Contrary to Popular Belief the 1970s Really Did Rock

It was more than a decade of disco and soft-rock

As a proud member of Generation X, my teen years were heavily influenced by the punk and New Wave of the early 1980s. But the music that forms the core of who we are and what we like usually happens well before those teen years (my Springsteen epiphany occurred at nine years old with the 1975 release of “Born to Run”). So while I have previously written about great ‘80s bands like the Smiths and 10,000 Maniacs as well as more Bruce articles than any one person should, I have not given nearly enough attention to the fabulous decade that was the 1970s, my decade of discovery.

Ok, looking back over my articles, I see that’s not totally true. I’ve written about the best soft-rock albums and some of the best live albums of the ‘70s, but the ‘70s were more than James Taylor and KISS Alive II, and for all of you who wore a ‘70s-themed costume to a Halloween party last night the decade was much more than the curse that was disco. Contrary to popular belief, rock did not disappear between the Stones’ show at Altamont in December 1969 and the release of London Calling in January 1980 (in the U.S., a month after the U.K. release).

Here are just a few of my favorite gems that made the 1970s a great decade for rock. Some are obvious picks, some are deeper cuts from classic albums, and some you may have never heard of.

1. “American Girl,” Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (1976). The second single from Tom Petty’s debut album (and buried dead-last on side two of the record), this is easily his most iconic and best-known song 45 years later, covered by no less than Taylor Swift in 2009.

2. “More Than a Feeling,” Boston (1978). One of those you know immediately from the opening chords and still the greatest song from the first album I ever bought on 8-track. Thank God that format didn’t last.

3. “The Boys Are Back in Town,” Thin Lizzy (1976). It was hard to choose between this one and “Cowboy Song,” both from the stellar Jailbreak album. Even better is the version from the Live and Dangerous album, which is the one I picked for the playlist at the end of this article. Thin Lizzy remains criminally underappreciated today, and we need to fix that.

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