A couple popular albums of the 70s

Here is a list of the Top 15 Albums of the 1970's (found here)

15. Sticky Fingers-- The Rolling Stones
14. Imagine-- John Lennon
13. L.A. Woman-- The Doors
12. After the Gold Rush-- Neil Young
11. The Wall-- Pink Floyd
10. Raw Power-- The Stooges
9. Hunky Dory-- David Bowie
8. Hotel California-- The Eagles
7. Born to Run-- Bruce Springsteen
6. The Dark Side of the Moon-- Pink Floyd
5. What's Going On-- Marvin Gaye
4. Exodus-- Bob Marley
3. Blood on the Tracks-- Bob Dylan
2. Who's Next-- The Who
1. Led Zeppelin IV-- Led Zeppelin

It's pretty insane to think that Pink Floyd had two masterpieces in one decade, so I reviewed both below:

The Wall
Interestingly enough, this album provoked a movie The Wall which came out in 1982 featuring the main character, Pink. The film is inspired by this 1979 album, with the plot line of a rockstar who is so exhausted by the business and by life's hardships that he can only perform with the help of drugs. This information and more can be found here.

Rolling Stones magazine reviewed the entire album here.

Off the album, my two favorite songs are Another Brick in the Wall and Comfortably Numb. Both of the songs follow Pink Floyd's typical chill, soothing sound and they're really good for relaxing (Dan mentioned Comfortably Numb in his post on songs that influence moods) and thinking. Both of them are on my "Chill" playlist on iTunes. Also, after reading reviews (the Rolling Stones one I linked above was the most in-depth review I found) I learned that The Dark Side of the Moon was released only 7 years before. To have two hugely successful albums-- and successful enough to make a Top 15 of the DECADE list-- is incredible. It shows just how big of an impact Pink Floyd had on the 70s, and many people today still wear the t-shirts or have the wall hangings. Pink Floyd's legend will be a hard one to forget.

The Dark Side of the Moon
Released in March of 1973 (and re-issued in 2003 for the 30th anniversary) this album found huge success everywhere in the world. It was on the US charts at #1 for a week (and at other spots for much longer), #2 on the UK charts, and #3 on the Australian charts, and on the charts in countless other countries. The album is in the Guinness Book of World Records for being on the charts for longer than any other album in history! It was on for 591 CONSECUTIVE weeks and 741 weeks total!

Those facts may sound crazy, but the craziest part to me is that the entire album (the music AND lyrics) was written in only 7 weeks. Pink Floyd was starting a tour soon and they wanted to include new songs on it, so The Dark Side of the Moon evolved in a short period of time. It definitely made a name for itself and people still debate over whether or not the music and lyrics correlate with the story in The Wizard of Oz (by starting the album at the MGM Lion's 3rd roar). Pink Floyd says that the film did not impact their recording.

Random fun Australia fact: An Australian radio station held a vote in the 1990s for the best album to have sex to. The Dark Side of the Moon won.

A full review from Rolling Stones magazine can be found here.
All the information above and more is here.


Dark side of the Moon image URL

The Wall URL