The Yearly Metal Project (With a Twist - See inside): 1982

[Mosh]

Listening to it again now, so far liking it a bit more. Totally agree on Summer of Love, awesome tune. It also really shows Blue Oyster Cult as a counterculture band. Really blatantly rejecting a lot of what was popular at the time. Kinda Heavy Metal right? I've gotten that vibe with every BOC album so far, so it makes sense. Of course ironically this is also the album with Don't Fear the Reaper, their biggest mainstream success.

I like Sinful Love. The biggest difficulty I've always had with this album is how all over the place it is. No two songs sound alike. Obviously I consider this a good thing, but it also makes it difficult for this album to be particularly memorable. The other BOC albums, especially Secret Treaties, have a very distinct sound to them. Despite only hearing them one time each, I can somewhat easily remember what they sounded like. With Agents of Fortune, as much as I enjoy it every time I hear it, I can only remember it as the album with Reaper. I think this is why the band never really caught on aside from a couple songs. I can only imagine what average FM listeners were thinking when they heard the edited Don't Fear the Reaper on the radio and then bought this.

All that said, I really enjoy the album.

 

[Mosh]

1977

Heavy Metal
Blue Oyster Cult - Spectres
Judas Priest - Sin After Sin
Krokus - To You All
Motohead - Motorhead
Quartz - Quartz
Queen - News of the World
Rainbow - On Stage
Riot - Rock City
Scorpions - Taken By Force
UFO - Lights Out

Hard Rock
AC/DC - Let There Be Rock
Aerosmith - Draw the Line
Century - Dan Jefferie's Century
Cheap Trick - Cheap Trick/In Color
David Coverdale - White Snake
Foreigner - Foreigner
Sammy Hager - Sammy Hagar
Heart - Little Queen
Meat Loaf - Bat Out of Hell
RamJam - RamJam
Ted Nugent - Cat Scratch Fever
Triumph - Rock n Roll Machine
Thin Lizzy - Bad Reputation

Glam Rock
Alice Cooper - Lace and Whiskey
Kiss - Love Gun/Alive II
Sweet - Off the Record

Progressive Rock
Rush - A Farewell To Kings

Because these lists are getting longer, I've started dividing the albums up by genres. This isn't to start a debate on which band belongs to which genre, but more to just make everything more accessible. This way if you want to stick to the pure metal albums and ignore the hard/glam rock stuff, it's easy to separate. But trying to distinguish hard rock and heavy metal at this point is pretty difficult, as there's a ton of crossover. But I think that also indicates a difference in how music was made and consumed in the 70s. There seemed to be less of an obsession over what is and isn't Metal than there is now.

Not as many huge albums on this list, but several that would become cult classics. The biggest album in terms of success is undoubtedly Bat Out of Hell, which is pretty stylistically different from Metal but you can hear how it would influence later bands. The dramatic nature to the songs is something that will become more and more present later on.

As far as Metal goes, the most important album here has to be the first Motorhead. There's also what is arguably Queen's heaviest album, an obvious reaction to the more subtle A Day At the Races. The albums from Priest, UFO, and Rainbow would long be remembered by Metal fans. There's also a more obscure band on the Metal list: Quartz. This is not just any obscure Metal album. It's produced by Tony Iommi, and the b-side to one of the singles from this album featured guest appearances by Brian May and Ozzy Osbourne. Unfortunately, Quartz would be one of the first of many metal bands that toured heavily and had support from the major acts, yet never really made a mark on the genre.

Kiss appropriately ends the classic period of their history with two solid offerings, one live (mostly) and one in the studio. Also solo efforts from David Coverdale and Sammy Hagar. And of course AC/DC literally writes the gospel of Rock and Roll. They've tried to deny their status as a heavy metal band, but no doubt the guitar sound on this album was essential to the development of heavy metal guitar.

 

[mckindog]

I'm not sure what the most important albums of this year are, but Farewell to Kings, Spectres, Let There Be Rock and Sin After Sin are among the most underrated albums of all time.

 

[Forostar]

My favourite Priest and Rush albums from the seventies.

 

[JudasMyGuide]

Judas Priest - Sin After Sin

AC/DC - Let There Be Rock

Rush - A Farewell To Kings

Meat Loaf - Bat Out of Hell

Scorpions - Taken By Force

Aerosmith - Draw the Line

All these might actually be the best efforts by the respective artists. Well, I might have another #1 for Rush nowadays and both Painkiller and Defenders of the Faith are both awesome, but this has been true for quite some time...
What a strong year! As if the rise of punk made them all try even harder because of the extra competition!

I'm not all that crazy about Motorhead's debut, though. Also never liked News of the World, that one being the only 70's Queen album I don't like all that much (All Dead All Dead and even Get Down Make Love are good and Who Needs You is cute, but Wings and Champions are annoying and We Will Rock You is disgusting).

Also, since you have there the "progressive rock" category and since it's also the best effort of the band that came out in 1977 (probably) as well as being their heaviest album, actually...

Spoiler

 

[mckindog]

So Canada hasn't exactly been a metal hotbed, but Rush wasn't our only claim to fame in the '70s.
Our number two and nearly forgotten band was a group named Triumph.

Their first album to get any attention outside of Canada - it was only released domestically - was called RocknRoll Machine and was released in 1977. Their claim to fame was their more polished side, but at the time it was released it was hard to find anything on record as ripping as this excuse for a guitar solo.

 

[Mosh]

Kiss had many brushes with Metal throughout their career, especially in the 80s. During the 70s, their musical style was mostly a hard rock/glam rock sound more in the vein of Alice Cooper. IMO Love Gun is an example of their Metal influence. Lots of faster more abrasive songs on this album, particularly the title track and I Stole Your Love (which Paul Stanley has said is heavily influenced by Deep Purple's Burn). The band seemed aware of this too, as during the band's more glam metal sounding period in the late 80s, a few of the Love Gun tracks survived while many other 70s staples were temporarily retired. They fit in really well with the heavier 80s stuff.

As far as the album goes, IMO it's what Destroyer should've been. Similar bombastic sound, but without all the gloss and polish. I still prefer the first two albums + Rock n Roll Over, but this one is still solid. Shock Me, Love Gun, and I Stole Your Love are awesome tracks. The filler is really strong too. It's almost on par with Rock and Roll Over. And that's the end of the classic Kiss lineup, as while Peter Criss would appear on Dynasty, he only played on one song.

1: Hotter Than Hell
2: Kiss
3: Rock and Roll Over
4: Love Gun
5: Destroyer
6: Dressed To Kill

IMO the only truly bad album of the original 6 is Dressed to Kill.

 

[Mosh]

Good call on Triumph @mckindog . I missed them. One of those bands that had potential for greater things but never quite got there. Still a good band with some solid songs.

 

[Mosh]

Sin After Sin is also my favorite 70s Priest album and probably the best album of the year. I'm not sure why it seems to get less attention than Sad Wings, as it's not only a major improvement on the previous album but it's also very genre defining. The double bass on several songs, the speedy Call For the Priest, the gallop on Diamonds and Rust. This album more or less lays the foundation for the Metal of the next ten years and beyond. Some of the stuff on here is the heaviest music I've heard so far in this thread. If Black Sabbath invented Heavy Metal, Judas Priest refined and made it what it is today. Still one of the most memorable moments of the Epitaph tour for me was when they did Starbreaker. When I saw the setlist online I was a bit disappointed that they didn't go with Sinner, but they experiencing Starbreaker in person made me glad they chose it. The studio version is good but it never stood out to me until the live version, which was far more powerful.

 

[terrell39]

Rush - A Farewell To Kings - Xanadu and Cygnus X-1 were instant ground breaking hard rock classics that are still amazing to witness live. Love the seldom mentioned title track too. I prefer the live version on Different Stages Disc 3.

 

[eddie666]

Queen's News of the World was the only album I had of theirs until I purchased the coloured vinyl box set. It's definitely my favourite Queen record now.
Motorhead's Motorhead isn't strictly their debut, On Parole being recorded first but released later, but the s/t album turned me onto metal full-time in '79.
Priest and Motorhead; two of my magnificent 7 bands!

 

[Mosh]

Rush - A Farewell To Kings - Xanadu and Cygnus X-1 were instant ground breaking hard rock classics that are still amazing to witness live. Love the seldom mentioned title track too. I prefer the live version on Different Stages Disc 3.

I love the instrumental breakdown in the title track. Great song. Will save my full commentary for @JudasMyGuide 's thread (lets get an update!!) but in short, AFTK is a major step above 2112 and the first great Rush album. A couple songs on there keep it from being my favorite of the 70s albums though. Hemispheres and Permanent Waves are just flawless front to back, but AFTK is very close.

 

[mckindog]

Gotta make another addition here, an American band that had to move to Canada T get their start and record their first album.

Given the hard rock bands on the list we would be remiss to not include Heart.
Not many could sing metal like Ann Wilson.

 

[Mosh]

Also never liked News of the World, that one being the only 70's Queen album I don't like all that much (All Dead All Dead and even Get Down Make Love are good and Who Needs You is cute, but Wings and Champions are annoying and We Will Rock You is disgusting).

Champions and We Will Rock You are awesome and iconic. Get Down Make Love is very bad.

This album sounded a bit better than I remembered. Still not my favorite Queen album, but there were a couple songs that stood out to me. It's definitely among Queen's heaviest and can certainly be classified as Metal I think, it is also significant for the guitar tapping on It's Late, a whole year before the first Van Halen album (although VH had already been in the club circuit and EVH was using this technique, he got it from Steve Hackett of Genesis). Honestly though my least favorite moments on this album are when it gets heavy. I much prefer the more melodic songs or when they're playing with other styles (Who Needs You). A real mixed bag too, lots of songs that were written a few years earlier and a variety of styles as you would expect with a Queen album. It's a step up from A Day At the Races, but not as strong as A Night At the Opera or Sheer Heart Attack.

 

[Mosh]

Not many could sing metal like Ann Wilson.

I remember seeing an interview with Heart where they said that they started out wanting to be the female Led Zeppelin. They definitely managed to capture that sound and Ann Wilson had the swagger and power of Robert Plant.

 

[Brigantium]

Gotta make another addition here, an American band that had to move to Canada T get their start and record their first album.

Given the hard rock bands on the list we would be remiss to not include Heart.
Not many could sing metal like Ann Wilson.

And this is why I nominated her for the Best Band survivor....

 

[mckindog]

I remember seeing an interview with Heart where they said that they started out wanting to be the female Led Zeppelin. They definitely managed to capture that sound and Ann Wilson had the swagger and power of Robert Plant.

That Stairway cover is outstanding and the comparison is apt with the mix of power and folk, at least until the Wilsons split with the Fishers.

 

[Mosh]

All these might actually be the best efforts by the respective artists.

I can see all of these except Aerosmith, to me that's the worst album they did up until that point. The production is also remarkably bad.

 

[Cornfed Hick]

Good addition of Heart.

Let There Be Rock is my favorite album from 1977, it completely smokes. Queen is a close second.

As an aside, I dusted off my old copy of Jeff Beck's Truth album and gave it a spin, and it made me think of this thread. While it precedes Mosh's 1970 start date for this thread by two years, it deserves mention and a listen by anyone interested in the history of hard rock and heavy metal. I've heard it called the first heavy metal album, which in my opinion is a bit silly, but it was certainly a groundbreaking hard rock album that set the stage for nearly all the bands on this list. Plus, it features an all-star lineup with Rod Stewart on vocals, Ron Wood on bass, and guest appearances from Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and Keith Moon. Check it out.

 

[JudasMyGuide]

I can see all of these except Aerosmith, to me that's the worst album they did up until that point. The production is also remarkably bad.

The production might not be the best, but I find myself enjoying the album the most (or I did when I last listened to Aerosmith, which has been quite a while, actually). Might be because I've already overplayed both Rocks and Toys, never liked the first two albums and there's not that much else to pick from. Apart from the fact I'm possibly the only person in the world who likes Get a Grip. Yes, you read that right.