10 Best Hard Rock Songs Of The '70s
9. Hold The Line - Toto (1978)
Now, you might associate Toto with soft rock and pop ballads, but, these guys could write one hell of a hard rock chorus - Steve Lukather's shredding is worthy of any hair metal band of the 1980s.
Towards the end of the decade, songs started to transition into that classic '80s sound. The guitar riff in this number was quintessentially hair metal. Listen to any of Mötley Crüe's stuff and you can hear the same driving chord licks and distorted tone. Admittedly, Crüe played a sped up version, but this song was the unlikely foundation glam metal acts built on.
Piano's and synthesis started creeping their way in during the latter half of the decade. Bands could draw on more unusual sounds and weren't reliant just on a guitar bass and vocals, Hold The Line was a prime example. It become one of the bands biggest tracks to date.
Who doesn't fondly recall playing Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, finding this on K-DST radio station and cruising around the dessert?
You can keep your Deep Purple, give us Toto.