5 Hit Songs That Prove 1977 Was The Decade's Greatest Year For Women In Rock

We're huge fans of women who rocked 1977 with songs that provide a snapshot of female empowerment of the time. Some were flexing their musical muscle with power chords and scorching solos; others took a more laid-back approach with soulful offerings and covers of early rock classics. The sounds all represented something significant for women in rock music: the freedom to choose their sound and create their own path. Not only did women rockers show they had the power to make waves, they proved they could open doors for future female acts who'd run the game.

To gather our poker hand of fierce female rockers and their glass ceiling-smashing songs from 1977, we reached for the hitmakers who rewrote the rules and rearranged the charts with their vast and varied performances. There's a little Stevie Nicks glitter, some boot-stomping country rock from Linda Ronstadt, and a bit of smooth-grooving rock and soul from Rita Coolidge. Toss in a power ballad from Carly Simon and a sharp-toothed banger from Heart, and you have a quintet of works that show off a year women rocked the music world to its foundation.

Rock goddess Stevie Nicks gave Fleetwood Mac its sole No. 1 single with "Dreams," the gauzy break-up song (and future viral TikTok sensation) that helped propel the band's 1977 "Rumors" album to mythic status. It was a sleeper song that wasn't meant to be on the album, but destiny stepped in and guided the singer-songwriter to one of her hottest soft rock tunes ever.

On "Dreams," Nicks graciously releases her lover, explaining like a philosopher poet that the pain of losing one another may be intense, but it won't last forever. "Now there you go again / You say you want your freedom / Well, who am I to keep you down?" Nicks sings, with the whole world knowing it's the story of her bitter split from Lindsey Buckingham. Their well-documented break-up during the recording of "Rumors" helped fuel the mystique that mesmerized fans. And to think, if Nicks hadn't taken a break from recording and conjured up this starry-eyed soft rock winner, Fleetwood Mac's success might not have exploded as it did. Fate sure is a fickle force.

"Dreams" was sitting pretty atop the Billboard Hot 100 by the end of June 1977, and "Rumors" has sold more than 40 million copies worldwide in the decades since its release. Thanks to Stevie Nicks and her talent for letting go of love with grace and restraint, women in rock gained a mystical heroine who proved that rocking out wasn't just for the dudes.

Ann and Nancy Wilson had been rocking for a while with their band Heart when they dropped their 1977 classic "Barracuda" to an unsuspecting public. It was a feminist empowerment anthem with lightly-encoded lyrics and a machine gun guitar riff that would become one of the most recognizable in rock music. It also settled the question of whether women could rock as hard as men. Of course they could — and they were doing it more and more.

This was another opportunity for Ann Wilson to show off her stunning vocal range while showcasing Nancy Wilson's expert-level guitar work. But the most significant aspect was the way Heart tackled sexism in the music world head-on after an encounter with a "sleazy" fan who made lurid and false assumptions that the sisters were "lesbian incestual lovers," as Ann told Dan Rather (via ASX TV on YouTube). She was disgusted and wrote lyrics like "You lying so low in the weeds / I bet you gonna ambush me" to call out the users and abusers to create a stick-it-to-'em song that got the message across with a crunchy melody you could rage to. 

Heart had another hit in their hands when "Barracuda" made waves on the 1977 charts. It stopped shy of breaking into the top 10, coming to rest at No. 11 on Billboard's Hot 100 and proving that women who rock could also bring down the house — and rake in record-sales money.

Even the more easy-going rock songs of 1977 gave female artists like Rita Coolidge a chance to shine. Her slowed-down version of the '60s soul favorite "(Your Love has Lifted Me) Higher and Higher" adds a sultry component that was missing in the spirited, gospel-like original by Jackie Wilson.

With a warm, viola-like voice like Coolidge's extolling her sweetheart's romantic virtues, the song is a smooth shot of audio whiskey that conformed to the singer's natural style. It has a slow-burning opening that leads to a shoulder-popping bass line and a kickin' Hammond organ solo that lends vintage vibes without turning the clock back too far. Coolidge even figures out how to turn the word "wrap" into a cheeky five-syllable flirtation without straining a vocal cord. The elements combine to make an oldie sound like a whole new, era-appropriate classic.

The Coolidge equation of "smooth soul + soft rock = success" helped lift the song higher and higher, taking it all the way to No. 2 in September 1977. It would be a pinnacle achievement for a rocking woman who kept cranking out hits well into the '80s.

Linda Ronstadt put her power pipes to work on a cover of the Buddy Holly and the Crickets classic "It's So Easy" and gave 1977 a country-sweetened treasure that showed a different flavor of female rockdom. There's enough Southern-fried-twang and cowbell in Ronstadt's high-stepping remake to qualify as a line dance record, if only someone had thought to add choreography.

Rondstadt and her stellar team of players gave the song a straightforward delivery, keeping the spotlight squarely on the singer's titanic voice. The gender swap of having male singers perform backing vocals may have been a simple matter of Ronstadt's backing band consisting of only male players, but it sounds like it also could have been a girl boss move that flipped the usual script. 

Ronstadt's interpretation was happily received by listeners, resulting in a No. 5 smash for the versatile rocker. It wouldn't be long before this hall of fame singer would play genre hopscotch, conquering adult contemporary, opera, and big band, raking in awards and accolades along the way. But when she threw down the rock gauntlet, the world took notice.

Not only did women rock the radio airwaves of 1977, but some of them rocked movie theater sound systems as well. Carly Simon's searing power ballad "Nobody Does it Better" was the theme song from the James Bond adventure "The Spy Who Loved Me." It gave Simon a chance to revisit the more forceful sound she'd captured on her mysterious No. 1 hit "You're So Vain," only this time she had an orchestra backing her up.

The song itself was cinema, a love theme that poured on the drama with symphonic strings and a triumph of horns blasting behind Simon's gleaming vocals. With songwriting handled by icons Marvin Hamlisch and Carole Bayer Sager and production by the legendary Richard Perry (who also produced "You're So Vain"), "Nobody Does It Better" had all the elements needed for a hit song. Maybe that's why it took the charts by storm and gave Simon a No. 2 hit and her second-highest chart performance ever.

As long-time listeners know, Simon's works always defied genre, combining self-penned folk songs with Great American Songbook standards and pop-rock experiments that never failed to break new ground. But this tune shows that when the powerhouse chose to rock, she pulled out all the stops.