Poll: your favourite 2nd wave hard-rock acts of 1973-79 (but not beyond)

Following the excellent GodShifter's analysis of the popularity of the second wave of hard-rock acts in the 70s let's see what bands should have achieved the star status in 1973-79 according to our forum's members.

As the title says I am excluding the first wave of hard-rockers (Purple, Sabbath, Zeppelin, Cooper, Mountain, Pie, Grand Funk, James Gang, Slade, etc) with the notable exception for Rodgers/Ralphs' Bad Company, Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, post-Savoy Brown's Foghat and ex-Amboy Duke's Ted Nugent, as all started under the new monikers with an unmistakably hard-rock 2.0 style. However, I am discarding the solo careers of old blues-rock cats too (Gallagher, Trower, Winter, Beck, West, etc) to maintain the focus on new faces.

Similarly, I mark the end of the second era of hard-rock with the arrival of new bands epitomizing the 80s hard&heavy styles: heavy/glam-metal (Motörhead, Iron Maiden, Def Leppard, Van Halen, etc) and AOR (Foreigner, Heart, etc).

While voting please take into account only the 1973-79 period, without the later activity of those bands. Let us choose the true kings of the classic hard-rock 2.0 genre!

 

My votes went to UFO, Aerosmith, Ted Nugent, Rush and Blue Öyster Cult.

UFO with Michael Schenker on guitar and Ted Nugent's band were as freewheeling live as the mid-70s hard-rock could be. Aerosmith's songwriting and live swagger were not to be missed in their heyday, while Rush, although still ahead of their peak, were truly one of a kind. Finally BÖC, with their unique hard-rock sound, were the act which escaped easy classifications.

Actually, I like much more names from the poll list, especially eternally underrated Pat Travers, but I decided to stick with my top five.

 

Van Halen had 2 albums by 1979, but I suppose people still consider them an 80s band.

 

I would have added Stray, Atomic Rooster and maybe ZZ Top.

 

Wow. I picked Aerosmith and Blue Oyster Cult out of that list. I don't own an album, vinyl, tape formats, or CD, from any of the others at all. And I graduated high school in 1974... and I own literally thousands of albums, including almost every album I bought back then. I guess we could barely have any more divergent tastes within one genre - popular music.

 

Went with AC/DC

 

Blue Öyster Cult

 

BOC

 

Yeah, after a while I realized that apart from well known Scorpions I had not picked any other German band either (e.g. Lucifer's Friend or Birth Control). However, seeing how a cult act like Moxy fares in the poll I guess their exclusion does not skew the results.

And what acts have you chosen yourself?

 

For that time period, I give the nod to Blue Oyster Cult, with Cheap Trick and AC/DC very, very close.

 

ouch

 

I don't care for any of those bands with the notable exception of Bon Scott's AC/DC.

 

I'm amazed when I read stuff like this. People always pick on us here that listen to all that "new-fangled" music but I hadn't even started school yet in 1974 and own at least one or two records from every band on the list except Moxy. I have close to full catalogs from close to half of the list. I just don't see how someone can only be into like one or two of these bands. They seem like they all go hand in hand.

 

And there is a reason to it: the arrival of the bands like Van Halen, Iron Maiden or Motörhead, all starting in the second half of the 70s, defined the shape and sound of modern heavy-metal, which coincided with the advent of the 80s.

However, I do not tend to think about the decades as the boundaries of music styles, because there are no fixed lines between genres and styles, all is in flux and the musicians/bands can adapt to the changing times. We can only discuss trends, currents and aesthetics, and awkwardly try to draw associations between roughly defined periods and nebulous groups of artists, whose music somehow reflected the Zeitgeist.

I think that the bands like Van Halen, Iron Maiden, Motörhead and their peers marked an important change on how heavy rock was to sound in the upcoming decade. The style of those bands defined modern heavy metal, sending many bands of the first and second wave into relative obscurity and enforcing the radical change of the sound of some others.

Thus I consider them all the third wave of hard&heavy, considerably more influential than the second wave, although clearly built on its foundation.

 

I picked almost all of them! Thin Lizzy being my favorite.

The most obscure here may be Moxy. Their first album is really good, not unlike Rush's debut but with more mainstream vocals. Or like early Styx had they been badass stoners. Some wickedly good 1970's hard rock riffs.

 

I somewhat question the inclusion of Uriah Heep here, as IMO by '73 their best work was already behind them.

Regardless, I went Heep, Scorpions, KISS, Rainbow, AC/DC, Priest. I like some of the others listed but rarely listen.

 

Poll makes me realize that this is definitely an era and style of music that is not part of my core listening experience.

 

I thought that you've been posting in the Led Zeppelin threads.

 

Just out of curiosity: do you like any other type of hard-rock/heavy metal, from the bands of earlier or later period?

 

Following the excellent GodShifter's analysis of the popularity of the second wave of hard-rock acts in the 70s let's see what bands should have achieved the star status in 1973-79 according to our forum's members.

I hate to be THAT guy, but I don't understand the point of the poll. Are we picking bands we felt were the best or bands that should have been bigger than they were? Many of these bands achieved star status in the time period you specify.

 

Well, maybe I have not phrased it right. I meant that by picking your favourite acts you would indicate what bands were the best of the bunch and thus deserving the star status in the period. In your opinion. Whether they achieved that status or not is not relevant here.

 

UFO by a wide margin!! Rock, Moggy, rock!

 

Perfect. Thanks!

 

I went with Rush, Aerosmith and Cheap Trick. So much good music in the 1970s.

 

And I'm not "into" either of the 2 groups I voted for. I do have an album or two in my collection from them (mostly purchased in the '90s). I used to consider this type of band to be "hacks", just going through the rock-star motions and turning out mediocre, even plodding, product when weighed against The Allman Brothers Band for example, or the Stones at their peak.

Perhaps I should point out that I started my collection in 1965 buying Beatles' albums, and I got used to buying albums containing few or no clunkers, as opposed to those with just one hit in a pile of clunkers. I mean, put one of the listed bands' albums up against any of the first 4 Led Zeppelin albums and you'll see the point I'm trying to make.

I'm not trying to make you mad. I agree that all the listed bands go hand in hand. I just couldn't believe how few of the entries on such a long list even brought me a chuckle or a stifled groan as I read the names off - no admiration, no nostalgia or good music memories ...nothing

It was that experience that caused me to post, and not just vote and dash.