Are Ye Dancin? 1970s playlist: The songs we danced to in the 1970s

It started with the three day week and ended with Maggie Thatcher in Downing Street.

Buster Brown's nightclub in Edinburgh in 1979

The 70s might have gone down in history as a time of energy crisis and inflation, tank tops and platform shoes, in short an era that style forgot.

And it is true the 70s were the high water mark of the nonsense novelty record (step forward a bearded Billy Connolly dressed as a Brownie).

But in between the likes of the The Wurzels and Pam Ayres there was also the puffed out pomp of glam, the joy of disco, the emegence of punk, and, as the decade drew to a close, the hip sound of New Wave.

to accompany our other articles in the series, we have created a completely free playlist of 24 tunes with a nod to all of those styles, plus also a smattering of some homegrown heroes from Edinburgh’s Bay City Rollers to Govanhill’s finest, Brian Connelly of The Sweet thrown in for good measure.

Of course, as always, there are what to some will seem like glaring omissions (wot No Bohemian Rhapsody?), but the intention is to create a playlist faithful to what people actuallly got up and danced to – from the school disco to the hippest clubs.

You can watch and listen to the full playlist for free on Youtube by clicking here

You can also listen to it on Spotify here.

Full track listing below to whet your appetite.

Sweet – Blockbuster

Rolling Stones – Brown Sugar

T.Rex – Get It On

O’Jays – Love Train

Bay City Rollers – Saturday Night

Abba – Dancing Queen

Bachman Turner Overdrive – You Ain’t Seen Nothin Yet

Curtis Mayfield – Move On Up

Candi Staton – Young Hearts Run Free

LaBelle - Lady Marmalade

The Trammps – Disco Inferno

The Undertones – Teenage Kicks

Blondie – Heart of Glass

Donna Summer - I Feel Love

K.C and the Sunshine Band – Shake Shake Shake

Bee Gees - Stayin Alive

John Paul Young – Love is in the Air

Hot Chocolate – Everyone’s a Winner

Village People – YMCA

Rod Stewart – Do Ya Think I’m Sexy?

Boney M – Rasputin

The Sugar Hill Gang – Rapper’s Delight

Michael Jackson – Don’t Stop (Until You Get Enough)

10cc – I’m Not in Love

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.

Joy Yates

Editorial Director