So Where Is Your Pastel Leisure Suit?

I was working this morning on a piece for the first week of 2008–a year in which I will  celebrate the second anniversary of my 30th birthday.

And so I looked back at 1978–the year I turned 30 and felt the weight of responsibility of all those years. I could hardly imagine being 60. Still can’t.

Fortunately, by that year I was out of the cultural mainstream. (Hmmm. On second thought, I never even put my toes in those waters.) But had I been a younger man and still in college, I suppose I’d have been boogying down to the Bee Gees and John Revolta with my finger jabbing the air as the mirrored ball spun round and round…Boogie Oogie Oogie…

Just for kicks, for those who might still have sufficient neurons firing to remember, take a look at the top 100 songs of 1978.  Here’s the top 15 to get you started.

1. Shadow Dancing, Andy Gibb
2. Night Fever, Bee Gees
3. You Light Up My Life, Debby Boone
4. Stayin’ Alive, Bee Gees
5. Kiss You All Over, Exile
6. How Deep Is Your Love, Bee Gees
7. Baby Come Back, Player
8. (Love Is) Thicker Than Water, Andy Gibb
9. Boogie Oogie Oogie, A Taste Of Honey
10. Three Times A Lady, Commodores
11. Grease, Frankie Valli
12. I Go Crazy, Paul Davis
13. You’re The One That I Want, John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John
14. Emotion, Samantha Sang
15. Lay Down Sally, Eric Clapton

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fred

Fred First holds masters degrees in Vertebrate Zoology and physical therapy, and has been a biology teacher and physical therapist by profession. He moved to southwest Virginia in 1975 and to Floyd County in 1997. He maintains a daily photo-blog, broadcasts essays on the Roanoke NPR station, and contributes regular columns for the Floyd Press and Roanoke's Star Sentinel. His two non-fiction books, Slow Road Home and his recent What We Hold in Our Hands, celebrate the riches that we possess in our families and communities, our natural bounty, social capital and Appalachian cultures old and new. He has served on the Jacksonville Center Board of Directors and is newly active in the Sustain Floyd organization. He lives in northeastern Floyd County on the headwaters of the Roanoke River.

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  3. Unfortunately, excepting #7, 12, and 15, I remember about all of them. And yes, I still own some of those, and I wouldn’t mind “shadow dancing” on top of the BGs vinyl. Jim

  5. YEP, AT 22 YRS OLD, I WAS RIGHT THERE IN THE MIDDLE OF IT, BUT NO LEISURE SUIT FOR ME….JEANS AND A TEE SHIRT OF SOME SORT……DANCING TILL 2AM WAS NOT UNCOMMON……DID I MENTION DRINKING, AND YEAH, THE CIGARETTE SMOKE WAS SO THICK…I WOULD GET HOME WITH MY FRO (HAIRSTYLE), JUST FULL OF SMOKE…..WOW.

    MERRY CHRISTMAS FRED!!!!

    MARK

  6. Revolta..lol

    Looking at this list makes it much easier to track the decline of Western civilization. Go back and take a look at the list from 1968 if you get a chance. Those were the days.
    Merry Christmas.

  7. Oh my, that list of songs certainly brought back some unpleasant memories! I came of age in the Seventies, but I don’t lay claim to any of the music.

    And now, “Stayin’ Alive” is going through my head and I have a feeling it will be there for the rest of the day. Thanks a lot, Fred! 🙂

    Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday!

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