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"Rocky Mountain High" is a "Great Song of the '70s!
It's the quintessential John Denver song...and it's one of TWO Colorado state songs. (The other is "Where the Columbines Grow.")
It's iconic! And yet...the song never made it to #1. On the Hot 100, it went to #9 in the US and #8 in Canada. On the Adult Contemporary Charts, it reached #2 in Canada and #3 in the US.
What kept it from going to #1?
The Federal Communications Commission.
In 1973, a legal ruling allowed the FCC to censor music deemed to promote drug abuse.
More than a few radio stations banned the song until Denver publicly explained that the "high" described the inner peace he found after moving to Aspen.
At the time, I thought the meaning was pretty obvious--but apparently not.
In any event, "Rocky Mountain High" is a "Great Song of the '70s!
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