Don McLean's eloquent tribute to rock n roll's fallen heroes, "American Pie" topped many charts in 1972. It turned out to be my favorite song of the year topping the chart at #1. McLean would follow-up that song with his hit "Vincent" before fading into relative obscurity.
Elton John was an up and coming artist in the early 70s. By 1972 he was definitely on an upward climb in the charts. He scored some big hits with "Rocket Man," "Tiny Dancer" and "Honkey Cat" this year. Those singles came from the highly successful albums, Madman Across the Water and Honkey Chateau. John's album tracks also became album-rock FM radio standards. These included "Hercules," "Levon," and "Mona Lisas And Mad Hatters."
Speaking of album rock standards... Led Zeppelin probably produced the all-time album rock classic in late 1971. Their "Stairway to Heaven," which was never released as a single, thus never charting (not even here) proved to be the perennial album rock favorite since its release. This hauntingly beautiful rock ballad stands out as one of my all time favorites, even though it is not listed in my top 100.
Like the previous years, several single tracks became big hits in Hawaii without making it on the mainland or elsewhere. These included the following: "Summer Sun" by the Jamestown Massacre, "Ebony Eyes" by The Stylistics, "Stella's Candy Store" by The Sweet Marie, "Pipeline Sequence" by Honk, "Soley Soley" by Middle of the Road, "We're On Our Way" by Chris Hodge, and "We're Free" by Beverly Bremers. These are all worthy records to give a second listen to if you can find them.
