# Best Pazz & Jop Critics Poll Album of the '70s **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 26, 2015, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-of-the-70s/710901 "2015-01-26T03:15:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2015, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-of-the-70s/710901/1 "2015-01-26T03:15:26Z")
Not the most diverse list - almost entirely classic rock, with Stevie Wonder the only soul act and Elvis Costello the only halfway-close thing to punk. But this is how you guys voted, so now let’s go by decade. There were no polls for '70, '72 or '73, but there was a 3-way tie in '78, so there are 9 entries for this one. ---
**Author:** ![Nema98](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d2c977/32.png) [@Nema98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nema98)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2015, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-of-the-70s/710901/2 "2015-01-26T03:49:49Z")
Fleetwood Mac. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2015, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-of-the-70s/710901/3 "2015-01-26T11:18:55Z")
> [@Nema98](#): > > Fleetwood Mac. Yup. Many great albums on that list, but _Rumours_ is great from start to finish, and has enough variety of styles to capture a range of 70s (and timeless) musical feels. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2015, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-of-the-70s/710901/4 "2015-01-26T11:58:36Z")
It’s _Rust Never Sleeps_, for me. “Powderfinger” , “Pocahontas” and the opening and closing bookend songs put it ahead of the others. That it’s mostly live makes it even better. Plus, I’ve never heard a musician explicitly fight for relevance and be as successful as he was on that record. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2015, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-of-the-70s/710901/5 "2015-01-26T12:15:28Z")
Love Rumours, love Dylan, love Stevie, but have to go with Who’s Next. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2015, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-of-the-70s/710901/6 "2015-01-26T23:46:01Z")
Fleetwood Mac? Really? How disappointing. Aside from _Songs in the Key of Life_ and _Who’s Next_, none of these are worthy to be even mentioned at the same time as _Blood on the Tracks_, let alone earn more votes than it. ---
**Author:** ![Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/soul_brother_number_two/32/3515_2.png) [@Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soul_Brother_Number_Two)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2015, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-of-the-70s/710901/7 "2015-01-26T23:50:11Z")
Rust Never Sleeps contains some of the most epic guitar rock ever recorded–Powderfinger, Cortez the Killer, Like a Hurricane. One of the greatest rock albums ever made. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2015, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-of-the-70s/710901/8 "2015-01-27T11:50:31Z")
I went with Dylan, but the competition was tough. Springsteen, Neil Young, Elvis Costello, The Who…tough choice. But is _Rumours_ really running away with this poll? That album was definitely the marker that mid-70s mellow-rock had gone too far, and it justified all the musical reactions, not just punk and New Wave, but disco as well. ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2015, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-of-the-70s/710901/9 "2015-01-28T05:04:18Z")
I have to go with Warren Zevon, of course. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2015, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-of-the-70s/710901/10 "2015-01-28T06:27:34Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > I went with Dylan, but the competition was tough. Springsteen, Neil Young, Elvis Costello, The Who…tough choice. > > But is _Rumours_ really running away with this poll? That album was definitely the marker that mid-70s mellow-rock had gone too far, and it justified all the musical reactions, not just punk and New Wave, but disco as well. Fair enough. I’m glad I voted for Rumours, though – no reason the best example of something can’t happen just when it’s time for the world to move on to something else.