10 Most Overrated Rock Albums Of The '70s
Overindulgent, overblown, and just plain over.
For many music fans old and young, there has never been a better decade for rock music than the 1970s. This was a time of great change and growth, with the previous decade’s ideals of psych and flower power cast aside in favour of something darker, dirtier, and more dangerous.
Prog rockers came to the fore, taking the druggy ideals of their ‘60s forefathers and adding virtuoso musicianship and a whole lot more scope. Many songwriters were embracing the opportunity to get a lot more visceral with their content, and the harder edged music that followed opened the door for guitar acts for years to come. Perhaps the biggest change came with punk, which stood in direct opposition to much that came before it.
With the rose tinted specs removed, though, everything wasn’t quite so rosy. The ‘70s was a decade of great invention, but great indulgence, too. There are direct correlations to be drawn between increasing money and illicit substances and decreasing artistic quality in many instances (as well as, to be fair, the exact opposite).
These albums aren’t necessarily downright bad (though there are certainly some stinkers), but releases that haven’t aged well, represent the worst of the time period, or are otherwise just not as good as we’d like to remember.
10. Eagles - Hotel California
It’s tough to say nowadays whether this album really is “rated” per se. The Eagles have turned into somewhat of a punchline, the epitome of boomer music and a clear generational divide. At the same time, Hotel California has gone platinum 26 times and is still held up as a rock classic by many reputable publications, and therefore must take its lumps.
There can’t be many records that have aged with less grace than this one. It opens with the title track, all six and a half minutes of it, and while the complex composition and twin guitar solos remain impressive, that’s a goofy song to say the least.
From there The Eagles continue their posturing, with “Life In The Fast Lane” another stand out, one of many Don Henley songs about good looking folks driving around L.A and being good looking.
They take a stab at sincerity with closer “The Last Resort”, an early environmental number that means well but ends the album on a drag. It’s not hard to see why this one sold so well, but it’s about as of its time as an album can be.