What were the hits of 1975? I’m talking about music, not what the neophytes of Batch ’76 and onwards experienced when they joined the Upsilon. Ibang klaseng hits yun. One song that climbed to no. 1 in the US Billboard charts was “The Hustle” by Van McCoy. It was such a hit that it inspired a dance move. It was one of the infectious, feel-good tunes that electrified the disco era, much to the consternation of my rock ‘n roll digging long haired hippie kabatches and brods.

Although the hippie brods would whip up their guitars in the Basement and jam to songs from Juan de la Cruz or the Allman Brothers band, on weekends they traded in their worn out Crispa t-shirts, faded Levis jeans and beat up sneakers for body hugging Nik-Nik shirts, fashionably frayed and faded Bang-Bang or Faded Glory jeans, and platform shoes that could give you altitude sickness. Their long unkempt hair would be freshly shampooed and miraculously plastered in place by tons of gel or mousse to reveal their freshly scrubbed faces. Reluctantly - or so they claimed - the hippies knew that if they adjusted their sartorial tastes, they stood a better chance of meeting the hot chicks in Where Else or whichever disco was the craze at the time. The more adventurous weren’t just teetering and tottering because of their herbal preferences; they were actually on the dancefloor bopping and swinging to “The Hustle”!

So if you want to relive hits like “The Hustle” and everything else (including the classic rock faves) from 1975 up to the present, celebrate STAYIN’ ALIVE WITH BATCH ’75 on Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025, 5:00 PM at the Celebrity Club, Capitol Hills Drive, Quezon City. We assure you, the hits will purely be musical. Pramis.

by Jev Ramos '75