The No. 1 Song On September 4, 1975 Sounds Even More Nostalgic Today

Country is often wrapped in nostalgia, and a genre song from the long-ago 1970s about a bygone place all combine to make "Rhinestone Cowboy" truly wistful. A country song that crossed over to the pop chart thanks to the star power of Glen Campbell, "Rhinestone Cowboy" was right at the beginning of a two-week run as the No. 1 song on the Hot 100, as of September 4, 1975.

Before Campbell was a country legend who scored pop hits, he performed with the Beach Boys and played guitar on the smash "Strangers in the Night," the one song Frank Sinatra performed that he couldn't stand. The mid-'70s were such a richly diverse period for pop music that Campbell's unique style of country, which mixed his varied musical experiences, could command a large audience. "Rhinestone Cowboy" is about a man posing as an authentic country guy trying to get famous in the bewildering urban New York City of the '70s, and it was ultimately a turning point in pop music, helping to fuel a major musical trend. Here's how Glen Campbell took "Rhinestone Cowboy" national.

In the late 1960s, soft rock elements and production sheen mixed with country to create a new, broadly popular variant called "countrypolitan," and by the mid-1970s, artists who nailed and innovated that style were rewarded with massive crossover hits on the pop chart. Leading the pack was Glen Campbell, who hit the Top 10 with "Wichita Lineman," the greatest song of all time, according to Bob Dylan, and "Galveston." When "Rhinestone Cowboy" reached No. 1 in September 1975, the rise of countrypolitan was undeniable.

"Rhinestone Cowboy" was originally the lead track from "Black & Blue Suite," a poorly selling 1974 album by Larry Weiss. Campbell heard it on a Los Angeles radio station and loved it so much he had his assistant track down the originator so he could cover it, only to have it played to him during a visit with Al Coury, an executive at his label, Capitol Records. Campbell cut the record and debuted the song on a telethon before it was commercially released, which was hurried forward after an employee of LA radio station KHJ rushed the song on the air.

Bolstered by the success, Weiss tried to turn "Rhinestone Cowboy" into a Broadway musical, but then announced it would be a movie instead. It took almost a decade, but "Rhinestone," starring Dolly Parton and Sylvester Stallone — who found it hard to work together – premiered in 1984.