Courtesy Everett Collection

Musically, 1978 was definitely the year of disco-rock.

Acts like The Rolling Stones, Rod Stewart, Heart, Blondie and Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley scored hits by mashing-up guitars with mirror-ball beats.

The disco influence even seeped into country music a bit, as on Barbra Madrell’s excellent, boot-scooting single “Sleeping Single in a Double Bed.”

Hell, in ’78 you probably could've gotten disco on top of your cheeseburger, nachos or pizza too if you asked for it.

That’s not to say every song had to pass the leisure-suit test to be a hit that year.

New wave, funk, singer/songwriter, reggae, punk, country, pop and heavy-metal sounds connected with listeners.

And uncut disco and rock each did too, of course.

Below are 40 songs from 1978 that continue to resonate.

By Matt Wake | mwake@al.com

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"Miss You"

The Rolling Stones

From the album: "Some Girls"

The slinky apogee of The Stones’ decadent New York period, complete with “some Puerto Rican girls that’s just dyin’ to meet you.”

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"Heart of Glass"

Blondie

From the album: "Parallel Lines"

Debbie Harry’s plutonium grade sex-appeal takes over the dance floor.

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"Hot Child In The City"

Nick Gilder

From the album: "City Nights"

An FM frequency-melting glam-rock/power-pop masterpiece.

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"Le Freak"

Chic

From the album: "C'est Chic"

You could wipe everything from here except guitarist Nile Rodgers' Studio 54 strum and the track would still shake booties.

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"Roxanne"

The Police

From the album: "Outlandos d'Amour"

Sting’s faux Jamaican accent is absurd, but the songcraft and musicianship are undeniable.

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"The Promised Land"

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band

From the album: "Darkness on the Edge of Town"

With The E Street Band’s Wall of Sound whirling at his back, The Boss lays down a blue-collar anthem.

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"Is This Love"

Bob Marley & The Wailers

From the album: "Kaya"

Reggae legend croons about love so complete one doesn't need much else.

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"Surrender"

Cheap Trick

From the album: "Heaven Tonight"

An all-time great chorus ignites Suburban malaise to the point where the parents chronicled in the song are rolling joints and getting it on to their kid’s Kiss records by tune's end.

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"Werewolves of London"

Warren Zevon

From the album: "Excitable Boy"

A rollicking piano-rock tune so well-written it was destined to be overplayed by radio and bar bands forever.

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"Rock 'n' Roll Damnation"

AC/DC

From the album: "Powerage"

Armed with Phil Rudd’s backbeat, the Young brothers’ guitar heat and Bon Scott’s wolfish charm, AC/DC didn’t need to go disco to make denim hordes dance.

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"Mary Jane"

Rick James

From the album: "Come Get It!"

Symphonic resin-caked funk.

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"Because the Night"

Patti Smith Group

From the album: "Easter"

A punk priestess recites a Springsteen-penned incantation.

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"Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love"

Van Halen

From the album: "Van Halen"

The sound of rock guitar changing forever.

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"I Wanna Be Sedated"

Ramones

From the album: "Road to Ruin"

Another 90-mph sweet-dark specimen from punk-rock’s most talented band.

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"One Nation Under a Groove"

Funkadelic

From the album: "One Nation Under a Groove"

It's easy to image that "cantina scene" band from "Star Wars" covering this intergalactic jam.

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"Straight On"

Heart

From the album: "Dog & Butterfly"

The Wilson sisters take their supersonic arena-rock to the singles bar.

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"Radio Radio"

Elvis Costello and The Attractions

Non-album single

Angular urgency and helium-like Farfisa organ power a new-wave essential.

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"The Gambler"

Kenny Rogers

From the album: "The Gambler"

Rogers' bearded rasp sells the hell out of this country-soul story-song.

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"Life's Been Good"

Joe Walsh

From the album: "But Seriously, Folks..."

Owning a Maserati he can't drive and a mansion he’s never been to, trashing hotel rooms - everything Walsh drawls about here, that’s the kind of 1978 rock-star behavior we need more of in 2018.

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"On Broadway"

George Benson

From the album: "Weekend in L.A."

A jazz guitar king brings pizzazz to this oft-covered chestnut, written by Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller.

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"New York Groove"

Ace Frehley

From the album: "Ace Frehley"

Basically sounding like Lou Reed doing Bo Diddley, Kiss guitar-hero Frehley completely owns his cover of this once-obscure Hello tune.

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"You're the One That I Want"

John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John

From the album: "Grease: The Original Soundtrack from the Motion Picture"

Despite the hammy Travolta performance, Newton-John golden-fox vocals, an irresistible hook and relentless rhythm track create a musical theatre force-of-nature.

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"Who Are You"

The Who

From the album: "Who Are You"

Decades before the song was used to promote “CSI” and Walmart, it was just a salty powerhouse.

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"Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?"

Rod Stewart

From the album: "Blondes Have More Fun"

One-time folkie Stewart goes Champagne and Spandex on this era-defining come-on.

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"I'm Every Woman"

Chaka Khan

From the album: "Chaka"

Funk plus feminism equals funkinism.

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"The Robots"

Kraftwerk

From the album: "The Man Machine"

If 21st century hipster band LCD Soundsystem isn’t paying Kraftwerk royalties for aping their electronic throb, our legal system is broken.

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"My Life"

Billy Joel

From the album: "52nd Street"

Joel makes piano-pop brilliance sound easy on what would later become the theme song for early-80s Tom Hanks sitcom “Bosom Buddies.”

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"My Best Friend's Girl"

The Cars

From the album: "The Cars"

Rockabilly through a skinny-tie filter.

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"Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)"

The Jacksons

From the album: "Destiny"

The bell-bottom bridge between vintage Jackson 5 and Michael Jackson’s next-level solo work.

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"Never Say Die"

Black Sabbath

From the album: "Never Say Die"

Known for metal songs about drug abuse, Satan, war casualties and mental illness, 10 years into their career Sabbath goes optimistic on this catchy, underrated cut.

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"(You Gotta Walk) Don't Look Back"

Peter Tosh

From the album: "Bush Doctor"

The Wailers’ John Lennon to Bob Marley’s Paul McCartney, Tosh teams with Mick Jagger for a laid-back jam about moving on.

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"Sleeping Single In A Double Bed"

Barbara Mandrell

From the album: "Moods"

If not getting laid was actually as enjoyable as this song is, people would complain less about not getting laid.

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"The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" (live)

The Band

From the album: "The Last Waltz"

A must-hear moment from what many music-heads consider the ultimate concert film.

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"Sultans of Swing"

Dire Straits

From the album: "Dire Straits"

This guitar tour-de-force is the best Bob Dylan song Dylan never wrote.

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"Lights"

Journey

From the album: "Infinity"

Steve Perry could sing the text off an internet provider's direct mail piece and it would sound awesome.

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"Fat Bottomed Girls"

Queen

From the album: "Jazz"

Bombast is a good thing as long as it’s in the hands of Queen.

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"Last Dance"

Donna Summer

From the album: "Thanks God It's Friday: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack"

After an extended cooing intro, Summers pirouettes into bubble-machine dance-queen ecstasy.

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"Listen To Her Heart"

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

From the album: "You're Gonna Get It"

Even Petty’s lesser-known singles were jangle-rock perfection.

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"Hot Blooded"

Foreigner

From the album: "Double Vision"

Hate on this radio-staple if you want, but Lou Gramm and Mick Jones crafted a lusty rocker for the ages.

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"You Can't Put Your Arms Around a Memory"

Johnny Thunders

From the album: "So Alone"

In the great tradition of junkie guitar gods, Thunders was the line between Keith Richards and Izzy Stradlin, and “You Can’t Put Your Arms Around a Memory” is unforgettable gutter poetry.

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Courtesy Everett Collection

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Courtesy Alabama Music Hall of Fame

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