This article from American Songwriter revisits three songs from 1977 that became staples for teenagers listening to music in their first cars, offering a nostalgic look back at the coming-of-age milestones of that decade. The piece frames car ownership and mixtape-making as intertwined rites of passage for 1970s youth, highlighting tracks that spanned rock, disco and soft rock genres popular at the time.

The three songs featured are Cheap Trick's "I Want You To Want Me" from the album "In Color", a power pop favourite among young rock fans that gained wider recognition after its live release on "Cheap Trick At Budokan" in 1978; the Bee Gees' disco anthem "Stayin' Alive" from the "Saturday Night Fever" soundtrack, which topped the Billboard Hot 100 and later won three Grammy Awards; and England Dan & John Ford Coley's soft rock ballad "It's Sad To Belong" from "Dowdy Ferry Road", which reached number 21 on the Hot 100 and topped the US and Canadian Adult Contemporary charts.