These Songs Prove 1978 Was The Decade's Best Year For Movie Soundtracks

While a lot of movies from the 1970s generated a slew of major pop hits, it's the films released in or just on the cusp of 1978 that made the biggest cultural and musical impact. It was a fruitful year for screen songs, as movies heavily reliant on music, as well as ones for which it was merely tangential, set forth some of 1978's most memorable, radio-friendly, and top-selling singles. Some of those movies were blockbusters, while others were flops, but it didn't seem to have much bearing one way or another — a good movie song can still find its way to the upper section of the Hot 100.

Soundtrack albums are a souvenir of a moviegoing experience, and a way to reveal its most exciting moments. The movies that packed in audiences or attempted to do so in 1978 had a lot to offer on the musical front, be it pop, soft rock, disco, R&B, or country. Here are the movie soundtracks that unleashed many of 1978's hits: "Saturday Night Fever," "Grease," "Foul Play," "Thank God It's Friday," and "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band."

The late-'70s encompassing cultural phenomenon of disco can be encapsulated by "Saturday Night Fever." Released to U.S. theaters in December 1977, the critically acclaimed drama starred John Travolta as discotheque frequenter Tony Manero, so good at dancing that he just might make him famous. The songs used in the film's many dance sequences and montages filled two vinyl records, and a preponderance of them became smash hits. Many were performed by the soundtrack's compilers, the Bee Gees, and they ought to be required listening for younger generations.

The music of "Saturday Night Fever" dominated the Billboard Hot 100 in 1978. "How Deep is Your Love" spent part of January at No. 1, "Stayin' Alive" followed in February," and then in March came the eight-week chart-topper "Night Fever," which ruled the charts for longer than anything else in 1978. Yvonne Elliman's "If I Can't Have You" displaced "Night Fever," but it, too, came from "Saturday Night Fever" and was written and produced by the Bee Gees. The brothers Gibb included two versions of "More Than a Woman" on the "Saturday Night Fever" albums, their own and a cover by R&B group Tavares — the latter was the Top 40 hit. All those songs are a big reason why the "Saturday Night Fever" soundtrack was for a period of several years the best-selling album ever.

The top-grossing movie of 1978 was a nostalgic teen movie about high school romances set in the late 1950s. "Grease" was based on a wildly popular Broadway musical, but some of the raunchy content was toned down and new songs were added to both modernize and suit the talents of its cast and crew. And it's those newly written and produced tracks that rode the charts for much of 1978.

Olivia Newton-John, a star of country and soft rock, strongly moved into acting and mainstream pop with "Grease," starring as demure teen Sandy and recording the twangy ballad made just for her, "Hopelessly Devoted to You." It hit No. 3 on the pop chart. The disco-esque "You're the One That I Want," the climactic, happy-ending-indicating duet for will-they-or-won't-they young lovers Sandy and Danny (John Travolta), spent a week at No. 1 in June 1978. At the tail end of the summer, the "Grease" theme song also sat atop the Hot 100 for two weeks. It was recorded by Frankie Valli of the Four Seasons, who was a big star in the era where "Grease" took place.

Soft rock icon Barry Manilow had the best year of his career in 1978, and that was in part due to the smash hit he provided for a major summer movie. "Foul Play" is a romantic comedic thriller starring Goldie Hawn and a fresh-off-"Saturday Night Live" Chevy Chase. The two main characters go through a dangerous and exciting ordeal together and get a fresh start on life and start a romance. It's a majestic Manilow ballad, "Ready to Take a Chance Again," which plays at the end of the movie, that succinctly explains the emotional arc and character journeys of "Foul Play."

Numerous theatergoers must have headed to the record store after they saw "Foul Play," because the single of "Ready to Take a Chance Again," written by prolific film and T.V. composers Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel, was a big hit. It climbed to No. 11 on the Hot 100 and No. 5 on the soft rock list. A few months later, "Ready to Take a Chance Again" was nominated for the Academy Award for best original song.

After "Saturday Night Fever" proved that disco movies could pull big box office numbers, producers churned out similar and even similarly-named movies, exemplified by 1978's "Thank God It's Friday." The ensemble comedy takes place over the course of a single Friday evening at a discotheque called The Zoo, depicting the overlapping stories of the club's workers and regulars.

Such a movie required lots of disco tracks, and "Thank God It's Friday" features dozens of songs by the likes of the Village People, Diana Ross, and Thelma Houston, but mostly the film's second-billed star, disco superstar Donna Summer. The biggest standout: "Last Dance." Signifying the final, make-or-break moment of the night and the climax of the film, "Last Dance" starts off slow and builds to disco ecstasy. While "Thank God It's Friday" flopped in its theatrical run, "Last Dance" was salvaged from the wreckage. It went to No. 3 in the summer of 1978, and in early 1979, won the Oscar for best original song for composer Paul Jabara.

One of the most panned films of the 1970s was an ill-fated attempt to screen adapt a beloved concept album without the active involvement of the talent that conceived the record. That's "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," a confusing fever dream of a 1978 movie based on the Beatles' groundbreaking 1967 album of the same name. Starring as the Fab Four's alter egos in the film: mid-'70s superstars Barry, Maurice, and Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees, and Peter Frampton. The plot: The titular group from Heartland does battle with evil and corrupt music industry figures who mean to steal their magical instruments.

While "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" tanked with audiences, the music was much more well received. Several acts pop up to perform Beatles covers. Aerosmith portrays the wicked Future Villain Band and their "Come Together" hypnotized crowds in the movie and peaked at No. 23 on the pop chart in real life. Earth, Wind and Fire showed up as themselves in the film and delivered a tight, funky, and soulful take on the Beatles" "Got to Get You Into My Life." That recording made it to the pop Top 10 and went to No. 1 on the R&B chart.