Best '70s rock bands

Led Zeppelin▲ Rising

Four musicians who turned blues worship into something primal and mythic, from the thunderclap of 'Whole Lotta Love' to the acoustic-to-electric alchemy of 'Stairway to Heaven.' Jimmy Page's riffs and John Bonham's earthquake drumming basically invented the blueprint for hard rock and metal, and no amount of imitation has ever matched the original's swagger.

Formed/Debut: 1968Studio Albums in the '70s: 8Global Record Sales: 300 millionBillboard Top 10 Hits ('70s): 3Grammy Wins ('70s): 0Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: ✓Critical Acclaim: 9.5/10

added by IJRin 7 rankings

Queen▲ Rising

Freddie Mercury walked into a genre built on three chords and said 'why not six minutes, an opera section, and a fake ending' — and 'Bohemian Rhapsody' became the song that broke every rule and topped the charts anyway. Live Aid 1985 is the proof: 72,000 people in the palm of one man's hand, clapping in unison to 'Radio Ga Ga.' No band this decade fused theatrical camp with genuine musical genius so completely.

Formed/Debut: 1970Studio Albums in the '70s: 7Global Record Sales: 170 millionBillboard Top 10 Hits ('70s): 1Grammy Wins ('70s): 0Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: ✓Critical Acclaim: 9/10

added by IJRin 7 rankings

Pink Floyd▲ Rising

'Dark Side of the Moon' spent 741 weeks on the Billboard chart because Floyd figured out how to make existential dread sound like the most beautiful thing you'd ever heard. Roger Waters and David Gilmour's tension produced 'Wish You Were Here' and eventually 'The Wall,' proving concept albums could be both art-school ambitious and stadium-sized. They didn't just make rock music — they made rock music that felt like architecture.

Formed/Debut: 1965Studio Albums in the '70s: 7Global Record Sales: 250 millionBillboard Top 10 Hits ('70s): 1Grammy Wins ('70s): 0Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: ✓Critical Acclaim: 9.5/10

added by IJRin 5 rankings

David Bowie▲ Rising

He killed off Ziggy Stardust on stage in 1973 without warning his own band, then spent the rest of the decade reinventing himself faster than anyone could keep up — Thin White Duke, Berlin Trilogy, plastic soul. 'Heroes' turned a wall dividing a city into a three-minute anthem about defiance. Bowie didn't have a '70s sound; he had five or six, and that restless reinvention is the entire argument for his spot here.

Formed/Debut: 1969Studio Albums in the '70s: 12Global Record Sales: 140 millionBillboard Top 10 Hits ('70s): 2Grammy Wins ('70s): 0Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: ✓Critical Acclaim: 9.5/10

added by IJRin 7 rankingsDavid Bowie

Eagles

'Hotel California' is the sound of the California dream curdling into something darker and richer, with Joe Walsh and Don Felder's dueling guitar solo becoming one of rock's most instantly recognizable moments. The band's harmonies were pristine even as the lyrics turned cynical about fame, excess, and the whole L.A. mythology they helped build. 'Their Greatest Hits' outsold nearly everything, proof that country-rock smoothness could still hit like a gut punch.

Formed/Debut: 1971Studio Albums in the '70s: 6Global Record Sales: 150 millionBillboard Top 10 Hits ('70s): 5Grammy Wins ('70s): 4Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: ✓Critical Acclaim: 8.5/10

added by IJRin 4 rankings

Fleetwood Mac

A band on the verge of implosion — two couples breaking up in real time — channeled all that wreckage into 'Rumours,' an album so devastatingly catchy it sold 40 million copies while its makers could barely speak to each other. 'Dreams' and 'Go Your Own Way' are basically diary entries set to gold-selling melody. Few records have ever turned personal disaster into pop perfection this completely.

Formed/Debut: 1967Studio Albums in the '70s: 9Global Record Sales: 120 millionBillboard Top 10 Hits ('70s): 3Grammy Wins ('70s): 1Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: ✓Critical Acclaim: 9/10

added by IJRin 6 rankings

AC/DC▼ Falling

Bon Scott's gravel-throated howl and Angus Young's schoolboy-uniform duckwalk turned AC/DC into rock's most gloriously unpretentious machine, all riffs and no apology. 'Highway to Hell' was the culmination of a band that never tried to evolve past pure, distilled rock and roll — and then Scott's death in 1980 made it a tragic full stop on the decade. They proved that simplicity, executed with total conviction, could be its own kind of genius.

Formed/Debut: 1973Studio Albums in the '70s: 6Global Record Sales: 200 millionBillboard Top 10 Hits ('70s): 0Grammy Wins ('70s): 0Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: ✓Critical Acclaim: 8.5/10

added by IJRin 7 rankings

Bruce Springsteen▼ Falling

'Born to Run' was the album that had to work or Springsteen was getting dropped, so he spent six months on the title track alone, chasing a 'Wall of Sound' with a garage-rock heart. Thunder Road's screen door slamming became the defining image of blue-collar American longing. By decade's end, the E Street Band had turned bar-band grit into something that felt like scripture for anyone who ever wanted out of a small town.

Formed/Debut: 1973Studio Albums in the '70s: 4Global Record Sales: 65 millionBillboard Top 10 Hits ('70s): 0Grammy Wins ('70s): 0Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: ✓Critical Acclaim: 8.5/10

added by IJRin 7 rankingsBruce Springsteen