The ranking of the 35 best hard rock albums of the 1970s according to Ultimate Classic Rock

The editorial team at Ultimate Classic Rock has selected what it considers the 35 most important hard rock albums of the 1970s, favoring guitar power, sonic impact and influence on the genre's evolution. There's no shortage of recurring names, like Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith and Black Sabbath, but also some less predictable choices. "Rock'n'roll," the magazine points out in its introduction, "has taken many forms throughout its history. From its origins, when country and rhythm'n'blues merged into a new musical language, through its later evolutions into punk, metal and roots-rock, the genre has never had a single identity. In the Sixties, blues-rock gradually began turning into something more powerful and aggressive. Bands like the Yardbirds and Cream, along with the Jimi Hendrix Experience, laid the groundwork for a sound destined to dominate much of the following decade: hard rock. But even this genre, seemingly easy to pin down, UCR notes, has numerous shades and branches. From the last vestiges of Sixties rock to the birth of heavy metal, by way of the rock-opera ambitions of the Who and the electric boogie of AC/DC, the boundaries are often blurrier than they might seem."

Here, then, is the ranking of the 35 best hard rock albums of the '70s according to Ultimate Classic Rock (full feature here).

35. Motörhead – Overkill (1979)
34. Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin III (1970)
33. Faces – A Nod Is as Good as a Wink… to a Blind Horse (1971)
32. Kiss – Destroyer (1976)
31. Iggy and the Stooges – Raw Power (1973)
30. Black Sabbath – Vol. 4 (1972)
29. Rush – 2112 (1976)
28. Montrose – Montrose (1973)
27. The Who – Quadrophenia (1973)
26. Alice Cooper – School’s Out (1972)
25. The Who – Live at Leeds (1970)
24. Cheap Trick – In Color (1977)
23. Ac/Dc – Powerage (1978)
22. Deep Purple – Machine Head (1972)
21. Boston – Boston (1976)
20. Van Halen – Van Halen II (1979)
19. Bachman-Turner Overdrive – Not Fragile (1974)
18. Cheap Trick – At Budokan (1979)
17. Queen – News of the World (1977)
16. Black Sabbath – Black Sabbath (1970)
15. Kiss – Alive! (1975)
14. Alice Cooper – Billion Dollar Babies (1973)
13. Ac/Dc – Let There Be Rock (1977)
12. Alice Cooper – Killer (1971)
11. Queen – A Night at the Opera (1975)
10. Led Zeppelin – Houses of the Holy (1973)
9. AC/DC – Highway to Hell (1979)
8. Black Sabbath – Master of Reality (1971)
7. Led Zeppelin – Physical Graffiti (1975)
6. The Who – Who’s Next (1971)
5. Aerosmith – Rocks (1976)
4. Black Sabbath – Paranoid (1970)
3. Aerosmith – Toys in the Attic (1975)
2. Van Halen – Van Halen (1978)
1. Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin IV (1971)

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