March 30, 2026

1975 No. 1 Funk Hit, Ranked Among ‘Top Songs of the ‘70s,’ Remains a Classic Anthem 50 Years Later

It’s been a long ride for the celebratory song.

In the summer of 1975, War released a Top 10 hit with “Low Rider.” The song from the Los Angeles-based band’s album, Why Can’t We Be Friends, incorporated funk rock, jazz, blues, soul, and Latin styles with deep vocals by Charles Miller and an irresistible harmonica riff played by Lee Oskar.

“Low Rider” hit No. 1 on Billboard’s R&B singles chart on Nov. 22, 1975. The song also peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 on November 29, 1975, and remained on the chart for a total 15 weeks.

Describing the song as a “deep-grooved celebration of the Chicano-born tradition of hydraulically altered classic cars,” in 2025 Ultimate Classic Rock ranked “Low Rider” as one of the top ‘70s songs of all time.

More than 50 years after its release, “Low Rider” remains the ultimate anthem for cruising and ‘70s custom car culture.

In an interview with The Guardian, War bandmate Lonnie Jordan explained how the multi-ethnic band came up with the song that would go on to be one of their biggest hits. It started with a typical jam session.

“We’d just jam for ages and record everything,” he recalled. “’Low Rider’ came along in the middle of maybe an hour and a half of playing: we took a piece that became the song. Charles Miller sang the lead vocal. He walked into the studio, sat down, had a bottle of tequila, salt and a lemon, listened to the track and started singing in a low voice.”

Jordan noted that at the time, the War bandmates had been hanging around lowrider car clubs in Los Angeles. “Charles had just bought a 1952 Chevrolet that was low and looked mean, so his mind was on lowriding,” he explained. “We all developed the rest of the lyrics. The ‘low rider drives a little slower; line was a reference to drivers saving gas, which was very expensive then because of the oil crisis.”

In an interview with Song Exploder, producer Jerry Goldstein recalled telling Miller, “You got that lowrider out there. And why don’t we write a song about you, about lowriders? And he went out on the mic, and we wrote down everything that we wanted to write about lowriders, and the lowrider vibe, and the lowrider culture.”

“This is the way we wrote,” he explained. “We have tracks and ideas. And then we would just make records out of ’em. And a lot of times they were written in the studio. … I never re-recorded any of this stuff. I always made the original jam work. You know, it’s more organic that way. And that’s why it’s so raw.”

Once “Low Rider” was released, the song became an anthem for lowriders.

“We gave cassettes to the lowriders and they all played it in their cars,” Jordan told The Guardian. “As soon as it got played on the radio, the Latin community sent it up the charts, then off it rocketed and nothing was going to stop it.”

Pop culture classic

“Low Rider” also earned a place in pop culture history with a cameo in the iconic 1976 Cheech & Chong movie Up in Smoke and other films. More than 25 years after its release, the War hit also served as the opening theme song for the ABC sitcom The George Lopez Show.

At the 2007 Alma Awards, Lopez referred to “Low Rider” as the “Chicano National anthem” as he introduced War to the stage.

Back to News