What you are about to read was originally published by a small community newspaper called the West Seattle Herald on Wednesday February 13, 1980.
Every writer has to start somewhere, and this is where I first started applying my craft in a "professional" capacity for the rich sum of twenty bucks a column. This was sometime after I had written a column called "Rock Talk" for my high school newspaper, and several years before I would write professionally for magazines like The Rocket and Tower Records Pulse Magazine, before eventually landing right here at Blogcritics. The Herald was basically my first professional writing gig.
At the time I was kind of "the rock guy" here in West Seattle. I worked at the neighborhood record store Penny Lane, and I wrote about rock and roll for the local paper. So they would run my little column each and every week on Wednesday when the paper was published, complete with a little picture of me up in the corner. They alternated the pictures often. My least favorite was the one where I was sporting this ridiculous Afro. My favorite was the one where I have that classic seventies rock look with the long hair and the mustache. I kind of looked like the guy who plays the lead singer of the band in Almost Famous in that one.
Anyway, since I often revisit my past in this column, I thought it would be kind of fun to run one of my old Herald articles here. In the interest of authenticity, I've even left most of the mistakes and grammatical errors in there (and there are more than a few of them). But I did correct a few such as the really bad misspelling of the band Supertramp's name.
So this is how I looked back on my favorite albums of the seventies at the time. For the most part, I think I mostly got it right too. Though I'd probably take back what I said about Supertramp if I were writing this today. I still like that album, but comparing it to Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon is probably a bit of a stretch.
Article comments
1 - Rob
Great list. I would put "Tonight's the Night" under Neil Young. It shows Neil at his burned-out best. Good thing he snapped out of the haze before we lost him and his genious.
2 - JC Mosquito
You had good taste in the 70's, Glen. Like many of us, a bit schizophrenic - how do albums by Pink Floyd as well as Ramones appear on the same list? 'S Ok - my own list probably has the MC5 right next to Emerson, Lake & Palmer.
Born to Run? Hm..... I was a metalhead at the time I first heard that. How could anyone claim this guy made great rock music? After all, he had a saxophone in his band, something which never appeared on Machine Head, or Master of Reality.
3 - Glen Boyd
I think we were all a bit schizo in the seventies JC. So if I ever did another of these lists, I'd probably run down all the metal stuff I liked back then. The two albums you mention would probably be there (though in Sabbath's case, I think I'd opt for Vol. 4 over Masters), as well people like Uriah Heep, Black Oak Arkansas, and pre-Agents of Fortune Blue Oyster Cult.
My list may not totally reflect it, but I majored in heavy mullet in the seventies. At least when I wasn't listening to Bruce, Neil, or Bob. Some things never change.
-Glen
4 - Alan
I would have included Kansas' Leftoverture and Van Halen's title album. What about Yes? Yes were to prog rock what paint is to wood.
5 - JC Mosquito
Glen - Vol 4 would be my Sabs choice also, but I didn't think anyone would get the reference.
And why is it I can never find a copy of Vol 4 on CD at a decent price?
In re: seventies schizo - I think people in general had a wider range in taste. I remember I used to have Sabs, Deep Purple, EL&Palmer, Jefferson Airplane, & CSN&Y in my collection, and that was when I was still in elementary school.
The general public's gravitation to particular genres is something I think developed after punk shattered the idea of rock as a social force - everyone fell back into a tribal state of mentality when it came to music and social status.
And that discussion could run book length, if anyone has a few spare months.
6 - suexian
i would have added King Crimson's "Red" ;)
7 - zingzing
roxy music-all up to 1974
brian eno-all up to 1977
bowie-you mentioned all of my least favorite... aladdin sane, station to station, low and lodger are personal favorites.
clash-s/t
wire-first 3
p.i.l.-first, second edition
joy division-unknown pleasures
chic-c'est chic, risque
leonard cohen-songs of love and hate
talking heads-more songs, fear of music
buzzcocks-anything they put out in the 70s
...it could go on forever.
8 - zingzing
didn't realize how british that list was... hrm. i like the americans too... and i completely forgot about the germans!
neu-neu!, neu! 2, neu! '75
faust-all
can-all up to 1974
kraftwerk- 1974-78
augh... i give up
9 - Glen Boyd
Well, thanks for all of the suggestions on stuff that should have been included. But I think you are all are all forgeting something. As I pointed out in the intro, I originally put this list together in 1980. All it really represents is what I thought the best records of the seventies were at the time.
So Zing, I hear ya on things on things like the Bowie/Eno Berlin trilogy. If I'd wrote this today, those could've very well made it. Ditto for Roxy, T. Heads, maybe even Wire. People like Yes and Crimson too. But in some cases, my deeper appreciation for those bands came much later.
Anyway, spirited discussion here so I thank you all for the comments.
-Glen
10 - Holly Hughes
That list holds up surprisingly well, doesn't it? And to answer your question about Elvis Costello -- no, he didn't burn out.
11 - Christopher Rose
Elvis Costello may not have have technically burned out but, in his change from passionately angry young man to weird beard serious artist, he sure got boring, which amounts to the same thing. Beards are bad!