United We Stand by The Brotherhood Of Man

 The 70's Yearly First Top 20 One Hit Wonders

1970-79

I've gone way too long without a post, so I'm going to pull a song-post marathon this week...and the subject isssssss...One Hit Wonders.


To be specific, each year's first top 20 One Hit Wonder, starting with 1970 and ending with '79.


I set a couple of guidelines for this one...it has to be a song that people actually remember, for one thing. Which also means it's just about got to be a Pop or Classic Rock hit. It has to have been played regularly on the Top 40 Stations. It has to be an artist that only cracked the Top 40 once...period. Therefore Greg Allman's hit 'Midnight Rider', for example isn't a true one hit wonder...his 'Backing Band' was actually The Allman Brothers who, as I recall, had a hit or three. Ditto, Todd Rundgren with 'We Gotta Find You A Woman. I can think of at least four Todd Rundgren hits without even breaking a sweat. Again...not a One Hit Wonder.


And, given the subject of this blog, it has to inspire the kind of memories that make you want to sing along with it. While we look back at the seventies, and remember it as a 'Simpler Time', the Seventies, particularly the first half of the decade, had some pretty dark moments here and there. There were lots and LOTS of politics goin' on in the first half of the decade, let me tell ya! And these politics generated some pretty strong, message sending hits that don't fit the category of 'Feel Good Songs.


And the biggie...it has to be one of those songs that, if you hear it today on an Oldies Station, you'll more than likely sing right along with it. After all...that's what this blog-thing's called.

There was still loads of the feel good, ya want to sing along with it music, of course. (And some of it sort of slipped a stealth political message in there while they were at it. One of those was a massive hit in early '72). So that's what I concentrated on...the songs that DJ's on the major Top 40 stations spun regularly and that blasted from radios and 8-Track players (The MP-3 and I-Pod's great Great Grandpappy!) constantly. Trust me, there were, literally hundreds of 'em. But there were only ten that were the first to crack the Top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 in any given year starting with '7'.

Sooo...lets take a look at the Seventies First Top Twenty One Hit Wonders. All the of 'em, from 'the still Sixties influenced songs of '70 to the first OHW's from the Disco Era years at the end of the decade.

United We Stand

1969

The Brotherhood Of Man

The first really memorable One Hit Wonder of the Seventies is still heard fairly regularly, and has become the anthem of any number of movements...though it was originally written as a love song. It was performed by a British pop group called 'The Brotherhood Of Man'. a name that was an umbrella name for a group of session artists that was formed in 1969. They didn't waste any time... 'United We Stand' was released in late '69 and hit big internationally in early1970, peaking in the U.S. at #13 on the Billboard Hot 100 on Feb 7^th of that year.

It was written by Tony Hiller and Johnny Goodson, who was an original member of 'The Brotherhood Of Man. The female vocalist whose unique voice is heard singing the majority of the lyrics is either Sue Glover or Sunny Leslie. (Sunny'd later have a 1974 solo hit in the UK, as 'Sunny' with 'Doctor's Orders'...in 1975, Carol Douglas would score that year's first U.S. Top 20 One Hit Wonder when she covered the same song.

The Brotherhood of Man swapped out members regularly over the first several years of their existence, and the final quartet didn't include any of the members of the group that recorded 'United We Stand'. As for the band having a One Hit Wonder...they were a One Hit Wonder in the U.S. They were huge in Europe, scoring a number of hits on the right side of The Pond, and they were often compared to...and ultimately overshadowed by another...er...obscure little band named 'ABBA'

And 'United We Stand?' It was a huge hit internationally, and became one of the most covered songs in history. Though written as a love song, about a couple who stuck together through thick and thin, it became the anthem for any number of movements over the decades. One of the first was as the rallying call for the Democratic Party during the '72 Presidential Campaign. The Gay Rights Movement also adopthed it as an anthem. The song had a resurgence of popularity after 9/11 as an anthem for the American People. It's still well remembered and well loved by millions.

A pretty impressive legacy for a little song that was written as a love song and performed by a group of session musicians almost 44 years ago.

So Enjoy! United We Stand, by The Brotherhood Of Man.