The ranking of the 25 best classic rock records of 1979 according to Radio X magazine

1979 is one of those years in which the history of rock suddenly seems to speed up. It's the end of a decade, but above all a moment of transition: many of the great acts born or consecrated in the 70s reach a decisive point in their careers, while a new generation is already changing languages, sounds and imagery.
Radio X magazine, however, has turned the spotlight on the more traditionally rock side of that year: classic rock, hard rock, power-pop and the big names from the first half of the decade. Its "top 25" therefore doesn't aim to be an overall ranking of the best albums of 1979. Inevitably left on the margins, or out entirely, are some of the very currents that in those months were paving the way for the 80s: post-punk, the more experimental new wave and synth-pop, which were redefining the relationship between guitars, electronics, rhythm and pop culture.
The picture of 1979 would indeed look very different if we widened our gaze to include records like Joy Division's “Unknown Pleasures”, Talking Heads's "Fear Of Music", Wire's “154”, Gang Of Four's “Entertainment!”, Public Image Ltd.'s “Metal Box”, Tubeway Army's “Replicas”, or the debuts of acts destined to become central to new wave and synth-pop. But this list deliberately chooses a different perspective: that of great late-70s rock, captured at the moment when some of its historic figures were reaching one of their peaks or preparing to close an unrepeatable chapter.

What emerges is a particularly rich snapshot: Elvis Costello opens the year with "Armed Forces", Motörhead crank the volume up even further with "Overkill", Supertramp conquer the world with “Breakfast In America“, Neil Young anticipates part of the aesthetic that years later would be associated with grunge with “Rust Never Sleeps“. David Bowie closes the Berlin trilogy with the ethno-rock experiments of "Lodger". Ac/Dc unwittingly bid farewell to Bon Scott with "Highway To Hell", while Led Zeppelin deliver to print what would remain their last studio album made before the death of John Bonham. In the final months of the year come "Tusk", "The Wall" and "London Calling": three wildly different works that alone are enough to show just how capable rock still was of transforming itself as the 70s drew to a close.

Here is the ranking of the 25 best classic rock albums of 1979 according to Radio X (full feature here):

1. Elvis Costello & The Attractions – Armed Forces
2. Motörhead – Overkill
3. Bad Company – Desolation Angels
4. Supertramp – Breakfast In America
5. Van Halen – Van Halen II
6. Thin Lizzy – Black Rose: A Rock Legend
7. Kiss – Dynasty
8. David Bowie – Lodger
9. Electric Light Orchestra – Discovery
10. Dire Straits – Communiqué
11. Neil Young – Rust Never Sleeps
12. AC/DC – Highway To Hell
13. Rainbow – Down To Earth
14. Led Zeppelin – In Through The Out Door
15. Foreigner – Head Games
16. Cheap Trick – Dream Police
17. Blondie – Eat To The Beat
18. The Police – Reggatta De Blanc
19. Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers – Damn The Torpedoes
20. Fleetwood Mac – Tusk
21. The Damned – Machine Gun Etiquette
22. Aerosmith – Night In The Ruts
23. Pink Floyd – The Wall
24. The Clash – London Calling
25. The Pretenders – Pretenders

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