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1977 AC/DC - Let There Be Rock (altogether now, in your best whiskey voices, WHOLE LOTTA ROSIE!!!) Aerosmith - Draw The Line Bad Company - Burnin' Sky The Beatles - Live at the Hollywood Bowl (remember all the hoopla when this was released?) Bizarros/Rubber City Rebels - From Akron (Devo's hometown delivers us some early midwestern punk) Black Uhuru - Love Crisis Blondie - Plastic Letters ("I Am Always Touched by Your Presence, Dear," "Denis") Blue Oyster Cult - Spectres ("Godzilla") The Boomtown Rats - The Boomtown Rats (a brash young band from Belfast led by Bob Geldof) David Bowie - Heroes ("Heroes," "Beauty and the Beast") David Bowie - Low ("Breaking Glass," "Sound and Vision") (note: this was also the year that Bowie and Bing Crosby recorded the wonderful version of Little Drummer Boy) The Boys - The Boys (one of the poppier punk combos from the UK) Jackson Browne - Running On Empty ("The Road," "The Loadout/Stay") Jimmy Buffett - Changes In Latitudes, Changes In Attitudes ("Margaritaville") The Buzzcocks - Spiral Scratch EP ("Boredom," "Breakdown") (from the early incarnation of this great band) John Cale - Animal Justice EP ("Hedda Gabler" - great song) John Cale - Guts (compilation) Can - Saw Delight Captain Beefheart - The Captain Beefheart File Cheap Trick - Cheap Trick ("Elo, Kiddies," He's a Whore") (a great debut record by the greatest band out of Rockford, Illinois) Shawn: I agree! Cheap Trick's first LP is one of the greatest debuts albums ever; even though their later records had all the "radio friendly" stuff like "I Want You To Want Me" and "Voices." Along with the songs you mentioned, I'd just like to salute tracks like "Mandocello" (a great haunting ballad), "Daddy Should Have Stayed In High School" (creepy!), and "Taxman, Mr. Thief" (cool update of the Beatles' "Taxman"). Cheap Trick - In Color ("I Want You To Want Me") (an even better follow up) Alex Chilton - Singer Not the Song EP Chrome - The Visitation (debut record by experimental San Francisco synth-punk duo) Eric Clapton - Slowhand ("Lay Down Sally," "Wonderful Tonight," "Cocaine") The Clash - The Clash ("Clash City Rockers," "Police and Thieves," "White Riot") (one of my all time favorite records) Tiny Dancer: This explosive debut wasn't available to the unwashed masses in the US until '79 so the link is for the UK version. I know *I* wasn't ready for them in '77! Elvis Costello - My Aim Is True ("Watching The Detectives," "Alison," "Less Than Zero") (one of a number of fine debuts this year by a genuine talent; Alison has got to be one of the most poignant love songs ever recorded) Crass - The Feeding of the 5,000 (debut by ultra-leftist British punk band) The Damned - Music For Pleasure The Dead Boys - Young, Loud and Snotty ("All This and More," "Sonic Reducer," "Hey Little Girl") (beating deep inside these sleazy young punks were the hearts of true power poppers; Kudos also to lead singer Stiv Bators for his hysterical performance a few years later in John Waters' scratch and sniff movie, "Polyester") The Dictators - Manifest Destiny The Diodes - The Diodes DMZ - DMZ EP (one of Boston's legendary garage/punk bands and a fixture at the (now closed, sadly) Rat, Kenmore Square's divy punk club) Doobie Brothers - Living On The Fault Line Dr. Feelgood - Sneakin' Suspician Drones - Further Temptations Ian Dury - New Boots and Panties ("Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll") Earth, Wind and Fire - All 'n' All ("Serpentine Fire," "Fantasy") Eddie and the Hot Rods - Life on the Line ("Do Anything You Wanna Do") Dave Edmunds - Get It ("I Knew the Bride," "Here Comes the Weekend") ELO - Out of the Blue ("Turn To Stone," "Sweet Talkin' Woman") Shawn: I just wanted to add that that LP had the fantastic "Mr. Blue Sky" on it as well. Brian Eno - Before and After Science ("Kings Lead Hat") (another excellent Eno record) Eno with Cluster/Moebius and Roedelius - Cluster and Eno (the more experimental Eno at work here) Firefall - Luna Sea Fleetwood Mac - Rumours ("Dreams," "Don't Stop," "Go Your Own Way," "You Make Loving Fun") (one of the biggest hit lps of the year) Foghat - Live Foreigner - Foreigner ("Cold As Ice," "Feels Like The First Time") Peter Frampton - I'm In You (Hey! Get the hell out of me. Right now, damn it!) Peter Gabriel - Peter Gabriel ("Solsbury Hill," "Modern Love") Genesis - Seconds Out Robert Gordon - With Link Wray (a key player in the late 70s rockabilly revival movement) Eddie Grant - Message Man Grateful Dead - Terrapin Station ("Dancing in the Streets") Hall and Oates - Beauty on a Back Street Heart - Little Queen ("Barricuda") The Heartbreakers - L.A.M.F. ("Born to Lose," "Chinese Rocks") (former NY Doll Johnny Thunders band and their stripped down, seminal punk debut) Richard Hell and the Voidoids - Blank Generation ("Blank Generation," "Who Says it's Good to Be Alive," "Down at the Rock and Roll Club") (one of the ultimate statement LPs of the NYC punk scene) The Jam - In the City (excellent debut by a supremely talented, neo-Mod band from the London suburbs) The Jam - This is the Modern World (another Jam classic) Jethro Tull - Songs from the Wood Billy Joel - The Stranger ("Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)," "The Stranger," "Only The Good Die Young") (Young Mr. Joel seemed to be on a roll with another fine lp, eh Tiny Dancer?) Tiny Dancer: He sure is, I predict big things for this talented young fella ;-) Journey - Next Kansas - Point Of Know Return ("Dust in the Wind") (Q: How many proms across the USA used this as the official prom song?) The Kinks - Sleepwalker ("Sleepwalker," "Juke Box Music") Kiss - Love Gun (imagine the ego of a guy who names his album after his own Senor Happy) Kraftwerk - Trans Europe Express (perhaps the ultimate Kraftwerk album) Lynyrd Skynyrd - Street Survivors ("What's Your Name," "That Smell") Bob Marley - Exodus ("Jammin'") note: Marley also paid tribute to punk with his "Punky Reggae Party" single The Marshall Tucker Band - Carolina Dreams ("Heard It In A Love Song") Steve Miller Band - Book of Dreams ("Jet Airliner," "Jungle Love") Mink DeVille - Mink Deville Motorhead - Motorhead The Motors - Motors 1 MX - 80 Sound EP and Hard Attack LP (a "weird post-metal art band" (Trouser Press Record Guide) from Bloomington, Indiana) Choose a year or click on Next 1970/ 1971/ 1972/ 1973/ 1974 1975/ 1976/ 1977/ 1978/ 1979 
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