After three weeks, we come to our final classic song of the day from 1970, and it’s a big one: “ABC” by The Jackson 5. This single was released in late February of 1970 and quickly shot up of the charts, reaching the #1 slot on April 25th, where it stayed for two weeks. It also hit #1 on Billboard’s Soul Singles chart, a position it occupied for four weeks. The single was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2016.
“ABC” was written and produced by the combine known as The Corporation, who were, in reality, Berry Gordy, Alphonso Mizell, Freddie Perren, and Deke Richards. Gordy formed the Corporation in part to replace the recently departed Holland-Dozier-Holland team, who left Motown in 1967 over a contract dispute and formed their own successful Invictus Records label. (Invictus had hits with previous songs of the day “Band of Gold” by Freda Payne and “Give Me Just a Little More Time” by the Chairmen of the Board.) Gordy wanted to keep the songwriters anonymous to prevent the rise of any more “back room superstars,” as H-D-H had become.
The musicians on this track were the cream of Motown’s West Coast crew, including David T. Walker, Louis Shelton, and Don Peake on guitars; Freddie Perren on keyboards; Wilton Felder on bass; Gene Pello on drums; and Sandra Crouch on tambourine. Obviously, that’s the Jackson brothers themselves on all the vocals, with 11 year-old Michael up front singing lead. It was an exciting and successful combination, one that owned the pop and R&B charts at the time.
“ABC” was the third single released by the group from Gary, following “I Want You Back” (#1 on the Hot 100) and the somewhat less successful “Who’s Lovin’ You” (#24). It was followed by “The Love You Save” (#1), “I’ll Be There” (#1), “Mama’s Pearl” (#2), “Never Can Say Goodbye” (#2), “Maybe Tomorrow” (#20), and “Sugar Daddy” (#10), all within a two-year period. They had some later hits, both as the Jackson 5 and just the Jacksons, but 1970-1971 was their golden period as a group—although that little kid who sang lead did have some modest success as a solo artist.
The Jackson 5 appeared all over TV at the time to promote “ABC” and their other singles. Mainstream America fell in love with their bouncy beats, catchy melodies, and dynamic performances. Just watch them perform a medley of “I Want You Back” and “ABC” on the May 10, 1970 episode of The Ed Sullivan Show; they were unlike any other act at the time.
And that ends our three-week look at some of the top singles from that magical year of 1970. Just to cap things off, let’s see what Billboard said were the Top 40 tunes of the entire year—we covered a lot of them here as classic songs of the day! (And note that the Jackson 5 were definitely the artists of the year, with four tunes in the top forty; no other artist had more than one.)
- “Bridge Over Troubled Water” (Simon & Garfunkel)
- “(They Long to Be) Close to You” (The Carpenters)
- “American Woman” (The Guess Who)
- “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head” (B.J. Thomas)
- “War” (Edwin Starr)
- “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” (Diana Ross)
- “I’ll Be There” (The Jackson 5)
- “Get Ready” (Rare Earth)
- “Let It Be” (The Beatles)
- “Band of Gold” (Freda Payne)
- “Mama Told Me (Not to Come)” (Three Dog Night)
- “Everything is Beautiful” (Ray Stevens)
- “Make It With You” (Bread)
- “Hitchin’ a Ride” (Vanity Fare)
- “ABC” (The Jackson 5)
- “The Love You Save” (The Jackson 5)
- “Cracklin’ Rosie” (Neil Diamond)
- “Candida” (Dawn)
- “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Again)” (Sly & the Family Stone)
- “Spill the Wine” (Eric Burdon & War)
- “O-o-h Child” (Five Stairsteps)
- “Spirit in the Sky” (Norman Greenbaum)
- “Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)” (Melanie)
- “Ball of Confusion (That’s What the World Is Today)” (The Temptations)
- “Love on a Two-Way Street” (The Moments)
- “Which Way You Goin’ Billy?” (The Poppy Family)
- “All Right Now” (Free)
- “I Want You Back” (The Jackson 5)
- “Julie, Do Ya Love Me” (Bobby Sherman)
- “Green-Eyed Lady” (Sugarloaf)
- “Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours” (Stevie Wonder)
- “Ride Captain Ride” (Blues Image)
- “Venus” (Shocking Blue)
- “Instant Karma” (John Lennon)
- “Patches” (Clarence Carter)
- “Lookin’ Out My Back Door” (Creedence Clearwater Revival)
- “Rainy Night in Georgia” (Brook Benton)
- “Something’s Burning” (Kenny Rogers & The First Edition)
- “Give Me Just a Little More Time” (Chairmen of the Board)
- “Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)” (Edison Lighthouse)
Man, that’s a lot of good tunes! I’m betting that if you’re of a certain age you know all of these songs by heart. I admit to having at least half, maybe two-thirds, of these songs on 45 rpm singles back then, quite an accomplishment for a 12 year-old kid moving from 6th grade into junior high school. (I could afford it; I had a paper route.) 1970 was a tremendous year for pop music—and this list shows it.
