True, but I would think most relate to them as a 60's band. Much like AC/DC is considered a 70's band even though their best album, Back in Black, came out in '81, and GNR is considered an 80's band even though Use Your Illusion came out in the 90's.
That's a good point. I am also thinking of throwing Bob Dylan and the Band in here. 10 albums in the 70's including Desire, which is one of the best albums I've ever heard.
Wow. Nothing on the Internet surprises me any more. The Who is overrated. Amazing. I think there are many, many entries for best band of the 70s, so many that I can't count. Some for albums, some for singles, some for live performances, etc. And then you have some from the 60s who filtered into the 70s and some from the 70s who carried on into the 80s. So, to fit into a strict 70s only definition, because there would be too many to mention based on other criteria, the group who only existed in the 70s in their original incarnation (lead singer, players, main songwriter) that could hold this title would be Lynyrd Skynyrd, although I do think Zep and The Who had the best series of recordings in the 70s, Peter Frampton, Cheap Trick and Bob Seger's Silver Bullet Band had the best live albums, and The Doobie Brothers may have had the best songs overall without having any great albums. So, blah, blah, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Led Zeppelin, best of the 70s. The Who= best of all time. Oh, wait, Kiss has to be up there as a great live band. You see, there's just too many to mention. Deep Purple, Foghat, Queen, MC5, Heart, Mott the Hoople, The Cars, Talking Heads, New York Dolls. My vote also goes to Bob Marley and the Wailers, Earth Wind and Fire, and Parliament/Funkadelic. Exodus from Bob Marley may be the absolute best recording of the 70s in some respects. Then you've got KC and the Sunshine Band- now, don't laugh, but among all the disco artists, KC actually used a band, and they played great together. I'm Your Boogie Man Get Down Tonight Keep It Coming Love That's The Way I Like It Those are some of the best of the decade. So, there you go. A 5-way tie with Lynyrd Skynyrd, Led Zeppelin, Kiss, The Wailers (Bob Marley) and KC and the Sunshine Band.
I've noticed this about The Who. People either really like them or don't. There doesn't seem much inbetween.
Good call. They certainly don't have the following of some of the supergroups like Zeppelin but they were profoundly influential. A few other names I would throw in: Elvis Costello The Jam Bob Marley The Specials
That's an easy one. People who don't like The Who are usually mostly or all about technique. If you took a poll of those who can't stand The Who, their favorite bands would probably be Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Rush, and Yes. The ones who like The Who tend to like groups like The Rolling Stones, The Clash, and groups of that nature. By itself, Moon's drumming is all over the place and almost unlistenable. By itself, Entwistle's bass playing is the same. Daltrey of course doesn't have the most technically gifted voice, and Townshend is all about the chords rather than the solos of Page and Clapton. So, separately, they are to the point of being unlistenable or uninteresting. Together, they were made for each other unlike almost any other band. They were the best live band (that's a widely held opinion for those who attended concerts in the 70s), Townshend as a lyricist was rivaled only by Dylan and Ray Davies, they put out classic CDs that stand the test of time AND attempted to create recordings as art forms rather than just compilations of songs (e.g. Tommy, Quadrophena), and thus should rightfully be considered one of the all-time greats, if not the best. But those are obvious, anyway. The all-time greats are easy to note because they are generally agreed upon. I mean, who's going to say that The Rolling Stones weren't one of the greats? Personally, I don't find myself listening to them all that much, though I love Exile on Main Street. So, they might rank 40-50 on my list, but that doesn't mean I couldn't call them one of the greats. Same with Zep, Who, Floyd, Skynyrd, Aerosmith, and Grateful Dead. I used to always say the Grateful Dead was overrated, but then when you look at their massive body of work and the following that they have (plus they have some very good songs), I don't know if I can say that anymore. But The Who overrated? Nah, that's just like saying Led Zeppelin is overrated, to me. Overrate means to rate higher than one should. So what do people say about the Who? One of the best live bands (that's not even up for debate), classic recordings (I don't see how anyone can't acknowledge the greatness of at least Who's Next and Quadrophenia), great songwriting (definitely not your run-of-the-mill stuff- read his lyrics sometime), and great songs. But, hey, to each his or her own. Probably because I love music so much, I don't have very many bands who I think are overrated. I do have some I think who are very underrated, like The Kinks, The Call, and the one that sings Surrender (not even mentioning them by name, been playing them up all summer in other threads). Oh, and AC-DC's greatness is in its simplicity. People might say "ah, AC-DC's overrated" or no good, but you know these are the same people banging their fists on the wheel as soon as they hear: THE GIRLS GOT RHYTHMMMMM!!!!! DIRTY DEEDS AND THEY'RE DONE DIRT CHEAP!!!!! SHOOT TO THRILL, PLAY TO KILL, TOO MANY WOMEN, AND TOO MANY PILLS... WHOLE LOTTA WOMAN, WHOLE LOTTA WOMAN, WHOLE LOTTA ROSIE!!! Angus and Mozart. Both equally brilliant. Read in an article recently from Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick who said that he's toured with every band you can imagine- Kiss, Aerosmith, Queen, etc. and loved them all, but the one band whose concerts he would never miss is AC-DC. He rates them as the best live band that he's ever seen or played with on the same bill, and he said it's not even close. AC-DC rocks.
Can't add much more than what's already been noted. Good job folks. But from a guitarist pov the Isley Bothers would rank right up there with the best of them. Manny, thanks for mentioning our artsy fartsy bands! I would add, Emerson Lake and Palmer...and to a much, much lesser degree, Electric Light Orchestra and Chicago.
1. Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin 2. Imagine - John Lennon 3. Hotel California - The Eagles 4. What's Going On - Marvin Gaye 5. Born to Run - Bruce Springsteen 6. Layla - Derek and the Dominos 7. Superstition - Stevie Wonder 8. Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen 9. Bridge Over Troubled Water - Simon and Garfunkel 10. Let's Stay Together - Al Green 11. Let It Be - The Beatles 12. Maggie May - Rod Stewart 13. American Pie - Don McLean 14. Won't Get Fooled Again - The Who 15. Stayin' Alive - The Bee Gees 16. Free Bird - Lynyrd Skynyrd 17. Brown Sugar - The Rolling Stones 18. Let's Get It On - Marvin Gaye 19. Go Your Own Way - Fleetwood Mac 20. Papa Was A Rollin' Stone - The Temptations 21. Your Song - Elton John 22. Midnight Train To Georgia - Gladys Knight and the Pips 23. More Than A Feeling - Boston 24. Just My Imagination - The Temptations 25. I Will Survive - Gloria Gaynor 26. Roxanne - The Police 27. Dream On - Aerosmith 28. Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2 - Pink Floyd 29. No Woman, No Cry - Bob Marley and the Wailers 30. London Calling - The Clash 31. Family Affair - Sly and the Family Stone 32. Anarchy in the UK - The Sex Pistols 33. Dancing Queen - Abba 34. We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions - Queen 35. Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine - James Brown 36. Living for the City - Stevie Wonder 37. Sweet Home Alabama - Lynyrd Skynyrd 38. Lola - The Kinks 39. Smoke on the Water - Deep Purple 40. Sultans of Swing - Dire Straits 41. Walk This Way - Aerosmith 42. Lean on Me - Bill Withers 43. Who'll Stop the Rain - Creedence Clearwater Revival 44. Kashmir - Led Zeppelin 45. Rapper's Delight - The Sugarhill Gang 46. Heart of Glass - Blondie 47. Theme from 'Shaft' - Isaac Hayes 48. Me and Bobby McGee - Janis Joplin 49. Fire and Rain - James Taylor 50. Baba O'Riley - The Who 51. Paranoid - Black Sabbath 52. Heart of Gold - Neil Young 53. Walk on the Wild Side - Lou Reed 54. It's Too Late - Carole King 55. You Are the Sunshine of My Life - Stevie Wonder 56. All Right Now - Free 57. Good Times - Chic 58. (Don't Fear) The Reaper - Blue Oyster Cult 59. If You Don't Know Me by Now - Harold Melvin & the B. N. 60. Riders On the Storm - The Doors 61. My Sweet Lord - George Harrison 62. Bang a Gong (Get It On) - T. Rex 63. Black Magic Woman - Santana 64. Tangled Up in Blue - Bob Dylan 65. One Nation Under a Groove - Funkedelic 66. Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd 67. Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough - Michael Jackson 68. We Are Family - Sister Sledge 69. Rock and Roll - Led Zeppelin 70. I Wanna Be Sedated - The Ramones 71. Money - Pink Floyd 72. Miss You - The Rolling Stones 73. Piano Man - Billy Joel 74. Maybe I'm Amazed (studio version) - Paul McCartney 75. Tired of Being Alone - Al Green 76. Killing Me Softly with His Song - Roberta Flack 77. Changes - David Bowie 78. Comfortably Numb - Pink Floyd 79. Thunder Road - Bruce Springsteen 80. Le Freak - Chic 81. Heroes - David Bowie 82. Hot Stuff - Donna Summer 83. War - Edwin Starr 84. Night Moves - Bob Seger 85. Black Dog - Led Zeppelin 86. Brass in Pocket - The Pretenders 87. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road - Elton John 88. Band of Gold - Freda Payne 89. You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet - Bachman-Turner Overdrive 90. I'll Take You There - The Staple Singers 91. Tumbling Dice - The Rolling Stones 92. Love Train - The O'Jays 93. Instant Karma - John Lennon 94. You're So Vain - Carly Simon 95. Best of My Love - The Emotions 96. God Save the Queen - The Sex Pistols 97. Old Time Rock 'n' Roll - Bob Seger 98. Blitzkrieg Bop - The Ramones 99. Message in a Bottle - The Police 100. Mercy Mercy Me - Marvin Gaye 101. One of These Nights - The Eagles 102. Oh Girl - The Chi-Lites 103. Train in Vain - The Clash 104. Take It Easy - The Eagles 105. I'll Be Around - The Spinners 106. American Woman - The Guess Who 107. Roundabout - Yes 108. That Lady - The Isley Brothers 109. Angie - The Rolling Stones 110. Rock Lobster - The B-52's 111. Have You Seen Her - The Chi-Lites 112. Reeling in the Years - Steely Dan 113. Bennie and the Jets - Elton John 114. Aqualung - Jethro Tull 115. Low Rider - War 116. I'm Not in Love - 10cc 117. Brick House - Commodores 118. The Long and Winding Road - The Beatles 119. Y.M.C.A. - Village People 120. The Boys Are Back in Town - Thin Lizzy 121. Play That Funky Music - Wild Cherry 122. Rocket Man - Elton John 123. The Joker - The Steve Miller Band 124. Dreams - Fleetwood Mac 125. Have You Ever Seen the Rain - Creedence Clearwater Revival 126. Paradise by the Dashboard Light - Meat Loaf 127. School's Out - Alice Cooper 128. Joy to the World - Three Dog Night 129. Highway to Hell - AC/DC 130. Tear the Roof off the Sucker - Parliament 131. Spirit in the Sky - Norman Greenbaum 132. Radar Love - Golden Earring 133. Oye Como Va - Santana 134. Child in Time - Deep Purple 135. I Feel Love - Donna Summer 136. Jamming - Bob Marley and the Wailers 137. All the Young Dudes - Mott the Hoople 138. Moondance - Van Morrison 139. Drift Away - Dobie Gray 140. Ohio - Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young 141. Higher Ground - Stevie Wonder 142. Knockin' on Heaven's Door - Bob Dylan 143. Get Up, Stand Up - The Wailers 144. Rock Your Baby - George McCrae 145. Lady Marmalade - LaBelle 146. Flash Light - Parliament 147. Rhiannon - Fleetwood Mac 148. Long Cool Woman - The Hollies 149. Ain't No Sunshine - Bill Withers 150. Respect Yourself - The Staple Singers 151. Sweet Emotion - Aerosmith 152. Cars - Gary Numan 153. Takin' Care of Business - Bachman-Turner Overdrive 154. Just What I Needed - The Cars 155. Funkytown - Lipps, Inc. 156. My Sharona - The Knack 157. Rock with You - Michael Jackson 158. The Harder They Come - Jimmy Cliff 159. Back Stabbers - The O'Jays 160. I Can See Clearly Now - Johnny Nash 161. Without You - Nilsson 162. Tiny Dancer - Elton John 163. Because the Night - Patti Smith 164. Ramblin' Man - The Allman Brothers 165. Wonderful Tonight - Eric Clapton 166. Lust for Life - Iggy Pop 167. Just the Way You Are - Billy Joel 168. Rock and Roll All Nite - KISS 169. That's the Way (I Like It) - KC & the Sunshine Band 170. Autobahn - Kraftwerk 171. Help Me - Joni Mitchell 172. Fame - David Bowie 173. Love to Love You Baby - Donna Summer 174. Kiss and Say Goodbye - The Manhattans 175. Time - Pink Floyd 176. Werewolves of London - Warren Zevon 177. Disco Inferno - The Trammps 178. Burning Love - Elvis Presley 179. I'm Still in Love with You - Al Green 180. Pressure Drop - Toots and the Maytals 181. Cruisin' - Smokey Robinson 182. Refugee - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers 183. Tonight's the Night - Rod Stewart 184. Smiling Faces Sometimes - The Undisputed Truth 185. Behind Blue Eyes - The Who 186. Always and Forever - Heatwave 187. We're an American Band - Grand Funk 188. Band on the Run - Paul McCartney and Wings 189. Listen to the Music - The Doobie Brothers 190. September - Earth, Wind and Fire 191. Runnin' with the Devil - Van Halen 192. I'll Be There - The Jackson 5 193. Who Are You - The Who 194. Surrender - Cheap Trick 195. Waterloo - ABBA 196. Got to Give It Up - Marvin Gaye 197. Fly Like an Eagle - The Steve Miller Band 198. I Wish - Stevie Wonder 199. Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe - Barry White 200. Carry On Wayward Son - Kansas 201. Ball of Confusion - The Temptations 202. Cocaine - Eric Clapton 203. Alone Again (Naturally) - Gilbert O'Sullivan 204. Crocodile Rock - Elton John 205. Love Is the Drug - Roxy Music 206. LA Woman - The Doors 207. Stuck in the Middle with You - Stealers Wheel 208. Mr. Big Stuff - Jean Knight 209. The Logical Song - Supertramp 210. Tell Me Something Good - Rufus 211. Oliver's Army - Elvis Costello 212. 25 or 6 to 4 - Chicago 213. What I Like About You - The Romantics 214. Inner City Blues - Marvin Gaye 215. Life in the Fast Lane - The Eagles 216. A Horse with No Name - America 217. Hey Hey My My (Into the Black) - Neil Young 218. Natural High - Bloodstone 219. One Way or Another - Blondie 220. Shame - Evelyn "Champagne" King 221. O-o-h Child - The Five Stairsteps 222. I Saw the Light - Todd Rundgren 223. Night Fever - The Bee Gees 224. Truckin' - The Grateful Dead 225. Rock and Roll, Part 2 - Gary Glitter 226. Baker Street - Gerry Rafferty 227. Mr. Blue Sky - Electric Light Orchestra 228. Psycho Killer - Talking Heads 229. What a Fool Believes - The Doobie Brothers 230. Jessica - The Allman Brothers 231. Margaritaville - Jimmy Buffet 232. Dust in the Wind - Kansas 233. When Will I See You Again - The Three Degrees 234. Black Water - The Doobie Brothers 235. Me and Mrs. Jones - Billy Paul 236. Running on Empty - Jackson Browne 237. Roadhouse Blues - The Doors 238. Turn the Page - Bob Seger 239. The Payback - James Brown 240. Over the Hills and Far Away - Led Zeppelin 241. Rebel Rebel - David Bowie 242. Killer Queen - Queen 243. Pick Up the Pieces - Average White Band 244. Can't Get Enough - Bad Company 245. Fantasy - Earth, Wind and Fire 246. Long Time - Boston 247. Locomotive Breath - Jethro Tull 248. That's the Way of the World - Earth, Wind and Fire 249. Until You Come Back to Me - Aretha Franklin 250. Question - The Moody Blues
I was really torn on saying The Band but I really feel that their 2 best albums was their first 2 which came out in '68 and '69. I liked Stage Fright and Northern Lights-Southern Cross plus Rock of Ages was a kickass live album, but I feel that The Band's bigger impact came in the '60s. Rep, +1! I had posted about them awhile ago but never saw anything from you on the Residents - you must have missed the thread. What do you think about the album, "God in Three Persons"? I have been looking at getting some stuff by them but haven't yet. Do you also have stuff by Captain Beefheart and Frank Zappa? And dando, you know I love you and you are spot-on about these things except this one: I like The Who, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Rush, Yes, The Clash, and most of the Rolling Stones. But I get at what you are saying and agree. Thanks RRaccoon - I have never quite understood why progressive rock and fusion gets sloughed on so much.
This epitomizes what I don't like about these threads. I like the Who. I like Zep, Floyd, Rush, Stones, Clash. I like Yes, but I like the Kinks, too. One does not preclude the other, and while I like a band with virtuoso musicians, it doesn't keep me from being a Ramone's fan, or whoever you might not think are great musicians. A lot of things make people think a band is great, and musicianship is only one ingredient. Roxy Music? Really? Nothing wrong with them, but do they really deserve a mention? Zeppelin is a 60's band? Really? I won't argue though, because the question allows for the subjective opinions to all be right. "Best?" What does that even mean? We can't even pin down what a "70's band" is. Moon's drumming was groundbreaking, whether you like the style or not, it changed rock music. You can almost hear the transition from 60's to 70's rock in a song like "Happy Jack" and the drums are a big reason why. If you could ask Bonham, I bet he'd give a nod to Moon. Entwistle was on the same par... not afraid to stand out... and was technically sound. Geddy Lee has been on record stating Entwistle was one of his influences, and that witch can PLAY man. Daltrey may not be the "Technically" gifted wonder some others are, but he had one of the best rock and roll voices ever. He owns one of the best "rock screams" ever. They were innovative, a great live show, had four musicians in the band that brought some originality to music of their time, AND also knew how to write a song. That said, they're not my favorite, and I rarely give them a listen beyond the accidental showing in an ipod rotation of song that rate 4*s or more. Separately? What's that got to do with anything? What about Zappa and the Mothers? This thread is too general, and too many people think they can explain why they're right. You can say why YOU think someone is the best, but again,... Best? Lastly, at the risk of upsetting a grumpy FFB, I can't say who's best without some criteria, but AC/DC is not even in the top ten. I like them, but way too much better music would have to come first, and that's talking just 70's.
Thanks for this thread. There really was a huge amount of diverse and fantastic music from that era. Right now...Bob Marley, and ABBA are getting a lot of play in the bnb household. (don't judge the ABBA -- both these selections are kid generated! -- and better then any commercial kid stuff produced today . I guess you could include Michael Jackson, Fleetwood Mac, Rod Stewart, the Beatles, Talking Heads, Grateful Dead, Rush, Clash, the early british punk scene, Simon and Garfunkle, the whole funkadelic scene, the techno Kraftworks type genre, Rick James, Diana Ross and others as 70's music. Ironic that such a wide variety of music came from an era where the music distribution chanels were so closely controlled. And access to music was limited to radio play or LP's and cassettes.
Uh, yes, they REALLY do deserve a mention. For starters, the band was CRIMINALLY underrated here in the States (but that shouldn't come as a surprise as there were many other artists that fell into that category), so I shouldn't be surprised that there is skepticism about mentioning them. Yet the facts remain that they along with David Bowie (which his band the Spiders from Mars would have to be considered as well) were enormous influences on punk and new wave music. Some of the bands that Roxy influenced: Siouxsie and the Banshees Ultravox Talk Talk Japan Spandau Ballet Duran Duran A Flock of Seagulls ABC The Cure Depeche Mode Gary Numan OMD The Fixx Blondie The Cars Joy Division New Order The Human League Soft Cell Adam Ant Split Enz Talking Heads And there's more than that, those are the ones off the top of my head. And yes you can definitely make the argument that a lot of those bands/artists were not the best, but the fact remains that when you influence that many artists (plus a whole genre of rock music), you must have been doing something right. So I think that Roxy Music being mentioned in this thread is perfectly justified.
Yeah but radio play was a wide open field which allowed for more exposure to "minor" acts. Of course this all was starting to change going into the 80s.
Re-read the post - all the artists I mentioned outside of Roxy Music and Bowie were artists that were influenced by them.
