It’s November, 1976

We’re coming near the end of our 26th year on our journey, what’s the time Sadie?

The Chart

A week at the top for “Rock N Me” by Steve Miller Band before Rod Stewart takes the rest of the month with “Tonight’s The Night”.

“A Dose Of Rock N Roll” – Ringo Starr
“A Fifth Of Beethoven” – Walter Murphy
[new] “After The Lovin’” – Engelbert Humperdinck
“Beth” – Kiss
[new] “Dazz” – Brick
“Disco Duck” – Rick Dees And His Cast Of Idiots
“Do You Feel Like We Do” – Peter Frampton
“Fernando” – Abba
[new] “Hello Old Friend” – Eric Clapton
[new] “Hot Line” – Sylvers
[new] “I Never Cry” – Alice Cooper
“I Only Want To Be With You” – Bay City Rollers
“If You Leave Me Now” – Chicago
“Just To Be Close To You” – Commodores
[new] “Livin’ Thing” – Electric Light Orchestra
[new] “Love Ballad L.T.D.
[new] “Love Me” – Yvonne Elliman
“Love So Right” – Bee Gees
“Magic Man” – Heart
“More Than A Feeling” – Boston
“Muskrat Love” – Captain And Tennille
“Nadia’s Theme” – Barry Devorzon And Perry Botkin Jr.
[new] “Nadiya’s Theme” – Barry Devorzon And Perry Botkin Jr.
[new] “Nights Are Forever Without You” – England Dan And John Ford Coley
“Play That Funky Music” – Wild Cherry
“Rock N Me” – Steve Miller Band
“Rubberband Man” – Spinners
“Shake Your Booty” – K.C And The Sunshine Band
“She’s Gone” – Hall And Oates
[new] “Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word” – Elton John
[new] “Stand Tall” – Burton Cummings
“That’ll Be The Day” – Linda Ronstadt
“The Best Disco In Town” – Ritchie Family
“The Rubberband Man” – Spinners
“The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald” – Gordon Lightfoot
“This One’s For You” – Barry Manilow
“Tonight’s The Night” – Rod Stewart
“Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald” – Gordon Lightfoot
[new] “You Are My Starship” – Norman Connors
“You Are The Woman” – Firefall
[new] “You Don’t Have To Be A Star” – Marilyn Mccoo And Billy Davis Jr.
[new] “You Make Me Feel Like Dancing” – Leo Sayer

[new] = New to the chart this week.

You can listen to the full playlist on Youtube via this link.

The Times

On November 2, 1976, former Georgia governor Jimmy Carter narrowly defeated incumbent President Gerald Ford in the 48th US presidential election.

Running as an honest Washington outsider in the cynical aftermath of Watergate and the Vietnam War, Carter’s folksy campaign promise – “I will never lie to you” – resonated with an exhausted electorate. Winning 297 electoral votes to Ford’s 240, Carter became the first candidate from the Deep South elected to the presidency since 1848, officially ending eight years of Republican White House control.

On November 21, 1976, John G. Avildsen’s underdog sports drama Rocky premiered in New York City before expanding nationwide. Written in just three-and-a-half days by then-unknown actor Sylvester Stallone, who fiercely refused to sell the script unless he starred as Rocky Balboa, the movie was produced on a shoestring budget of roughly $1 million.

The film became a runaway critical and commercial phenomenon, standing as the highest-grossing film of 1976. It pioneered the use of the Steadicam during Stallone’s training runs up the Philadelphia Museum of Art steps, went on to win three Academy Awards (including Best Picture and Best Director), and ignited one of the longest-running franchises in cinema history.

Also at the cinema, on November 27, 1976, Sidney Lumet’s media satire Network, penned by screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky, opened in broad release. The film starred Peter Finch as unhinged veteran news anchor Howard Beale, who, upon learning he is being fired due to low ratings, announces he will end his life on live television.

Instead of pulling him off the air, network executives exploit Beale’s populist rants for record viewership, turning his furious rallying cry—“I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!”—into an enduring cultural mantra. Network scored four Academy Awards, including a posthumous Best Actor Oscar for Finch, and remains celebrated for its prescient prediction of modern 24-hour cable news, sensationalism, and infotainment culture. Spoiler, for those who haven’t seen it, for that amazing scene below…