Max Picks …songs from 1979

1979

I hate that it’s the last year of the seventies. A great decade for music and a lot of cool things. Now the eighties are coming…

A masterpiece. I was 12 when this was released and it sounded timeless even then. It was a great song in 1979 and will be great in 2079. Not only are the words inventive but this was most people’s introduction to Mark Knopfler. I wasn’t a guitar player when I was 12 but I knew he was something special.

I’ve heard this one at what seems like a thousand times but I’ll always turn it up when it comes on the radio.

Blondie members Debbie Harry and Chris Stein wrote the first version of this song in early 1974, shortly after they first met. They didn’t have a proper title for the song, and would refer to it as “The Disco Song.”

Evidently finding words to rhyme to “glass” that fit in a song were… a pain in the ass. American radio at that time frowned on that rhyme. To ensure airplay stations were sent an edited version with the offending line replaced with “soon turned out I had a heart of glass.”

This was the first song I ever knew by the Clash when I heard it on the radio in 1980. The song is credited to Mick Jones and Joe Strummer like most Clash songs. Mick Jones takes the lead vocals in this one.

They started off as a punk band but The Clash, unlike some other Punk bands, could really play and sing well…, especially Mick Jones. He is was probably the best pure musician in the band.

This song was released in 1979  was one of many signs a change was coming in music.  Gary Numan on the inspiration of the song. “A couple of blokes started peering in the window and for whatever reason took a dislike to me, so I had to take evasive action. I swerved up the pavement, scattering pedestrians everywhere. After that, I began to see the car as the tank of modern society.”

Numan has stated that he has Asperger syndrome, which is a mild form of autism, but until he was diagnosed, he had a lot of trouble relating to other people.

I was never a huge disco fan but this song always meant a lot to me. I’m a huge baseball fan and my Dodgers really sucked in 1979. The Pirates on the other hand had a 39-year-old Willie Stargell leading them to a World Series championship and this is the song that will be forever linked to that year, team, and World Series. Here’s to Pops…Willie Stargell.

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

53 thoughts on “Max Picks …songs from 1979”

  2. Another great set of tunes! The Clash have been my favorite band for the last 40 years or so… Still love them as much today as I did as a kid! Sister Sledge on the other hand…if I never hear that one again, it’ll be too soon!

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    1. Yea I like the Clash also…Train in Vain is the song that got me hooked…The Sister Sledge song is connected with that year because of baseball…

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  3. Great year for music. Had a softball team I was on called the Sultans Of Swing. Didn’t know the backstory on Heart Of Glass but I recall that was a huge hit played just about everywhere…not just disco clubs!

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  4. Excellent choices. For sure ‘Sultans of Swing’ tops my list for that year, as you and others have said, it’s one I don’t get tired of – one of the few guitar solos that really appeals to me too. Great lyrics as well. And ‘Heart of Glass’ definitely too – for some weird reason, I still remember the first time I heard it – I was home, sick , wrapped up in blankets on the living room lounge chair and it came on on the radio and by about 45 seconds in, I was ‘Wow! What is this! This is very new and cool!’ . Love ‘Train in Vain’ too – bought it as a single – though I always tend to think of it, and the album itself as an ’80 one because it came out so late. Same goes for ‘Cars’ actually, another song that was just so different and cool but I typically think of as a 1980. I like the Sister Sledge, but wouldn’t be in my top 5 but so many others to choose from that could be – for me it would probably be a toss-up between one off ‘Breakfast in America’ (several great tracks there) and ‘Lotta Love’ by Nicolette Larson (and of course, written by ol’ Neil). But a year with plenty of fantastic options

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    1. Well with the Sister Sledge…Dave when I think of 1979…I think of that song because of the Pirates…I watched that World Series and it was drilled in my head…plus I wanted to get a disco song in somewhere.

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      1. I do remember the Pirates run that year and it being their theme song, probably a cool thing for the ladies in the band. It certainly was the year of disco, I’d say (well, it and 1978 too). Good choices anyway and how nice to have a year when there are SO many good ones … probably not going to be a problem when you get to say, 2017!

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      2. Oh…I’m stopping it in 1995 I think….that is the longest I’ll go…I’m not going past then…it’s too barren. That will cover 30 years exactly from 55-95

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      1. Yes I agree… We Are Family was pure sentimental… I completely missed Cheap Trick I Want You To Want Me.
        I like all of those songs you said.

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  6. I still like “Sultans of Swing”. I remember hearing it for the first time and wondering who that guitarist was. Great tone, no extraneous notes, nothing flashy, but clearly virtuosic.

    The Gary Numan song epitomizes for me all that was wrong with music from this era. Most of it could have been written and performed by machines while the musicians went out back for a cigarette. Synthesized, repetitive, boring. Futuristic like a bad sci-fi movie.

    This was also the year of “My Sharona”. I am not going to praise that song, but I have a story. Bicycling Magazine had a contest to tell them why you wanted a particular bike. The winner would get the bike they asked for. Ben Serotta is a bike builder in New York. He made bikes for the famous 7-11 team. I wrote a parody of “My Sharona”, called “My Serotta” so they would give me one of his bikes. It didn’t work.

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    1. Some of these songs were sentimental to me because of different reasons…but the best of the lot was Sultans of Swing. I did like the Knack as well…
      That is too bad on the bike! That would have been really cool. I would guess those bikes are worth a lot now.

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  7. Another great selection.
    I saw Gary Numan in 1979 – I wasn’t too sure what to expect, but he was a pleasant surprise.
    (Also, I discovered through a contributor to Once Upon a Time in The Seventies, who I used to kick about with as a kid, though he was a few years older that Mark Knopfler lived in the same street as us! (Well, he moved away with his parent when he was about 3 years old, and my family didn’t move into the street for another year or so … but we’re still claiming him! ) 😉 😀

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  8. Pingback: December 14 – Perplexed By Piggly Wiggly? – A Sound Day

  10. ‘Sultans’ is my clear choice from this bunch. I was using it the other day to highlight how masterful the guitar playing is. I saw a documentary of Mark Knophler’s making of Shangri La last night. I couldn’t recommend it more highly especially for you Max.

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    1. It is the most classic song of the bunch…the Car song is the one that had the most impact on the future…I like it but it opened the door to the 80s synths

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  11. Ah! Now ‘Cars’ makes sense to me sound-wise. From what I know about it this song sums up someone in/on the spectrum- distant vocal delivery, music somehow remote if not robotic. This post helped the penny drop in this songs case.
    Seems I can learn something new every day.

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  14. All good picks. My favorites are Dire Straits and Clash. I also still like that Blondie song.

    Dire Straits would definitely be on my list for ‘79 as well, while Clash would be a strong contender. Not sure who else. I would need to conduct some research!😀

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  15. Excellent playlist, Max! Love every one of them. Danced a lot to “We are Family” Met my now ex-husband that year. Things didn’t work out for us, but we made two wonderful children together.

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    1. Oh that would have been really cool! I would have liked to see Country Joe… I always wanted to go to Red Rocks in Colorado…. there is one big band I missed in this one…Cheap Trick…dang it!

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  19. Hey Max Thanks for these articles on music of the past (my past btw) but it would be really helpful if you would give us the names of the songs you’re writing about. You’re just telling us ABOUT the song but please include a title… it’s frustrating. Thanks. GB

    >

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    1. Gary…. are you the Gary Bellucci that owned one of my families guitars? You may just have the same name.
      You are totally right…I usually at least make them in bold…but I’ll start putting them at the beginning of each one….sorry about that.

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      1. Hi Max,
        Yes, I am indeed the same Gary Bellucci. I’m impressed that you remember. I had that beautiful serial #3 electric for 50 years. It was my only electric and appeared with me on every stage that was worth playing on; from bars and lounges all the way up to the best country clubs and resorts on Long Island. I’m 74 now and no longer active in music. I recently sold off my recording/music production studio and moved to Vermont with my wife of 23 years. I have dozens of photos of all my bands (from 8 piece fusion bands, 7 piece brass bands, 4 piece hard rock, 4 piece pop, 2piece using self made backing tracks and even a solo venture using the same setup) and the Gower was with me for most of it. Earlier this year I decided that it needed to continue making music and sold it to a guitarist (also from NY) who values its history and quality.
        Thanks for your Powerpop articles, it’s always interesting learning the backstory of the music i grew up with. Keep up the good work!
        Gary B

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      2. I’m so glad it worked well for you and that someone has it now that will enjoy and appreciate it.
        Did I tell you that my cousin gave me the “sister” of that guitar? Both guitars were built out of the same block of mahogany. Mine is identical. The reason my uncle never sold it was that he sanded the neck a little too much. Mine has a neck that is comparable to a Mosrite (I think thats the name) guitar. We are going to replace the truss rod with a titanium one. I love the feel of it and it has the original pickups…it sounds great but the new truss rod will stregthen it.
        Thank you for reading my blog by the way. I have a lot of fun doing it. I was a second generation Beatles fan and while my peers were listening to top 40 in the 80s… I stuck with guitar music from the 60s and 70s for the most part.
        You may have seen this but I got some family members to help….here is a write up on Gower Guitars. Thanks Again Gary for following me.

        Gower Guitars

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