#1 at KUPD/Phoenix: “Happy” by the Rolling Stones, leaping from #8 last week. It’s the second single (following “Tumbling Dice“) from the #4 album, Exile On Main Street, and features a rare lead vocal by Keith Richards.
Michael Jackson, who just turned 14 the week before, jumps from #14 to #2 with “Ben” — a tender love song about… a rat (“Ben, you’re always running here and there”) from the horror movie of the same name. Meanwhile, Jackson’s future father-in-law Elvis Presley debuts at #30 with “Burning Love,” the King’s last big hit before his death.
Dropping from #2 to #5 is “Rock And Roll, Part 2” by Gary Glitter. You may not recognize the title but it’s that driving instrumental often played at Phoenix Suns’ games (“Hey!”).
Alice Cooper and his Phoenix bandmates move up to #7 with the anthem “School’s Out” (title track from this week’s #1 album), while former Phoenix child TV star Wayne Newton is at #20 with the weepy “Daddy Don’t You Walk So Fast.” Bread falls to #17 with “Guitar Man,” which features stellar guitar parts by Breadman Larry Knechtel, who lived in Phoenix during the early 1960s as part of Duane Eddy’s Rebels band.
The Raspberries’ proto power pop song “Go All The Way” climbs from #16 to #10. Harry Nilsson’s odd but cool “Coconut” drops to #11.
Undoubtedly the most enduring song on the entire list is at #23: “Stairway to Heaven” by Led Zeppelin — the single that never was. Not since the Beatles era had an album track become so ubiquitous on top 40 radio.