GNMD Poll: Top Ten Albums of 1977

The diversity and originality from the S/T to One Nation Under a Groove is immense. They basically revolutionized the genre twice over in eight years.
 
lol @ the implication that Led Zeppelin of all bands is an icon of originality. Or lyrical quality for that matter.

Ripping off lyrics and riffs doesn't make a band unoriginal, if they happened to go on and make something new out of those riffs and lyrics. Zeppelin sounded like nothing that came before.

Also, originality and authenticity are overrated in general. There's really no such thing as "authentic music."

This year belongs to punk and avantpop overall. Prog is basically dead, with Floyd as the main outlier

Tull? Peter Gabriel?

But I do agree, between The Clash and The Sex Pistols...

Anyhoo:

1. Jethro Tull, Songs from the Wood (supreme)

2. Peter Gabriel, Self-titled I (aka Car--such an amazing fucking album)

3. Pink Floyd, Animals (usually number one, but this one always dragged a bit for me)

4. Brian Eno, Before and After Science (love almost everything Eno's done)

5. Kansas, The Point of Know Return (might be better than Leftoverture...)

6. The Clash, The Clash (the fucking Clash)

7. The Sex Pistols, Never Mind the Bollocks (one of the first albums my older brother ever slipped to me behind my parents' backs)

8. Cluster, Cluster & Eno (this is a more recent find, but it's grown on me)

9. Pat Metheny, Watercolors (high school, stoned)

10. David Bowie, Low (never a huge Bowie fan, but this should be on here)
 
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Ripping off lyrics and riffs doesn't make a band unoriginal, if they happened to go on and make something new out of those riffs and lyrics. Zeppelin sounded like nothing that came before.

Also, originality and authenticity are overrated in general. There's really no such thing as "authentic music."

lol, are you completely unaware of how they were busted for plagiarizing blues artists multiple times over? Led Zeppelin did some original stuff, but the idea that they were unprecedented is a joke. Name three songs of theirs that sounded like nothing that came before.

I agree on the latter point, but I wasn't the one writing off an entire genre of music on that basis.
 
I am aware of the plagiarism charges, but even reworked tunes like "When the Levee Breaks" have a sound unique to Zeppelin, in my opinion. Ultimately, I find Zeppelin overrated in general (same with The Beatles), but I still feel like their sound was something quite unique for their time. Nothing's "unprecedented" though, I don't disagree with that point.
 
@Einherjar86

Why don't you like Rush?

Some of it could be listening history, i.e. the fact that they just never clicked with me at the moments I encountered them.

But if I'm trying to be an objective listener, I'd say they never captured the aspects of prog that I really enjoy. Rush has a more hard rock edge to them that reminds me of bands like Styx or The Who. Styx I don't mind, but have to be in the right mood; and I really don't care for The Who. By contrast, bands like Tull, Floyd, and Genesis have both folk (in the case of Tull, early Genesis, and early Floyd a la Meddle) and performative (in the case of all three bands) aspects that really appeal to me. By performative I don't mean theatrical; Rush is theatrical. I like the frontman vibe that Tull and Genesis give off, and that Floyd does on albums on Dark Side through The Final Cut. There's something about the artistic reflexivity of performance that I really enjoy. I don't get this from Rush.

tl;dr, Rush is a bit "rock-ier" than I like in prog outfits.
 
Looks like Goblin and Fleetwood Mac will be my top spots. Need to check out the Tangerine Dream and House OST again before I make a list
 
Tull? Peter Gabriel?
I love parts of Songs from the Wood, but most of it doesn't strike me as genius-level (though Ian Anderson's still a genius overall). There's a lot of very brilliant stuff in 77 that's more innovative, fresh and era-defining imo.

I don't consider originality overrated, as long as the innovative work in question doesn't sound unlistenable or like a rough draft awaiting improvements. I gravitate toward innovative artists because having a window into an interesting mind is key to my enjoyment of a lot of music.

Not familar with the Gabriel album though, ashamed to admit. I've always been weirdly intimidated by Genesis, and reluctant to sit through their discog. Selling England by the Pound is so damn intense... I think I have a similar reaction to the Beatles, but I forced myself to sit through them because the praise they get is so overwhelmingly superlative.
 
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The Gabriel album is weird, but incredible--definitely intense though, I'll give you that. I think he tends to bring a lot of gravitas to his work, and it can make it difficult to endure sometimes. The Car album is highly performative too; parts of it remind of The Wall, albeit before The Wall even came out (the song "Moribund the Burgermeister" sounds like some surreal(er) counterpart to "The Trial," if that's possible). And then it closes with the epic duo of "Down the Dolce Vita" and "Here Comes the Flood"--so amazing.

As far as Tull goes, I'm just in love with the folk trilogy albums. I know a lot of people prefer the folk/prog mix of Minstrel, but for me it's all about Songs from the Wood, Heavy Horses, and Stormwatch.
 
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Funkadelic destroys most of those bands in all of those categories btw.
I love funk but have never warmed to Funkadelic or Parliament at all. The grooves I've heard just don't do it for me. And funk is all about the danceable groove. I haven't thoroughly explored them though, it's entirely possible that there's good stuff I've missed.
 
I'm not as big on Parliament as I am Funkadelic fwiw. Don't know what to say if you don't find them groovy. They're pretty eclectic so of course you have to put aside the ten minute guitar solos and joke country songs and etc, but when they are grooving I'd put them up there with anyone. This is my very favorite Funkadelic song; does this not have a groove to you?

 
I'm not as big on Parliament as I am Funkadelic fwiw. Don't know what to say if you don't find them groovy. They're pretty eclectic so of course you have to put aside the ten minute guitar solos and joke country songs and etc, but when they are grooving I'd put them up there with anyone. This is my very favorite Funkadelic song; does this not have a groove to you?


Oh they undoubtedly have groove, but there's something about the grooves that doesn't really do it for me. It's difficult to put my finger on what but it's something to do with the rhythms and note choices being too generic or something. I'm also not a fan of the vocals or George Clinton's 'wacky-psychedelic-weirdo' shtick.
 
1. The Runaways - Queens of Noise
2. Marlena Shaw - Sweet Beginnings
3. The Runaways - Waitin' for the Night
4. The Damned - Damned Damned Damned
5. Throbbing Gristle - The Second Annual Report
6. Univers Zero - Univers Zero (a.k.a. 1313)
7. Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks...
8. Ramones - Rocket to Russia
9. Split Enz - Dizrythmia
10. Cheap Trick - In Color

Didn't discover anything for this year but that'll do. I should like Suspiria, but it's so all over the place that it doesn't work for me out of context of the film scenes. Even though it sounds too full-on to be a typical soundtrack.

If I travelled back in time to '77, The Runaways would be my 2nd favourite band after Black Sabbath. So raw and sometimes heavy: