10 Vinyls Every '70s Diehard Should Already Own

When it comes to building a record collection, there are some non-negotiable LPs for avowed fans of 1970s music, when rock 'n' roll hit its stride and splintered into distinct sub-genres such as hard rock, arena rock, folk rock, and country rock. The decade was also the peak of the rock album — physical artifacts that were proof of fandom in the form of big pieces of fragile vinyl encased in cardboard sleeves, bearing the images and lyrics associated with the music. The 1970s were when rock bands embraced the LP as not just a repository for songs but an artwork unto itself, with sequencing, story, and selection all playing a role.

In creating or re-creating a library of 1970s albums on their original vinyl format, there are 10 albums that ought to be included. These are the LPs issued during those 10 years that changed rock history, took rock into new directions, and sold so many millions of copies that it seems like every teenager and 20-something in the country must have been blasting them day and night.

Boston became mega-successful off of the rockers' first-ever single, 1976's "More Than a Feeling." It was also the lead-off track from Boston's self-titled debut LP, which went on to become a standard '70s album collection piece, selling 17 million copies. With this assortment of eight tracks, Boston perfected one of the definitive sounds of the '70s, arena rock, mixing soaring guitars, pop hooks, and anthemic vocals. So many songs from the album became foundational songs for the emerging classic rock radio format, too.

Progressive rock came of age and peaked in the 1970s, and Pink Floyd's storied "The Dark Side of the Moon" is probably the most elegant, ominous, and well-made proof of concept. Trippy, introspective, and a gateway to '70s pastimes like mind expansion, "The Dark Side of the Moon" arrives on richly toned vinyl sheathed in a spacey and iconic sleeve, which speaks to the headphones-on dirges therein such as "Time," "The Great Gig in the Sky," and "Brain Damage."

The tropes of the rock concert solidified in the 1970s, and so too did the live album emerge as a way to capture its electricity. Few live albums of the '70s are as visceral or sold as many copies as 1976's "Frampton Comes Alive!" Guitarist and singer Peter Frampton's solo career came alive with this two-album set featuring crowd-pleasing versions of "Show Me the Way," "Do You Feel Like We Do," and "Baby, I Love Your Way." He also makes use of the most outwardly '70s of all musical tools: the talk box.

Bloated albums and rock stars at their most mythical and influential are some major '70s musical themes, and they converge in Elton John's 1973 album "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road." So important to the sound of '70s pop and rock, as well as record label finances, the piano-playing composer-showman loaded this two-record set with some of his most stunning ballads, rocking numbers, and outright hits, including "Candle in the Wind," "Bennie and the Jets," and "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting."

It's one of the best-selling classic rock albums ever, but it never hit No. 1, but that wasn't necessary for "Bat Out of Hell" to become an essential LP of the 1970s. Only something from that era as audacious and theatrical as Meat Loaf's breakthrough album could eventually attract over 14 million paying customers. Rockers were experimenting and blending in other genres, and "Bat Out of Hell" represents that perfectly. It's a storytelling concept album that's also full of screeching rock riffs, which suited the operatic singing style of front man Meat Loaf.

Probably the most emotionally affecting musical movement of the 1970s was the rise of the singer-songwriter. Honestly delivered songs written from the heart with generally simple accompaniment helped boomers move into their 30s, and perhaps the greatest purveyor was Carole King. A professional songwriter throughout the 1960s, in 1971 King took many of her well-known compositions, such as "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman," and some new ones like "It's Too Late" and "You've Got a Friend," and made "Tapestry," which dominated the album chart for months.

The full album experience — just listening to an entire record unfold in the way that the artist intended it to be heard — was a 1970s phenomenon. Millions enjoyed Led Zeppelin's fourth album (pretentiously untitled but known as "Led Zeppelin IV" for clerical purposes) in such a manner, and they were rewarded with a succession of classic rock staples. Among the eight tracks are standouts and standards that showed off Led Zeppelin's uncanny ability to mix blues, heavy metal, and progressive rock, such as "Black Dog," "Rock and Roll," and the immortal, ultimate '70s epic, "Stairway to Heaven."

While rock moved into some serious and ambitious places in the 1970s, along came Aerosmith to remind the world that rock 'n' roll was supposed to be fun. "Toys in the Attic," the 1975 album on which Aerosmith nailed its heavy, bluesy, party-down sound, is full of guitar hooks, wailing vocals, and smirking, self-conscious menace and carnality. Aerosmith's hardest-rocking and arena-filling tunes were unleashed from "Toys in the Attic," particularly "Walk This Way" and "Sweet Emotion."

"Rumours" is the second Fleetwood Mac album with introspective singer-songwriters Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks in the band, and this LP showed that soft rock could be just as salacious, biting, and used for attack and catharsis as harder forms of music. A hit-packed cultural phenomenon upon its release in 1977, "Rumours" is an accidental concept album consisting primarily of songs about the end of romantic relationships. Americans couldn't get enough — "Rumours" sold over 21 million copies.

Up until "Hotel California," the Eagles were a singles band, and the public told them as much by making its first best-of collection, "Their Greatest Hits 1971–1975," the altogether No. 1 best-selling LP in American history. That country-leaning, folk-adjacent, harmony-laden, laid-back, soft-rocking California sound of the Eagles is the sound of the '70s, and of rock music (and the boomer generation) maturing. This LP collects most of the Eagles' (extremely) well-known songs, like "Take It to the Limit," "Take It Easy," and "Desperado," in one place.