10 Darkest Rock Albums Of The 70s

No two classic albums are really built the same way. For every great album that is stacked to the brim with singles, there are other albums that hold together a lot better as a whole than in bits and pieces. Then again, not every album that's called a classic is necessarily the easiest to digest.

Even with the stellar tracks on every one of these albums, they're not exactly all that pleasant to get through from cover to cover. Across their runtime, each of these albums explore dark aspects of one's psyche, whether that be in its lyrical content or trying to create some sort of dark picture in your mind. And these weren't just niche markets either. This was the golden age of rock and roll, and you would find these next to some of the top charting artists of the day, competing for a chance to be at the top of the mainstream.

Though most of the material would fly over the average rock fans' head back in the day, it's strange looking back on some of these songs with fresh ears, as these artists deal with what had to be some of the most emotionally disturbed parts of their lives. While rock was still the leader of the charts at this point, we had come a long way from the days of peace, love and Flower Power.

Before we get into the morbid stuff, how about we go for something a little more cartoony? For all of the horrific stuff that Alice Cooper has given us throughout his lifetime, his songs tended to be more on the macabre side of things rather than downright terrifying. Without his band though, the Coop could still hold his own by giving us a theatrical look at his warped mind.

And that's before you get into how much of a nightmare this record was to make. After having the rest of the band quit due to not being able to contribute, Cooper and producer Bob Ezrin put everything they had into making this record, and came out with a radio friendly version of Tales from the Crypt. Throughout every one of these songs, you're practically being given a new nightmare to sift your way through, whether that's the domestic abuse going on in Only Women Bleed or being trapped inside your own head on Stephen.

Before this record had come out, Alice Cooper still felt like somewhat of a gimmick band, using the same type of shock rock humor to get their point across instead of writing actual songs. Now that he was left to his own device, Alice rediscovered who he was and gave us something that was delightfully disturbing from cover to cover. This might not be on the same level as the Exorcist or anything, but in the era of '70s AM radio rock, there was certainly some room for camp in there.