Professor of Rock

The Greatest Hits of 1974 That Should’ve Been #1 — Elton John, Steely Dan, Chaka Khan & More

September 22, 2026·31 min
Episode Description from the Publisher

Coming up, a grand year in music where once again a bunch of legendary Top 10 hits that missed the #1 spot on the charts were actually better than the songs that did. Today we’re rewriting history by putting them where they belong… at #1. We’ll spotlight a classic from an Elton John who got so upset about the cadence a song was written in that he recorded it with an EXAGGERATED AMERICAN ACCENT, and it made the song a classic. Plus the song Longfellow Serenade that stole its idea from a 19th century poem to seduce an older woman, and it ended up becoming a classic. Plus, the cocky college student from Steely Dan who hit on his professor’s pregnant wife and actually got her number, but instead of having an affair, he turned it into his biggest hit on the charts. And the Lynyrd Skynyrd rock icon who ominously predicted his demise, proclaiming that he wouldn’t make it to age 30. His prediction came true when he tragically passed away less than 3 months before his 30th birthday. Then there’s the mysterious man Tony Burrows, who recorded vocals for 5 different bands and strangely enough, each of those songs became a one hit wonder. But we start with the bold teenager Chaka Khan who told the biggest music Icon of his time that the song he gave to her rookie band to record was Trash and he needed to give them something BETTER… See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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