1976's Best Classic Rock Albums

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1976's Best Classic Rock Albums Oh, for the love of your rock and roll shoes, these 1970’s albums lists are getting so hard to do. Our year of 1976 Best Classic Albums list defines another outstanding year in classic rock history. As in 1975, the playing field has evened out, with so many artists releasing great rock and roll records. A good majority of our favorite albums and the most commercially successful records of 1976 were debut albums. It’s hard to believe that there were so many bands who released their debut albums in 1976 that would become some of the most legendary rock groups of all time. Groups like Boston, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers,The Ramones, The Runaways, and Heart all released their debut records.

1976 was also a great year for legendary live albums, which we have included on this list from groups such as Led Zeppelin, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Rush. We hope you enjoy this ride back into the 1970s, as this one focuses on the great year of 1976. Just another great list to knock you out.

# 50 –Too Old to Rock ‘n’ Roll: Too Young to Die! – Jethro Tull

Tull has such a great string of album releases throughout the 1970s. This was another one of them; the title song was smoking.

# 49 – Wings Over America – Wings

Yes, it’s a live album, but it’s one of the greatest live albums ever released. What a package this was.

# 48 – Chicago X – Chicago

This one was heavy on the ballads.

# 47 – No Heavy Petting – UFO

UFO should have been a bigger band in the US. They were huge in Europe.

# 46 – All the World’s a Stage – Rush

We were already blown away by what Rush accomplished with their first four albums. This was a celebration of those records. Yet we had no idea what was about to come next.

# 45 – Turnstiles – Billy Joel

This was the Billy Joel album that was the transition to the massive success he would celebrate a year later with the release of The Stranger. But when you ask a lot of Billy Joel fans, they say they like this one better. Songs like “New York State of Mind, I’ve Loved These Days, James,” and so many more make this one of his most accomplished recordings.

# 44 – A Night on the Town – Rod Stewart

# 43 – Rising – Rainbow

# 42 – Gimme Back My Bullets – Lynyrd Skynyrd

# 41 – Silk Degrees – Boz Scaggs

In any other year, we could have easily put this one at number one. That’s how tough it was to put this list together.

# 40 – Run with the Pack – Bad Company

# 39 – Agents of Fortune – Blue Oyster Cult

# 38 – Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers – Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers

# 37 – The Runaways – The Runaways

# 36 – Bigger Than Both of Us – Hall & Oates

# 35 – Hasten Down the Wind – Linda Ronstadt

# 34 – Takin’ It To The Streets – The Doobie Brothers

# 33 – Night Shift – Foghat

# 32 – Tejas – ZZ Top

# 31 – Wired – Jeff Beck

# 30 – Thirty Three & 1/3 – George Harrison

# 29 – Wings at the Speed of Sound – Wings

# 28 – Long Misty Days – Robin Trower

Could never get enough of Robin Trower. One of his best albums.

# 27 – Free For All – Ted Nugent

Crazy Ted’s second best album of his career.

# 26 – Hejira – Joni Mitchell

Never a bad album from Joni. Another brilliant work of art.

# 25 – Night Moves – Bob Seger

Easily Bob Seger’s best album and heavily influenced by Bruce Springsteen’s Born To Run.

# 24 – Jailbreak – Thin Lizzy

The great band from Ireland released the song of the summer of 1976 with the track “The Boys Are Back In Town.” However, the album was filled with so many more great rock tracks from one of the legendary classic rock bands of all time.

# 23 – Zoot Allures – Frank Zappa

The genius of Frank Zappa just kept releasing stunning rock records that were so brilliantly beyond what anyone else was doing at the time.

# 22 – One More from the Road – Lynyrd Skynyrd

This amazing two record set defined the legend of Lynyrd Skynyrd in concert so well. One of the best live albums ever released from our beloved band.

# 21 – Fly Like an Eagle – Steve Miller Band

The first of two albums from the Steve Miller Band that yielded many blues based pop rock gens that were constantly played on the radio.

# 20 – A New World Record – Electric Light Orchestra

ELO’s breakout record after Face The Music was their breakout record and before Out Of The Blue became even more of their breakout record. Does that make any sense? Jeff Lynne just kept topping whatever he did before.

# 19 – The Pretender – Jackson Browne

Jackson Browne’s masterpiece.

# 18 – A Trick of the Tail – Genesis

Easily the best Genesis album in the post Peter Gabriel era. A true progressive rock classic.

# 17 – A Day At The Races – Queen

A fitting follow-up to A Night At The Opera. The album’s opening track, “Tie Your Mother Down,” stands as the best song on the record and was an amazing concert opener on the band’s 1976/77 tour.

# 16 – The Royal Scam – Steely Dan

Our second favorite Steely Dan album after AJA. Over time, this album just keeps getting better as it is so deep. The guitar solos are killer.

# 15 – Station To Station – David Bowie

Another great David Bowie album in a long string of great David Bowie albums.

# 14 – Ramones – The Ramones

The debut album of one of rock’s most groundbreaking bands. This one blew us all away. It still does.

# 13 – Blue Moves – Elton John

Elton John’s most underrated album of his career. This is a fabulous two-record set.

# 12 – Rocks – Aerosmith

An amazing follow-up to Toys in the Attic. One of Aerosmith’s best albums. We ranked it number one on our Aerosmith albums list

# 11 – Destroyer – Kiss

Our favorite Kiss album of all time….”Detroit Rock City,” stands as one of the best album opening tracks ever.

# 10 – The Song Remains the Same – Led Zeppelin

Led Zeppelin opens up the top 10 section of our 1976’s best classic rock albums list. The Song Remains the Same was the first live Led Zeppelin album ever released. However, they claimed it wasn’t a live album but rather a movie soundtrack. It didn’t matter what they called it. Led Zeppelin was the greatest rock and roll band I’ve ever seen on the concert stage. It was great to finally have a live album by the band.

# 9 – Songs in the Key of Life – Stevie Wonder

Stevie Wonder won just about every music award of the year in 1976 with the album Songs in the Key of Life. He deserved every one of them. A once-in-a-lifetime album by a once-in-a-lifetime artist.

# 8 – Black and Blue – The Rolling Stones

A new era of Rolling Stones music began with the addition of Ron Wood to the band on the fantastic Black and Blue album. Probably one of the Rolling Stones most underrated albums.

# 7 – Frampton Comes Alive – Peter Frampton

The album that broke all sales records and turned Peter Frampton into one of the biggest rock stars of the decade. Such an incredible live album, defining Frampton’s talents. The songs on the live album blew away his studio versions

# 6 – 2112 – Rush

This was the Rush album that turned the band into a household name. I will never forget the day I walked into a record store in 1976 and brought this album just because I thought it had a cool cover without having ever heard the band before. Best decision ever!

# 5 – Leftoverture – Kansas

An amazing record by the progressive rock band Kansas featuring one of the most famous classic rock songs of all time entitled “Carry On My Wayward Son.” Every song on the album was a masterpiece.

# 4 – Dreamboat Annie – Heart (U.S. debut)

Heart’s debut album had been released in 1975 in Canada so we have included it on both the 1975 and 1976 lists. Nonetheless, the album contained a pair of songs in Magic Man and Crazy On You that would become staples of classic rock radio for years. This one was constantly on our turntables in the 1970s and beyond

# 3 – Presence – Led Zeppelin

Presence was the last great studio Led Zeppelin album. In Through The Out Door was still a great record, but most Zep fans would agree that Presence was the last legendary one.

# 2 – Hotel California – The Eagles

The Eagles’ Hotel California came out very late in the year, in December of 1976. It turned out to be one of the biggest albums of 1977. However, since it was released in 1976, we included it on this list instead.

# 1 – Boston – Boston

Boston’s debut album is often hailed as one of the greatest debut albums of all time. We were all blown away by the sound and all the great songs on the record, especially the albums’ incredible A Side. Tom Scholz never came close to releasing another Boston album like this one. Unless you have released an album called Dark Side Of The Moon or Hotel California, its tough to top a Led Zeppelin album on this website; Boston did it.