August 31, 2023 by A.S. Van Dorston

Keeping it to one album an artist, excluding hard rock, prog, metal and post-punk.

Following Pete’s lead in excluding things like Southern Rock and jazz fusion, I’m leaving out art rock (Eno), kosmische (Can), and post-punk (Joy Division, Wire, Gang of Four, Slits, PiL, Talking Heads, X-Ray Spex, Pere Ubu, Raincoats, Magazine). But I’m including punk when it has enough of a rock ‘n’ roll swing. Pop rock and new wave weren’t technically excluded, but none really made my top 30. I was going to have John Martyn for #31, but then I’d have to include Nick Drake and Joni Mitchell, and folk rock doesn’t quite feel right for this. Some other top tier bands didn’t make the top 30 either, because there was so much great stuff in the 70s.

The Stooges – Fun House (1970)
“Loooooooooove!” In 1970, this was as heavy as heavy got, yet it was so unique, so unlike any hard rock, that most people didn’t know what to make of it, and ignored it. A half decade later, punks adopted The Stooges as their own, and they’d be considered pre-punk or proto-punk thereafter. While I love a lot of punk, no one could remotely match the power and feral abandon of Iggy on this album. “T.V. Eye” has always been the track to represent the strengths of the band for me, but the stalking “Down on the Street,” “Loose,” “Dirt” and “1970” are also flawless. For some, the album devolves into chaos with the less structured title track and “L.A. Blues,” but for many, it was an evolution, transcending rock. MC5 played lip service to being influenced by free jazz, and perhaps they did live with “Black to Comm,” but nothing from their recordings delivered the goods the way The Stooges did, planting the seeds not just for punk, but post-punk and noise rock.
Television – Marquee Moon (1977)
Wishbone Ash, Lizzy, Priest and Maiden may be the most famous representatives of twin guitar magic, but in the CBGBs punk scene, Television had their own special thing going on. Floating in the ether above the grime of proto-punk, they actually drew inspiration from the likes of Love, 13th Floor Elevators, Quicksilver Messenger Service and even the Grateful Dead, albeit filtered through their own distinctly original, stripped down sound that sounded both contemporary and timeless. The guitar interplay and crescendo of the 10:47 title track (extended to 15 minutes live) is one of my all-time favorite moments in music next to climax of Coltrane’s solo in “My Favorite Things.” I have the 1975 demo they did with Brian Eno that proves the songs were fully formed for a while, they just had to get it nailed down properly in the studio. The snaking twin leads on “See No Evil” is another highlight, but the album is nearly perfect.
Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band – Clear Spot (1972)
It depends on what you what you value most from Don Van Vliet’s catalog, but his fifth album is beyond a doubt the best sounding Beefheart album, produced by Ted Templeton, who has a great track record with Vans (Morrison, Vliet, Halen), and the best balance between his dadaist poetry (“The Spotlight Kid,” “Golden Birdies”), blues and art rock (the title track is a career highlight), and more conventional sounding rock and even pop soul (the swinging “Too Much Time,” and lovely “Her Eyes are a Blue Million Miles”). My personal favorite track is “Big Eyed Beans From Venus.” “Mister Zoot Horn Rollo, hit that long lunar note . . . And let it float.”
The Modern Lovers – The Modern Lovers (1976)
My first exposure to The Modern Lovers was probably the Burning Sensations’ cover of “Pablo Picasso” in the Repo Man (1984) soundtrack. However, it was when I first heard the count-off to “Roadrunner” that I was hooked, amazed that such a song wasn’t already iconic and known by everyone. It was, of course, to a lot of musicians. Sex Pistols performed covers of it, as did The Jazz Butcher in 1984, and Joan Jett the next year. It’s fitting that Jonathan Richman, Boston’s number one Velvet Underground fan as a teen, wrote an underground classic to rival “Sweet Jane,” and that John Cale produced their demos starting in 1972. Richman was, by all accounts, difficult, and an official album was never recorded. But it turns out those demos sounded perfect for the band’s (which included future Cars drummer David Robinson and Talking Heads keyboardest Jerry Harrison) stripped down style. By the time it was released in 1976, the band had been broken up for over two years, and Richman’s solo work was practically children’s nursery rhymes. Those who only knew him for that work, and his later cameos in Something About Mary (1998) might be surprised by Richman’s darkness and anger on songs like “Astral Plan,” “She Cracked,” and “Hospital.” Even his messages about positivity (“Modern World”), clean living (“I’m Straight”) and nostalgia (“Old World”) were laced by angry defiance, not to mention a deep hatred of smug hippies, that the punks related to on this album’s release.
Buzzcocks – Singles Going Steady (1979)
While this is a singles compilation, none of the singles were included on the albums, so what we have are most of the Buzzcocks’ best songs on their best album, one of the best power pop albums of all time disguised as punk via Steve Diggle’s and Pete Shelley’s buzzsaw guitars. The gender neutral love and betrayal song lyrics would also be a subsequent influence on indie and alt rockers in the future like Hüsker Dü, R.E.M., The Smiths, The Magnetic Fields, Vampire Weekend and, uh, Kpop.
The Clash – London Calling (1979)
Released in the last days of the 70s, this sprawling double album shows The Clash expanding far beyond their punk label and embracing the entire history of rock ‘n’ roll, from the cover art paying tribute to Elvis, to the cover of Vince Taylor’s 1959 b-side “Brand New Cadillac.” It’s one of the few double albums that I wouldn’t skip a single track, with no real filler, and so many highlights, including “Rudie Can’t Fail,” “The Guns of Brixton,” “Clampdown,” the title track. I’d even have added to it, with “Bankrobber,” “Pressure Drop” and “Justice Tonight/Kick it Over.” Over the years their poppy “Lost in the Supermarket” and “Train in Vain” got plenty of radio play. The rest of their catalog is imperfect, yet it all sounds meant to be, anchored by this masterpiece.
Big Star – Radio City (1974)
The post-Beatles landscape was kinda of weird in the 70s. While the Beatles influence was massive in some ways, in other ways, it seemed many bands were shy about taking Beatlesque elements and running with it. It took until the 80s for jangle pop to take off, and mostly in the indie landscape. The Raspberries and Badfinger had a few minor power pop hits, and that was about it. Big Star fused both of those elements, and remained completely underground, despite Alex Chilton’s pedigree with The Box Tops, who had the hit “The Letter.” The aspirational turned ironic titled #1 Record (1972) was gorgeous, but I love the injection of woozy rock energy, presciently predicting The Replacements’ fusion of Exile On Main Street Stones with Johnny Thunders from the New York Dolls/Heartbreakers. “And children by the million sing for Alex Chilton when he comes ’round, They sing, I’m in love, what’s that song?, Yeah, I’m in love with that song.”
T. Rex – Electric Warrior (1971)
Historical hindsight has been a little less kind to Marc Bolan, despite the fact that he was THE biggest star in 1971-72, not Bowie. Is it just me or is a bigger deal made of rock stars who have died since the 90s? Bolan achieved near perfection on his sixth and seventh (The Slider in 1972) albums, and while Tanx (1973) through Dandy in the Underworld (1977) were slightly less consistent, they all had some great material. But Electric Warrior is the one, with the perfect title, album art, production, succinct songs, irreverently clever lyrics (case in point, “Mambo Sun”), fusing rockabilly and glam into a sleek, sexy, cosmic choogle.
Elvis Costello – This Year’s Model (1978)
There were a few singer-songwriters who had more rockin’ pub rock backgrounds, and absorbed a touch of punk edge due to the era like Graham Parker and Joe Jackson. Even Billy Joel dabbled with the form on Glass Houses. But the towering peak of all of this is Elvis Costello’s second album. Nick Lowe and the band Clover did a fine job on debut My Aim Is True (1977), but the band that would share the bill as the Attractions by Armed Forces (1979, the first album I owned by Costello), added the perfect amount of fiery energy to the recording. “I don’t wanna kiss you, I don’t wanna touch / I don’t wanna see you ’cause I don’t miss you that much” is one of the greatest opening lines of any album. Turning love songs upside down into songs of revenge and guilt may seem obvious now, but Costello was the first to make it his brand, at least for a while.
Electric Light Orchestra – Out Of The Blue (1977)
The album that got the most spins as a kid, followed closely by A New World Record (1976), which was a tighter album, but there’s something to be said for a double to leave you satiated when it’s one of your favorite bands. About 15 years went by when I almost never listened to them, but after picking up the CD reissues around 2001, I realized the albums are still great, and not something to outgrow. Favorite deep cut that I really wanted Lynne to play on the world tours 5 years ago — “Jungle.” Contains one of my favorite song moments (“Mm that’s nice”) and verse, “Wonderous is our great blue ship that sails around the mighty sun, Joy to everyone that rides along.” Or as my wife calls it, the “chooka hooka song.”
Funkadelic – Maggot Brain (1971)
The missing link between Hendrix, Sly Stone, Sun Ra and the likes of Blue Cheer, Cream, Vanilla Fudge (whose soundsystem inspired them to do heavy rock) and MC5. I was shocked that they weren’t included in the Detroit Rock City book, because while there was racism and segregation, Funkadelic did play with all the important bands at the time like the Stooges and Alice Cooper. The albums got some renewed attention in the 90s when they were reissued on CD, and my first official piece for Fastnbulbous.com was on Funkadelic in 1995. But it seems they’ve been shuffled to the back of the line of rock history again, or engulfed within George Clinton’s P-Funk mothership (they were inducted as a package into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1997 by Prince). But while they shared members, they were once a distinct, and really damn important rock band. And not just because of Eddie Hazel’s soul-stirring solo on the title track, though that may be what edged this album over six of the other nearly perfect albums they released up until 1975.
The Rolling Stones – Exile On Main St. (1972)
The first time I heard this was on a wobbly cassette deck, in a dorm hallway a few doors away and through my ajar dorm door while doing homework. It’s a good way to hear it. I don’t know what I would have made of it as a little kid, when all I knew were the singles and High Tides and Green Grass comp. A major album by a major band that was just murky and weird enough to have cult status, and not a single person in my life had it until I was in college. Sometimes the right music finds you at the appropriate time. My favorite Stones album ever since. Pussy Galore covered it in it’s entirety, which was cute, but just leave it to the masters.
Bob Dylan – Blood On The Tracks (1975)
I grew up with Dylan albums, but not this one. I didn’t believe that anything he did in the 70s could be good after hearing “Lay Lady Lay,” but I was wrong. The college girlfriend who got me deeper into him was responsible for connecting me to the album that would soothe and channel my sadness when we broke up. Dylan at his least cryptic (though there was plenty of murky imagery to sink your teeth into), and possibly his best.
Iggy Pop – Lust For Life (1977)
The friendship between David Bowie and Iggy Pop is fascinating, and should be the subject of a movie. When Bowie encountered The Stooges, he’d had several failed solo albums and was still finding his way, while the Stooges were worshipped in their hometown, and also by the rock cognoscenti on the coasts. Bowie was the student, Iggy was the master, imparting wisdom on how an essentially nerdy, intellectual guy can tap into primal rock energy, resulting in Ziggy Stardust. A couple years after Bowie produced Raw Power (1973), an artistic but not commercial success, he scooped a strung out Iggy out of the gutter in L.A. and eventually brought him to Berlin for a fruitful collaboration that started with The Idiot, a sort of dirgy dry run for Bowie’s artsy/ambient Low, then back to Iggy who had sharpened up, taking 8 mile walks outside of the Berlin wall, and became the master again on Lust for Life. With ‘Heroes,’ they released four albums in one year between them. How awesome would it be if there was Let It Be style footage of all those sessions. Low gets deserved acclaim, but LFL is packed with the most bangers, including arguably Iggy’s greatest song, “The Passenger.”
The Saints – (I’m) Stranded (1977)
Formed in 1973 in Brisbane, The Saints arrived at the same time as AC/DC, and while they never reached the stratospheric sales that the former did, they’re just as important to the Australian scene as being ground zero of the Aussie garage punk scene. Their debut is raw and wild and a bit blurry, like a photo of a Tasmanian devil at full speed, just an exceptional chunk of rock ‘n’ roll. Their follow-up, Eternally Yours (1978) has some excellent songs that possibly surpass most of the debut, but overall I have to give (I’m) Stranded the edge.
The Damned – Machine Gun Etiquette (1979)
The debut is for sure a punk classic that could have been a candidate here. The band was simultaneously goofy and fierce, with a raw rock ‘n’ roll energy. Their third album levels up with more meaty bits to sink your fangs into, tapping into their garage psych influences while also lining them up as a goth adjacent band. The sounds are much more varied than the first two albums, but they flow together nicely, giving the album a feel of continuity, from “Love Song,” “I Just Can’t Be Happy Today” through “Smash It Up Pts 1-2.” Their extended cover of MC5’s “Looking at You” is iconic, arguably better than the original. Like The Stranglers, The Damned remained relevant and near top form through the early 80s, but this is no doubt their peak.
David Bowie – Hunky Dory (1971)
The movie Stardust (2020) got pretty poor reviews, and was disappointing considering they didn’t get permission to use Bowie’s songs, but I still geek out on any treatment of whatever sliver of his life they choose to focus on. I’m glad they included the part where he met Doug Yule and thought he was talking to Lou Reed, which was hilarious, but it underestimated how important it was meeting Iggy and Lou later in the trip. The main thing that irritated me is that the main takeaway from his U.S. visit was it sparked his idea for the Ziggy Stardust character. The thing is, the album that he recorded right after the trip was Hunky Dory, which I think was a better album than Ziggy Stardust. “Changes” and especially “Life on Mars?,” come on. Next movie should skip the whole Ziggy era and pick up when he’s in L.A., coked out of his skull and believing he’s haunted/hunted by demons and doing Diamond Dogs, through his Berlin era. Directed by Tim Burton. Or, his friendship with Iggy through the years.
Roxy Music – Roxy Music (1972)
I was probably in college before I heard a lot of early 70s classics like Roxy Music, and while it was a different musical landscape than when Roxy Music debuted, I can still imagine the shock and awe of this band’s approach of mixing up glam and prog with a sci-fi aura and the whirrs and farts of Eno’s electronic gadgets. And the feathers! The debut still has an immediate impact that makes me think, why aren’t I listening to this more often? In early Japan, Ultravox, Tubeway Army and the rest of the synthpop genre, their influences lived on.
Van Morrison – Moondance (1970)
It’s amazing how Van made one of the top five greatest albums of all time with Astral Weeks (1968) and hardly anyone noticed outside of Ireland, but his less impressive followup was a hit. Granted, I couldn’t imagine a better way to follow it up, as he certainly couldn’t top it. By taking his Celtic fever dream supported by top jazz musicians and simplifying it into more easily digestible pop songs, leaning more on his R&B, blues and gospel influences, it’s nearly a perferct album, or at least a perfect first side, followed by a solid second side. My favorite is the easygoing “These Dreams of You,” which recalls the swing of his early hit “Brown Eyed Girl.” Some people are sick of it, but I still dig it, as I have time for every album Van Morrison made at least through 1974, as every one contains a clue to the puzzle of how such a miserable cranky sod can also be the artist who created Astral Weeks.
The Jam – Setting Sons (1979)
The assumption, if you read the weeklies and YouTube bot-written histories, was that after the Sex Pistols appeared in 1976, all the other bands spontaneously formed, which is completely untrue. The Jam have been around for longer than all the punk adjacent bands, forming in 1972. Barely in their teens and managed by Paul Weller’s dad, but they certainly count. Credited for the Mod Revival, they were so much more, especially by their third album All Mod Cons (1978), and Setting Sons is their bleakest, taking five songs intended for a concept album about three friends reuniting in a post-WWIII apocalypse, and the rest of the songs followed suit in the dark themes. But in contrast, the music reached peak beauty. It’s hard to fathom how big a deal The Jam were in the UK, as us Yanks hardly noticed them at the time, but they were, and can be found in the DNA of nearly all the bands that followed them in the 80s and of course 90s Brit Pop. None surpassed them.
Radio Birdman – Radios Appear (1977)
One of the towering pillars of what became an incredibly varied and deep Australian garage punk scene, this band has a direct connection to the Motor City via Deniz Tek, who emigrated from Ann Arbor to Sydney after being exposed to the Stooges, MC5 and Ramones. Named after misheard lyrics from the Stooges’ “1970” — “Radio burnin’ up above,” they took those influences, processed and integrated them into a uniquely brooding but propulsive sound that would become a big influence on practically every punk-adjacent band that emerged from down under in the next decade. The band’s logo looks great on a t-shirt, for those who want something not as overworm by clueless fashionistas like the CBGBs, Ramones and Motörhead shirts. “Aloha Steve & Danno” might also be one of the first instances of surf punk!
The Stranglers – No More Heroes (1977)
While I wouldn’t say The Stranglers were not punk, they would have probably been considered a pub rock band had the tides turned in favor of that genre after they formed in September 1974. It just goes to show how diverse and inclusive the punk scene was that this band with a drummer (Jet Black) born in 1938, a classically trained guitarist on bass (J.J. Burnel) and an organist (Dave Greenfield) who mixed in the Doors and prog rock influences, could be embraced by the pimply faced safety pinned kids. It came down to singer/guitarist Hugh Cornwall, who’s lyrics boiled over with seething anger, exuding an insouciant attitude of giving zero Fs. For me, it’s all about that organ and bass. Their first four albums are ace, and they continued to be interesting as they delved into pop rock, new wave and garage psych, but their second is the hardened jewel of the batch.
XTC – Drums And Wires (1979)
XTC’s jerky rhythms of their first two albums had them compared to Devo, Talking Heads and Oingo Boingo, but with a slighty proggy element associated with zolo (an odd cult genre tag made up in the late 90s). While I like their first albums more than a lot of people, this is definitely the start of an artistic run of at least six albums that can only be described as Beatlesque.
Richard Hell & the Voidoids – Blank Generation (1977)
Two reasons this is an essential document of CBGBs era punk. Some of the best songs here are ones that Hell wrote with Television, like the iconic title track and “Love Comes in Spurts,” and they sound way better than they did on early Television demos thanks to the fabulously spastic guitar genius of Robert Quine, who would go on to do great stuff with Lou Reed. Malcolm McLaren stole Hell’s shredded safety pin look to sell for big bucks at his shop. He tried to recruit Hell to be in the Sex Pistols, but he was too old and intelligent to put up with McLaren’s manipulative b.s.
New York Dolls – New York Dolls (1973)
I read about the New York Dolls years before actually hearing them. The build-up of them being groundbreaking proto-punkers had me baffled when I finally listened to it at the college radio station. They were kinds of a precursor, sure, to punk eventually, via Johnny Thunders’ Heartbreakers. But putting them in the correct context, however, made more sense — adding New Yawk grime and sleaze on top of glam rock and you get a loosey goosey Stones, and a wittier version of Aerosmith and Kiss. I’d have loved to have seen one of those early Max’s Kansas City shows. “Trash” got heavy rotation on my show, but I’ve grown to love all the tracks.
Ramones – Rocket To Russia (1977)
Onetwothreefo! Three bands you can pretty reliably depend on sounding like themselves through their careers were AC/DC, Motorhead and the Ramones. Sticking to a formula doesn’t work for everyone, but being the first to distill a singular aspect of rock ‘n’ roll down to it’s purest element, in the case of the Ramones, 60s pop melodies unadorned with fancy production or choruses, just quick tempos and buzzsaw guitars, you get some privileges. Some prefer to just listen to their classic batch of first four albums, some need ’em all, but for those who just like a taste, this is the album. “Cretin Hop,” “Rockaway Beach,” “Sheena is a Punk Rocker,” “We’re a Happy Family,” “Teenage Labotomy,” covers of “Surfin’ Bird” and my favorite early Beach Boys song, “Do You Wanna Dance?” Essential.
Patti Smith – Horses (1975)
Not everyone gets this album, but Smith is cool as f**k. She has her artsy poetry background and friendship with photographer Robert Mappelthorpe, but can also sing, at least no worse than her Max’s Kansas City/CBGBs cronies the Velvets, Dolls, Ramones, Television, etc. She has Lenny Kaye, the dude behind the Nuggets comps, on guitar, and she helped write some Blue Öyster Cult songs. The sprawling, stately “Birdland” and feverdream “Land” still make my jaw involuntarily slack, “Kimberly” incorporates reggae before any of the punkers, and “Free Money” rocks, and was a popular cover for many bands including Penetration. To a newcomer this album may not sound revolutionary now, but that’s thanks to the massive influence she’s had on music since then. After her fourth album, she broke her neck twirling off a stage, and took a break, marrying Fred “Sonic” Smith of MC5 and raising kids in Michigan. After the tentative Dream of Life (1988), she was back to music and writing for good after Fred died in ’94. Her autobiography Just Kids (2010) is highly recommended.
Free – Heartbreaker (1973)
The band of bands, Free were admired by musicians as wide ranging as Lynyrd Skynyrd and Gang of Four. Their stripped down simplicity and avoidance of show-offy jams led some to underestimate their masterful musicianship, but not their acolytes. Paul Kossoff’s substance problem started becoming an issue by Highway (1970), leading to a brief breakup. Like Lynyrd Skynyrd and Thin Lizzy, their last album was a bit of a resurgence, reigniting the passion found in their earlier work. “Wishing Well,” the title track, not a dud in the bunch, making it strong competition for Fire and Water (1970) as their best 70s album.
The Pretty Things – Parachute (1970)
This band was first known for co-leader Dick Taylor briefly being a Rolling Stone in 1962. Formed the next year, The Pretty Things beat the Stones at nailing down a dirty and dangerous sound to match their image by their self-titled debut in 1965. They really hit their stride, however, on their fourth album, the psych prog masterpiece S.F. Sorrow (1968). Forget The Zombies, this is the lost psych classic everyone needs. It’s in my top ten list of best 60s albums nestled between Love’s Forever Changes (1967) and Pink Floyd’s Piper’s at the Gates of Dawn (1967). The follow-up is nearly as great, thanks to the warm, lush sound created at Abbey Road studio, with the help of Beatles engineer Norman Smith, and despite Dick Taylor’s departure. Indeed, it sounds like the proper follow-up to the Beatles’ Abbey Road. Rolling Stone named it the album of the year, and yet it proceeded to disappear from the rock canon. Bonus Hypgnosis cover. Not to be missed!
The Ruts – The Crack (1979)
I sought this album out for my radio show in the late 80s because it was a key influencer of hardcore bands like Minor Threat, Bad Brains and Black Flag. The Ruts were ferocious, precise, and also handled reggae and dub with much more authentic feel and swing than any of their peers. Legendary among punk fans, it deserves to be more widely known among fans of fiery rock ‘n’ roll.
Creedence Clearwater Revival – Cosmo’s Factory (1970)
Like The Who, Creedence were an excellent singles band that far outshown their albums, with their Chronicle 20 Greatest Hits selling 11 million. The difference was that The Who would swing and miss for big concepts, while CCR’s albums seemed largely interchangeable. Their fifth however, seems to be the most highly regarded by a smidge. Beyond the hits, I really dug the songs where they’d stretch out into some chooglin’ jams, and on this album “Ramble Tamble” and “I Heard it Through the Grapevine” don’t disappoint. My appreciation for this band grows like moss over my brain every year.

Bubbling under:

The Who – Meaty Beaty Big And Bouncy (1971)
I have a general rule about not counting compilations for these sorts of things, but I make an exception when many of the songs can’t be found on an album like this one, like “Substitute,” “Pictures of Lily” and “The Seeker.” The Who are frustrating for me because the only album I love all the way through is My Generation. The rest have loads of filler to my ears. But this album is all killer, and captures their amazing singles. The Albumsthatneverwere site has several Who albums from around 1968 when they were really at the top of their game. Who’s Next is an obvious choice for many, but I like songs that were left off, like “Naked Eye” and “Water” more than most of the songs. Meaty Beaty is my favorite Who album. It sold 1 million, ranked #49 for 1971. It blows my mind that it wasn’t a megaseller like the compilations from Steve Miller Band (17 million sold), Elton John (18M), Simon & Garfunkel (25M) and The Eagles (41M).

John Martyn – Solid Air (1973)
The Specials – The Specials (Chrysalis, 1979)
The Only Ones – Even Serpents Shine (Columbia, 1979)
The Velvet Underground – Loaded (WB, 1970)
Nick Lowe – Jesus Of Cool (Demon, 1978)
Dead Boys – Young, Loud And Snotty (Sire, 1977)
The Police – Regatta de Blanc (A&M, 1979)
The Undertones – The Undertones (Sire/Rykodisc, 1979)
Cheap Trick – Cheap Trick (Epic, 1977)
Be-Bop Deluxe – Sunburst Finish (1976)
Santana – Santana III (Columbia, 1971)
Jimi Hendrix – Band Of Gypsys (Reprise, 1970)

The Clash – The Clash (Epic, 1977)
The Saints – Eternally Yours (EMI, 1978)
David Bowie – The Rise Of Ziggy Stardust & the Spiders From Mars (RCA, 1972)
Roxy Music – For Your Pleasure (EG, 1973)
Buzzcocks – Another Music In A Different Kitchen (Restless, 1978)
Electric Light Orchestra – A New World Record (Jet/EpicLegacy, 1976)
Iggy & The Stooges – Raw Power (Columbia, 1973)
Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band – Lick My Decals Off Baby (Straight, 1970)
Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band – Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller) (Enigma, 1978)
The Sex Pistols – Never Mind the Bollocks (WB, 1977)
Elvis Costello & The Attractions – Armed Forces (Columbia, 1979)
Buzzcocks – A Different Kind Of Tension (UA/EMI, 1979)
The Jam – All Mod Cons (Polydor, 1978)
The Damned – Damned Damned Damned (Demon, 1977)
The Stranglers – IV Rattus Norvegicus (A&M, 1977)
T. Rex – The Slider (Reprise, 1972)

Posted in: Features, Listicles

Tagged: Big Star, Bob Dylan, Buzzcocks, Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band, Creedence Clearwater Revival, David Bowie, Electric Light Orchestra, Elvis Costello, Favorite 1970s Rock, Free, Funkadelic, Iggy Pop, New York Dolls, Patti Smith, Pretty Things, Radio Birdman, Ramones, Richard Hell & the Voidoids, Roxy Music, T. Rex, Television, The Clash, The Damned, The Jam, The Modern Lovers, The Rolling Stones, The Ruts, The Saints, The Stooges, The Stranglers, The Who, Van Morrison, XTC