10 Even More Perfect 1970s Rock Albums With No Bad Songs

by Andrew Pollard

1. Marquee Moon - Television

Cutting their teeth on the New York punk scene, Television finally released their debut album, Marquee Moon, in 1977.

By the time of Marquee Moon, bassist and songwriter Richard Hell had left the band due to creative differences, and his exit led to a less punk-centric focus for the band. And in that change of focus, Television arrived in a huge way.

The record was clearly a joint effort between Tom Verlaine, Richard Lloyd, Fred Smith and Billy Ficca, but is also very much writer/singer/guitarist Verlaine's masterpiece. For 45 minutes, Marquee Moon grabs your attention and refuses to let go. The title track itself is a near-11-minute epic, and See No Evil stands out as one of the great album-openers of its time - not to mention Torn Curtain being a pseudo operatic close to the the album.

With Marquee Moon, Television took listeners by the hand and guided them away from the cliched power chords and screaming vocals that had become commonplace in rock by this point in time. Instead, this was a record which laid the foundation for bringing classic rock together with tantalising hooks, splashes of punk bite, jazz jingles and a whole bunch of slide guitar.

Even though Marquee Moon influenced so many, it still remains charmingly unique to this day. It's just such a shame Television split only one year and one album (Adventure) later.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer and Presenter, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund and Eli Roth to Kevin Smith and the Russo Brothers, to Kevin Conroy and Frank Miller, to Bret Hart and Sting, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, and Brian Flynn, to many, many more. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is a long-standing season ticket holder and an FSA Award-winner for his time co-hosting the Fearless in Devotion podcast.