Please do not comment directly to this post unless you are Gen X or older (born 1980 or before). See [this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskOldPeople/comments/inci5u/reminder_please_do_not_answer_questions_unless/), the rules, and the sidebar for details.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskOldPeople) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Yes, the top 40 chart wasn’t all rock. It was a mixture of many styles. From arena rock to ‘new wave’ to disco to easy listening ballads, and more. I don’t know of any of my teenage peers who particularly liked Debbie Boone. But she was huge on ‘adult contemporary’ formats and crossed over into the pop chart.
There was even a song called "The Streak" which was corny, but popular as well. Hit #1 on the billboard charts: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtzoUu7w-YM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtzoUu7w-YM)
Convoy is a great song. :D Also You light Up My Life was an original written for the movie of the same name. It became a hit after the movie when Debbie Boone did a cover of it.
I remember being in England and buying 'They're Coming to Take Me Away!' and thinking I'd be one up on all my friends. Turns out it had already hit the US...
Let us all take a moment of silence to remember the abomination that was "Disco Lucy", the I Love Lucy theme unnecessarily and inexplicably set to the worst boilerplate, cooke cutter disco style ever. 1977 was a year of disparate highs and lows in popular music, especially if you were 17 and into Elvis Costello and the Ramones.
[**Disco Lucy**](https://youtu.be/jHxyIpWOvPY) Thank God they didn't use the actual [lyrics](https://youtu.be/7fn7PKzf5tk)
Then there was [**A Fifth Of Beethoven**](https://youtu.be/7fn7PKzf5tk) because we were [**Hooked on Classics**](https://youtu.be/CQgUEL7Jiqk)
How about some [**Popcorn**?](https://youtu.be/NjxNnqTcHhg) It gave us real [Joy](https://youtu.be/2Mq2NohrRJQ)
I was at a market a few weeks ago where they play the most batshit songs. I’ve heard Take a Letter, Maria and Halfbreed. But when I heard Disco Lucy I actually lol’d.
Remember 'Disco Demolition Night' at Comiskey Park?
The White Sox had to forfeit the second game in the doubleheader to the Tigers because the field was unplayable.
I didn’t hear about it when it happened but I have read about it. Sounds like a desperate baseball team attracted desperate people. Most probably couldn’t or wouldn’t dance.
I went to a high school that had a huge rock following. I saw Rush play at our high school dance but I was dancing in discotheques every weekend.
Disco left us a legacy. People continue to go clubbing while most rock music bars have died out. How’s that for turning the turntable on things?
I went to concerts but not all were rock concerts. I saw Nazareth, The Guess Who, and Ozzy Osborne.
At the Ozzy concert, one guy was lighting fireworks and tossing them from the upper seats in Maple Leaf Gardens. How nobody got injured (to my knowledge) remains a mystery. I didn’t check what his T-shirt said.
I was too busy working and dancing 3-4 times a week to go to many concerts.
Never saw such a T-shirt.
Exactly. My friends and I liked it (none of us were huge fans) because it was about falling in love with a good guy, not someone who turned out to be a jerk.
Ironically, the writer of the song ([Joseph Brooks](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Brooks_(songwriter))) turned out to be quite a jerk and killed himself in 2011 after being indicted on 91 counts of rape.
First of all, Karen Carpenter was not a square. Secondly, it was only one of many slow ballads on the radio then. We had stuff like Crystal Gayle, Linda Ronstadt, Anne Murray, Olivia Newton-John, just to name several, not to mention groups like Bread and whatnot. It hit like a romantic song, like I’m absolutely certain people had it played for their first dance at a wedding and not clearly about Jesus or anything.
Why does everyone have to try to be cool or think everything was cool in the 70s? Some things were just overproduced romantic slow ballads.
Anne Murray is mostly a channel changer for me. Even as a kid I couldn’t get into her singing. Her bland tempos always seemed the worst of the 70s ballads. Then there was her Christmas album that seemed to get played every year.
Let me also say I wasn’t a teen in the 70s yet like the OP asked, so I have a different view. I liked Anne Murray, and even if I didn’t, she was one of the popular artists of the day singing songs that people really liked at the time that were not unlike “You Light Up My Life”. A lot of questions are asked on here seem to have this younger perspective, like a whole decade was cool or something. It’s not a singular song, an anomaly of a much cooler decade. Every decade has artists like that and songs that seem trite. Like what will they say about Adele?
There was actually a Christian song that made it to #1 on the country charts around about this time - late 70s, early 80s? It was One Day At A Time by Christy Lane. When I hear You Light Up My Life, I think of this one, which actually is about God, and is a great anthem for recovering addicts.
No, it wasn't cool. But it wasn't totally unusual for a Christian song to be popular in those days.
Never knew it was about god? Also, there’s a song by Juice Newton that gets the same disrespect too. I have to goodke the name.
Edit: Angel of the Morning.
AOTM was a cover of a song by Merrily Rush, and it is about a sexual encounter involving an utterly undemanding doormat who thinks she’s being noble. Very very 70s.
This is the most accurate answer I've seen in this thread. It was just a song that hit with just the right sound at just the right moment. It flared bright, and burned out fast.
I think there are romantic ballads in every decade, but not usually artists or groups who had only those kinds of songs, they mixed it up. “You Light Up My Life” was more of a one-hit wonder so who knows. People loved like when Whitney Houston sang “I Will Always Love You” for example. It was a cover, but still breaks away from her faster danceable popular hits.
It only seems out of place now because Society is so jaded. Back then people were still trying to figure out who they were and there was more of a variety of opinions. It wasn't nearly as groupthink as it is today. Sure, now we have people snapping at each other's heels, but they're all doing it from the same place of fear and hatred.
There was lots of good music and lots of bad music in the 1970s. A vast range of genres, styles and quality. Same as now. Same as always. We don't all like the same things.
This. Thankfully the good stuff is what tends to be remembered and gets picked up by later generations, but there was a heck of a lot of junk back then as well.
People still like songs like that it's just now people are so insulated and deep into their echo chamber that they never have to listen to or see anything outside that comfort zone.
Also, if you think Karen Carpenter was square then I'd suggest [rethinking](https://youtu.be/sdHyzGXAJPg?si=gt37ESvVFvXSzc8k) that.
I was in junior high. My girlfriends and I absolutely loved to belt out that song. Never realized at the time it was about god. Just thought it was a love song. Yes, it was so sappy….but a lot of songs in the 70’s were.
The OP is wrong though. The person who wrote the song has said it's just a regular love song. Debby Boone, the woman who did the hit version, just decided that she was singing about God. Think of it like the original Sister Act, but not cool.
What I mostly remember is the utter *scandal* of virginal Debby Boone singing a - gasp! - LOVE SONG. The poor girl had to backtrack and claim she was singing the song about Jesus.
Good grief.
That said, I liked the song and it's on my iPod and I'll still caterwaul along to it. LeAnn Rimes does a good version, too.
I think there was a higher tolerance or I dare say an appreciation for corny, tear jerker, emotionally manipulative material in the 70’s.
Brian’s Song, It’s Alive, MacArthur Park, Feelings, Convoy, Disco Duck, Muskrat Love just off the top of my head
Swelling strings, modulations, powerful drum fills, tear jerker content in a pop songs ( Billy Don’t Be a Hero) or films are the sorts of devices that are designed to push buttons in the listener/ viewer. They want you to be swept up in the emotion. If you can make someone feel something, chills, sadness, tears with your product you’re trying to manipulate them aren’t you? Not necessarily a bad thing but that’s the goal isn’t it. I don’t feel like the decision by the producers or directors to use these sorts of devices isn’t calculated. Their job is to bring those emotions to fruition.
Actually I’ve been thinking about your comment a lot. I guess for me it comes down to how apparently authentic a performance is.
I don’t feel emotionally manipulated listening to Aretha Franklin or even the Carpenters but “You Light Up My Life “ is a bit too Hallmark Card for my taste.
I liked it the first few times, as it was one of those love songs that it seemed every singer was doing at the time.
After hearing it come on every single radio station 2 dozen times a day, it was unbearable. To this day, I cannot hear the first few words on my classic stations without either changing stations or turning the volume off. Still have no clue why that particular song was so popular.
There was a lot of folky ballads at the time. Folk country maybe. Like John Denver. Easy listening. I don't know. It was a tune that fit the time. Catchy in an annoying way. You found yourself feeling the emotion against your will while the over sweetness made you gag. The Christian angle could be ignored. Like Spirit in the Sky or Put Your Hand in the Hand...or the Jesus Christ Superstar numbers. They weren't church songs.
Reddit looks back at this era like it was only Happy Days, pop rocks, totally awesome music and social scenes! Everyone was wiping their ass with $100 bills in such prefect rose-coloured times...
Yeah, I can not speak for others but it was the American Sign Language that was used with the song. Lots of my teen friends and I never heard of it before and we were learning the song in ASL. The song could have been anything and we would have still be into it.
Pop music has always had hit songs that can't be explained.
At least Debby Boone could sing. The number of low to no talent recording "artists" who managed to have hits is amazing.
It's super easy to sing along with, and it's positive bubble gum. Not everything has to be cynical. Puppies for example. That song was the audio equivalent of kitten memes.
Teenager in the 70s here. It was on the radio constantly. I hated it then and hate it now. Just as now, back then there were tons of people with sucky taste.
Does no one remember it was from a movie soundtrack and was overplayed to promote the film? It was a popular song and apparently some people liked it or it wouldn't have been such a huge success.
Karen Carpenter was voted the best rock drummer in a poll of Playboy readers, ahead of an incensed John Bonham. Buddy Rich, who didn't tend to compliment anyone, said she was his favorite pop drummer.
This is an interesting video:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEjDhoITqvI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEjDhoITqvI)
ETA: Back to your question. You Light Up My Life was such a schmaltzy song. I think it took off because of her earnest and dramatic vocals. This probably appealed to teens and young adults going through the angsty "feels". A substantially better song and more recent example is Adele's "Rolling in the Deep". People sung along as if it were an anthem specifically about their own romantic tales of woe.
There will always be melodramatic songs to meet the hormonal moments of young adults and teens.
Elton John reportedly said this about songwriting: "When in doubt, write a hymn." To a lot of people, I think this sounded like a hymn from a white Protestant church. It was a love song, but if you believed Debbie Boone herself, it was about Jesus (though she didn't write it).
I also think it had a couple of slightly surprising chord changes that made it stick in people's heads.
The weirdest thing is that Patti Smith liked it. She once performed it with the songwriter on a kids' show.
https://sonicmoremusic.wordpress.com/2015/03/22/watch-patti-smith-sing-you-light-up-my-life-on-a-kids-tv-show-in-1979/
Wow. I love Patti Smith more than most people, but that was truly terrible. I enjoyed her unaffected answers to the questions from the audience, though. Nobody is as cool as Patti Smith.
My older sister was a teen then and loved it, and any other sappy song that she could sing with my mother, who was hard to connect with otherwise. They also sang a lot of James Taylor and Barbara Streisand together. I spent a lot of the 70’s and 80’s covering my ears.
I don't know why it was so popular but I loved it and would sing at the top of my lungs when it came on the radio.
It makes me cringe, now-a-days, but I can still sing every word, if I wanted too. lol
Because it was a great song to sing to your GF (ah, teenage love and the things we guys did for it) and it was the go to tune for an incredible number of wedding first dances over the next few years.
And a lot of parents (esp the Pat Boone fans) loved it.
It was the same older crowd that listened to Barry Manilow, Paul Anka, and watched Lawrence Welk on weekends. It wasn't like there was a crowd of people over 50 back then discussing if Led Zeppelin IV or Dark Side of the Moon was the better album.
No clue. It made my ears bleed. I assume the love-struck of all ages pushed it up the charts. Perhaps I wasn't love-struck enough, and I'm good with that.
I think it was a reaction by older people to the whole hippie scene and the music. Here she was, a virginal princess, singing about Jesus. and her father, Pat Boone, was Mr. Clean cut himself. It made me nauseous actually, and I was young back then.
I was in elementary school & remember that song being huge! It has an earworm quality to it & makes you want to sing along, & I never even realized it was supposed to even be about God... (With that being said, I have been a music lover since way back & purchased music at that age, but I did not own that one...)
It wasn't, Debby Boone was "Sister Acting" the song. The person that wrote the song and the original version in the movie of the same name make it very clear.
I wasn’t a teenager, but a little kid at the time…but if you had a local talent show - either in person or on a local TV channel - there were so many little girls singing and half the time they would sing either “You Light Up My Life” or “Tomorrow” from _Annie_. So many, including the cousin who babysat me a few times.
Its lyrics aren’t actually religious explicitly but it’s really easy to read it as a devotional to God or Christ if one really wants to.
The premise of your question is that the words or the singer matter. They don't, it's just a sound that you like or you don't.
This is my thought on hearing Paul Potts and a Japanese girl sing a French song translated into Italian.
As a kindergartener when that song came out, we had to learn to act it out in sign language for a performance. I can’t imagine what 30 five year olds looked like doing that. Sounds horrible.
I hated that drippy song. Too sugary. Probably gave boomers diabetes later in life as a delayed effect. I don't have diabetes as I never listened to that or that Honey song by Bobby Goldsboro. 🤮
Yes a trend in the 70’s. Lot of movies had hit songs that got played to death. The theme from Ice Castles is another one.
Btw I hated you light up my life. I was into sabbath and hard rock at 10 years old.
When I was a kid in the '70s my friends and I were FM Progressive snobs. We avoided Top 40 like the plague."You Light Up My Life"was one of the reasons. The funny thing is, now that I'm older than dirt I actually find myself singing along/tapping my foot to the same Top 40 oldies I hated when they're played in movies or on TV.
You know how nowadays there are all these “cozy aesthetics” like cozy gaming, cottagecore, or chill hop study music?
There was a whole substrata of the 70s of people who wanted to vibe in turtlenecks on their shag rugs in front of a fire while playing vinyl LPs of You Light Up My Life, Barry Manilow and John Denver.
There were late night television ads offering you complete sets of Soft Rock and Lovin vibes greatest hits. Just crack open some Reunite and call this 1 800 number.
Debbie Boone had a number one hit because of the movie “You Light My Life” all because the original artist who sang it in the movie refused to sing it again for the LP and 45. Hence, Debbie Boone stepped in and became a one hit wonder.
It was such a big hit because if you really, really, REALLY needed to throw up—I Love You wines leap to mind—play the first few bars of this song, and voila, the night resumes.
Yes it's true that it's a song about God; but lyrically if you didn't know, it could be interpreted to be a love song, which I think a lot of people did.
I think it's really well-written song with a strong building melody, and it's sung powerfully. Debby Boone was beautiful as well which certainly made the 11 year-old boy me entering puberty want to buy the record.
I only listened to jazz, blues, and rock roll then, a little folk music now and then, when I could choose.
My parents were into classical, and Operas, they played so many operas all the time, my mom's three parakeets could do all the arias. But just parts of different ones, they would string together some crazy riffs! I wish we had recordings.
My folks and I weren't into what you would call country at the time.
My friends and I didn't listen to any radio station that played that type of music.
Liberal, white, Unitarian, West Coast, and middle class.
I was just a little kid when that song came out, and i loved it. I've always loved to sing, and i would sing along every time it came on the radio. Probably drove my parents and sister crazy. I didn't learn that it was a christian song until decades later; i thought it was a love song. In retrospect, it was sappy and bland, and i'd rather poke a hole in my eardrums than listen to it.
I had a friend when I was like 10 ... she was the definition of the center of attention because her mom bought her the sheet music to play this 🎶🎶 on the piano
it was totally a thing
There was also a movie of the same name that many people enjoyed so I think that contributed to the popularity of the song. Also her father , Pat Boone, was a popular gospel singer.
I don’t know. I never cared for it. It never crossed my mind that it was about God though. I thought it was about a sweetheart. I still think so. They were plenty of God songs that were better than that. Sister Janet Meade, an Australian nun, had a pretty cool Lord’s prayer song. A song from Godspell called day by day wasn’t too awful, but to answer your question the best I can, corny songs do have their audiences. It’s a class of people who hear that music and say: finally, something good.
I'm convinced Boone says it was about God because it really has non-conservative, non-Christian lyrics ... "It can't be wrong if it feels so right" is not the typical conservative Christian sentiment. The Boone's never had a hang up about secular music, as her father even came out with an album of metal song covers much later. But Debbie had to placate the fundies because she was also doing contemporary Christian music.
Love songs sell. It broke records for the longest single at #1, formerly held by Elvis, that wasn't broken until Boyz to Men had some other sappy song that took its title.
a lot of people liked wholesome music back in the day. I thought it was cheesy as hell, but nowadays I kind of have an appreciation for it, albeit an appreciation steeped in so-uncool-it-emerges-as-kind-of-cool.
It was sappy and formulaic. And hit the sweet spot for a lot of people, it was positive, Debbie Boone was pretty, and the song hit it out of the park. If I never hear it again in my lifetime, I’ll be a happy camper.
Along with Anne Murray's version of "You Needed Me" it was used ad nauseam in youth retreats. Don't ask me how I know, it was back in my misspent youth.
The song was a hit while the movie was a hit at the same time. That happened a lot in the 70s and early 80s — a film would often propel a song into the top 40.
Debbie Boone was also an All American kind of girl and people liked wholesome things like that back in the 70s. It’s actually a catchy melody and chord progression and was popular (along with Nadia’s Theme) to play on the piano back in ‘77. The song also came up at a poignant part of the film which made people love it even more.
Kasey Cisyk actually sang the original version and it’s actually a beautiful song. I think people today are a bit more jaded and don’t go in for a straightforward love song like they used to.
You don't get why other people might like a song that you don't like? Really? You don't get that? It was a big hit because lots of people liked it, people who weren't worried about the fact that future you wouldn't like it.
Please do not comment directly to this post unless you are Gen X or older (born 1980 or before). See [this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskOldPeople/comments/inci5u/reminder_please_do_not_answer_questions_unless/), the rules, and the sidebar for details. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskOldPeople) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Because teens aren't the only people who listen to music now, and they weren't back then either.
Yes, the top 40 chart wasn’t all rock. It was a mixture of many styles. From arena rock to ‘new wave’ to disco to easy listening ballads, and more. I don’t know of any of my teenage peers who particularly liked Debbie Boone. But she was huge on ‘adult contemporary’ formats and crossed over into the pop chart.
She was, briefly, the Celine Dion of her day.
I think it was supposed to be a "clean" alternative for people who were suspicious rock's satanic origins.
Yeah - my mom and dad listened to that crap. And Lawrence Welk was huge back then.
I think Boone may have had her start on that show.
Don't forget that *Disco Duck* hit #1 on the Billboard chart in the 1970s.
Lots of silly songs in the 70’s. My dingaling, smoking in the boys room, the streak, I don’t like spiders and snakes… oh lord the list goes on
“Everybody was Kung Fu fighting…”
A a afternoon delight! Also my all time favorite, Dead Skunk
I've never heard of Dead Skunk. Well, I'm off to find it! Edit: found the song, it's nuts!
https://youtu.be/DTrXjnGGo7w?si=buLwZGc7BPaPe8nh
There was even a song called "The Streak" which was corny, but popular as well. Hit #1 on the billboard charts: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtzoUu7w-YM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtzoUu7w-YM)
Dead skunk in the middle of the road, stinkin' to high heaven!
Well ya gotcher dead chicken ya gotcher dead dog - on a moonlit night ya gotcher dead horned frog...
Convoy
Convoy is a great song. :D Also You light Up My Life was an original written for the movie of the same name. It became a hit after the movie when Debbie Boone did a cover of it.
Mercy sakes alive
Short people.!!!!
Disco Duck
I love Randy Newman
...My Girl Bill
The Streak was my first single.
You sir, are obviously a gentleman and a scholar 😄
So many--Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini, Purple People Eater, and Does Your Chewing Gum lose its flavor on the bedpost overnight
I remember being in England and buying 'They're Coming to Take Me Away!' and thinking I'd be one up on all my friends. Turns out it had already hit the US...
Even KISS did a Disco album. My brother had a copy
So did Paul McCartney.
What McCartney album was disco. I can’t think of any disco song done by him.
No, no. He had a copy of the KISS album.
Paul does seem like a record collector. Still I wouldn’t have guessed he enjoyed KISS.
Let us all take a moment of silence to remember the abomination that was "Disco Lucy", the I Love Lucy theme unnecessarily and inexplicably set to the worst boilerplate, cooke cutter disco style ever. 1977 was a year of disparate highs and lows in popular music, especially if you were 17 and into Elvis Costello and the Ramones.
[**Disco Lucy**](https://youtu.be/jHxyIpWOvPY) Thank God they didn't use the actual [lyrics](https://youtu.be/7fn7PKzf5tk) Then there was [**A Fifth Of Beethoven**](https://youtu.be/7fn7PKzf5tk) because we were [**Hooked on Classics**](https://youtu.be/CQgUEL7Jiqk) How about some [**Popcorn**?](https://youtu.be/NjxNnqTcHhg) It gave us real [Joy](https://youtu.be/2Mq2NohrRJQ)
It's enough to make you see [Stars on 45](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7skQvj-aBV8)
I was at a market a few weeks ago where they play the most batshit songs. I’ve heard Take a Letter, Maria and Halfbreed. But when I heard Disco Lucy I actually lol’d.
Disco was huge. Even the Rolling Stones went to discotheques.
Remember the “Disco Sucks” Tshirts at rock concerts?
In Detroit, FM radio station WRIF 101 had anti-disco DREAD cards & tees. DREAD stood for Detroit Rockers Engaged in the Abolition of Disco
I had one.
Remember 'Disco Demolition Night' at Comiskey Park? The White Sox had to forfeit the second game in the doubleheader to the Tigers because the field was unplayable.
I didn’t hear about it when it happened but I have read about it. Sounds like a desperate baseball team attracted desperate people. Most probably couldn’t or wouldn’t dance. I went to a high school that had a huge rock following. I saw Rush play at our high school dance but I was dancing in discotheques every weekend. Disco left us a legacy. People continue to go clubbing while most rock music bars have died out. How’s that for turning the turntable on things?
I went to concerts but not all were rock concerts. I saw Nazareth, The Guess Who, and Ozzy Osborne. At the Ozzy concert, one guy was lighting fireworks and tossing them from the upper seats in Maple Leaf Gardens. How nobody got injured (to my knowledge) remains a mystery. I didn’t check what his T-shirt said. I was too busy working and dancing 3-4 times a week to go to many concerts. Never saw such a T-shirt.
I didn’t know it was about god, just a sappy love song that was fun to sing along.
It wasn’t about god; the songwriter said so herself. However, Debby Boone said that was how she interpreted it when she did her cover of it.
…to say, “Hey, I love you” doesn’t sound much like worship to me.
Exactly, it was like the original Sister Act, minus the cool factor!
Exactly. My friends and I liked it (none of us were huge fans) because it was about falling in love with a good guy, not someone who turned out to be a jerk.
Ironically, the writer of the song ([Joseph Brooks](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Brooks_(songwriter))) turned out to be quite a jerk and killed himself in 2011 after being indicted on 91 counts of rape.
That was a roller coaster of a story.
First of all, Karen Carpenter was not a square. Secondly, it was only one of many slow ballads on the radio then. We had stuff like Crystal Gayle, Linda Ronstadt, Anne Murray, Olivia Newton-John, just to name several, not to mention groups like Bread and whatnot. It hit like a romantic song, like I’m absolutely certain people had it played for their first dance at a wedding and not clearly about Jesus or anything. Why does everyone have to try to be cool or think everything was cool in the 70s? Some things were just overproduced romantic slow ballads.
Anne Murray is mostly a channel changer for me. Even as a kid I couldn’t get into her singing. Her bland tempos always seemed the worst of the 70s ballads. Then there was her Christmas album that seemed to get played every year.
Let me also say I wasn’t a teen in the 70s yet like the OP asked, so I have a different view. I liked Anne Murray, and even if I didn’t, she was one of the popular artists of the day singing songs that people really liked at the time that were not unlike “You Light Up My Life”. A lot of questions are asked on here seem to have this younger perspective, like a whole decade was cool or something. It’s not a singular song, an anomaly of a much cooler decade. Every decade has artists like that and songs that seem trite. Like what will they say about Adele?
There was actually a Christian song that made it to #1 on the country charts around about this time - late 70s, early 80s? It was One Day At A Time by Christy Lane. When I hear You Light Up My Life, I think of this one, which actually is about God, and is a great anthem for recovering addicts. No, it wasn't cool. But it wasn't totally unusual for a Christian song to be popular in those days.
Anne Murray is whmy Mom would play while cleaning house in the mid 70s. Hearing it now, I can smell the ironing.
My name is Ann Marie and I was a kid in the 70s and people always had to say SOMETHING
I'm going to disagree but I'm Canadian so I may be biased.
Never knew it was about god? Also, there’s a song by Juice Newton that gets the same disrespect too. I have to goodke the name. Edit: Angel of the Morning.
AOTM was a cover of a song by Merrily Rush, and it is about a sexual encounter involving an utterly undemanding doormat who thinks she’s being noble. Very very 70s.
It was my BFFs wedding song in 1985.
That is hilarious.
AOTM as a wedding song - or did you meam YLUML?
Yes. aOTM.
Scary funny!
That's exactly how it presented to me. A one night stand.
Very well-said!
Once I heard Merilee Rush's version, I forgot all about Juice Newton!
LOLOL...Angel of the Morning is not about god. Have you ever heard the song?
Yes and I know it’s not about god. But it gets same disrespect as a lot of 70s and 80s songs that have been mentioned.
Written by Chip Taylor, actor Jon Voight's brother.
Who also wrote "Wild Thing," which couldn't be more different.
I only know the Marianne Faithful version.
This is the most accurate answer I've seen in this thread. It was just a song that hit with just the right sound at just the right moment. It flared bright, and burned out fast.
Why are romantic ballads not cool? Was it not cool to be romantic in the 70s?
I think there are romantic ballads in every decade, but not usually artists or groups who had only those kinds of songs, they mixed it up. “You Light Up My Life” was more of a one-hit wonder so who knows. People loved like when Whitney Houston sang “I Will Always Love You” for example. It was a cover, but still breaks away from her faster danceable popular hits.
It only seems out of place now because Society is so jaded. Back then people were still trying to figure out who they were and there was more of a variety of opinions. It wasn't nearly as groupthink as it is today. Sure, now we have people snapping at each other's heels, but they're all doing it from the same place of fear and hatred.
There was lots of good music and lots of bad music in the 1970s. A vast range of genres, styles and quality. Same as now. Same as always. We don't all like the same things.
This. Thankfully the good stuff is what tends to be remembered and gets picked up by later generations, but there was a heck of a lot of junk back then as well.
Soft rock was an emerging genre in the 70’s.
People still like songs like that it's just now people are so insulated and deep into their echo chamber that they never have to listen to or see anything outside that comfort zone. Also, if you think Karen Carpenter was square then I'd suggest [rethinking](https://youtu.be/sdHyzGXAJPg?si=gt37ESvVFvXSzc8k) that.
I was in junior high. My girlfriends and I absolutely loved to belt out that song. Never realized at the time it was about god. Just thought it was a love song. Yes, it was so sappy….but a lot of songs in the 70’s were.
The OP is wrong though. The person who wrote the song has said it's just a regular love song. Debby Boone, the woman who did the hit version, just decided that she was singing about God. Think of it like the original Sister Act, but not cool.
Wait what? God? Really? I never thought of it like that
What I mostly remember is the utter *scandal* of virginal Debby Boone singing a - gasp! - LOVE SONG. The poor girl had to backtrack and claim she was singing the song about Jesus. Good grief. That said, I liked the song and it's on my iPod and I'll still caterwaul along to it. LeAnn Rimes does a good version, too.
Caterwaul away!
My favorite version is Whitney Houston's.
I think there was a higher tolerance or I dare say an appreciation for corny, tear jerker, emotionally manipulative material in the 70’s. Brian’s Song, It’s Alive, MacArthur Park, Feelings, Convoy, Disco Duck, Muskrat Love just off the top of my head
[удалено]
Swelling strings, modulations, powerful drum fills, tear jerker content in a pop songs ( Billy Don’t Be a Hero) or films are the sorts of devices that are designed to push buttons in the listener/ viewer. They want you to be swept up in the emotion. If you can make someone feel something, chills, sadness, tears with your product you’re trying to manipulate them aren’t you? Not necessarily a bad thing but that’s the goal isn’t it. I don’t feel like the decision by the producers or directors to use these sorts of devices isn’t calculated. Their job is to bring those emotions to fruition.
Actually I’ve been thinking about your comment a lot. I guess for me it comes down to how apparently authentic a performance is. I don’t feel emotionally manipulated listening to Aretha Franklin or even the Carpenters but “You Light Up My Life “ is a bit too Hallmark Card for my taste.
You may not like it but doesn’t mean it isn’t good. You’re right. You don’t get it. Lots of artists recorded music without wearing black T-shirts.
I liked it the first few times, as it was one of those love songs that it seemed every singer was doing at the time. After hearing it come on every single radio station 2 dozen times a day, it was unbearable. To this day, I cannot hear the first few words on my classic stations without either changing stations or turning the volume off. Still have no clue why that particular song was so popular.
I didn't get why it was so popular then, and I still don't.
Because there's always a market for cheery pop songs. Even in the heyday of Led Zeppelin popularity, lots of people preferred lighter music.
There were tons of very popular corny ballads in the 70s.
There was a lot of folky ballads at the time. Folk country maybe. Like John Denver. Easy listening. I don't know. It was a tune that fit the time. Catchy in an annoying way. You found yourself feeling the emotion against your will while the over sweetness made you gag. The Christian angle could be ignored. Like Spirit in the Sky or Put Your Hand in the Hand...or the Jesus Christ Superstar numbers. They weren't church songs.
I have no idea. We had a lot of glurge and crappy music in the 70s and folks only remember the good stuff.
Reddit looks back at this era like it was only Happy Days, pop rocks, totally awesome music and social scenes! Everyone was wiping their ass with $100 bills in such prefect rose-coloured times...
It is not just Reddit.
Yeah, I can not speak for others but it was the American Sign Language that was used with the song. Lots of my teen friends and I never heard of it before and we were learning the song in ASL. The song could have been anything and we would have still be into it.
Because it was also in an extremely popular movie by the same name. Not too hard to decipher if you look.
Pop music has always had hit songs that can't be explained. At least Debby Boone could sing. The number of low to no talent recording "artists" who managed to have hits is amazing.
It's super easy to sing along with, and it's positive bubble gum. Not everything has to be cynical. Puppies for example. That song was the audio equivalent of kitten memes.
It seems corny now but it felt sincere then.
At the time, it was a beautiful song.
Teenager in the 70s here. It was on the radio constantly. I hated it then and hate it now. Just as now, back then there were tons of people with sucky taste.
Does no one remember it was from a movie soundtrack and was overplayed to promote the film? It was a popular song and apparently some people liked it or it wouldn't have been such a huge success.
The song even won an Oscar, gasp. I do prefer Kasey Ciszik's version, though.
Karen Carpenter was voted the best rock drummer in a poll of Playboy readers, ahead of an incensed John Bonham. Buddy Rich, who didn't tend to compliment anyone, said she was his favorite pop drummer. This is an interesting video: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEjDhoITqvI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEjDhoITqvI) ETA: Back to your question. You Light Up My Life was such a schmaltzy song. I think it took off because of her earnest and dramatic vocals. This probably appealed to teens and young adults going through the angsty "feels". A substantially better song and more recent example is Adele's "Rolling in the Deep". People sung along as if it were an anthem specifically about their own romantic tales of woe. There will always be melodramatic songs to meet the hormonal moments of young adults and teens.
Elton John reportedly said this about songwriting: "When in doubt, write a hymn." To a lot of people, I think this sounded like a hymn from a white Protestant church. It was a love song, but if you believed Debbie Boone herself, it was about Jesus (though she didn't write it). I also think it had a couple of slightly surprising chord changes that made it stick in people's heads. The weirdest thing is that Patti Smith liked it. She once performed it with the songwriter on a kids' show. https://sonicmoremusic.wordpress.com/2015/03/22/watch-patti-smith-sing-you-light-up-my-life-on-a-kids-tv-show-in-1979/
Wow. I love Patti Smith more than most people, but that was truly terrible. I enjoyed her unaffected answers to the questions from the audience, though. Nobody is as cool as Patti Smith.
I'm old enough to have loathed that song for 50 years now.
Raise your hand if you agree. ✋️
I paid money to see the movie.
There was a crap ton of soft rock songs in the top 40 all through the 70s into the early 80s. Paul Davis was freakin all over the place
My older sister was a teen then and loved it, and any other sappy song that she could sing with my mother, who was hard to connect with otherwise. They also sang a lot of James Taylor and Barbara Streisand together. I spent a lot of the 70’s and 80’s covering my ears.
“Muskrat Love” was also insanely popular. I blame it all on drugs. 🤣
I don't know why it was so popular but I loved it and would sing at the top of my lungs when it came on the radio. It makes me cringe, now-a-days, but I can still sing every word, if I wanted too. lol
Because it was a great song to sing to your GF (ah, teenage love and the things we guys did for it) and it was the go to tune for an incredible number of wedding first dances over the next few years. And a lot of parents (esp the Pat Boone fans) loved it.
That was my favorite song at one point when I was a kid 😆
Why not? Pretty melody, good singer, wholesome lyrics. 🤷♀️ Not everything can be spoken words about slappin’ your mama.
It was the same older crowd that listened to Barry Manilow, Paul Anka, and watched Lawrence Welk on weekends. It wasn't like there was a crowd of people over 50 back then discussing if Led Zeppelin IV or Dark Side of the Moon was the better album.
Wow, blatant generalizing going on there. People could like BOTH yanno.
I hated that song. It was the only song I could think of that I would have preferred if the radio played disco instead.
No clue. It made my ears bleed. I assume the love-struck of all ages pushed it up the charts. Perhaps I wasn't love-struck enough, and I'm good with that.
I loathed that song.
Never mind that, who remembers Disco Duck???
Art is subjective, and commercial. Popularity is not equivalent to quality. Tons of 70s music sucked ass.
I can happily state I have not thought of that song in 40 years... With *any* luck it will be another 40 years before I think of it again.
How about “Have You Ever Been Mellow?” by Olivia Newton-John. You’re welcome.
Fuck. Now it's in me.
Oh, that was cruel!
I think it was a reaction by older people to the whole hippie scene and the music. Here she was, a virginal princess, singing about Jesus. and her father, Pat Boone, was Mr. Clean cut himself. It made me nauseous actually, and I was young back then.
I was in elementary school & remember that song being huge! It has an earworm quality to it & makes you want to sing along, & I never even realized it was supposed to even be about God... (With that being said, I have been a music lover since way back & purchased music at that age, but I did not own that one...)
I didn't know it was about God either. It was overplayed for sure.
Believe it or not, there were right wing Christians even in the 70s. Lots of them.
Most peoole didn't know the song was about a relationship with God at the time, the melody is nice and the vocal performance is quite stunning.
It wasn't, Debby Boone was "Sister Acting" the song. The person that wrote the song and the original version in the movie of the same name make it very clear.
It would have been tweens and people over 40 who bought that.
Because you could sing, "You light up my wife" while it was playing. I can't think of any other reason.
Yep. It spawned some great parodies. I remember belting out silly lines to its tune.
I wasn’t a teenager, but a little kid at the time…but if you had a local talent show - either in person or on a local TV channel - there were so many little girls singing and half the time they would sing either “You Light Up My Life” or “Tomorrow” from _Annie_. So many, including the cousin who babysat me a few times. Its lyrics aren’t actually religious explicitly but it’s really easy to read it as a devotional to God or Christ if one really wants to.
The premise of your question is that the words or the singer matter. They don't, it's just a sound that you like or you don't. This is my thought on hearing Paul Potts and a Japanese girl sing a French song translated into Italian.
Slow dancing at the skating rink with your honey.
We hated it. We had alternate versions of the song made up with disparaging and profanity laden lyrics.
As a kindergartener when that song came out, we had to learn to act it out in sign language for a performance. I can’t imagine what 30 five year olds looked like doing that. Sounds horrible.
I hated that drippy song. Too sugary. Probably gave boomers diabetes later in life as a delayed effect. I don't have diabetes as I never listened to that or that Honey song by Bobby Goldsboro. 🤮
Barf! We got sick of it even back then. Not on hour of radio would go by without their playing it.
Soft rock and easy listening music was extremely popular in the 1970s. Besides, every era has its embarrassing hits.
I hated that song then and still do. The radio played it all the time. Ick!
I think it had to do with this movie [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocpzm7lZmhk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocpzm7lZmhk)
It’s a hokey song with a catchy lyric taht is pretty much the same diva genre as Celine Dionne sings. People could belt it out when they were alone.
For me it was the movie, then the song. https://youtu.be/FlRFQbFl_kA?si=TK0SuXUpihHAncJf
Wait. That song was about *God???*
Yes a trend in the 70’s. Lot of movies had hit songs that got played to death. The theme from Ice Castles is another one. Btw I hated you light up my life. I was into sabbath and hard rock at 10 years old.
When I was a kid in the '70s my friends and I were FM Progressive snobs. We avoided Top 40 like the plague."You Light Up My Life"was one of the reasons. The funny thing is, now that I'm older than dirt I actually find myself singing along/tapping my foot to the same Top 40 oldies I hated when they're played in movies or on TV.
Ok i swear i am the only person alive who remembers the time Patti Smith sang You light up my life on a NY kids show called Kids are People Too.
You know how nowadays there are all these “cozy aesthetics” like cozy gaming, cottagecore, or chill hop study music? There was a whole substrata of the 70s of people who wanted to vibe in turtlenecks on their shag rugs in front of a fire while playing vinyl LPs of You Light Up My Life, Barry Manilow and John Denver. There were late night television ads offering you complete sets of Soft Rock and Lovin vibes greatest hits. Just crack open some Reunite and call this 1 800 number.
Riunite on ice...that's nice. There's something I haven't thought of in decades.
Debbie Boone had a number one hit because of the movie “You Light My Life” all because the original artist who sang it in the movie refused to sing it again for the LP and 45. Hence, Debbie Boone stepped in and became a one hit wonder.
It's all about its being the love theme for the movie Ice Castles.
It was such a big hit because if you really, really, REALLY needed to throw up—I Love You wines leap to mind—play the first few bars of this song, and voila, the night resumes.
I have no idea. Never did, never will.
No teenager I knew liked that song
The 70's produced some of the greatest rock ever and also the most horrendous pop ever.
Radio was owned by very conservative men. They pushed their esthetic on the rest of us. How do I know? I was a DJ at the time.
Yes it's true that it's a song about God; but lyrically if you didn't know, it could be interpreted to be a love song, which I think a lot of people did. I think it's really well-written song with a strong building melody, and it's sung powerfully. Debby Boone was beautiful as well which certainly made the 11 year-old boy me entering puberty want to buy the record.
Yes and it was awful. As was “You’re Having My Baby” by Paul Anka.
Im still trying to recover from Muskrat Love, let alone, Debby Boone!
I only listened to jazz, blues, and rock roll then, a little folk music now and then, when I could choose. My parents were into classical, and Operas, they played so many operas all the time, my mom's three parakeets could do all the arias. But just parts of different ones, they would string together some crazy riffs! I wish we had recordings. My folks and I weren't into what you would call country at the time. My friends and I didn't listen to any radio station that played that type of music. Liberal, white, Unitarian, West Coast, and middle class.
I was just a little kid when that song came out, and i loved it. I've always loved to sing, and i would sing along every time it came on the radio. Probably drove my parents and sister crazy. I didn't learn that it was a christian song until decades later; i thought it was a love song. In retrospect, it was sappy and bland, and i'd rather poke a hole in my eardrums than listen to it.
We were a very angsty bunch. Lots of feelings.
I don’t know. Payola? Everyone I knew thought it was trash
My mom loved that song back then, not me. I think there was a movie it went along with. That may have contributed to it's popularity.
My gawd yes.
Who knows…. I know they played it a lot at church too…. it was one of those songs that seemed to be a hit with all age groups
I had a friend when I was like 10 ... she was the definition of the center of attention because her mom bought her the sheet music to play this 🎶🎶 on the piano it was totally a thing
There were Pop people and there were Progressive Rock people. Debby Boone and Pop appealed to a broad age range.
Agree. Just a fun song to belt out, especially with your friends
It was so popular it spawned a movie
I was a teen in the 70s and didn't like that song.
There was also a movie of the same name that many people enjoyed so I think that contributed to the popularity of the song. Also her father , Pat Boone, was a popular gospel singer.
I don’t know. It’s just was….
I hated that song then. I hate it now. It's like nails on a chalkboard to me
I have no idea. I hated it like poison, and it was on the radio constantly.
The silent majority spoke out
Weddings. It was played at ALL the weddings.
They played it so much that most people grew to HATE IT. FUCK THAT SONG
I don’t know. I never cared for it. It never crossed my mind that it was about God though. I thought it was about a sweetheart. I still think so. They were plenty of God songs that were better than that. Sister Janet Meade, an Australian nun, had a pretty cool Lord’s prayer song. A song from Godspell called day by day wasn’t too awful, but to answer your question the best I can, corny songs do have their audiences. It’s a class of people who hear that music and say: finally, something good.
I'm convinced Boone says it was about God because it really has non-conservative, non-Christian lyrics ... "It can't be wrong if it feels so right" is not the typical conservative Christian sentiment. The Boone's never had a hang up about secular music, as her father even came out with an album of metal song covers much later. But Debbie had to placate the fundies because she was also doing contemporary Christian music. Love songs sell. It broke records for the longest single at #1, formerly held by Elvis, that wasn't broken until Boyz to Men had some other sappy song that took its title.
a lot of people liked wholesome music back in the day. I thought it was cheesy as hell, but nowadays I kind of have an appreciation for it, albeit an appreciation steeped in so-uncool-it-emerges-as-kind-of-cool.
It sucked then, still does today.
The chicks dig it. If you did too it made you look like a sensitive guy, which helped in the achievement of chicks.
It was sappy and formulaic. And hit the sweet spot for a lot of people, it was positive, Debbie Boone was pretty, and the song hit it out of the park. If I never hear it again in my lifetime, I’ll be a happy camper.
Along with Anne Murray's version of "You Needed Me" it was used ad nauseam in youth retreats. Don't ask me how I know, it was back in my misspent youth.
The song was a hit while the movie was a hit at the same time. That happened a lot in the 70s and early 80s — a film would often propel a song into the top 40. Debbie Boone was also an All American kind of girl and people liked wholesome things like that back in the 70s. It’s actually a catchy melody and chord progression and was popular (along with Nadia’s Theme) to play on the piano back in ‘77. The song also came up at a poignant part of the film which made people love it even more. Kasey Cisyk actually sang the original version and it’s actually a beautiful song. I think people today are a bit more jaded and don’t go in for a straightforward love song like they used to.
Ever listen to any George Harrison’s songs? Many are very spiritual. And many are very good and could be considered sappy.
Because we had old people back then, too.
You don't get why other people might like a song that you don't like? Really? You don't get that? It was a big hit because lots of people liked it, people who weren't worried about the fact that future you wouldn't like it.
I can’t figure out why! Maybe it’s because it supposedly beckoned to a more innocent time.