# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2024, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-albums-that-define-the-1970s/996078/61 "2024-01-15T20:42:15Z")
> [@XOldiesJock](#): > > I think it’s a bit unfair to call singer-songwriters “wussy.” [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/8V_hCqO6UQs/maxresdefault.jpg "Animal House Guitar Scene") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8V_hCqO6UQs) ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2024, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-albums-that-define-the-1970s/996078/62 "2024-01-15T20:57:53Z")
If I can just pick a nit…Do bands like the Ramones actually define the 1970s? Even the music they actually recorded in the 1970s sounds like it’s from a different decade. That was the whole point of the Ramones (and other Punk bands like the Pistols); to NOT sound like Seventies music. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2024, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-albums-that-define-the-1970s/996078/63 "2024-01-15T21:25:05Z")
That’s all true, so the irony was that punk rock that wanted to sound nothing like all the dinosaur/prog bands mentioned in this thread, itself became one of the defining sounds of the seventies. ---
**Author:** ![SunUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SunUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunUp)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2024, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-albums-that-define-the-1970s/996078/64 "2024-01-15T22:05:59Z")
The antithesis can’t keep itself from becoming part of the synthesis. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2024, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-albums-that-define-the-1970s/996078/65 "2024-01-15T22:12:39Z")
And thr guy who is playing the guitar is Stephen Bishop, himself a wussy singer songwriter. “On and On” is probably his beat known song. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2024, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-albums-that-define-the-1970s/996078/66 "2024-01-15T22:27:49Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > If I can just pick a nit…Do bands like the Ramones actually define the 1970s? Even the music they actually recorded in the 1970s sounds like it’s from a different decade. That was the whole point of the Ramones (and other Punk bands like the Pistols); to NOT sound like Seventies music. Yeah - but that just points out the difficulty of considering decades to be meaningful in terms of music, or that any one musical style “defines” a decade. MAYBE you’d want to identify groups/albums that had the most success for the longest period within a decade. So do you include Zepplin, when I and II were recorded in the 60s? How about Deep Purple, whose best music was before 75? Foreigner (to me) seems VERY 70s - but their debut was in 78. Has Steve Miller Band Book of Dreams been mentioned yet? ---
**Author:** ![MortSahlFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@MortSahlFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MortSahlFan)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2024, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-albums-that-define-the-1970s/996078/67 "2024-01-15T22:40:38Z")
one not named yet, but Chicago VII – so eclectic and great. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2024, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-albums-that-define-the-1970s/996078/68 "2024-01-15T22:56:30Z")
Some of the above, while released in the 70’s are sort of timeless. A young person today might listen to and like Neil’s Rust Never Sleeps, but it might not scream 70’s to them. Same for Zep and the Eagles. Regarding the OP, some rock albums are frozen in the 70’s, imo. [Uriah Heep - The Magician’s Birthday](https://vinyl-records.nl/uriah-heep/uriah-heep-the-magicians-birthday-germany-island-records-gatefold-vinyl-lp-album.html) is one such album. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2024, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-albums-that-define-the-1970s/996078/69 "2024-01-15T23:03:45Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Has Steve Miller Band Book of Dreams been mentioned yet? “Fly Like an Eagle” is much more a quintessential 70’s album. We should add ZZ-Top to the mix. My favorite of theirs from the 70’s is Deguello, but Tres Hombres works too. Then there was the whole genre of southern rock/Country rock, consisting of: Eagles Poco Allman Brothers Atlanta Rhythm Section Marshall Tucker Band Outlaws Lynyrd Skynyrd Skynyrd has already been mentioned, and I think the Allmans (I’d pick “Live from Fillmore East”). Then there were the ‘Outlaw Country’ folks that made it big in pop radio in the 70’s. Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Tompall Glaser, Jessi Coulter, Merl Haggard, etc. The album I would pick from them would be “Wanted: The Outlaws”. The album is full of radio hits and still gets lots of play today. It was the first platinum country album. ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2024, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-albums-that-define-the-1970s/996078/70 "2024-01-15T23:08:14Z")
Carole King / Tapestry Linda Rondstadt Jefferson Airplane ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2024, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-albums-that-define-the-1970s/996078/71 "2024-01-15T23:14:51Z")
> [@chela](#): > > Jefferson Airplane Defining _sixties_ band for me. ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2024, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-albums-that-define-the-1970s/996078/72 "2024-01-15T23:20:43Z")
Right. Starship then 👍 ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2024, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-albums-that-define-the-1970s/996078/73 "2024-01-15T23:21:38Z")
you all forgot THE man that stands more for the 70ies than most mentioned above: . . . Bob Seeger! - turn the page - nutbush city limits - night moves - mainstreet - still the same - hollywood nights - we got tonight - old time RnR - Fire lake - Against the wind all from '71-80 it’s not just that they were HITs, but I feel also hits that transported the 1970ies feeling really well … and you cant be more american than bob seegers americana! ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2024, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-albums-that-define-the-1970s/996078/74 "2024-01-16T01:46:28Z")
What I’ve Learned From This Thread: 1. The early, mid and late '70s are different eras, and came at different times of our lives. 2. My '70s and your '70s are not the same. 3. Opel would just shrug. Come to think of it, my “Allman Bros. and Poco and the Dead” '70s are so different from my “Figuring out Cohen and Dylan lyrics” '70s, or my “Spirit and King Crimson and Genesis-But-The-One-With-Peter-Gabriel-Doing-Cosplay” days. ---
**Author:** ![Jaycat.again](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat.again/32/11525_2.png) [@Jaycat.again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaycat.again)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2024, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-albums-that-define-the-1970s/996078/75 "2024-01-16T02:13:38Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > Then there was the whole genre of southern rock/Country rock, consisting of: > > Eagles > Poco > Allman Brothers > Atlanta Rhythm Section > Marshall Tucker Band > Outlaws > Lynyrd Skynyrd Did you forget someone whose initials are “GP?” ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2024, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-albums-that-define-the-1970s/996078/76 "2024-01-16T02:23:32Z")
Gram Parsons? Hugely influential, but did he have a ‘quintessential 70’s album’? I was thinking of Stevie Ray Vaughan as well, but I don’t think he really had a single iconic album. Did anyone mention _Meat Loaf - Bat out of Hell_? That has to be one of the most iconic 70’s albums. It was everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![Jaycat.again](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat.again/32/11525_2.png) [@Jaycat.again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaycat.again)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2024, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-albums-that-define-the-1970s/996078/77 "2024-01-16T02:30:20Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > Gram Parsons? Hugely influential, but did he have a ‘quintessential 70’s album’? I suppose not. But he was arguably the godfather of country rock. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2024, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-albums-that-define-the-1970s/996078/78 "2024-01-16T02:33:30Z")
Definitely a major influence. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2024, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-albums-that-define-the-1970s/996078/79 "2024-01-16T03:03:11Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Foreigner (to me) seems VERY 70s - but their debut was in 78. > > Has Steve Miller Band Book of Dreams been mentioned yet? Oddly, I saw both Foreigner and Steve Miller Band live in concert last year. Both advertised as their farewell tour. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2024, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-albums-that-define-the-1970s/996078/80 "2024-01-16T03:46:38Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > Both advertised as their farewell tour. Third, Forth or Fifth? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-albums-that-define-the-1970s/996078.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-albums-that-define-the-1970s/996078.md?page=5)