1977 in music.

Stevie Wonder's Songs in the Key of Life won 1976. Let's see who wins 1977. An absolutely insane year with two of the best albums from two of my favorite musicians ever.

Billboard chart-topping albums of 1977:
Stevie Wonder - Songs in the Key of Life (cont. from '76)
Eagles - Hotel California (cont. from '76)
Wings - Over America (cont. from '76)
Barbara Streisand and Kris Kristofferson - A Star is Born
Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
Barry Manilow - Live
Linda Rondstadt - Simple Dreams

Billboard chart-topping singles of 1977:
Rod Stewart - Tonight's the Night (cont. from '76)
Marilyn McCoo - You Don't Have to Be a Star
Leo Sayer - You Make Me Feel Like Dancing
Stevie Wonder - I Wish
Rose Royce - Car Wash
Mary MacGregor - Torn Between Two Lovers
Manfred Mann's Earth Band - Blinded By the Light
Eagles - New Kid in Town
Barbara Streisand - Evergreen
Hall and Oates - Rich Girl
ABBA - Dancing Queen
David Soul - Don't Give Up on Us
Thelma Houston - Don't Leave Me This Way
Glen Campbell - Southern Nights
Eagles - Hotel California
Leo Sayer - When I Need You
Stevie Wonder - Sir Duke
KC and the Sunshine Band - I'm Your Boogie Man
Fleetwood Mac - Dreams
Marvin Gaye - Got to Give It Up
Bill Conti - Gonna Fly Now
Alan O'Day - Undercover Angel
Shaun Cassidy - Da Doo Ron Ron
Barry Manilow - Looks Like We Made It
Andy Gibb - I Just Want to Be Your Everything
The Emotions - Best of My Love
Meco - Star Wars Cantina Theme
Debby Boone - You Light Up My Life
Bee Gees - How Deep Is Your Love

What are your top three albums for 1977? We will keep a running tally and eventually have some sort of bracket. For me it would be:
1. David Bowie - Low
2. Television - Marquee Moon
3. Iggy Pop - Lust for Life

What are some of the forgotten gems from the year? What is overrated? What did you discover at a young age and what did you discover later?

YEARS IN MUSIC • forum.chorus.fm

 

1. Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
2. Electric Light Orchestra - Out of the Blue
3. Television - Marquee Moon

 

expanding this one out to a top 20 bc it was just too difficult for me to stop at 10. there's one album that would have made this but the persona of the dude the last decade+ honestly ruined the album for me:
4. Iggy Pop - The Idiot
5. David Bowie - "Heroes"
6. Pink Floyd - Animals
7. Wire - Pink Flag
8. Ramones - Rocket to Russia
9. Steely Dan - Aja
10. Meatloaf - Bat Out of Hell
11. Lynyrd Skynyrd - Street Survivors
12. AC/DC - Let There Be Rock
13. The Clash - The Clash
14. Iggy Pop and James Williamson - Kill City
15. Richard Hell - Blank Generation
16. Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks
17. Electric Light Orchestra - Out of the Blue
18. Rush - A Farewell to Kings
19. Dennis Wilson - Pacific Ocean Blue
20. The Damned - Damned Damned Damned

other honorable mentions:
Cheap Trick - In Color
Crosby, Stills and Nash - CSN
Eric Clapton - Slowhand
Grateful Dead - Terrapin Station
Jackson Browne - Running on Empty
The Jam - In the City
Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers - LAMF
Judas Priest - Sin After Sin
Motorhead - Motorhead
Neil Young - American Stars and Bars
Queen - News of the World
Ramones - Leave Home
Randy Newman - Little Criminals
T. Rex - Dandy in the Underworld
Talking Heads - 77
Waylon Jennings - Ol’ Waylon
Willie Nelson - To Willie from Lefty

stuff to check out:
Air - Air Time
Billy Joel - The Stranger
Bob Marley - Exodus
Brian Eno - Before and After Science
Dead Boys - Young, Loud and Snotty
Elvis Costello - My Aim is True
Hawkwind - Quark, Strangeness and Charm
Heart - Little Queen
The Jam - This is the Modern World
Kris Kristofferson - Songs in the Key of Kristofferson
Leonard Cohen - Death of a Ladies Man
The Saints - I’m Stranded
Supertramp - Even in the Quietest Moments
Tom Waits - Foreign Affairs

 

Cat Scratch Fever?

 

yes haha

 

Rumours and Bat Out of Hell for sure.

 

One of those years where I feel very definite on my top 2 and have to think a bit about number 3.

 

I share two of those with you, and you've been promising to listen to my third for a bit. Jussayin'. Haha

(I can say this now that I've finally gotten to that last Butch Walker album you recommended 1000 times. Haha)

 

Well this is embarrassing for me.

Also you would probably like Emmylou Harris's Luxury Liner and Thin Lizzy's Bad Reputation a lot, given your tastes.

 

Oh shit, I've been called out!

What is it? EW&F?

 

I haven't participated in these threads bc I'm not familiar with enough albums here beyond the singles to warrant picking them but this one is Aja for me by some distance

 

1. The Clash - The Clash
2. David Bowie - Heroes
3. Fleetwood Mac - Rumours

The Clash's debut is a first-wave punk masterpiece, that from a songwriting perspective, absolutely blows everyone else from this time period out of the water. Incredible hooks, great garage rock riffs, and huge amounts of attitude. Perfect.

I could easily have listed Bowie's Low here, but just about give the edge to Heroes, maybe based on how much I love the title track. Both it and Low are absolute masterpieces, pushing "rock" music into new and experimental directions.

Rumours is well beloved for a reason, and it's just a phenomenal pop album. There's not much more to say about this that hasn't already been said 1001 times, but it's so stylistically varied, and yet no matter what directions they go in, every song becomes a little pop masterpiece.

Honourable mentions;

David Bowie - Low: As mentioned above, while I gave the edge to Heroes, just about, the second side of Low is some of the most fascinating music released.

Blondie - Plastic Letters: Like their debut last year, Blondie would do better in the next couple of years, but Plastic Letters is a good album, showing off their ability to blend that spiky punk attitude with 60s pop songwriting.

Iggy Pop - Lust for Life: Impossible to not listen to the title track and think instantly of Trainspotting.

Talking Heads - Talking Heads: 77: Talking Heads debut, and showing off their odd blend of angular post-punky stuff (can you be post punk in 1977...?) and David Byrne's distinctive vocals and lyrical style.

The Damned - Damned Damned Damned: The first album released by a UK punk band, beating The Clash by a couple of months and Sex Pistols by 6. Pretty standard UK punk, but it's got quite a charm to it.

Television - Marquee Moon: Fantastic guitar tone, and a record that straddles the lines between punk and garage rock really well, but never feeling constrained by genres, happy to put in a 10 minute track with guitar solos.

Wire - Pink Flag: Another really influential record, particularly on American hardcore music, with 21 tracks and coming in at just 35 minutes. The songs are often just sketches, fantastic ideas or moments, that they don't feel the need to extend out into traditional 3 minute tracks. A really interesting listen.

Bjork - Bjork: Bjork appearing earlier than you might think! This is an album released when she was like 11 in Iceland, and it's only interesting as a curiosity really.

 

okay, yeah, i’ll check both those out. love earlier records by both, idk why i don’t have those.

 

absolutely need everyone to give Lust for Life a run

 

1. Dan Fogelberg - Nether Lands
2. Billy Joel - The Stranger
3. Fleetwood Mac - Rumours

Others I love:
Dennis Wilson - Pacific Ocean Blue
ABBA - ABBA: The Album
Leonard Cohen - Death of a Ladies Man
Steely Dan - Aja
Meat Loaf - Bat Out of Hell
Earth, Wind, and Fire - All 'N' All
Various Artists - Saturday Night Fever Original Soundtrack
Elton John - The Thom Bell Sessions
Electric Light Orchestra - Out of the Blue
Rufus (featuring Chaka Khan) - Ask Rufus
Pousette-Dart Band - Amnesia
Eric Clapton - Slowhand
Thin Lizzy - Bad Reputation
Linda Ronstadt - Simple Dreams
David Bowie - Low

Good ones:
The Beach Boys - Love You
Al Green - The Belle Album
Heart - Little Queen
Rush - A Farewell to Kings
Mink DeVille - Cabretta
AC/DC - Let There Be Rock
George Benson - In Flight
Emmylou Harris - Luxury Liner
Television - Marquee Moon
The Emotions - Rejoice
Ramones - Rocket to Russia
Styx - The Grand Illusion
Mongo Santamaria - Amanecer (Dawn)
Weather Report - Heavy Weather
Dwight Twilley - Twilley Don't Mind
Richard Hell and The Voidoids - Blank Generation
Peter Gabriel - Peter Gabriel [1]
Cheap Trick - In Color...and Black and White
Elvis Costello - My Aim Is True
Boz Scaggs - Two Down Then Left
The Clash - The Clash
Iggy Pop - Lust for Life
Parliament - Funkentelchy vs. the Placebo Syndrome
Kansas - Point of Know Return
Jackson Browne - Running on Empty
Randy Newman - Little Criminals
Talking Heads - Talking Heads: 77
England Dan and John Ford Coley - Dowdy Ferry Road
Shoes - Black Vinyl Shoes
Justin Hayward - Songwriter
Herbie Hancock - Sunlight
James Taylor - JT
Bob Marley and The Wailers - Exodus
Kraftwerk - Trans-Europe Express
Crosby, Stills and Nash - CSN
The Congos - Heart of the Congos
Kiss - Love Gun
Dolly Parton - Here You Come Again
Renaissance - Novella
Aerosmith - Draw the Line
Jethro Tull - Songs from the Wood
Dave Mason - Let It Flow
Bonnie Raitt - Sweet Forgiveness
Sandy Denny - Rendezvouz
Jay Ferguson - Thunder Island
Bob Welch - French Kiss

Not a fan:
The Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols
Suicide - Suicide

Targets for Listening:
David Bowie - Heroes
Tom Waits - Foreign Affairs
Steve Winwood - Steve Winwood
Ian Drury - New Boots and Panties
Brian Eno - Before and After Science
Iggy Pop - The Idiot
John Martyn - One World
Muddy Waters - Hard Again
Wire - Pink Flag
The Stranglers - Rattus Norvegicus
Jimmy Buffett - Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Street Survivors
Eddie Money - Eddie Money
Ted Nugent - Cat Scratch Fever
Queen - News of the World
Santana - Moonflower
The Steve Miller Band - Book of Dreams
Supertramp - Even in the Quietest Moments
George Thorogood and the Destroyers - George Thorogood and The Destroyers
Neil Young - American Stars and Bars
John Williams - Star Wars Original Soundtrack
Garland Jeffries - Ghost Writer
Pete Townshend and Ronnie Lane - Rough Mix
Kate and Anna McGarrigle - Dancer with Bruised Knees
Ornette Coleman - Dancing in Your Head
The Persuasions - Chirpin'
Ramones - Leave Home
Jerry Reed - East Bound and Down
Art Garfunkel - Watermark
Outlaws - Hurry Sundown
UFO - Lights Out
Johnny Thunders and The Heartbreakers - L.A.M.F.
Donna Summer - Once Upon a Time...
Peter Tosh - Equal Rights
Junior Murvin - Police and Thieves
The Damned - Damned Damned Damned

 

never mind the bollocks is insanely overrated but it's still very very good

 

the first half of that sentence goes for the album that will almost certainly run away with this year too

 

That album starts hot and has an amazing guitar tone and then you realize it's just going to keep doing exactly the same thing over and over and it gets exhausting.

 

It may be a song or so too long but i think that album is fucking destruction bliss i love it

 

Kinda feel like it’s been considered overrated for so long its almost underrated

 

I haven’t listened to it in maybe 15 years, I was beyond underwhelmed by it when I first started listening to “classic” punk. John Lydon’s persona has also been very off putting too.

Maybe I’m due a revisit, but not an album I’ve ever enjoyed.

 

I love that album but sometimes I prefer the live versions of some of those songs.

 

In the same boat as @Craig Manning and have my top 2 but need a third. Not sure how much listening I’ll be able to get in but I’ll drop my top 2 at the deadline worst comes to worst

 

it's going to be inevitable and im not gonna like it one bit nope nope

 

Pat don't be the guy who gets mad that people love Rumours.