The Best Movie Songs of the 1970s

What are the best songs found on movie soundtracks from 1970 until 1979?

Some of the biggest blockbusters ever to hit the movie screens were made in the 1970s. While these thrilled us, they did very little to increase our music playlists. However, they did create a new trend that continues in Hollywood today--the epic film score.

Where would Darth Vader be without his Imperial March? Or Superman without his theme song? Did you know that one of the most legendary film scores was created because of a mechanical problem? Steven Spielburg, relatively new in the movie industry, couldn't get his mechanical sharks to work in the salt water. They kept breaking down and slowing down production. Running out of time, Spielburg decided to use music to enhance the drama and film "around" the shark. What could of been a disaster ended up being movie gold. (And it's always fun to take the soundtrack to the beach...)

We've selected some of the best movie songs and listed them below. For your convenience, we have included links to the sheet music on Sheetmusicplus.com as well as the CD on Amazon.com whenever available. If you are looking to purchase the mp3 or would like to listen to a sample, then click on either the Amazon, Rhapsody, or iTunes links.

Rhapsody provides both music subscriptions as well as individual mp3s for sale in WMA format and iTunes only provides MPEG-4 audio files for sale. However, Amazon does offer mp3s that are compatible with both Windows Media Player and iTunes. For more information about where to purchase music online, we provide it on our Music Downloads page or our Music Subscriptions page.

Below are what we consider among the best songs from movies of the 1970s.

1. "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In" by The 5th Dimension Hair (1979)
    Find it on:        Rhapsody   Sheetmusicplus
2. "Cabaret" from Cabaret (1972)
    Find it on:        Rhapsody   Sheetmusicplus
3. "Gonna Fly Now" by Bill Conti from Rocky (1976)
    Find it on:        Rhapsody   Sheetmusicplus
4. "Grease" by Franki Valli from Grease (1978)
    Find it on:        Rhapsody   Sheetmusicplus
5. Jaws Main Theme by John Williams from Jaws (1975)
    Find it on:        Rhapsody   Sheetmusicplus
6. "Hopelessly Devoted to You" by Olivia Newton-John from Grease (1978)
    Find it on:        Rhapsody   Sheetmusicplus
7. "New York, New York" by Frank Sinatra from New York, New York (1977)
    Find it on:        Rhapsody   Sheetmusicplus
8. "Shout" by the Isley Brothers from Animal House (1978)
    Find it on:        Sheetmusicplus
9. Star Trek Main Theme by from Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)
    Find it on:        Rhapsody   Sheetmusicplus
10. Star Wars Main Theme by John Williams from Star Wars trilogy (1977)
     Find it on:        Rhapsody   Sheetmusicplus
11. "Stayin' Alive" by the Bee Gees from Saturday Night Live (1977)
     Find it on:     
12. Superman Main Theme by John Williams from Superman (1978)
     Find it on:        Rhapsody   Sheetmusicplus
13. "The Rose" by Bette Midler from The Rose (1979)
     Find it on:        Rhapsody   Sheetmusicplus
14. "The Way We Were" by Barbra Streisand from The Way We Were (1973)
     Find it on:        Rhapsody   Sheetmusicplus
15. Theme from Shaft by Isaac Hays from Shaft (1971)
     Find it on:        Rhapsody
16. "Tubular Bells" by from The Exorcist (1973)
     Find it on:        Rhapsody
17. "You Should Be Dancin'" by The Bee Gees from Saturday Night Fever (1977)
     Find it on:        Sheetmusicplus
18. "You're the One that I Want" by John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John from Grease (1978)
     Find it on:        Rhapsody   Sheetmusicplus

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