More top rock bands of the ’70s, according to our readers
A previous piece on ’70s rock brought a wave of readers convinced their favorites got left out. Two names kept coming up. Led Zeppelin. The Rolling Stones. Fair, honestly. Leaving either off a decade-defining list was always going to draw mail.
Round two. Seven bands. Straight from what readers kept bringing up.
Led Zeppelin
Formed to finish out Yardbirds tour dates nobody else wanted to play. Somehow became the band that defined the entire decade instead. By 1973 they had their own custom jet, the Starship, bar and video library included. The Rolling Stones leased it too, when they needed a ride somewhere.
The Rolling Stones
Fled Britain in 1971 over a tax bill. Ended up in the basement of a rented French villa recording “Exile on Main St.” Brutal summer heat. Half the band drifting in and out at odd hours. Critics were split when it dropped. That verdict flipped hard within a few years. Sits near the top of nearly every greatest-albums list now.
Pink Floyd
937 weeks on the Billboard 200. “The Dark Side of the Moon.” Nearly eighteen years, cumulatively, without fully dropping off the chart. Even people who study this stuff for a living still find that number a little baffling.
The Eagles
“Hotel California” turned sun-soaked 1970s Los Angeles excess into something closer to a warning than a celebration. Immaculate harmonies wrapped around lyrics that were, underneath all that polish, pretty openly cynical about the exact lifestyle the band had come to represent.
Black Sabbath
Heavy metal starts here. Friday the 13th. February 1970. Opening notes of the title track, self-titled debut. Tony Iommi’s detuned riffs, a genuinely ominous atmosphere, and a whole genre born out of it almost by accident. Critics hated it. Radio mostly refused to play it. Didn’t matter. The albums sold anyway.
The Who
Pete Townshend built entire rock operas out of narrative arcs most bands wouldn’t attempt in a single song, let alone a full record. “Tommy.” Then “Quadrophenia.” Windmill chords, smashed guitars, and somehow, underneath all the wreckage, a story that actually held together.
ZZ Top
Three guys from Texas. Beards eventually longer than most people’s patience for describing them. Built an entire sound around blues-boogie riffs that never really went out of style. Simple. Loud. Recognizable within two notes, every time.
The bottom line
Seven more, and readers will probably still find someone missing. That’s just the thing about a decade this stacked. No list survives contact with everyone’s actual record collection.
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Related:
- 12 iconic rock songs that wouldn’t fly today
- The most controversial songs of the ’60s: Do you agree?
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