Top 10 Greatest Rock Bands Of The 1970s

WatchMojo

Crank up the volume and get ready to headbang! Join us as we count down our picks for the most influential and groundbreaking rock bands that defined the 1970s. From progressive masterminds to heavy metal pioneers and punk revolutionaries, these legendary groups forever changed the musical landscape with their innovative sounds and electrifying performances.

Transcript

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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