1978 punk album ranks, (I'll be including all iterations or subsets of punk)
#1 So Alone by Johnny Thunders
#2 Another Music in a Different Kitchen by The Buzzcocks
#3 Chairs Missing by Wire
#4 Real Life by Magazine
#5 This Year's Model by Elvis Costello (Note: not really punk, maybe new wave, not even listed by RYM as any subgenre or influence of Punk...but I disagree, I'm counting it).
#6 Give 'Em Enough Rope by The Clash
#7 Crossing the Red Sea With The Adverts by The Adverts
#8 Eternally Yours by The Saints
#9 The Scream by Siousxie and the Banshees (always fuck up the spelling of her name. Hope this was an exception)
#10 Germfree Adolescents by X Ray Spex
#11 Parallel Lines by Blondie
#12 Easter by Patti Smith
#13 Road to Ruin by Ramones
#14 All Mod Cons by The Jam
-------THIS IS THE CUT OFF WHEN ALBUMS HENCEFORTH ARE MORE REMEMBERED AS BEING GOOD OR AlRIGHT BUT KINDA JUST INCLUDED AS PADDING-----
#15 V2 by The Vibrators
#16 Public Image by Public Image Limited
#17 More Songs About Buildings and Food by Talking Heads
#18 No New York by Various artists
#19 Tell Us The Truth by Sham 69
#20 Adventure by Television
#21 Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! by Devo
Note: I REALLY need to listen to that classic Pere Ubu album. That's a big whif on my listening credentials lol. ((Edit holy shit there are 2 classic Pere Ubu albums in 1978?!?))) _________________ -Ryan
1978 punk album ranks, (I'll be including all iterations or subsets of punk)
#1 So Alone by Johnny Thunders
#2 Another Music in a Different Kitchen by The Buzzcocks
#3 Chairs Missing by Wire
#4 Real Life by Magazine
#5 This Year's Model by Elvis Costello (Note: not really punk, maybe new wave, not even listed by RYM as any subgenre or influence of Punk...but I disagree, I'm counting it).
#6 Give 'Em Enough Rope by The Clash
#7 Crossing the Red Sea With The Adverts by The Adverts
#8 Eternally Yours by The Saints
#9 The Scream by Siousxie and the Banshees (always fuck up the spelling of her name. Hope this was an exception)
#10 Germfree Adolescents by X Ray Spex
#11 Parallel Lines by Blondie
#12 Easter by Patti Smith
#13 Road to Ruin by Ramones
#14 All Mod Cons by The Jam
-------THIS IS THE CUT OFF WHEN ALBUMS HENCEFORTH ARE MORE REMEMBERED AS BEING GOOD OR AlRIGHT BUT KINDA JUST INCLUDED AS PADDING-----
#15 V2 by The Vibrators
#16 Public Image by Public Image Limited
#17 More Songs About Buildings and Food by Talking Heads
#18 No New York by Various artists
#19 Tell Us The Truth by Sham 69
#20 Adventure by Television
#21 Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! by Devo
Note: I REALLY need to listen to that classic Pere Ubu album. That's a big whif on my listening credentials lol. ((Edit holy shit there are 2 classic Pere Ubu albums in 1978?!?)))
I think you nearly covered all bases Mercury
And also happy birthday to to you Repo!!
Great lists, BayState & Mercury! Dihansse you do not get credit for just stealing Mercury's! 😉😜 I still want to see yours.
My next post will be about an unheralded 1979 metal/hard rock band in my Five Bands U Don't Know (1979) series.
OK OK I give in, but only because it's been your birthday 😈 . Here is my top 15 of 1978 punk albums (with some eclecticism involved):
1) Real Life - Magazine
2) Another Music In A Different Kitchen - The Buzzcocks
3) More Songs About Buildings And Food - Talking Heads (if other people can bring in albums that have only a slight reference to punk, I can too)
4) Eternally Yours - The Saints
5) The Scream - Siouxsie and the Banshees
6) Love Bites - The Buzzcocks (sometimes forgotten because their other album is so good)
7) The Only Ones - The Only Ones
8 ) The Kids - The Kids (just listen to Fascist Cops if you want to know how fantastic Belgian punk was)
9) Prehistoric Sounds - The Saints (you know I love the Saints)
10) Germ Free Adolescents - X-Ray Specs
11) All Mod Cons - The Jam
12) Plastic Letters - Blondie
13) This Years Model - Elvis Costello (although less punk than My Aim Is True it certainly has a punk spirit)
14) Naughty Kids - The Kids (just listen to Rock over Belgium if you want to know how fantastic Belgian punk was)
15) Parallel Lines - Blondie
And I'm curious about your 1979 forgotten metal bands.
What’s in a name? Everything it turns out. Survivor has been ripe for re-discovery for YEARS. Bloody Hell! These Louisianans just flat out rock. Playing a down & dirty Thin Lizzy dual guitar attack better (and HARDER) than even those Dublin boys themselves did back in 1979. (I personally feel that Black Rose is a stumble for the Lizzy boys, but more on that below). BUT, they shared a name with those lame-ass Chicagoans famous for that Rocky theme song “Eye Of The Tiger.” I love Rocky. And that song can be fun in the right setting (the horns really make the song!). But damn if I had any interest in an entire album of that schmaltz. I guess I just have too much self-love. Being a child of the sixties and what not. What a mistake! This album is golden. First track “The New Order“ comes barreling out of the gates sounding like an adolescent Judas Priest if they were from the Deep South. “Black Sea” foreshadows a young Iron Maiden. “Deceive Me” is an epic slow burn that recalls Judas Priest and Pink Floyd in equal measure. One key thing - this album is a grower. It took quite a few spins for me to realize its greatness. Highly Recommended (HR)!
It’s good, but a tad too cheesy to make my Metal/Hard Rock HOF for 1979. They come close to sounding like a parody of themselves at times especially on the first side. Enjoyable, but not one of Lizzy’s best. Recommended (R).
Last edited by Repo on 11/25/2020 03:29; edited 1 time in total
MercuryTurn your back on the pay-you-back last callProfile St. Louis
never listened to survivor. but def agree regarding that thin lizzy album.
I'm excited to see your thoughts on UFO, motorhead and scorpions albums from this year of 1979 (if you deem them even worthy. ) looking at some other albums from this genre and year, I gotta say I'm flying mostly blind. have maybe heard 4 or 5 albums that qualify. _________________ -Ryan
What’s in a name? Everything it turns out. Survivor has been ripe for re-discovery for YEARS. Bloody Hell! These Louisianans just flat out rock. Playing a down & dirty Thin Lizzy dual guitar attack better (and HARDER) than even those Dublin boys themselves did back in 1979. (I personally feel that Black Rose is a stumble for the Lizzy boys, but more on that below). BUT, they shared a name with those lame-ass Chicagoans famous for that Rocky theme song “Eye Of The Tiger.” I love Rocky. And that song can be fun in the right setting (the horns really make the song!). But damn if I had any interest in an entire album of that schmaltz. I guess I just have too much self-love. Being a child of the sixties and what not. What a mistake! This album is golden. First track “The New Order“ comes barreling out of the gates sounding like an adolescent Judas Priest if they were from the Deep South. “Black Sea” foreshadows a young Iron Maiden. “Deceive Me” is an epic slow burn that recalls Judas Priest and Pink Floyd in equal measure. One key thing - this album is a grower. It took quite a few spins for me to realize its greatness. Highly Recommended (HR)!
It’s good, but a tad too cheesy to make my Metal/Hard Rock HOF for 1979. They come close to sounding like a parody of themselves at times especially on the first side. Enjoyable, but not one of Lizzy’s best. Recommended (R).
never listened to survivor. but def agree regarding that thin lizzy album.
I'm excited to see your thoughts on UFO, motorhead and scorpions albums from this year of 1979 (if you deem them even worthy. ) looking at some other albums from this genre and year, I gotta say I'm flying mostly blind. have maybe heard 4 or 5 albums that qualify.
Easily one of the unsung guitar Gods of the 70s, The Scorpions were their mightiest during the Hendrix-worshiping The Uli Jon Roth years which strung from Fly To The Rainbow to the live Tokyo Tapes. During his time, they slowly pruned the competent, but ultimately generic & forgettable psychedelia and blues rock, of the nifty Lonesome Crow, to craft the lean & mean archetypal blueprint of the 70s Hard Rock sound on twin towers Virgin Killer and Taken By Force as well as the arresting (& at times stunning) but ultimately transitional albums Fly To The Rainbow(1974) & In Trance. These are EASILY the Scorpions at their best. Still fresh and not at all compromised by the commercial tendencies that sprung up starting on Lovedrive (just check out the Lynyrd Skynyrd inspired "Always Somewhere" or reggae-inflected "Is There Anybody There?") and then fully bloomed in their 80s recordings.
tldr: There are THREE albums by The Scorpions that I feel are ESSENTIAL for the metal canon. AND they all came during mid-70s when The Scorpions were easily one of the top and most influential hard rock/metal bands on the planet ...
THE THREE U NEED
1. Taken By Force (1977)
2. Virgin Killer (1976)
3. In Trance (1975)
After that, they released some really good but not really essential albums in Lovedrive, Animal Magnetism, and Blackout. And after that.... not so much. 😁
And if you had to listen to just TWO tracks, check out...
I'm excited to see your thoughts on UFO, motorhead and scorpions albums from this year of 1979 (if you deem them even worthy. ) looking at some other albums from this genre and year, I gotta say I'm flying mostly blind. have maybe heard 4 or 5 albums that qualify.
They Got Robbed, I Tell Ya! Stinkin’ Robbed!
Rank 'Em #4: UFO
You always hear it. They should have been as big as . Mostly, it’s bullshit. Take Diamond Head. Sure they had one essential album -Lightning to the Nations - whose riffs were rightly gobbled up by early 80s San Francisco thrashers like dung beetles gobbling up whatever it is dung beetles gobble up. (Please tell me it’s not dung. I just ate!) But that was it. One killer album does not make a legend. It’s albums and tours. More albums. More tours. Rinse & repeat. Just ask AC/DC, It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'N’ Roll). And they even had to do it with their JV singer! So they should know!
But, UFO truly got robbed. They should have been household names. Their names in lights. All that jazz you dreamed about while reading Hit Parader in your Underoos, singing into your hair brush and jamming on your tennis racket. Yet somehow the average bloke listening to classic rock radio has never even heard of them. Which is crazzy with two z's because they just may be the definitive 70s hard rock band. And that ain’t no hyberbole. It’s the God’s honest truth. UFO cranked out a mind boggling string of EIGHT straight albums that belong in the Olympus of 70s Hard Rock. Each a solid four star (or 8.0 for those of you with Pitchforks up your arses.) From Phenomenon in 1974 to The Wild, The Willing & The Innocent in 1981, UFO by all that is good & holy should have dominated the hard rock air waves. Even when their guitar prodigy Michael Schenker ditched them for The Scorpions (and then a solo career) in 1979, UFO continued to turn out two solid throwback hard rock albums in the early 80s with No Place To Run and The Wild, The Willing & The Innocent.
But for my money, there are three platters that are full-on five star molten monsters of proto-metal. Their most metallic, hard-edged stuff before they brought the strings in and tried to dance with your kid sister at junior prom. When a teenaged Michael Schenker wanted to bring the entire world to kneel before his hard ripped abs and black & white V-neck guitar. By all accounts, he was one of the guitar gods of the 70s, and he proved it time & time again on the three that matter – Phenomenon, Force It, and No Heavy Petting. A time when UFO crafted the sound of 70s hard rock. Something halfway between Mountain’s Climbing (whose Leslie West was the last guitarist that Michael Schenker ever copied) and The Sweet’s Sweet Fanny Adams. And not very far removed, I am contractually obligated to add, from what Micheal’s older brother Rudolf’s band The Scorpions were cooking up just a couple countries over during the same time period. The formula that influenced a legion of hair metal bands in the the 80s. (God spare their souls! They knew not what they did!)
Tldr: There are THREE albums by UFO that I feel are ESSENTIAL for the metal canon. And they all came during the mid-70s when UFO were easily one of the top and most influential hard rock/metal bands on the planet…
THE THREE U NEED
1. Phenomenon (1974)
2. No Heavy Petting (1976)
3. Force It (1975)
After that, they continued to lay down four very good Hard Rock albums. But they had changed the dial ever so slightly to the right and went a mite too AOR for my tastes.
Check out a teenaged Michael Schenker on this song & solo …
awesome, repo! Great review of UFO and Scorpions albums. I was refering to their legendary live album from 1979 - Strangers In The Night. And I was referring to the scorpions album released in 1979 Lovedrive when i posted earlier. You did mention you consider Lovedrive a slightly lesser, non-essential scorpions albums and maybe you have rules against live albums.
No matter how you look at it, you went full on Sandy Koufax on me and managed to hit me with back-to-back curveballs and now I'm down to a single strike then i'm out. Not really ever out. That long analogy got out of hand. _________________ -Ryan
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Mercury
dihansse
Repo
