5 Rock Songs From 1970 That Sound Even Cooler Today

The year 1970 was a pivotal moment in the history of rock 'n' roll. That year, both Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin died tragically from substance use issues, the Beatles broke up and released their last studio album, "Let It Be." Heavy metal was born with Black Sabbath's self-titled first album and the follow-up, "Paranoid," coming out the same year, with the title track helping to solidify their sound. The groundbreaking all-female band, Fanny, put out their first record, which included the barn burner "Seven Roads," and Sly and the Family Stone's album "Greatest Hits" produced several hits, including "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)."

Santana released its second album, "Abraxas," which included their massive hit "Black Magic Woman" and marked a departure from their hippie beginnings. While these various songs may have been epochal, they also stood the test of time and happen to sound just as cool, if not cooler, today than they did when they were released more than 50 years ago.

By the time "Let It Be" was released in May 1970, the Beatles had already broken up due to an assortment of reasons, including the unexpected death of their manager Brian Epstein, their finances, and infighting between the band members. John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr may have been on the outs, but the album they managed to produce included a string of classics, including McCartney's heartrending title track that offered hope in a turbulent time in both his personal life and in the world at large.

The song's origin stems from a dream McCartney had in which his mother, Mary McCartney, who had died when he was 14, visited him. She comforted him with the words "it'll be all right." The simple ballad that features McCartney singing and playing the piano became a No. 1 hit in 1970, offering hope in a turbulent time. Listening to it today, you may also gain a sense of peace no matter what you've got going on in your life.

Black Sabbath had quite a year in 1970. The Birmingham, England-based band comprised of lead singer Ozzy Osbourne, guitarist Tony Iommi, bassist Terence "Geezer" Butler, and drummer Bill Ward, released two albums — their self-titled debut and a second album, "Paranoid," later the same year. "Paranoid" spawned such classics as "Iron Man," "War Pigs," and the title track. Both the album and the song "Paranoid" not only set the course for metal bands to follow in the ensuing decades, but are as relevant today as when it was released 55 years ago.

The song, which rose up the charts in 1970, features a stuttering bass line, a driving guitar, and Osbourne's plaintive voice. Besides being a banger of a song, the lyrics about a mental health crisis are even more relevant today, at a time when the issue has reached unprecedented levels. Additionally, with the devastating death of Osbourne in July 2025, it's well worth revisiting one of the songs that helped thrust him into stardom. You should give the entire album a listen while you're at it.

Fanny was the first all-female rock band to release an album on a major label, and while they faded from history for a time, they're finally getting the recognition they deserve. There has been a PBS documentary, a reunion album, and various honors and awards for the band that originally broke up in 1975 after putting out four albums for Reprise. David Bowie called them "one of the finest f—ing rock bands of their time" (via Rolling Stone).

In 1970, the band, led by Filipino-American sisters Jean (bass) and June Millington (guitar), also featured Nickey Barclay on keyboards and drummer Alice de Buhr, when they released their debut album. All four also sang. The band's music often featured heavy guitar riffs and swirling keyboards, which take center stage in their song "Seven Roads," which began as a jam and would end up as the closing track on their debut album. It also features a wild, bluesy guitar solo that helped solidify the band's reputation as true rockers. "We wanted to have the song represent ourselves and to show that we had the ability to pound away at rock," Jean Millington recalled on the Get Behind Fanny podcast.

Sly and the Family Stone were a revolutionary integrated band from San Francisco that combined psychedelic rock, jazz, funk, and pop to produce some of the most unforgettable music around. The band influenced everyone from jazz legend Miles Davis to the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Sly Stone, the bandleader, singer, and main songwriter, died in June 2025, so if you're unfamiliar with the band's music, this is a great opportunity to give it a listen. A good place to start is the song "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)." The song appeared on the band's 1970 greatest hits album (although it was released as a single in late 1969) and reached No. 1 on both the pop and R&B charts.

Musically, it includes stabbing horns and vocals from all six other members of the band — Sly's sister Rose Stone and brother Freddie Stone, Cynthia Robinson, Jerry Martini, Greg Errico, and Larry Graham. It also introduced the revolutionary slapping and popping technique of Graham's bass that was hugely influential. Lyrically, "Thank You" is about Sly's struggles with fame, and a thank you for those who let him be himself. "I wanted to thank people in general, the everyday people, if they let me be me, if they let others be others, if others let them be them," he wrote in his autobiography with the same name as the song. "We exist to coexist." A needed message in today's divided world.

Santana's second release, "Abraxas," from 1970, pushed the band's raw sound into a masterful fusion of Latin-infused rock, funk, jazz, and blues to create a cohesive album. The year before, founding guitarist Carlos Santana, singer and keyboardist Gregg Rolie, David Brown on bass, and percussionists Michael Carabello, José "Chepito" Areas, and Michael Shrieve had made a splash at Woodstock. But "Abraxas" was something altogether different, shooting to the top of the charts on the back of the band's cover of "Black Magic Woman."

The song was written by founding Fleetwood Mac guitarist and singer Peter Green about a former girlfriend. Santana's version has a driving Latin-inflected beat with Rolie's keyboards interwoven with Santana's intricate guitar work. The song then goes straight into "Gypsy Queen," written by the Roma guitar player Gábor Szabó. When Santana first heard Green's original, he began to think about how he could make it his own by introducing different elements. 

"It's kind of like a chef, bring a little bit of oregano and jalapenos and garlic, and onions," Santana told Rolling Stone in 2019. Their version of "Black Magic Woman" became a huge hit and the definitive interpretation. Today, it still resonates. A full 25% of Grunge readers feel Santana's version of "Black Magic Woman" is the most underrated rock song of the 1970s. This and the four other songs of 1970 may have sounded cool 55 years ago, but they're even more so today.

We used several different criteria to come up with this collection of rock songs from 1970 that sound even cooler today. Each of the songs were not only hits at the time they came out, but since that time have been recognized for how groundbreaking they were. For example, "Paranoid," helped define heavy metal. "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)" combined disparate genres, introduced an often-imitated bass sound, and would later be sampled by Janet Jackson and covered by various artists including the Dave Matthews Band.

Fanny's "Seven Roads" was an innovative song that faded into obscurity before making it back into the limelight decades later with a long-overdue reissue of the band's first album and a documentary. The lyrics and music of all these songs remain relevant for today's listener. Lyrically, the Beatles' "Let It Be" is a needed message for our world that's in a state of flux. Finally, the songs (and the artists) represent a unique sound and perspective, as is the case with "Black Magic Woman," that continue to resonate more than 50 years after they were released.