day
Bill Withers
Menagerie
Columbia
Notes
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Strawberry Letter 23
The Brothers Johnson
Right on Time
A&M
Notes
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Galaxy
War
Galaxy
MCA
Notes
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Flash Light
Parliament
Funkentelechy vs. The Placebo Syndrome
Island
Notes
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Slide
Slave
Slave
Cotillion
Notes
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(Every Time I Turn Around) Back in Love Again
L.T.D.
Something to Love
A&M
Notes
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Time Loves a Hero
Little Feat
Time Loves a Hero
Warner Bros.
Notes
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Guilding the Lily
Jesse Winchester
Nothing But a Breeze
Bearsville
Notes
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Running on Empty
Jackson Browne
Running on Empty
Asylum
Notes
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Come Sail Away
Styx
The Grand Illusion
A&M
Notes
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Jet Airliner
Steve Miller Band
Book of Dreams
Capitol
Notes
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Southern Girls
Cheap Trick
In Color
Epic
Notes
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Mr. Blue Sky
Electric Light Orchestra
Out of the Blue
Jet
Notes
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Cold As Ice
Foreigner
Foreigner
Atlantic
Notes
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We Are the Champions
Queen
News of the World
Elektra
Notes
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Mull of Kintyre
Wings
Mull of Kintyre
Capitol
Notes
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Solsbury Hill
Peter Gabriel
Peter Gabriel
Atco
Notes
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Dancing
John Martyn
One World
Island
Notes