Yakkity yak, don’t talk back.
26 Jun
A couple of weeks ago, I posted my favorite albums of the 1960’s. The self-imposed limit of 10 albums, however, caused much wailing and gnashing of teeth, especially when I immediately thought of at least that many good or better albums approximately three seconds after I clicked “Publish.” Accordingly, for the 1970’s installment, I’ve expanded the list to 20. This way I feel free to include more than one release by an artist. Because let’s face facts, folks: Zep and Floyd were the most important white people of the 70’s, and Stevie and George were the most important black people. They all deserve to be represented more than once.
You’ll further notice that nary an appearance is made by such 70’s staples as Fleetwood Mac, Peter Frampton, Meatloaf, or anyone remotely connected to the Saturday Night Fever or Grease soundtracks. Fuck them. And as for the Eagles…well, why don’t we just let The Dude tackle that one.
So, yeah, here’s the list. As before, placement in no way indicates rank. Numbers are square, baby.
Led Zeppelin – IV
Iggy & The Stooges – Raw Power
Pink Floyd – The Dark Side of the Moon
Funkadelic – One Nation Under a Groove
The Clash – London Calling
Black Sabbath – Paranoid
Stevie Wonder – Talking Book
Bob Marley and the Wailers – Live!
John Lennon- Plastic Ono Band
David Bowie – The Rise & Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
Led Zeppelin – Physical Graffiti
Curtis Mayfield – Superfly
The Who – Who’s Next
Funkadelic – Maggot Brain
The Sex Pistols – Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols
Pink Floyd – Animals
Janis Joplin – Pearl
Stevie Wonder – Innervisions
AC/DC - Highway To Hell
Neil Young and Crazy Horse – Rust Never Sleeps
9 Responses for "Clowns to the Left of Me, Jokers to the Right"
Good list. The 70’s are vastly underrated musically — I find this list much easier to fill than any other I can think of. Rather than repeat your picks, I’ll choose an alternate 20.
Sly and the Family Stone: There’s a Riot Goin’ On
The Clash: The Clash
Al Green: Call Me
Dolly Parton: The Best of Dolly Parton
Rolling Stones: Exile on Main Street
Rolling Stones: Some Girls
Bob Marley and the Wailers: Burnin’
Van Morrison: St. Dominic’s Preview
Derek and the Dominos: Layla
Talking Heads: More Songs about Buildings and Food
Burning Spear: Marcus Garvey
Randy Newman: 12 Songs
Steely Dan: Pretzel Logic
Roxy Music: Siren
Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers
The Pretenders: The Pretenders
Nick Lowe: Pure Pop for Now People
Elvis Costello: This Year’s Model
The Velvet Underground: Loaded
The Kinks: Kink Kronikles
Wow, St. Dominic’s over Moondance? Bold choice. And I know you are in favor of greatest hits albums and compilations being included, but should that be the case for an “album band” like the Kinks? (Lola vs. Powerman & the Money-Go-Round was one of the final cuts from my list, btw.)
True, I forgot that that’s a greatest hits album, but I don’t think any of their standalone 70’s albums belongs on a best of list. Also, are we talking U.S. release dates or worldwide release dates? London Calling wasn’t released in the U.S. until Jan. 1980.
I didn’t realize I was such a fan of 70s music until I saw these lists. Except for the Black Sabbath. I love your inclusion of Dolly, Chris. I heart her, too.
I used to think Physical Graffiti was my favorite LZ, but have recently realized that LZ II is actually my favorite. I looked it up and it was a 60s release, however, so I should have mentioned it last time.
Blondie would be on my list, too. Parallel Lines. And if I think about what I actually listened to… The Cars must be on the list.
Cannot wait for the 80s picks! I have a few off the top of my head but will put some thought into that one.
The Dude abides man!
BTW, if you’re an urban achiever check out my latest post, you’ll love it!
I included London Calling with the 70’s, since the UK release was in December 1979, and they are British, after all. It was a judgement call, but I agree it could’ve easily been lumped into the 80’s.
In retrospect, it might’ve made more sense to do just that, since I’m having a much harder time finding 20 albums I really love from the 80’s. There’s going to be a lot of punk, hardcore, indie, and metal on that list, because I really hated most of the pop music at the time, and still do.
I am fully aware that the preceding sentence places me squarely in the minority ’round these parts, which is why I’m figuring that the 80’s list will be the most controversial of the lot.
One album: Metal Machine Music – Lou Reed
I despise ’80s pop… And hair bands.
Off the top of my head, some decent ’80s:
Back in Black
Appetite for Destruction
Blizzard of OZ
1984
Texas Flood
The Joshua Tree
Power, Corruption & Lies – New Order
Zenyatta Mondatta
The Pretenders
Master of Puppets
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