1977’s Best Classic Rock Albums list takes a look at a year in which sales records were broken by multi million dollar making albums released by Fleetwood Mac, Billy Joel and a handful of other artists. Rock and Roll continued its battle against the rise of disco as the punk movement grew stronger on both sides of the Atlantic. All genres of rock and roll continued to explode in 1977 with great albums released by blues based bands like Foghat, Johnny Winter, progressive rock bands like Yes, Genesis, and Emerson Lake & Palmer, punk and new wave groups like The Ramones, Blondie, and Television, singer songwriters like Dan Fogelberg, Carole King and stunning debut albums by The Sex Pistols, Foreigner and Elvis Costello. That’s just a small sampling of another great year in classic rock history. 1977’s best classic rock albums will take you back to a time when a concert ticket still cost under ten dollars and an 8 track player was the most common way of playing albums in your car.
The list of albums from number 50 to number 10 are in pretty much random order. There is just no way to compare or say that any one of these records is better than the next. However we do believe these were fifty of the most popular and respected ones. Our Top 10 is our top 10 favorites based on sales and impact they had on classic rock history. It’s still just our opinion, but its an opinion based on research, sales data, interviews with fans and musicians, comments and most importantly the experience of growing up as teenager during the decade of the 1970s when rock and roll was our lives.
# 50 – The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl – The Beatles
We open up our 1977’s Best Classic Rock albums list with a live album from The Beatles. Seven years after The Beatles broke up, this live album was welcomed by Beatles fans starving for something new from the band. A live album was better than nothing.
# 49 – Bad Reputation – Thin Lizzy
# 48 – Lace and Whiskey – Alice Cooper
# 47 – Slowhand – Eric Clapton
# 46 – Foot Loose & Fancy Free – Rod Stewart
# 45 – In the City – The Jam
# 44 – Book of Dreams – Steve Miller Band
# 43 – Time Loves a Hero – Little Feat
# 42 – Ghost Writer – Garland Jeffreys
# 41 – Plastic Letters –Blondie
# 40 – The Grand Illusion – Styx
# 39 – Foreign Affairs – Tom Waits
# 38 – Point of Know Return – Kansas
# 37 – Lights Out – UFO
# 36 – Works Volume 1 – Emerson, Lake & Palmer
# 35 – Rattus Norvegicus – The Stranglers
# 34 – Cheap Trick – Cheap Trick
# 33 – Let There Be Rock – AC/DC
# 32 – American Stars ‘n Bars – Neil Young
# 31 – Even in the Quietest Moments – Supertramp
# 30 – Sleepwalker – The Kinks
# 29 – Sammy Hagar – Sammy Hagar
# 28 – Motörhead – Motörhead
# 27 – I Robot – The Alan Parsons Project
# 26 – Peter Gabriel – Peter Gabriel
# 25 – Low – David Bowie
# 24 – Talking Heads: 77 – Talking Heads
# 23 – Rocket to Russia – The Ramones
# 22 – Running on Empty – Jackson Browne
# 21 – My Aim Is True – Elvis Costello
# 20 – Going For The One – Yes
# 19 – Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter – Joni Mitchell
# 18 – Nether Lands – Dan Fogelberg
# 17 – Songs from the Wood – Jethro Tull
# 16 – Foreigner – Foreigner
# 15 – Foghat Live – Foghat
# 14 – A Farewell to Kings – Rush
# 13 – Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols
# 12 – Draw the Line – Aerosmith
# 11 – The Clash – The Clash
# 10 – Out of the Blue – Electric Light Orchestra
Electric Light Orchestra seemed to be getting better with each album they released in the 1970s. Out of the Blue was their best album. A fantastic two record set filled with the most irresistible songs any fan of great rock and roll pop music could not resist.
# 9 – Cat Scratch Fever – Ted Nugent
There is no denying how fantastic this record was from crazy Ted. It’s what we always called him back in the 1970s. Saw him tour with Lynyrd Skynyrd to promote this great record. What a double bill that was.
# 8 – Little Queen – Heart
One word, Barracuda!
# 7 – Animals – Pink Floyd
At times, this is our favorite Pink Floyd album. I saw the Animals tour in 1977 at New York’s Madison Square Garden a week after seeing Fleetwood Mac and a month after seeing Led Zeppelin. Those were the days.
# 6 – News of the World – Queen
With the album’s opening track “We Will Rock You,” and the connected song “We Are The Champions,” Queen infiltrated mass culture on an entire new level for years to come. This album was huge and the News Of The World Tour was spectacular.
# 5 – Street Survivors – Lynyrd Skynyrd
Our favorite Lynyrd Skynyrd album was released just a few days before the band’s tragic airplane crash. With the addition of Steve Gaines to the band, the record stood as the most mature album the band had ever released. It seemed they were on the verge of even more greatness to come before the crash. So sad! Still, one of the best best rock albums ever released.
# 4 – Bat Out Of Hell – Meat Loaf
This album blew many people away the first time they heard it. Meat Loaf’s phenomenal vocals, Jim Steinman’s brilliant original songwriting all surrounded by a group of stellar musicians from Utopia and The E Street band produced by the genius of Todd Rundgren made for an album for the ages.
# 3 – The Stranger – Billy Joel
With each of his first three albums, there was a buzz that Billy Joel would soon become one of the biggest rock stars in the world. The Stranger was the album that got him there. The songs on The Stranger album such as “Scenes From an Italian Restaurant,” would fill the soundtrack of our lives for the past forty plus years.
# 2 – Aja – Steely Dan
If one wanted to find one rock album in classic rock history that was perfect in every conceivable way, it would be Steely Dan’s Aja. And that’s exactly what it seemed Donald Fagan and Walter Becker set out to do.
# 1 – Rumours – Fleetwood Mac
Not many albums in classic rock history featured three distinctive lead vocalists and songwriters that blended so well together musically. Rumours was a once in a lifetime album that broke all sales records and turned Fleetwood Mac into one of the biggest rock bands of all time.
More Fantastic Classic Rock Albums Released in 1977
These are listed in chronological order in which they came out throughout the year
Best Rock Albums – January 1977
Leave Home – The Ramones
Ahh… The Name Is Bootsy, Baby! – Bootsy’s Rubber Band
Playing the Fool – Gentle Giant
Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes – Jimmy Buffett
Festival – Santana
The Light of Smiles – Gary Wright
Live: You Get What You Play For – REO Speedwagon
Queens of Noise – The Runaways
Novella – Renaissance
Best Rock Albums – February 1977
In Your Mind – Bryan Ferry
Ra – Utopia
Marquee Moon – Television
Harbor – America
Damned Damned Damned – The Damned
Ultravox – Ultravox
Next – Journey
Best Rock Albums – March 1977
Islands – The Band
The Idiot – Iggy Pop
Anytime…Anywhere – Rita Coolidge
Every Face Tells a Story – Cliff Richard
Jeff Beck with the Jan Hammer Group Live – Jeff Beck
Trans-Europe Express – Kraftwerk
Best Rock Albums – April 1977
Sin After Sin – Judas Priest
Love You – The Beach Boys
Caught Live + 5 – The Moody Blues
Celebrate Me Home – Kenny Loggins
Get It – Dave Edmunds
Izitso – Cat Stevens
Let it Flow – Dave Mason
Moroccan Roll – Brand X
This Time It’s for Real – Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes
Off the Record – Sweet
A Period of Transition – Van Morrison
Best Rock Albums – May 1977
Holly Days – Denny Laine
One of the Boys – Roger Daltrey
Free Fall – Dixie Dregs
I’m In You – Peter Frampton
38 Special – 38 Special
Deceptive Bends 10cc
Now – The Tubes
Playin’ Up a Storm – The Gregg Allman Band
Best Rock Albums – June 1977
Exodus – Bob Marley & The Wailers
Monkey Island – The J. Geils Band
CSN – Crosby, Stills & Nash
Love Gun – Kiss
Full House – Frankie Miller
JT – James Taylor
Pure Mania – The Vibrators
Season of Lights – Laura Nyro
Steve Winwood – Steve Winwood
Best Rock Albums – July 1977
Just a Story from America – Elliott Murphy
Terrapin Station – The Grateful Dead
Hurry Sundown – Outlaws
Simple Things – Carole King
Knnillssonn – Harry Nilsson
Best Rock Albums – August 1977
Livin’ on the Fault Line – The Doobie Brothers
Dizrythmia – Split Enz
Lust for Life – Iggy Pop
Before We Were So Rudely Interrupted – The Animals
Boats Against the Current – Eric Carmen
Donovan – Donovan
Nothin’ but the Blues – Johnny Winter
Show Time – Ry Cooder
Best Rock Albums – September 1977
Twilley Don’t Mind – Dwight Tilley
Dance Band on the Titanic – Harry Chapin
Playmates – Small Faces
Hard Again – Muddy Waters
Chicago XI – Chicago
Rough Mix – Pete Townshend and Ronnie Lane
Little Criminals – Randy Newman
Love You Live – The Rolling Stones
No More Heroes – The Stranglers
Ringo the 4th – Ringo Starr
Beauty on a Back Street – Hall & Oates
The Boomtown Rats – The Boomtown Rats
Broken Heart – The Babys
In Color – Cheap Trick
Putting It Straight – Pat Travers
Simple Dreams – Linda Ronstadt
Best Rock Albums – October 1977
Waitin’ for the Night – The Runaways
Makin’ Magic – Pat Travers
Moonflower – Santana
L.A.M.F. – Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers
Midnight Wind – The Charlie Daniels Band
Alive II – Kiss
Marin County Line – New Riders of the Purple Sage
Seconds Out – Genesis
Gone to Earth – Barclay James Harvest
Introducing Sparks – Sparks
Levon Helm & the RCO All-Stars – Levon Helm
Moonflower – Santana
Musical Chairs – Sammy Hagar
Oops! Wrong Planet – Utopia
Stick to Me – Graham Parker and the Rumour
Young Loud and Snotty – Dead Boys
Best Rock Albums – November 1977
Works Volume 2 – Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Rock & Roll Machine – Triumph
Death of a Ladies’ Man – Leonard Cohen
This Is the Modern World – The Jam
Down Two Then Left – Boz Scaggs
Spectres – Blue Öyster Cult
Cabretta – Mink DeVille
Best Rock Albums – December 1977
The Alice Cooper Show – Alice Cooper
Stranger In The City – John Miles
Consequences – Godley & Creme
George Thorogood and the Destroyers – George Thorogood
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Feature Photo Credits
Stevie Nicks : Photo: David Wainwright [Public domain]
Billy Joel – Photo: Deedar70 at the English Wikipedia [CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5)]
Meat Loaf – Photo: Mr.Mushnik at English Wikipedia [CC BY-SA (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)]
Nancy Wilson – Photo: Sidneyjunior89 [Public domain]
Lynyrd Skynyrd – Photo: MCA Records [Public domain]
Elvis Costello -Photo: Jean-Luc Ourlin [CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)]
Lou Gramm – Photo: Misterweiss [CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)]