It Doesn't Matter Anymore/When Will I Be Loved

"It Doesn't Matter Anymore / When Will I Be Loved" — Linda Ronstadt in Full Command

The Ruling Voice of the Mid-Seventies

By the summer of 1975, Linda Ronstadt had transformed herself from a Stone Poneys alumna into the defining female rock vocalist of her generation. Her collaborations with producer Peter Asher had yielded a string of recordings that blended country sensibility with rock muscle, and she had developed a reputation for choosing cover material with impeccable taste and then making it entirely her own. Radio that summer was a complicated landscape: AM stations still pushed soft pop while FM leaned into album-oriented rock, and Ronstadt occupied both worlds with equal authority. The double-sided single pairing of "It Doesn't Matter Anymore" and "When Will I Be Loved" captured that dual appeal in a single release.

Two Songs, One Statement

"It Doesn't Matter Anymore" had been written by Paul Anka and was originally recorded by Buddy Holly shortly before his death in 1959. Ronstadt's version reached back to that rockabilly-tinged pop tradition and found unexpected resonance in the country-rock context of the mid-1970s. "When Will I Be Loved" was composed by Phil Everly of the Everly Brothers, another act with roots in the late 1950s and early 1960s rock and roll era. Ronstadt had recorded it for her 1974 album Heart Like a Wheel, and the track quickly became one of her signature songs. The pairing of these two songs on a single release was itself a kind of argument about where American roots music had traveled in the fifteen years since both originals were recorded.

The Chart Run

The double-sided release entered the Billboard Hot 100 on July 26, 1975, debuting at position 73. It climbed steadily over four weeks, reaching its peak position of number 47 on August 16, 1975. The single spent four weeks on the chart overall. Those numbers understate the track's impact on Ronstadt's commercial momentum: the accompanying parent album Heart Like a Wheel was already performing at extraordinary levels, and the singles reinforced awareness of the album throughout the summer season. Ronstadt's ability to move units consistently across both singles and albums marked her as one of the most commercially reliable artists in American rock during that period.

Peter Asher and the Production Approach

Producer Peter Asher, who had come to prominence as one half of the British duo Peter and Gordon before moving into production work with James Taylor, brought a clean, resonant sound to Ronstadt's records that suited her voice's clarity and power. The arrangements on her mid-1970s recordings were never cluttered; every instrument had space to breathe, and her vocals were placed prominently without sounding artificially boosted. The Heart Like a Wheel sessions assembled a group of musicians whose collective expertise in country and rock idioms gave the recordings their sense of authority. That production philosophy, elegant and purposeful, was central to Ronstadt's appeal during her commercial peak.

A Career at Full Altitude

The summer of 1975 found Ronstadt at a remarkable juncture. Heart Like a Wheel had gone to number one on the Billboard albums chart, and she was one of the first women to achieve that distinction in the rock era. A cover of her image on the front of Time magazine was still a year away, but her cultural visibility in 1975 was already substantial. The dual-sided single release illustrated her range, the ability to move between rock, country, and pop without losing coherence. That flexibility, rooted in a genuine engagement with American musical history, is what separated her from peers who were more narrowly defined by genre or era. Press play and hear a vocalist at the absolute top of her game, making old songs sound like they were waiting for her all along.

"It Doesn't Matter Anymore/When Will I Be Loved" — Linda Ronstadt's singular moment on the 1970s charts.