Song of the Day 7/4: Starland Vocal Band, “Afternoon Delight”

Just about a quarter of the American population is 60 and older – old enough to remember the Bicentennial. Those people naturally are comparing the mood of the country at its semiquincentennial to the tenor of America in 1976, and generally finding the present lacking.

It’s not as if 1976 was some utopia. Celebrating the glory of America was difficult while the twin disgraces of Watergate and Vietnam were fresh memories. The pop charts were dominated by soft rock and disco, including a song considered one of the most insipid No. 1 hits ever, “Afternoon Delight.”

It was written by Bill Danoff, the singer-songwriter who wrote “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” with his wife, Taffy Nivert, and John Denver in 1971. He and Nivert performed as a duo, playing mostly country-tinged soft rock, and released four LPs, two as Fat City and two as Bill and Taffy. None sold much, so they added another couple to their act to form the Starland Vocal Band, releasing their debut album in 1976. “Afternoon Delight” was their first single, and it sold well enough to earn them a Grammy as Best New Artist over that flash in the pan, Boston.

A Happy Hour menu billed as Afternoon Delights inspired Danoff’s syrupy paean to horizontal pleasures. “As soon as I got the title idea… it had obvious connotations,” he said at the time. He later explained, “I didn’t want to write an all-out sex song … I just wanted to write something that was fun and hinted at sex.” The quartet’s deadpan delivery and squeaky-clean image helped them get away with it, and even led to a summer replacement TV series. They never had another hit.

“Afternoon Delight” was No. 1 on the Hot 100 for the week ending July 10, 1976, which means it was the most popular record in the country on the Fourth of July – fitting for a song whose chorus makes repeated references to “skyrockets in flight.” Fireworks also play a key role in this promotional video, which is cheesy even by 1976 standards.