The 1970s was replete with amazing music. Genres and subgenres were formed and, in some cases, perfected. Some groups that began in the 1960s came to full bloom in the '70s.
Some bands started and faded in the decade. A couple of musical artists who had that happen are reflected here. Sadly, the ones who truly miss out on them not carrying on are the listening public who failed to get more gifts from the artists.
There are hundreds of gems from the 1970s. Some have even been forgotten. But these albums should never be as they were the best of the decade.
The 10 best albums from the 1970s
No. 10 - Pink Floyd - The Wall (1979)
The soundtrack to possibly the greatest non-concert musical ever by rock by? Likely. But even if there was no fantastically off movie to accompany the album, the songs and concept are strong enough to hold on their own. There is enough great material to have made three excellent records, but the weight of this work of art would have not been fully felt.
What is not to love here? Over 26 songs we are taken on a journey where we might not ever be sure where we are heading or even want to be at the place at the end, but we still want to go. As hard as it is to believe, "Comfortably Numb," "Hey You," and "Another Brick in the Wall, Pt. 2" are all on this album and these might not even be the three best tracks.
No. 9 - Television - Marquee Moon (1977)
What exactly was Television besides a group of amazing musicians who could create art out of literally anything? Taken piece by piece and instrument by instrument, the songs would make no sense. But the collective force of everything, like a rock version of great jazz, makes the house complete and strangely beautiful.
Marquee Moon was an arty, proto-punk, pre-emo accident that the group, and most others, could never quite recreate. The musicians themselves are almost too talented and with visions of their own for Television to remain cohesive. But at least we have songs such as "Marquee Moon" and "See No Evil" to remember the band by.
No. 8 - Nick Drake - Pink Moon (1972)
11 songs in 28 minutes? Sounds like it would be much too short for any kind of real work, right? Instead, any longer songs might have made the structure of this record fall apart. There is not a lot of happiness on this album, however. Most might sound rushed to get through the collection and the entire album was recorded in just two nights, but Drake was obviously just full of inspiration and a need to get the songs recorded.
Drake dealt with depression most of his life and the album is not easy to listen to, but the talent and songwriting ability are without question. The record did not sell well and did not fit in with what was being played on the radio at the time. Drake also refused to promote it. Each track is excellent, however, and the short album must be listened to as a whole.
No. 7 - Rolling Stones - Exile on Main Street (1972)
Bluesy and country-infected, the Rolling Stones perhaps made the most American-sounding album of any non-American group. Instead of borrowing, they stole, and they perfected. The Stones did not try to reinvent the wheel as they used the wheel for fodder as well. They were also still in a period of time where they did not overproduce anything so the rough edges of the songs were as they were meant to be.
The record does not contain a lot of independent singles with filler. There are almost literally no tracks that one might list among their top-ten favorite Stones songs. But the group simply made a record they wanted to make by the sounds they were influenced by at the time and we should be thankful for the unintentional masterpiece.
No. 6 - Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin IV (1971)
The record is almost so perfect that one wants to find a reason to not like it much anymore. But many of the standard hard rock and metal tropes we know now come directly from Led Zeppelin IV. Only eight songs long, one might accidentally run across the album in a record store and think it's part of a greatest hits collection. It isn't. This was just four guys coming together and making music in a way no one had ever heard before - or likely ever will again.
From the bombast of "Black Dog," the pre-punk of "Rock and Roll, to the grandeur of "Stairway to Heaven," this is a beast of an album that will grab you and smile. Plus, the best song Led Zeppelin might have ever created, "When the Levee Breaks," is the ender. Don't worry, though; you will just want to immediately flip back over to side one and listen to the album all over again.
No. 5 - The Stooges - Raw Power (1973)
Raw Power was produced by David Bowie at the height of Bowie's early 1970s power and the engineering of the record has all his paw marks all over it. But make no mistake that as great as Bowie was, this album belongs to Iggy Pop and his ability to snarl and taunt and beg and rage will carry you straight on through to the other side. Or, well...whatever you are hoping to search and then destroy.
The sound is thin and that is how it was meant. The word "raw" isn't just being used as the title of the record. That is the whole feel of the album. This is not for the young kids; instead, this is meant for the adults who have seen another day beat them down only to have Iggy raise them from near-death again. Eight songs do not seem like enough, but that is all you will get on this album and it is still more than worth a listen.
No. 4 - Marvin Gaye - What's Going On (1971)
While both are brilliant pieces of what humanity can do, you might not want to listen to Raw Power and What's Going On back to back because the answer to the latter might not come to you. This album made Gaye from an R&B master to one who had real questions about what was going on in the early 1970s in terms of social upheaval and how the government reacted to that.
But Gaye did not aimlessly go through the motions of his songs, he offered real solutions that might be too idealistic and he knew it. His tracks were about hope, not depression. The performer would never make another album quite like What's Going On - also notice there is no question mark in the title; Gaye is observing, not questioning - but then few artists would ever, either. In many ways, this album is simply the predecessor to Public Enemy's It Takes a Nation to Hold Us Back.
No. 3 - The Clash - London Calling (1979)
It is not a stretch to say that London Calling was fairly close in observation of cultural themes as What's Going On was. The Clash were simply speaking about what was going on in London in the 1970s with all it's forgetting about the poor and downtrodden. Musically, of course, there is a vast difference as the Clash wanted to explore a wide variety of influences. Much like the Rolling Stones did on Exile on Main Street, the Clash in 1979 perfected every genre they touched.
19 songs long and feeling like a thrill ride at an amusement park, the album will carry you through exhibits of punk, ska, pure rock, roots music, reggae, jazz, and soul. Different tracks have different influences and somehow they all fit wonderfully perfectly on the record. The Clash made double-and-triple albums after London Calling, but they could not replicate the exact formula for this masterpiece, few bands ever could.
No. 2 - Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures (1979)
This is an album easy to look back on and think about vocalist Ian Curtis's suicide and have that color the album. But would one do that with Nirvana albums or Soundgarden records? They shouldn't, right? The point is in the strength of the songs and whether the album is front-to-back amazing. Unknown Pleasures is and for several reasons.
I mean, just look at the tracklist alone: "Disorder," "Day of the Lords," "Candidate," and those are just the first three songs. There is a bleakness to the lyrics and a darkness to the music but it is so well performed that it elevates those who listen. If you have only heard "Love Will Tear Us Apart," you've missed so much. And mortal bands could never make this record.
No. 1 - David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1972)
There are few albums ever as iconic as David Bowie's Ziggy. He remade himself, as he would do often in his career, into a character and then wrote great enough songs to get fans to buy into the character he had become. And what a fantastic set of tracks the album is. All of them were well-played and conceived. The tracklist is in perfect order, one song building off of the next to create a concept album about a strange alien whom fans came to identify with personally.
This was part of the genius of Bowie, of course. His main characters could be distant, but fans felt a kinship, much like the performer himself. Who exactly was David Bowie (nee Jones) we likely will never know. But we do know he gave us gems such as "Suffragette City," "Starman," and "Lady Stardust." But there are zero bad songs on the record; every track is a stand-alone piece of brilliance. And is there any better album-ender than "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide"? Doubtful.