00:00Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the most
00:10monolithically important and influential rock bands to rule the 1970s.
00:1510. Steely Dan
00:31Famed alt-rock producer Steve Albini harbored an infamous hatred for Steely Dan, famously
00:37comparing them to an SNL band warm-up. But we couldn't disagree more, since this quirky
00:4370s rock act is beloved by legions of progressive-minded and jazz-focused music fans.
00:49Well, I did not think that girl would be so cool.
00:56The duo of Donald Fagan and Walter Becker started out as record company songwriters before taking
01:01their witty and sarcastic lyrics to a project named after an infamous sci-fi sex toy. Steely Dan
01:08employed legions of talented musicians as session hands, delivering music that vacillated from
01:14jazz fusion workouts to pop-focused hits with that inimitable Fagan-Becker humor.
01:209. Blue Oyster Colts
01:30Whoever said that all 70s music was required to be brainless and boring? If that stereotype rings
01:44true, then nobody bothered to tell the boys in Blue Oyster Colts. This Long Island-born group
01:49captured an imaginative 70s sound like no other, incorporating lyrics that were often intelligent,
01:55strange and profound in equal measure. Elsewhere, BOC could also rock with the best of them,
02:08combining muscular riffs with an atmosphere of ever-present weirdness. Influences from science
02:14fiction, comic books, and literature permeated the BOC sound. And the cult continues to this day,
02:21adhering to their promise to be on tour forever.
02:318. Aerosmith
02:41One simply cannot discuss the arena landscape of 70s rock without mentioning and heralding
02:47these bad boys from Boston. Aerosmith was one of those acts whose music defined not only the 70s,
02:54but multiple decades. Their bluesy swagger and heavy guitar pyrotechnics allowed for the insurgency
03:00of heavy metal, while Steven Tyler's generational charisma reiterated what rock and roll frontman
03:06was supposed to look and sound like. Dream On remains a prototypical example of the power ballad, while
03:20Toys in the Attic and Kings and Queens perfected heaviness with style to spare.
03:25The 70s were a musically diverse decade that saw rock and roll splinter into a myriad of subgenres,
03:48including prog and punk. Progenitors for the latter arrived in the form of New York City's Ramones,
03:54who played rock music louder and faster than just about anybody outside of Motorhead.
04:04The band's aesthetic was ultra-cool, too, with each member taking Ramone as their surname,
04:10while adopting a uniform leather-jacketed look. Influences from the 60s could also be heard within
04:15the Ramones' music, however, including sunshine pop and classic rock that filtered their way into
04:21the band's punk rock spirit. Hey! Po! Let's Go! Indeed!
04:33Number 6. ACDC
04:41It speaks volumes that Australia's ACDC are still going strong as of 2025, touring the world and bringing
04:49their uncompromising, simplistic style of hard rock to the masses. There's little room for complex
04:55song arrangements or lengthy compositions here with ACDC, and it was the group's 70s sound that
05:01codified their legacy. Brian Johnson may have been the perfect lead singer replacement for the fallen
05:15Bond Scott, but old-school fans know full well just how important the latter was to ACDC sound. That
05:22screaming wail melded perfectly with Angus Young's fiery guitar and Malcolm's rock-solid rhythm. It was a
05:29match and highway made in hell. Number 5. Fleetwood Mac
05:41I've got a black magic woman. I've got a black magic woman.
05:49Their sound was rooted in the blues, but all it took was the welcoming of Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie
05:54Nicks into the group to help change Fleetwood Mac's sound forever. The self-titled album from 1975
06:01was the band's 10th studio effort, but the first with Buckingham and Nicks, and helped polish up
06:06Mac's rough-and-ready rock roots into something more commercially viable.
06:16Fast forward to the gargantuan Rumors record, and you have essentially a band with the sound of
06:22the 70s under its collective thump. The blues was still there, but now a chorus of different
06:27songwriting voices were softening things up and appealing to an entire rainbow of new listeners.
06:33I was born with four additional incisors. More space in my mouth means more range.
06:54I'll consider your offer. The 2018 Freddie Mercury biopic, Bohemian Rhapsody,
06:59definitely did a great job of reminding a lot of people about Queen's multi-generational greatness.
07:05That said, the band's legacy of operatic hard rock never really went away, as evidenced by just how
07:12much Queen's music still means to listeners today.
07:21Queen could virtually invent speed metal one minute with Stone Cold Crazy,
07:26before venturing effortlessly into disco with Another One Bites the Dust.
07:30Then there was Brian May's tendency to fill Queen records with orchestras of guitars,
07:35walls of sound that made Queen's sound large, in charge, and second to none. Long may they reign.
07:50Number 3. Black Sabbath
07:52The age-old question of who exactly created heavy metal is up for debate. Was it Deep Purple? Led
08:05Zeppelin? Maybe. But the answer most historians offer up is the almighty Black Sabbath.
08:11Don't you ever, don't you ever see ya? Never, never, never see ya?
08:20These boys from Birmingham, England took their dreary, working-class doldrums and sprinkled a little
08:25occult fairy dust on top. Tony Iommi's use of that Devil's Interval tritone on Black Sabbath's opening
08:32track essentially set the tone for all doomy metal greatness in its wake.
08:36This was a band that could sound heavier than God, while also experimenting with more melodic
08:49soundscapes in the 80s and 90s. Said simply, there was little heavier than Black Sabbath in the 70s,
08:57and it's still a marvel to listen back to those records today.
09:01Number 2. Pink Floyd
09:09The burgeoning psychedelia that helped make Pink Floyd's stars in the 60s turn darker
09:15and more progressive at the dawn of the 70s.
09:25This was the decade that arguably made Floyd matter more than ever before,
09:30making them legends and future elder statesmen for classic rock.
09:42Landmark studio efforts, such as Animals, Metal, The Wall, and Dark Side of the Moon,
09:47would endear Pink Floyd to a new generation of music fans that was experiencing rock and roll revolution
09:53at the ground level. The band would continue on into the 80s and 90s with other fantastic releases,
10:00but it was their 70s era that's still rightfully appreciated to this day.
10:05Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.
10:17Thin Lizzy, Phil Lynott, remains Ireland's greatest rock star.
10:31Judas Priest, 70s era priest forged the heavy metal fire.
10:35Eagles, a sound like that warm California sunshine.
10:51Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, songwriting chops for days.
11:01Leonard Skinner, Southern Rock, Royalty.
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11:281. Led Zeppelin
11:32They started in the late 60s and were gone by the early 80s. Yet, it was the work Led Zeppelin put in
11:45during the 70s that helped make them legends. Led Zeppelin III debuted in 1970 and showcased a band in
11:52transition, still incorporating heavy bombast into their sound while also writing quieter songs,
11:59influenced by traditional folk music.
12:05Future Zepp efforts during the 70s would see this soft-loud dichotomy grow greater,
12:11while their live shows proved just how magnetic the boys could be on stage.
12:16Coda was an odds and sods compilation that effectively put an end to Led Zeppelin's
12:21studio story in 82. But fans will never forget how these classic rock titans effectively put
12:28audiences in a riff-written chokehold in the 1970s.
12:31What were some 70s rock contemporaries that fell under the radar? Shout out any cult classics of
12:43the decade in those comments below!
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