Best Songs of 1979
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—just 5 short!—but you get the general idea. Track notes to come eventually or maybe never.
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Don’t Stop ’Til You Get Enough
Michael Jackson
Off the Wall
Epic
Notes
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Funkytown
Lipps Inc.
Mouth to Mouth
Casablanca
Notes
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Cars
Gary Numan
The Pleasure Principle
ATCO
Notes
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Are ‘Friends’ Electric?
Tubeway Army
Replicas
ATCO
Notes
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Transmission
Joy Division
Transmission 7"
Factory
Notes
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Out of Control
U2
Three
CBS
Notes
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Sound of the Suburbs
The Members
At the Chelsea Night Club
Virgin
Notes
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Rock ’N’ Roll High School
Ramones
Rock ’N’ Roll High School
Sire
Notes
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Let Me Take Your Foto
The Speedies
Let Me Take Your Foto 7"
Golden Disc Records
Notes
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Rhythm of Cruelty
Magazine
Secondhand Daylight
Virgin
Notes
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Channel 13
Student Teachers
Christmas Weather 7"
Ork
Notes
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Looking for Love
Lou Reed
The Bells
Arista
Notes
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Fairytale in the Supermarket
The Raincoats
The Raincoats
Rough Trade
Notes
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Typical Girls
The Slits
Cut
Island
Notes
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Dreaming
Blondie
Eat to the Beat
Chrysalis
Notes
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Boys Don’t Cry
The Cure
Boys Don’t Cry 7"
Fiction
Notes
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Why Can’t I Touch It?
Buzzcocks
Everybody’s Happy Nowadays 7"
United Artists
Notes
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Goodbye Girl
Squeeze
Cool for Cats
A&M
Notes
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Making Plans for Nigel
XTC
Drums and Wires
Virgin
Notes
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Damaged Goods
Gang of Four
Entertainment!
Warner Bros.
Notes
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Train in Vain
The Clash
London Calling
Epic
Notes
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Bring on the Night
The Police
Reggatta de Blanc
A&M
Notes
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It’s Up to You
The Specials
The Specials
2-Tone
Notes
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People Say
The Go-Betweens
People Say 7"
The Able Label
Notes
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Saturday’s Kids
The Jam
Setting Sons
Polydor
Notes
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I See Red
Split Enz
Frenzy
A&M
Notes
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Map Ref 41 Degrees N 93 Degrees W
Wire
154
Warner Bros.
Notes
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Leppo and the Jooves
The Soft Boys
A Can of Bees
Two Crabs Universal
UK release
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I Don’t Like Mondays
The Boomtown Rats
The Fine Art of Surfacing
Columbia
Notes
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Sailing
Christopher Cross
Christopher Cross
Warner Bros.
Notes
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Jane
Jefferson Starship
Freedom at Point Zero
Grunt
Notes
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Rock ’N’ Roll Fantasy
Bad Company
Desolation Angels
Swan Song
Notes
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No Surprize
Aerosmith
Night in the Ruts
Columbia
Notes
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Beautiful Girls
Van Halen
Van Halen II
Warner Bros.
Notes
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Highway to Hell
AC/DC
Highway to Hell
Epic
Notes
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Do Anything You Want to Do
Thin Lizzy
Black Rose: A Rock Legend
Warner Bros.
Notes
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Into the Valley
Skids
Scared to Dance
Virgin
Notes
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Smash It Up Parts 1 & 2
The Damned
Machine Gun Etiquette
Chiswick
UK release
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Cool
Pylon
Cool / Dub 7"
dB Recs
Notes
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Rock Lobster
The B-52’s
The B-52’s
Warner Bros.
Notes
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Mind Your Own Business
Delta 5
Mind Your Own Business 7"
Rough Trade
Notes
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Life During Wartime
Talking Heads
Fear of Music
Sire
Notes
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Hot Stuff
Donna Summer
Bad Girls
Casablanca
Notes
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Ring My Bell
Anita Ward
Songs of Love
Juana
Notes
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Wanna Dance
Lee Fields
Let’s Talk It Over
Angle 3
Reissued by Truth & Soul in 2013
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Can’t Let Go
Earth, Wind & Fire
I Am
Columbia
Notes
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Haven’t You Heard
Patrice Rushen
Pizzazz
Elektra
Notes
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Strut Your Funky Stuff
Frantique
Frantique
Philadelphia International
Notes
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Rapper’s Delight
The Sugarhill Gang
Rapper’s Delight 12"
Sugar Hill
Notes
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Good Times
Chic
Risqué
Atlantic
Notes
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Door of the Cosmos
Sun Ra and His Arkestra
Sleeping Beauty
El Saturn
Notes
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Broken English
Marianne Faithfull
Broken English
Island
Notes
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Dream Baby Dream
Suicide
Dream Baby Dream 12"
Island
Notes
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Baby
Donnie & Joe Emerson
Dreamin’ Wild
self-released
2012 Light in the Attic reissue
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Hammond Song
The Roches
The Roches
Warner Bros.
Notes
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Wondering Where the Lions Are
Bruce Cockburn
Dancing in the Dragon’s Jaws
True North
Notes
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Get It Right Next Time
Gerry Rafferty
Night Owl
United Artists
Notes
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Thirteen Days
J.J. Cale
5
Shelter/MCA
Notes
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Gotta Serve Somebody
Bob Dylan
Slow Train Coming
Columbia
Notes
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I Ain’t Got No Business Doin’ Business Today
Razzy Bailey
If Love Had a Face
RCA
Notes
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Your Good Thing (Is About to End)
Bonnie Raitt
The Glow
Warner Bros.
Notes
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Escape (The Piña Colada Song)
Rupert Holmes
Partners in Crime
Infinity
Notes
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Look at Me
Priceless
Love in Your Life / Look at Me 7"
Decimal
Reissued in 2014 on Wheedle’s Groove Volume II
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Angel Eyes
Roxy Music
Manifesto
ATCO
UK release
-
D.J.
David Bowie
Lodger
RCA
Notes
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Don’t Bring Me Down
Electric Light Orchestra
Discovery
Jet
Notes
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Let’s Go
The Cars
Candy-O
Elektra
Notes
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Way of the World
Cheap Trick
Dream Police
Epic
Notes
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Shadow of a Doubt (A Complex Kid)
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
Damn the Torpedoes
MCA
Notes
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My Sharona
The Knack
Get the Knack
Capitol
Notes
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She’s in Love With You
Suzi Quatro
Suzi… and Other Four Letter Words
RSO
Notes
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Just Another Night
Ian Hunter
You’re Never Alone With a Schizophrenic
Chrysalis
Notes
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Low Budget
The Kinks
Low Budget
Arista
Notes
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Arrow Through Me
Wings
Back to the Egg
Columbia
Notes
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I Need a Lover
John Cougar
John Cougar
Mercury
Notes
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Nobody Hurts You
Graham Parker & The Rumour
Squeezing Out Sparks
Arista
Notes
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Full Force Gale
Van Morrison
Into the Music
Warner Bros.
Notes
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I Know I’m Not Wrong
Fleetwood Mac
Tusk
Warner Bros.
Notes
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Cruel to Be Kind
Nick Lowe
Labour of Lust
Columbia
Notes
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(What’s So Funny ’Bout) Peace, Love & Understanding
Elvis Costello & the Attractions
Armed Forces
Columbia
Notes
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It’s Different for Girls
Joe Jackson
I’m the Man
A&M
Notes
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Three Times (See Me, Say It, Listen)
Shoes
Present Tense
Elektra
Notes
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Comfortably Numb
Pink Floyd
The Wall
Capitol
Notes
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My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue)
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
Rust Never Sleeps
Reprise
Notes
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Dancing Barefoot
Patti Smith Group
Wave
Arista
Notes
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The Guests
Leonard Cohen
Recent Songs
Columbia
Notes
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Rainbow Connection
Kermit the Frog
The Muppet Movie
Atlantic
Notes
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Blow Away
George Harrison
George Harrison
Dark Horse
Notes
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Chuck E’s in Love
Rickie Lee Jones
Rickie Lee Jones
Warner Bros.
Notes
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I Can’t Tell You Why
Eagles
The Long Run
Asylum
Notes
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Sexy Eyes
Dr. Hook
Sometimes You Win
Capitol
Notes
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I’m a Sucker for Your Love
Teena Marie
Wild and Peaceful
Motown
Notes
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Ladies Night
Kool and The Gang
Ladies’ Night
De-Lite
Notes
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And the Beat Goes On
The Whispers
The Whispers
Solar
Notes
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Knock on Wood
Amii Stewart
Knock on Wood
Ariola Records America
Notes
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I Love You
A Taste of Honey
Another Taste of Honey
Capitol
Notes
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I Love You More
George Duke
Master of the Game
Epic
Notes
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I Wanna Be Your Lover
Prince
Prince
Warner Bros.
Notes
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We Are Family
Sister Sledge
We Are Family
Cotillion
Notes
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Take the Long Way Home
Supertramp
Breakfast in America
A&M
Notes