From Eagles to Paul McCartney and Wings, here are some No. 1 hits from the 70s that we love. They also happen to be artists’ first No. 1 hits.
“Best Of My Love” by The Eagles
Released in 1975, this song ended up being the first of five Eagles No. 1 hits in the US. Fun fact: “Best Of My Love” actually started as an attempt to dissect one of folk goddess Joni Mitchell’s tunings.
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“I was playing acoustic guitar one afternoon in Laurel Canyon, and I was trying to figure out a tuning that Joni Mitchell had shown me a couple of days earlier,” Glenn Frey once shared. “I got lost and ended up with the guitar tuning for what would later turn out to be ‘The Best of My Love’.”
“Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac
“Dreams” was Fleetwood Mac’s first and only US No. 1. This song also went No. 1 in Canada. Apparently, as Stevie Nicks shared, “Dreams” was extremely difficult for her to play for the first time because of what it was about and the vibe surrounding Fleetwood Mac at the time.
“…I can remember how hard it was for me to play ‘Dreams’ the first time, for the whole band, because I know it would probably really upset Lindsey, and probably really upset Chris and John, and probably really upset Mick and really upset me,” she said. “And if I could even get through it I’d be lucky.”
“My Love” by Paul McCartney and Wings
“My Love” was the first No. 1 for Paul McCartney and Wings, although it was certainly not the first for McCartney, who had already achieved No. 1 success multiple times with The Beatles.
On this song, Paul McCartney actually let guitarist Henry McCullough take the reins when it came to the solo. Apparently, this was the first time someone had challenged the former Beatle for creative control in the band.
“I’d sort of written the solo, as I often did write our solos,” McCartney explained to NME. “And [McCullough] walked up to me right before the take and said, ‘Hey, would it be alright if I try something else?’ And I said, ‘Er … yeah.’ It was like, ‘Do I believe in this guy?’ And he played the solo on ‘My Love’, which came right out of the blue.”
He continued, “And I just thought, f***ing great. And so there were plenty of moments like that where somebody’s skill or feeling would overtake my wishes.”
Photo by: © Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images
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