Opinions on 70's rock bands

[Jello]

3 minutes ago, [McD]James said:

I don't really consider either band to be metal. 

Yeah, they're really not. Kiss I would call Stadium Rock, tame, for mass consumption. AC/DC, I would say hard rock. Their edge might be dull, but it's more than what Kiss has ever had.

[Hawk of The Crystals]

Since the thread was merged, might as well say my opinion on kiss as well. I dislike the band greatly, not because of how others perceive gene simmons, but mostly because I think the whole makeup thing was cringe, the hair too, just never liked any of their music either, just felt like it had been done before by other bands.

[Murdoch]

53 minutes ago, leejacksonaudio said:

 Queen, Pink Floyd,

 

Ah, a man of culture and refinement.

[Chip]

I didn't know Kiss and ACDC were in the 70s, I always thought of them more as 80s bands. I was going to say that I love 70s rock. The Grateful Dead had a bunch of incredible albums that decade, Pink Floyd had some of the most popular albums of all time. the Rolling Stones, although I see them as more 60s, had some great songs and albums in the 70s, especially Sticky Fingers and also Angie from Goat Head Soup (although that isn't really rock). the 70s also started hard rock, which I think is kind of the point of this thread. also, unless you think that I Want You by the Beatles is Metal (I don't), then metal was also kind of created in the 70s. Also, just talking about 70s music in general, rap started in the late 70s, and now it's one of the biggest genres of music. 

[Stupid Bunny]

 

The best 70s rock band

 

I like some AC/DC songs.  I used to be more into them but as I've gotten older I've tended to find a lot of their music to mostly be pretty bland and uninteresting.  Big Balls is fun tho

 

KISS...well Music from "The Elder" is one of the funniest albums I've heard in my entire life, I'll say that.

 

Pink Floyd rules.  Echoes is still a song that moves me like few others do.  It's so beautiful especially when played under a dark night sky.

 

Could unload a ton of love for Black Sabbath and Deep Purple in here too, Sabbath in particular were so transformational and still loads of fun to listen to.  Oh yeah and I've rediscovered my love for Quadrophenia by The Who lately.

[Dark Pulse]

KISS is okay in small doses, but if you're going to give me 70s rock, give me Pink Floyd, Queen, CCR, Frank Zappa, Steely Dan, Jethro Tull, The Eagles, Supertramp, The Alan Parsons Project, Yes, Heart, Van Halen (yes, they got started in the 70s), Alice Cooper... and so on and so on.

 

That's not to say that KISS or AC/DC are bad (AC/DC are quite good too), but on the whole I veer more towards the prog rock side than the hair metal/performer one.

 

I say this as someone born in the 80s, by the way.

[yakfak]

I feel like I kinda packed in my 70s musical phase, I went so hard on progressive rock for years and now I just wanna hear drum machines and cool flanged bass. I guess all my current faves began in the 70s - Siouxsie, Killing Joke, Front 242, et al. the prog bands I stayed attached to are the aforementioned Magma, plus Cos and Area.. the funkier stuff! King Crimson and Gentle Giant's my fave of the big british bands, then there's This Heat and Art Bears whose styles turn me on like crazy but I'm an impressionable goth caricature in my old age and you can now thrill me better just by telling me a famous vampire actor is deceased

[[McD] James]

Queen and Pink Floyd are both great. Love Rush as well.

[GraphicBleeder]

2 hours ago, Chip said:

I didn't know Kiss and ACDC were in the 70s, I always thought of them more as 80s bands. 

Nah, the 80s was the decade stuff like Metallica, Slayer, and all the other Metal shit rose to fame.

 

 

AC/DC and KISS found the most success during the 70s.

[ReX]

3 hours ago, Dark Pulse said:

70s rock, give me Pink Floyd, Queen, CCR, Frank Zappa, Steely Dan, Jethro Tull, The Eagles, Supertramp, The Alan Parsons Project, Yes, Heart, Van Halen (yes, they got started in the 70s), Alice Cooper... and so on and so on.

I'll add to the "and so on and so on" part (but I'm with @Dark Pulse on "Pink Floyd, Queen, CCR, Frank Zappa, Steely Dan, Jethro Tull, The Eagles, Supertramp, The Alan Parsons Project, Yes"):

Emerson, Lake, and Palmer

King Crimson (already mentioned by @yakfak)

Bad Company

Mountain

Elton John (his 70's stuff)

Traffic [no list of Classic Rock bands is complete without them]

Cream [Ditto; including some of Eric Clapton's solo work]

The Jimi Hendrix Experience [Double ditto; Band of Gypsies, not so much]

Stevie Ray Vaughn [R.I.P.]

Santana

Blood, Sweat, and Tears

Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young [CSN by themselves were a tour de force too]

Neil Young

Deep Purple (already mentioned by @StupidBunny)

Grand Funk Railroad/Grand Funk [one of the most under-rated bands by critics of the era, f*ckers!]

John Mayall/Bluesbreakers

The Doors. The F*ckin' Doors.

The Temptations [Yes, I know, I know - Motown/funk, not "rock". But, as Tom Petty so adroitly put it: "I Won't Back Down.]

Uriah Heep

The Rolling Stones [already mentioned by @Chip; Exile on Main Street, baby!]

[Stop me now, I'm rolling downhill .....]

[Jello]

I also really like David Bowie, and he was kind of the quintessential glam rocker. He was who he was, and he did it well.

 

Most of the music from around that time, 70's and 80's, that I like is more on the punk side though. Dead Kennedys, Misfits, TSOL, Mourning Noise, The Vandals, Fugazi, Nomeansno. I'm sure I'm forgetting some.

 

But I also really like Leonard Cohen, Neil Young, and Johnny Cash. And of course Tom Waits.

[roadworx]

if we're talking 70s rock then boy oh boy gosh golly gee lemme tell you about how much i love that stuff

 

there's a bunch of different bands that i like, and i really couldn't tell you my absolute favorite - there's honestly way too much for me to choose lol. i listen to a lot of bands mentioned here - pink floyd, supertramp, uriah heep, emerson lake and palmer, etc - along with quite a bit of progressive rock that was released during the first half of the decade. i also listen to a tiiiny bit of punk, mainly dead kennedys and crass, but really only one album from each of those bands. although, the crass album is from 1981, so TeChNiCaLlY it doesn't count

[Mr. Freeze]

I love KISS and I'm not afraid to say it. 

[ReaperAA]

9 hours ago, Redneckerz said:

AC/DC has great balls when you let artificial intelligence generate a new song based on AC/DC songs:

 

I... really liked it. The lyrics are hilarious.

[Swordofdanu]

[Doom_Dude]

15 hours ago, The BMFG said:

what are your opinions on KISS and their hit songs like i was made for loving you and i wanna rock and roll all night?. personally their my favorite band but what about you?

 

A lot of great bands came out of the 70's. One of the first albums on vinyl I bought when I was a kid was a combo of Kiss's first three records in a set called Kiss The Originals. I nearly wore it out. It came with xtras like a Kiss Army patch and cards (or were they stickers) and I gave that stuff to my cousin because she wanted them so bad. I still have the book insert that has all the history info, which is neat. That's one of the cool things about old vinyl albums, you'd get some xtra bits sometimes like posters n' such. My bro bought Destroyer on vinyl so I played the hell out of that too. Later on a friend gave me Lick It Up on vinyl. I never did buy any other Kiss vinyl since there were so many other bands I started to listen to back then. A lot of times I would put a bunch of music on my xmas list just to see what I would get. Good times.

 

I still listen to them now and then and I have a lot of their stuff on CD. I was more of a Deep Purple fan way back when and I listened to a lot of April Wine and eventually got into Black Sabbath Led Zeppelin and Rush. It was the early 80's when we got a new radio station that played hard rock and some metal, when most stations were playing country and pop so that's when I discovered stuff like Def Leppard, Van Halen, AC/DC, Iron Maiden and Metallica.

[Phobus]

As I was pretty vocal about when I released 25yoe, I like KISS. Particularly after seeing them live. They do a decent range of rock and have some genuinely enduring songs. They seem to be being hit with the Nickelback stick here, which is a new one on me. Then again, I’ve seen them live as well and can pick out plenty of songs I like.

 

 I have no regrets about putting Detroit Rock City or I Was Made For Loving You in 25yoe 😝

 

AC/DC are a bit less of a thing for me, as I find them quite hard to engage with, particularly when confronted with an album (even a Best Of), but the well-known ones are alright. Most bands from the 70s that went on a long time (both of the ones mentioned here, plus bands like Iron Maiden and Judas Priest, for example) got much better in the 80s, in my opinion, but I’m slowly feeling my way back into musical history and hearing stuff I like from the 70s. The sort of thing that shows up on trucking or driving compilation CDs seems to be a good place to start, and then you can explore some back catalogues for less well known good stuff. 

[GraphicBleeder]

22 hours ago, Jello said:

I also really like David Bowie, and he was kind of the quintessential glam rocker. He was who he was, and he did it well.

 

Most of the music from around that time, 70's and 80's, that I like is more on the punk side though. Dead Kennedys, Misfits, TSOL, Mourning Noise, The Vandals, Fugazi, Nomeansno. I'm sure I'm forgetting some.

 

But I also really like Leonard Cohen, Neil Young, and Johnny Cash. And of course Tom Waits.

Dude DK and The Misfits are great!

Hardcore and Punk Rock will always be one of the supreme genre's in my eyes.

[Doomkid]

70s music? I’m a very dedicated fan of Zappa (duh), Zeppelin and Sabbath. I also love Pink Floyd. There’s a bunch more amazing music from that decade, but those 4 groups are the cream of the crop as far as my ear holes are concerned.

 

On 5/18/2021 at 6:57 AM, [McD]James said:

I've never enjoyed them at all. Hard rock music for squares. Sorry. 

Only the biggest squares call other people squares based solely on their musical taste.

 

AC/DC has a great sound, imo. Not one of my favorite bands, I could probably take just their top 10 songs and leave the rest, but it’s far better music than so much of what I’ve heard throughout my life.

[ZeMystic]

I don't listen to KISS. Like at all.

 

However...

 

Paul Stanley's Ibanez Iceman is an incredibly beautiful guitar, and is what I play.

So I appreciate KISS for having decent taste in Electric Guitars?

[Doom_Dude]

2 hours ago, Doomkid said:

AC/DC has a great sound, imo. Not one of my favorite bands, I could probably take just their top 10 songs and leave the rest, but it’s far better music than so much of what I’ve heard throughout my life.

 

I think they have a great sound too. I remember sitting in art class in highschool and listening to AC/DC on my friends blaster while we did some art thing. Teacher was pretty cool. I guess they might be in my top 50 somewhere.

[[McD] James]

On 5/17/2021 at 9:55 PM, ReX said:

The Doors. The F*ckin' Doors.

 

Most of their output came out in the 60s as Morrison died in 1971, so I don't really consider them to be a 70s band, though they are one of my all-time favorites. Even though Ian Astbury was always a good singer, they just stopped being The Doors without Morrison. 

 

@Doomkid I didn't mean to imply that AC/DC's fans are squares as much as I think their music is hard rock at its softest, safest and blandest. 

 

[ReX]

2 hours ago, [McD]James said:

Most of their output came out in the 60s as Morrison died in 1971, so I don't really consider them to be a 70s band

Yes, I mostly agree. The Doors [Break on Through, Light My Fire, The End] and Strange Days [Strange Days, Love Me Two Times, People are Strange, When the Music's Over], IMO the band's strongest albums, were both released in 1967. Still, Morrison Hotel [Roadhouse Blues, Waiting for the Sun] and L.A. Woman [Love Her Madly, L.A. Woman, Riders on the Storm] are great albums, and they were released in the very early 1970s.

[CasualScrub]

I like most 70s rock bands.

 

HOWEVER

 

I hate the modern attitude summed up by the "lewronggeneration" crowd who act like music from that era was "so much better", when they can only name like three bands and like two songs from any of them. You know these people, the kind who say "All music today sucks, I was born in the wrong generation! :(", those idiots.

[ReX]

1 hour ago, CasualScrub said:

those idiots

Heyyyy! You wouldn't be talking about me, would you? [:wink:]

 

In other words: Heyyyy! I resemble that remark!

[Doomkid]

17 hours ago, CasualScrub said:

I like most 70s rock bands.

 

HOWEVER

 

I hate the modern attitude summed up by the "lewronggeneration" crowd who act like music from that era was "so much better", when they can only name like three bands and like two songs from any of them. You know these people, the kind who say "All music today sucks, I was born in the wrong generation! :(", those idiots.

I think the current trends in music are pretty uninspiring, but really that’s always been the case to some degree. People remember the best of the best from past generations, and all the flash-in-the-pan junk is largely forgotten.

 

I think the main thing I miss from 60s - 90s music is the prevalence of the “rock band”, even the ones that kinda sucked. Something about music with real guitars and drums really appeals to me, especially if you’ve got variety in the melodies and beats. Conversely, most modern music consists primarily of digitised instruments, and new music with real drummers/drumming is pretty much as rare as hens teeth, with most musicians falling back on glorified MIDI drum beats. I get that pre-programmed drums are easier, but they’re just so boring compared to the real thing.

 

What’s currently “hot” in radio/Spotify music, as well as background music in ads and TV shows and stuff, are trap beats, so hearing real drums is pretty much a pipe dream for the moment. That sound is so oversaturated right now. Like any music, it’s great when it’s done well and you’re not constantly exposed to it, and when it inevitably gets replaced by the next trend I’ll probably even miss it a little, but for the moment it feels like if I never hear that generic trap rap beat with synthetic drums ever again, it’ll still be too soon..

 

I felt the same way about the trend of every second act being a Britney Spears/Backstreet Boys clone back in the early 2000s (though that was actually far worse).

[Murdoch]

1 hour ago, Doomkid said:

I think the current trends in music are pretty uninspiring, but really that’s always been the case to some degree. People remember the best of the best from past generations, and all the flash-in-the-pan junk is largely forgotten.

 

Exactly. Adam Buckley did a great video pointing this out, how many of the legends of old actually really didn't have that many big chart hits, all the while some of the biggest songs were crap like "Sugar, Sugar", "Macarena", "Gangnam Style" and that kind of thing. I mean fuck, Drake is one of the biggest selling artists of all time with 170 million albums sold, and I have been to funerals more lively than that gimp's songs. Will people look back with the same affection on him in 20-30 years as many now look back on bands like Queen, Pink Floyd or Zepplin? I doubt it, and certainly hope not. The best tend not to rack up the sales and attention as much as the novelty acts. The sad truth is, most people just seem to be interested in whatever the latest "catchy" flavour of the month is. I always like it when people try to excuse their love of crap songs by saying "But it's catchy". I usually reply something to the effect of "So is Ebola, what's your point?" Think I stole the idea from Blackadder, heh.

 

1 hour ago, Doomkid said:

I think the main thing I miss from 60s - 90s music is the prevalence of the “rock band”, even the ones that kinda sucked. Something about music with real guitars and drums really appeals to me, especially if you’ve got variety in the melodies and beats. Conversely, most modern music consists primarily of digitised instruments, and new music with real drummers/drumming is pretty much as rare as hens teeth, with most musicians falling back on glorified MIDI drum beats. I get that pre-programmed drums are easier, but they’re just so boring compared to the real thing.

 

Just got to know where to find it. Plenty of fantastic real music out there that is not getting anywhere near the attention it deserves. I started compiling a "New Tunes" playlist a few years ago compiling all my new favourites of the last few years. It's at about 115 songs and counting and that's just the best highlights. Pretty damned sure there's not a single processed drum in there. Here's one of my favourites of recent times. Should satisfy that drum craving. Even if you do not like the song, you cannot deny the supreme talent of these three gents.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLm_wdXA3os

 

And one of my favourite bands of late has been... five Japanese chicks dressed as maids for apparently the lols. All astonishing players but the lady behind the kit is INCREDIBLE. No idea what they are singing about but the music more than makes up for it. Love the driving riff in this and bass intro is just fantastic. A couple of times I have played this song to people and asked them to imagine who is playing it and then show them the video to see their reaction to the band.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpAYnVJX9CY

 

I better stop or I will be here all night and piss everyone off with my video spamming.

 

1 hour ago, Doomkid said:

I felt the same way about the trend of every second act being a Britney Spears/Backstreet Boys clone back in the early 2000s (though that was actually far worse).

 

*shudder*

 

Dark times brother, dark times.

 

EDIT: Fuck it, one more. German Metal band who usually do silly songs (as their outfits show) do an insanely epic Celtic Metal cover of Ed Sheeran's "I See Fire". Band is very talented. Actually this isn't a cover. It's theft. It's their song now.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-8JYS1uXC8

 

Edited May 20, 2021 by Murdoch

[roadworx]

18 minutes ago, Murdoch said:

Exactly. Adam Buckley did a great video pointing this out, how many of the legends of old actually really didn't have that many big chart hits, all the while some of the biggest songs were crap like "Sugar, Sugar", "Macarena", "Gangnam Style" and that kind of thing. I mean fuck, Drake is one of the biggest selling artists of all time with 170 million albums sold, and I have been to funerals more lively than that gimp's songs. Will people look back with the same affection on him in 20-30 years as many now look back on bands like Queen, Pink Floyd or Zepplin?

yep. the years that most of the music i listen to comes from doesn't really have anything good in the top singles charts - most of it is pretty generic, honestly

[Sotenga]

I joke that my favorite music is from the seventies, my favorite movies are from the eighties, and my favorite games are from the nineties, but of course, other decades for each medium were valuable as well. But yeah, I can't get enough of seventies music. My top two bands, Rush and Genesis, rose to prominence around this time, and you got great stuff out of them like Hemispheres and Selling England by the Pound. I'm also huge into Black Sabbath and the first six albums of the Ozzy era are absolute gold. Frank Zappa and/or the Mothers of Invention were mostly amazing around this time. I'm not so big on the Flo & Eddie stretch, but I love the likes of Burnt Weeny Sandwich, The Grand Wazoo, Joe's Garage and others, even though my favorite Zappa album, Hot Rats, was on the edge of the sixties.

 

Agreed on Queen (my bro's favorite!) and Pink Floyd being amazing, natch. Granted, most of the great seventies bands technically started in the sixties, but I'll fire off some others I'm big on: Yes, The Who, Alan Parsons Project, Blue Oyster Cult, Judas Priest, Steely Dan (my mom's favorite!), Jethro Tull, Emerson Lake & Palmer, Electric Light Orchestra, Deep Purple, King Crimson, Talking Heads, and the ever-underrated Budgie. Also, I don't know if Kraftwerk qualifies as rock, but I sure as hell like 'em.

 

This sort of music is in my wheelhouse and I do sometimes fall into bouts of feeling like "music today ain't what is used to be, dagnabit," and I think Doomkid summed up a good chunk of what my thoughts would be as well. But eh, it's all relative. I know there's good stuff today and that not all music in the 20th century was golden, but I do think a nostalgia bias is in play and the music I grew up with and was clued into by friends at the time was formative. Now I'm at a time in life where I feel my tastes are clearly defined and I'm somewhat reluctant to push outside of my bubble. But hey, I'm sure there's still stuff I would like that I don't know about yet. I just wish more bands today were like Ghost, heh.

[TheGreenZap]

I love a lot of bands from the 70s. I listen to many albums by Black Sabbath and Deep Purple. Uriah Heep is a very underrated band in my opinion. I used to listen to Zeppelin all of the time in high school...every album, but I listened to it so much I burned myself out. I do revisit them from time to time. Van Halen has always been a favorite, starting in the 70s and continuing on.

 

I don't mind some Kiss songs now and then. Detroit Rock City is pretty cool. I usually don't listen to full albums of theirs though.

I definitely get my head rocking to AC/DC songs sometimes. I love the guitar riffs and beats. I listen to a few and then move on to another band.

 

I agree, these days it sucks that rock bands are a minority. I do love some Chevelle though. Their new album is awesome and I have been listening to it over and over.