Here is where we lose our last song of the 70s (you're a winner, baby!!!), and the last not to garner a single 11! And what a classic it is! Best Of My Love is so tied with popular culture and moments of our life in general, it feels almost incorrect to even rate it? To me it somehow transcends my little rate with its charisma, charm and overall cultural impact, but no matter! - we did rate it and found it the #7 best track here. What a top end classic this is too! If this truly were PopJustice, it would most certainly be in the top 5 for how influential and timeless it is, but a slow gradual climb to #7 is still a very good result for it.
Despite not getting any 11s, I cannot say Best Of My Love struggled in the rate, it was always in the top 20 but the top 10 placements only came to be during the second half of voting. Some have been vocal about wanting this classic out and I have to assume it is due to them not connecting to the simple pleasure and euphoria of the track, possibly due to having expectations that were different to what they got? Because despite me giving it a 9.8 as opposed to a 10, I cannot fathom any reason to actively dislike a song like this!
Best Of My Love is everything a classic from the disco era should be – it is a happy track, with simple but well layered instrumental and vocals for days! The song was composed by Earth, Wind & Fire’s Maurice White and Al McKay, giving it that funky edge that a lot of their own tracks had. Best Of My Love was a huge success for The Emotions, getting them not just a breakthrough song (and qualifying for the rate here after being active since 1962 without a breakthrough!) but a #1 smash too, spending 5 weeks at the top of the Billboard Charts!
Best Of My Love won a Grammy in the Best R&B Performance by A Duo or Group With Vocals in 1978 as well as the American Music Award for favourite Soul/R&B Single. Critics still rave about the quality of the track to this day. The song was ranked #87 on The Billboard Hot 100 All Time Top Songs and #10 on Billboard’s 100 Greatest Girl Group Songs of All Time.
Despite being so decorated, it was an uphill battle for The Emotions to become the success they were in the late 70s. The band had been active since 1962 without a breakthrough on the main charts. The closest they got to was So I Can Love You in 1969 which got them to #39. The Emotions is made up of sisters Wanda, Sheila and Jeanette Hutchinson (with youngest sister Pamela filling in for Jeanette in 1977 when she left to give birth to her second child). Their biggest era came through their association with Earth, Wind & Fire including the song we are rating today and potential part 2 bop Boogie Wonderland. These days, the girls are still active and perform in TV specials a fair bit. They featured in Snoop Dogg’s single Life more recently.
Their music is often sampled, most notably on Mariah Carey’s two better hits Emotions and Dreamlover (the latter samples Blind Alley). Cheryl Lynn’s hit Got To Be Real is also based on Best Of My Love’s bridge. It is safe to say – even if you didn’t know Best Of My Love, you would be familiar with aspects of it through its long lasting influence on pop music.
What did so called PopJustice think of this one?
Zar-Unity (6) means funky, although with that abysmal score, maybe not - Pretty fucky, solid performance here! Nice rhythm! Tech: 4 Taste: 2 = 6 points. Kermit_The_Frog (10) can always be relied on for taste with receipts! - Proof that even “basic disco” (anything written for the charts but not by Chic or Giorgio Moroder) can be equally as wonderful as the pioneers - for people of my age (cough mid-late 30s), this has probably been ruined by local radio and TV adverts. It was only when I watched Boogie Nights that I rediscovered it with new ears. Now I have no shame - stone-cold classic…
Riiiiiiiii (9.7) keeps losing favourites as we get to the tail end of the competition - Very camp but very good. Spillett (8.5) thinks the block of Nolans, Baccarat and Emotions is one of the best ever! (it was the 70s top 3 after all! - (glad the latter part of the 70's allowed for some fantastic tunes after the rather dull released in the middle). Filippa (8) has swapped with DominoDancing as rate villain since the top 10 was revealed, but for how long? - Well, actually I own this song. It’s on one of these samplers I have bought … I love the voices and the energy of this song.
Trouble In Paradise (10) is all about facts are facts!! - Some songs are classics for a reason. Empty Shoebox (10) gives you a rundown of everything that works perfectly and succinctly - At least the girls give it three verses before repeating to fade. Outside of that, the arrangement is top notch and the 'non-lyrical vocals' (if that's a term. You know, the 'oh's and 'ahs') sound good without being too strained. It's a winner. Londonrain (10) returns to support a classic! - Amazing. I discovered this thirty years later through an American Idol performance and I still think the original is pure gold. What a song.
DominoDancing (4) gives this a surprisingly low score! - Boring. Lot's of big notes, no hooks. Iheartpoptarts (10) is all for hyperbole with this one! - As far as I’m aware this is the best song of the 70s, ever. Ufint (8) ‘s detective school classes are really paying off! - The fact that this sounds a lot like “Emotion” by Mariah Carey is the funniest thing about this. Like, can you believe it girls? Unnameable (10) is a classmate! – so good Mariah had to steal. DJHazey (4) was clearly not paying that much attention in class - I swear I've heard that chorus numerous times in my life and it's not getting any better, my apologies.
Final thought – A top cut to end our 70s era with, Best Of My Love depicts all the great sounds and influences of the era in 3.37 minutes (disco, funk, soul, R&B). A decorated classic too, it just feels right for it to be our last standing track of its era!
Expect a 70s recap
#soon!