The Big 3 Hard Rock Bands of the 70's

[Caledonia]

I was wondering what the general opinion is on the the top rated albums by the three biggest bands of the 70's (if not, of all time) being the mighty Zeppelin, the doomladen Sabbath, or the proto-metallic Purple. I used the weighted charts on rateyourmusic.com to decide which top albums by each band correlate with which and here are the options:

1. Led Zeppelin IV (Led Zeppelin) 4.21 rating from 21,379 users, vs.

Paranoid (Black Sabbath) 4.23 rating from 18,603 users, vs.

Machine Head (Deep Purple) 4.04 rating from 8,091 users


2. Led Zeppelin (Led Zeppelin) 4.08 rating from 17,811 users, vs.

Master Of Reality (Black Sabbath) 4.16 rating from 12,732 users, vs.

Deep Purple In Rock (Deep Purple) 4.02 rating from 6,670 users, vs.


3. Led Zeppelin II (Led Zeppelin) 4.07 rating from 17,024 users, vs.

Black Sabbath (Black Sabbath) 4.13 rating from 13,674 users, vs.

Made In Japan (Deep Purple) 4.18 rating from 4,726 users, vs.*


4. Physical Graffiti (Led Zeppelin) 4.00 rating from 12,691 users, vs.

Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (Black Sabbath) 4.02 rating from 9,126 users, vs.

Burn (Deep Purple) 3.77 rating from 3,189 users, vs.


5. Houses Of The Holy (Led Zeppelin) 3.96 rating from 15,175 users, vs.**

Vol. 4 (Black Sabbath) 3.96 rating from 8,787 users, vs.

Stormbringer (Deep Purple) 3.45 rating from 2,138 users, vs.



I have a feeling Sabbath will trump the other two, and that Deep Purple is on the weaker side with the last couple of albums. I also thought of adding some Rainbow albums to kind of average it out a bit but then it wouldn't be as accurate as I hoped.

* I wanted to keep the canon Deep Purple albums at the top but the average weight of Made In Japan is above even Machine Head so I thought it was an adequate placement for the album.

**Since I feel the community is into the harder edge style, I decided to replace Led Zeppelin III (their folky album) for Houses Of The Holy.


Share your opinion!

 

[Caledonia]

My picks are:
1. Paranoid
2. Deep Purple In Rock
3. Black Sabbath
4. Physical Graffiti
5. Houses Of The Holy

 

[Baroque]

I pick Sabbath for all of them

 

[The Ozzman]

Well Stormbringer is the best Deep Purple album, so...

 

[crimsonfloyd]

1. Paranoid
2. Led Zeppelin
3. Led Zeppelin II
4. Physical Graffiti
5. Houses of the Holy

I do prefer Led Zeppelin to Sabbath, but it's much closer than this suggests. Just ended up being bad match-ups for Sabbath. I honestly don't feel Deep Purple belongs in this conversation

 

[CiG]

Led Zeppelin rule but they're much less original and engaging to me.

 

[Krow]

Deep Purp are a joke compared to the other two.

Feel like I'm saying Technical Barbarity into a mirror three times saying that. If that doesn't summon him, the pure rageohol inside his veins must have died.

 

[CiG]

I feel like in terms of sheer popularity, KISS should be in here somewhere. Were Black Sabbath really on the same level of popularity as the rest? I understand that they weren't exactly underground but they also weren't exactly the pinnacle of mainstream hard rock.

 

[Carpe Mortem]

I would have stuck Machine Head somewhere lower. It's a fantastic and absolutely classic album, but it can't compete in the top spot.

 

[Elric of Melniboné]

Black Sabbath is the only band here that has several albums that I think are classics from start to finish. The other two have their moments and were big influences on a lot of key bands, but I don't find either of them to be as consistent as Black Sabbath. I'd take Uriah Heep over both of them.

 

[CiG]

Good call. Deep Purple I prefer over Led Zeppelin for the sheer fact that I love hard rock with organs, but Uriah Heep did organ rock better anyway.

 

[Elric of Melniboné]

Deep Purple's original lineup is also severely underrated.

 

[CiG]

It is, though I don't prefer it to the classic lineup by any means. especially since it's dissolving lead to Captain Beyond.

Speaking of, which is your favourite of the mk. 1 trilogy?

 

[Elric of Melniboné]

I guess that I would have to pick Shades of Deep Purple as my preferred album, but I can't be sad that they split since Captain Beyond is incredible.

 

[CiG]

That's the debut right? I haven't heard it in fucking ages. I think I found the self titled most pleasing.

 

[alex76]

The Book of Taliesyn isn't anything to sneeze at either. Check out songs such as "Shield" and "Anthem".