It’s April, 1976 in our journey…but back in today of 2026, Sadie wants you to know its…
(Yes, she’s being a tad uncooperative in general this week – cheeky monkey!)
The Chart
The whole month is dominated by “Disco Lady” – Johnnie Taylor, which is Disco only in name!
- “Action” – Sweet
- “All By Myself” – Eric Carmen
- “Bohemian Rhapsody” – Queen
- “Boogie Fever” – Sylvers
- “December 1963” – Four Seasons
- “Deep Purple” – Donny & Marie Osmond
- “Disco Lady” – Johnnie Taylor
- “Dream On” – Aerosmith
- “Dream Weaver” – Gary Wright
- “Fanny” – Bee Gees
- [new] “Fooled Around & Fell In Love” – Elvin Bishop
- [new] “Fopp” – Ohio Players
- “Get Up And Boogie” – Silver Convention
- “Golden Years” – David Bowie
- “Good Hearted Woman” – Waylon & Willie
- [new] “I Do I Do I Do I Do I Do” – Abba
- “Junk Food Junkie” – Larry Groce
- “Let Your Love Flow” – Bellamy Brothers
- [new] “Livin’ For The Weekend” – O’jays
- “Lonely Night” – Captain & Tennille
- [new] “Looking For Space” – John Denver
- [new] “Lorelei” – Styx
- [new] “Love Fire” – Jigsaw
- [new] “Love Hangover” – Diana Ross
- “Love Machine” – Miracles
- [new] “Lovefire” – Jigsaw
- [new] “Misty Blue” – Dorothy Moore
- “Money Honey” – Bay City Rollers
- “Only Love Is Real” – Carole King
- “Only Sixteen” – Dr. Hook
- [new] “Rhiannon” – Fleetwood Mac
- “Right Back Where We Started” – Maxine Nightingale
- [new] “Sara Smile” – Hall & Oates
- [new] “Shannon” – Henry Gross
- [new] “Shoe Me The Way” – Peter Frampton
- “Show Me The Way” – Peter Frampton
- [new] “Silly Love Songs” – Wings
- [new] “Sixteen” – Dr. Hook
- [new] “Strange Magic” – Electric Light Orchestra
- “Sweet Love” – Commodores
- “Sweet Thing” – Rufus
- “Take It To The Limit” – Eagles
- “Tangerine” – Salsoul Orchestra
- “There’s A Kind Of Hush” – Carpenters
- [new] “Tryin’ To Get The Feeling Again” – Barry Manilow
- “Welcome Back” – John Sebastian
[new] = New to the chart this week.
You can listen to the full playlist on Youtube via this link.
The Times
On April 9, 1976, Alan J. Pakula’s political thriller All the President’s Men hit theaters. Starring Robert Redford as Bob Woodward and Dustin Hoffman as Carl Bernstein, the film chronicled The Washington Post’s relentless investigation into the Watergate scandal that led to Richard Nixon’s resignation less than two years earlier.
Praised for its procedural realism, crisp typewriter-clacking tension, and Gordon Willis’s stark cinematography, the movie turned investigative reporting into high-stakes drama. It captured four Academy Awards and permanently established the film trope of secretive garage meetings with “Deep Throat.”
On April 23, 1976, Sire Records released the self-titled debut album by the Ramones, effectively firing the starting gun for American punk rock after its raucous start across the Atlantic. Recorded in just a week for around $6,400, the 14-track record clocked in at under 30 minutes of relentless downstroke bar chords, breakneck tempos, and bubblegum pop sensibilities.
Kicking off with the legendary shout “Hey! Ho! Let’s Go!” (see a live version here) on “Blitzkrieg Bop,” the record stripped away the self-indulgence of 70s stadium rock. While commercial radio initially ignored it, the album became a foundational sonic blueprint that inspired the Sex Pistols, The Clash, and the entire alternative rock movement.
On April 1, 1976, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne formally founded Apple Computer Company in Los Altos, California. Working out of Jobs’ family garage and bedroom, the trio set out to sell the Apple I—a hand-built single-board computer designed and assembled by Wozniak. (see another annoyingly unembeddable video story here)
Priced famously at $666.66, the machine required hobbyists to provide their own case, power switch, and monitor. It marked the shift of computing from corporate mainframe backrooms into the consumer home, launching a tech revolution that transformed modern culture. (For better, or worse?)
The Take
“Disco Lady” was the first Hot 100 No. 1 hit with the word “disco” in the title (though the song was a ballad and not a disco record). The single also reached No. 25 on the UK Singles Chart.
In the finale of The Paul Lynde Halloween Special, broadcast in October 1976, Paul Lynde and the entire cast sing Johnnie Taylor’s “Disco Lady” (gender-neutralized to “Disco Baby”). It’s so awful it needs to be seen…
By some small coincidence, Sadie has her school production this week and we are told that “Silly Love Songs” by Wings is one of the songs, so here’s this music video…
Now go listen to the full playlist on Youtube via this link.