3. David Bowie
Ziggy Stardust (1972)
Diamond Dogs (1974)
Young Americans (1975)
Bowie was the most enigmatic personality of the decade. Ziggy is the rock classic of the glitter era. Diamond Dogs was Bowie at his over-dramatic, apocalyptic best. Young Americans, Bowie's experiment with soul, created his most believable persona.
4. Pink Floyd
Dark Side Of The Moon (1973)
Animals (1977)
Dark Side is as cohesive a work as was produced this decade. It's brilliant production brings it as close to the "Sgt. Pepper of the seventies" tag as anything. Animals is an amazing statement on the human condition and it's trappings.
5. Rolling Stones
Exile On Main Street (1972)
Some Girls (1978)
1972 found the Stones at the height of it's creative talents, with a brilliant album in Exile and it's best live performances as a band. Just as some had written them off, 1978's Some Girls found the band hitting yet another peak.
6. Bob Dylan
Blood On The Tracks (1974)
Slow Train Coming (1979)
The seventies were a period of several comebacks for Dylan. Blood On The Tracks was arguably the most powerful record of his career, with "Idiot Wind" as biting as any of his lyrical work. Slow Train was Dylan's most courageous outing since the sixties, a testimony to his newfound faith.
7. Neil Young
On The Beach (1974)
Rust Never Sleeps (1979)
Neil Young laid his soul on the line record after record. On The Beach showed a loneliness and desperation in sharp contrast to the hope and optimism of Rust Never Sleeps
8. Led Zeppelin
Physical Graffiti (1975)
Heavy Metal was as dominant as anything in the seventies and Led Zep carried the torch for a decade. With Graffiti, Zep hit it's final peak before a slow period of deterioration. "Ten Years Gone" and "Kashmir" are among Zep's finest moments.
9. Alice Cooper
Schools Out (1972)
"School's Out" was to 1972 what "My Generation" was to 1965. Cooper's final triumph before an embarrasing descent into self parody, "School's Out" was the seventies anthem of teenage rebellion by an artist who seemed rebellious at the time.
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!