1975 Songs: Bad Blood

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We’re getting into a really BAD time here in the look back at 1975. Yes, three days of songs with “bad” in the title. Two of them were #1 songs, so if you were around 50 years ago, you probably remember them. Let’s get started with someone who’s on the list twice…the other time as a songwriter. Bad Blood - Neil Sedaka The power of Elton John. Elton was a major fan of Neil Sedaka’s, and even helped his revival in the mid-70s by signing him to Rocket Records (the label Elton “owned”). A couple of albums that had been successful in England were re-released in the US with different titles, and single were issued, and Neil Sedaka was hot property again. Oh, let’s get Elton to sing backup on a song and see what happens!! That magic worked TWICE: John Lennon’s only #1 song in his lifetime was “Whatever Gets You Thru the Nite,” which Elton sang an uncredited-but-everybody-knew-it-was-him duet vocal. Same thing here: although Elton wasn’t credited, everybody knew that was him singing backup on this. With three weeks at #1, this was Sedaka’s biggest hit as a singer. Oh, did I mention he also wrote the #1 song of the year 1975? Bad Blood Written by Neil Sedaka and Phil Cody Recorded by Neil Sedaka From The Hungry Years, 1975 (Released in the UK as Overnight Sensation) From where I stand it looks mighty strange: