# Rock albums that define the 1970s **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [January 14, 2024, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-albums-that-define-the-1970s/996078 "2024-01-14T18:22:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2024, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-albums-that-define-the-1970s/996078/1 "2024-01-14T18:22:38Z")
I’m listening to the Double Vision album by Foreigner and does this album ever scream the 1970s. No one will call this the best rock album of the 1970s, probably not even top 25. But, just by listening, I’m transported right back to the era of 70s cars, 8 track tapes and can even smell the omnipresent cigarette smoke in the bar as Foreigner blasts from the jukebox. Any other candidates for albums which immediately transporter you to the 1970s and really couldn’t have been released in any other decade? ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2024, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-albums-that-define-the-1970s/996078/2 "2024-01-14T18:25:07Z")
Aerosmith, whichever album came out in 76 or close to it. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2024, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-albums-that-define-the-1970s/996078/3 "2024-01-14T18:25:11Z")
Frampton Comes Alive! Out of the Blue (Electric Light Orchestra) Boston ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2024, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-albums-that-define-the-1970s/996078/4 "2024-01-14T18:31:21Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Frampton Comes Alive! I came here to say that. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2024, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-albums-that-define-the-1970s/996078/5 "2024-01-14T18:33:13Z")
Van Halen and Van Halen 2 Kiss Alive and Destroyer Lynyrd Skynyrd (Pronounced 'Lĕh-'nérd 'Skin-'nérd), Street Survivors and Second Helping Not a “rock” album, but the Bee Gees Saturday Night Fever is definitly 70’s., it gave us the disco ball! ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2024, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-albums-that-define-the-1970s/996078/6 "2024-01-14T18:35:16Z")
A few others that come to mind, after another moment of thought: Led Zeppelin IV Rumours (Fleetwood Mac) Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (Elton John) ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2024, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-albums-that-define-the-1970s/996078/7 "2024-01-14T18:40:55Z")
“Who’s Next” “Born To Run” “Blood on the Tracks” ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2024, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-albums-that-define-the-1970s/996078/8 "2024-01-14T18:44:06Z")
Bad Company is a band that transports me… > [@dalej42](#): > > …right back to the era of 70s cars, 8 track tapes and can even smell the omnipresent cigarette smoke _Here come the jesters one two three_ _It’s all part of my fantasy…_ ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2024, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-albums-that-define-the-1970s/996078/9 "2024-01-14T18:54:02Z")
Pink Floyd, Dark Side of the Moon ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2024, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-albums-that-define-the-1970s/996078/10 "2024-01-14T19:11:54Z")
Sticky Fingers, Exile on Main Street, Some Girls ETA: If you need someone to tell you who made these albums, you’re in the wrong thread. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2024, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-albums-that-define-the-1970s/996078/11 "2024-01-14T19:17:35Z")
Lynyrd Skynyrd - any album, but I wore the grooves off of _One More From The Road._ And if speaking of '70’s rock I will always float _Violation_ by Starz. Not well known, a power-pop-rock outfit from NYC. They’re label mates were Angel and they were produced by Jack Douglas, who produced Aerosmith. Their rhythm section was the remnants of Looking Glass of _Brandy_ fame, but their style was more akin to KISS meets The Ramones. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2024, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-albums-that-define-the-1970s/996078/12 "2024-01-14T19:17:58Z")
Paradise With An Ocean View - Country Joe McDonald Lost In the Ozone - Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen Live at Carnegie Hall - Renaissance (I had _very_ eclectic tastes back then.) ---
**Author:** ![dirtball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dirtball/32/18772_2.png) [@dirtball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dirtball)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2024, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-albums-that-define-the-1970s/996078/13 "2024-01-14T19:26:56Z")
> [@SuntanLotion](#): > > Aerosmith, whichever album came out in 76 or close to it. I’d go with _Toys in the Attic_ in 1975 and _Rocks_ in 1976. But those awful power ballads they shoehorned in are strictly unnecessary. And _Exile on Main Street_, as also mentioned upthread. ---
**Author:** ![GrunthosTheFlatulent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grunthostheflatulent/32/21319_2.png) [@GrunthosTheFlatulent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrunthosTheFlatulent)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2024, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-albums-that-define-the-1970s/996078/14 "2024-01-14T20:28:09Z")
Eno’s Another Green World. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2024, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-albums-that-define-the-1970s/996078/15 "2024-01-14T20:58:12Z")
Auuuu-tooooo-bahhhhhhn…… ---
**Author:** ![XOldiesJock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/ec9cab/32.png) [@XOldiesJock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XOldiesJock)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2024, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-albums-that-define-the-1970s/996078/16 "2024-01-14T21:02:28Z")
**Fragile** and **Close to the Edge** by **Yes.** ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2024, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-albums-that-define-the-1970s/996078/17 "2024-01-14T21:07:56Z")
> [@XOldiesJock](#): > > **Fragile** and **Close to the Edge** Over the span of 19 months (February '71 to September '72), they released _The Yes Album_, plus those two, as well. An impressive creative output, in a pretty short period of time. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2024, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-albums-that-define-the-1970s/996078/18 "2024-01-14T21:22:53Z")
Pick a Black Sabbath album. (ETA: Though, with the qualification “couldn’t have been released in any other decade,” they really so forward-thinking that I think 80s, 90s, hell now, it wouldn’t seem so out-of-time.) ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2024, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-albums-that-define-the-1970s/996078/19 "2024-01-14T21:24:56Z")
Besides those already mentioned, there were a lot of other classic live albums: Live at Leeds, Wings Over America, the Filmore sets by Allman Brothers and Humble Pie, Deep Purple Made In Japan, Wishbone Ash Live Dates… ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2024, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-albums-that-define-the-1970s/996078/20 "2024-01-14T21:26:50Z")
Cheap Trick - Live at Budokon It literally screams (in Japanese no less) the 70’s [![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/22/CheapTrick_Live_atBudokan.jpg) ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/22/CheapTrick_Live_atBudokan.jpg) Oh, and Neil Young and Crazy Horse - Rust Never Sleeps [![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/47/Neil_Young_Rust_Never_Sleeps.jpg) ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/47/Neil_Young_Rust_Never_Sleeps.jpg) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-albums-that-define-the-1970s/996078.md?page=2)