Top 50 Hard Rock Songs of the ’70s

The ’70s were defined by music ranging from pop and punk to country rock and metal, but one genre stands out in the classic rock field: hard rock.

Easily encompassing many of the above styles, as well as several others, hard rock was, in many ways, a holdover from the late-’60s emergence of blues-powered electric rock. Bands that arrived in that era – such as Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin – helped shape the music in the new decade.

The below list of the Top 50 Hard Rock Songs of the ’70s, voted on by UCR staff, reads like the ultimate classic rock radio playlist, featuring some of the decade’s biggest artists and some lesser-known ones, too, that plugged in, turned up and created the soundtrack of a generation.

50. AC/DC, “T.N.T.” (from T.N.T., 1975)

“T.N.T.” started Side Two of AC/DC‘s first international album, High Voltage. But fans in the band’s home country of Australia were familiar with the song a couple of years earlier when it was the title track of their second LP (it led the second side there, too). It’s among the first songs to zero in on the band’s electric boogie blues, which has been their stock in trade for half a century. Often replicated, this is where it begins.

 

49. Edgar Winter Group, “Frankenstein” (From They Only Come Out at Night, 1972)

Edgar Winter Group’s 1972 instrumental “Frankenstein” was named such because a long studio jam had to be edited piece by piece before it was ready for release. Winter himself handled several of the song’s instruments, including synths, saxophone and timbales. The others were played by his ace band: guitarist Ronnie Montrose, bassist Dan Hartman and drummer Chuck Ruff. A No. 1 hit for the Texas-born musician.

 

48. Edgar Winter Group, “Free Ride” (From They Only Come Out at Night, 1972)

Coming off a surprise No. 1 with the instrumental “Frankenstein,” Edgar Winter Group wasted little time issuing a follow-up single in “Free Ride” that reached No. 14. Written and sung by Dan Hartman – who had the disco hit “Instant Replay” later in the decade and the Top 10 “I Can Dream About You” in 1984 – “Free Ride” tapped into the soul music he was drawn to in the ’60s. His Winter Group bandmates give it some edge.

 

47. Alice Cooper, “I’m Eighteen” (From Love It to Death, 1971)

After two albums with Frank Zappa‘s Straight Records, the Alice Cooper group released a single on Warner Bros., “Eighteen,” in late 1970. The song made it to No. 21, prompting the label to sign up the band for an album. Love It to Death arrived in the first part of 1971, signaling a change of course for the previously wayward group. Three classic LPs followed over the next two years before the singer went solo with the name.

 

46. Neil Young & Crazy Horse, “Like a Hurricane” (From American Stars ‘n Bars, 1977)

Like many songs from Neil Young‘s ’70s, “Like a Hurricane” was scheduled and then rescheduled for a few different albums before it was shelved and eventually found a home on his and Crazy Horse‘s 1977 LP American Stars ‘n Bars, a hodgepodge of tracks recorded between 1974 and 1977. “Hurricane” is one of Young and Crazy Horse’s most ferocious songs and a showcase staple of their live sets for five decades.

 

45. Joe Walsh, “Rocky Mountain Way” (From The Smoker You Drink, the Player You Get, 1973)

Best known for its guitar talk box, “Rocky Mountain Way” was a stop for Joe Walsh between James Gang and the Eagles, and the highlight of a sporadic solo career that’s spanned more than four decades. Taken from his 1973 album, The Smoker You Drink, the Player You Get – a continuation of the previous year’s Barnstorm with bassist Kenny Passarelli and drummer Joe Vitale – the song is modern blues updated for the ’70s.

 

44. Fleetwood Mac, “The Green Manalishi (With the Two Prong Crown)” (From 1970 Single)

Peter Green was tiring of the corner he painted himself in with Fleetwood Mac‘s early strict adherence to American blues. By 1970 he was ready to move on – in all respects. Before he left the band he formed for good, he delivered one of his fiercest and greatest performances in “The Green Manalishi (With the Two Prong Crown),” a sinister-sounding blues played as part dirge, part summoning of demon from hell. A milestone.

 

43. Kiss, “Black Diamond” (From Kiss, 1974)

Like other songs on Kiss‘ self-titled 1974 debut, the closing song “Black Diamond” gained a more rugged base during many live performances over the years. But the studio version nearly perfected its progression – from a deceptively acoustic beginning that gives way to a barrage of full-throttle Kiss. Later covered – straight, no irony – by the Replacements on their 1984 college rock masterpiece Let It Be.

 

42. Ram Jam, “Black Betty” (From Ram Jam, 1977)

“Black Betty” had been around in song form since at least the 1930s; it possibly dates back even further than the version musicologist John Lomax uncovered in 1934. No doubt Lead Belly and other period folk artists weren’t expecting the souped-up take Ram Jam, a New York band hastily assembled around ex-Lemon Piper Bill Bartlett, took to the Top 20 in 1977. The group was short-lived, but the song still receives airplay.

41. Brownsville Station, “Smokin’ in the Boys Room” (From Yeah!, 1973)

Brownsville Station was a Michigan band led by rock writer Cub Koda that played riff-heavy rock ‘n’ roll equally inspired by Chuck Berry and the Rolling Stones. Most of their albums barely cracked the Top 200, but 1973’s Yeah!, their third, made it to No. 98 thanks to “Smokin’ in the Boys Room,” a rowdy schoolboy sing-along about bad behavior. A cover favorite among artists as diverse as R.E.M. and Motley Crue.

40. Deep Purple, “Highway Star” (From Machine Head, 1972)

Finally settling into their classic Mark II lineup, Deep Purple released their masterwork Machine Head in 1972. Its opening track highlighted the revigorated band’s tightness and newfound path to success by piling on riffs, solos and heavens-reaching vocals by Ian Gillan. “Highway Star” drives harder and faster than almost anything Deep Purple has done in their long career. The guitar and organ interplay has rarely been topped.

 

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39. The Stooges, “Search and Destroy” (From Raw Power, 1973)

The Stooges broke up after their second album, Fun House, in 1970. By 1973, three-fourths of the original quartet was reunited (thanks to some encouragement from fan David Bowie), and with singer Iggy Pop temporarily clean, plus the addition of energizing guitarist James Williamson, made a third record. The opening track “Search and Destroy” was inspired by Vietnam; it’s since become a statement of purpose.

 

38. Foghat, “Slow Ride” (From Fool for the City, 1975)

Foghat‘s best-known song started as a jam session between the veteran band and its new bassist. The London group was five albums into its career when it released Fool for the City in 1975. Soon they had their first Top 40 hit, a skulking heavy blues built on a relatively simple riff that was open-ended enough to allow for much onstage exploration. No surprise that “Slow Ride” often extended past the 10-minute marker in concert.

 

37. The Runaways, “Cherry Bomb” (From The Runaways, 1976)

The Runaways‘ debut single was written in haste after it turned out the teenage band wasn’t capable of playing the song it was given to audition singer Cherie Currie. Producer Kim Fowley put together the group as an “all-girl answer to Grand Funk.” What he got instead was an appealingly raw mix of period hard rock and glam that resulted in something closer to punk. “Cherry Bomb” explodes all preconceptions.

 

36. Kansas, “Carry On Wayward Son” (From Leftoverture, 1976)

Kansas was struggling to crack the Top 50 when they released their fourth album, Leftoverture, in 1976. They soon had their first Top 10 on their hands after its lead single, “Carry On Wayward Son,” rose on the charts. Scaling back their Midwest prog for a leaner classic rock approach, the band tapped into its spiritual side on “Wayward Son,” a strategy repeated in the next year’s “Dust in the Wind,” an even bigger hit.

 

35. AC/DC, “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap” (From Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, 1976)

Like other AC/DC releases at the start of their career, Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap has a tangled history, originally released as the band’s third album in their native Australia and Europe. But in the U.S. the album didn’t come out until after the success of Back in Black, the group’s debut with Brian Johnson, who replaced Bon Scott after the singer’s 1980 death. The title song is all swaggering hard-rock blues, a highlight of the Scott era.

 

34. Led Zeppelin, “Trampled Under Foot” (From Physical Graffiti, 1975)

Robert Johnson meets Stevie Wonder in one of Led Zeppelin’s funkiest songs. “Trampled Under Foot” was one of a handful of new songs recorded for the band’s double-record mishmash Physical Graffiti and released as its only single by the singles-averse group. John Paul Jones set his clavinet to Wonder’s “Superstition,” while Robert Plant appropriated lyrics from bluesman Johnson’s pioneering “Terraplane Blues.”

 

33. Alice Cooper, “No More Mr. Nice Guy” (From Billion Dollar Babies, 1973)

Alice Cooper’s sixth album, and only No. 1, is home to four hit singles; “No More Mr. Guy” was the biggest. Written as a reaction to critics of the band’s stage shows, in particular the church group the singer’s mom belonged to, the song features one of the original Alice Cooper group’s chewiest choruses, near power pop in its radio-ready execution. The tongue-in-cheek declaration makes for one of Cooper’s defining songs.

 

32. Queen, “We Will Rock You” (From News of the World, 1977)

Often coupled with the cooling-down boast anthem “We Are the Champions,” “We Will Rock You,” on its own, is two minutes of feet-stomping percussion and busy fretwork that serves as a perfect opener to Queen‘s sixth album, News of the World. The band got the idea for the stripped-back approach to the song from a 1976 concert, where fans continued to clap and chant after Queen left the stage. An instant classic was born.

31. Kiss, “Rock and Roll All Nite” (From Dressed to Kill, 1975)

Kiss knew what they had in “Rock and Roll All Nite,” the final track on their third album, Dressed to Kill, and their concert-ending song pretty much since the time of its 1975 debut. Determined to write a fist-raising closer, best experienced in the 1975 live version, Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons spared no creative expense in crafting their most popular song; everyone from crew to spouses contributed to the chorus.

30. Van Halen, “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love” (From Van Halen, 1978)

Eddie Van Halen originally wrote “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love” as a punk parody, but by the time his band recorded it for their debut album it had become something way closer to the looming hair metal genre of the next decade. Like many songs on that first record, the track builds on a guitar riff that interlocks with the rest of the band, its stinging notes discovering the vacant places in the mix. A fully formed template for things to come.

 

29. The Who, “Baba O’Riley” (From Who’s Next, 1971)

Flush from Tommy‘s success and a tour that helped make their legend, the Who started work on another Pete Townshend rock opera that was eventually abandoned for the scaled-down Who’s Next. One of the leftover pieces, “Baba O’Riley,” became the record’s opening track, adorned with percolating synths and a violin solo that culminates in one of the band’s greatest songs and kicking off a prosperous decade for the group.

 

28. Bachman-Turner Overdrive, “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet” (From Not Fragile, 1974)

Randy Bachman has said his band recorded its only No. 1 song as a joke to give to his brother, who had a stutter. Bachman-Turner Overdrive originally cut “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet” with Bachman singing the chorus with a stammer, but when they needed another song for their third album, Not Fragile, it was pulled off the shelf. Bachman tried it without the stutter but everyone preferred the early version. It became the lead single.

 

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27. Black Sabbath, “War Pigs” (From Paranoid, 1970)

“War Pigs” was originally closer to the dark concepts introduced on Black Sabbath‘s debut, released seven months earlier. Conceived as “Walpurgis,” a celebration that lyric writer Geezer Butler called “Christmas for Satanists,” the song became sharpened as a protest of the Vietnam War. As the opening track on Paranoid, “War Pigs” helped set the template for heavy metal, still a few years from finding its ground. This is a start.

 

26. ZZ Top, “La Grange” (From Tres Hombres, 1973)

ZZ Top found their groove with their third album, Tres Hombres, released in 1973. Not straying too far from the desert-blown boogie of their first two records, the Texas trio borrowed a riff and greasy tone from John Lee Hooker and amped it up through their modern take on electric blues. The result was their first hit album and single, a not-so-subtle tribute to the famous Chicken Ranch brothel. “Haw haw haw haw” indeed.

 

25. Aerosmith, “Walk This Way” (From Toys in the Attic, 1975)

The second and third lives of Aerosmith‘s “Walk This Way” has earned it a special place in rock history. Released as a single from 1975’s Toys in the Attic, the song initially stalled on the chart until a rerelease a year later went Top 10. A decade after that, Run-D.M.C. fused their hip-hop remake to cameos by Joe Perry and Steven Tyler, sparking Aerosmith’s comeback. No matter its form, the song is one of the band’s best.

 

24. Alice Cooper, “School’s Out” (From School’s Out, 1972)

Killer finally gave Alice Cooper a Top 20 hit in 1971 and by the next year, the band was poised for even bigger success. Both album and single School’s Out made the Top 10, securing Alice Cooper’s status as one of the biggest acts of the era. The target audience for “School’s Out” was clear, as was its release just weeks before kids were out of school for the summer. An instant anthem that has survived the decades.

 

23. Heart, “Barracuda” (From Little Queen, 1977)

As a women-fronted band, Heart faced its share of misogyny over the years, especially when it started attracting national attention in the mid-’70s. Their first label pushed a story about sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson being romantically involved that so enraged the siblings that they wrote “Barracuda.” The chugging riff and Ann Wilson’s serrated vocals can’t bother to disguise their disgust. Their next LP was with a new company.

 

22. Montrose, “Rock Candy” (From Montrose, 1973)

Guitarist Ronnie Montrose got his start working with Herbie Hancock, Van Morrison and Edgar Winter, and was given a chance in 1973 to front a band of his own featuring newcomer Sammy Hagar. Lyrically, there’s not much there – “You’re rock candy, baby / You’re hard, sweet and sticky” goes the chorus – but the brontosaurus-sized rhythm doesn’t let up over its five trampling minutes. From the band’s only platinum album.

 

21. Neil Young & Crazy Horse, “Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black”) (From Rust Never Sleeps, 1979)

Neil Young recorded two versions of his tribute to the punk music swelling around him in the late ’70s: an acoustic version titled “My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue),” which opens his 1979 album Rust Never Sleeps, and a plugged-in electric take with Crazy Horse called “Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)” that closes the LP. Both blur the line between Young’s generation and the new breed: “It’s better to burn out than to fade away.”

20. Ted Nugent, “Stranglehold” (From Ted Nugent, 1975)

Ted Nugent peaked on the first song from his first solo album. The eight-and-a-half-minute “Stranglehold” amounts to little more than a guitar riff and extended solo, but when the results are this mammoth, not much else is needed. Derek St. Holmes, who sang on Nugent’s first three albums, manages to find his place within the song, but it’s the guitarist’s wild soloing – reportedly achieved in a single take – that stands out.

 

19. Mountain, “Mississippi Queen” (From Climbing!, 1970)

The ’70s got off to a positively heavy start thanks to songs like Mountain‘s eternal “Mississippi Queen” with its monster chugging guitar riff and thunderous cowbell that sounds like it’s summoning a netherworld beast. Leslie West delivers a complementary vocal that’s somewhere between the blues and heavy metal. Few songs in rock history have since matched the intensity laid down by the fittingly named quartet on its debut.

 

18. Led Zeppelin, “Immigrant Song” (From Led Zeppelin III, 1970)

The opening track on Led Zeppelin’s third album was somewhat misleading. After two albums of reworked blues and heavy riffs, the superstar quartet scaled back a bit on Led Zeppelin III, unplugging for a mostly acoustic album rooted in American folk and rural blues. But “Immigrant Song,” which charges onto the record with battle-tested precision, can’t prepare listeners for what’s ahead. Which is probably the point.

 

17. Led Zeppelin, “Rock and Roll” (From Led Zeppelin IV, 1971)

Led Zeppelin III threw a wrench into the workings of the band’s successful formula of power-upping the blues on their first two albums. But after their dalliance with acoustic music, the quartet was ready to get back to action on their fourth album, declaring as much on its second song: “It’s been a long time since I rock and rolled,” Robert Plant sings over a rhythm discovered somewhere between Chuck Berry and ’70s rock.

 

16. Blue Oyster Cult, “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” (From Agents of Fortune, 1976)

“(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” has become known as “that cowbell song” thanks to a Saturday Night Live sketch, but it originated as Blue Oyster Cult singer and songwriter Buck Dharma contemplated his early death. It didn’t come to pass, thankfully, but the tuneful song pushed the Long Island-based band into the Top 10 for the only time. The famous cowbell, by the way, wasn’t on the initial recording; it was overdubbed later.

 

15. The Rolling Stones, “Bitch” (From Sticky Fingers, 1971)

As the B-side to the advance single “Brown Sugar” from the Rolling Stones’ eagerly anticipated Sticky Fingers album, “Bitch” netted almost as much airplay as its No. 1 flip. Working along similar R&B-dotted lines, with a horn section doing the heavy lifting for a large portion of the song, “Bitch” remains one of the band’s toughest numbers, with a snarling Mick Jagger vocal sliding in and out of the endlessly stabbing brass.

 

14. Thin Lizzy, “The Boys Are Back in Town” (From Jailbreak, 1976)

“The Boys Are Back in Town” wasn’t greenlighted at first by Thin Lizzy for a spot on their sixth album, Jailbreak. But it soon became the Irish band’s signature song, a mix of twin-guitar fireworks and an achingly heartfelt vocal performance by Phil Lynott, who relates a tale of a gang not too far removed from Bruce Springsteen‘s street toughs. A year removed from Born to Run, Thin Lizzy’s masterpiece is cut from a similar cloth.

 

13. Lynyrd Skynyrd, “Free Bird” (From [Pronounced ‘Lĕh-‘nérd ‘Skin-‘nérd], 1973)

Lighters up! Lynyrd Skynyrd‘s eternal anthem takes many forms: a Southern rock classic, a jam-band favorite and a ballad-to-rocker template shared by hundreds of artists over the years. But once “Free Bird” kicks in during the muscular back half with intertwining guitar solos and (in the famous live version) a barnstorming finale, it’s the foundation on which ’70s hard rock was built. The song earned its classic rank long ago.

 

12. Free, “All Right Now” (From Fire and Water, 1970)

One of rock’s greatest riffs came about after a lukewarm gig by Free, who, after two albums, wasn’t generating the frenzied audience enthusiasm they’d seen so many of their peers receive. So bassist Andy Fraser and singer Paul Rodgers penned a set-closing roof-shaker nobody could resist. It paid off: “All Right Now” reached the Top 10 in both the U.S. and U.K. and has since become a perennial at classic rock radio.

 

11. The Who, “Love, Reign O’er Me” (From Quadrophenia, 1973)

As the mid-’70s rolled around, and the Who’s commercial stock never higher, Pete Townshend was still not finished with the rock opera concept he standardized in 1969’s Tommy. After a couple of aborted attempts earlier in the decade, the songwriter and guitarist found his muse in 1973’s Quadrophenia, the band’s story of coming of age in 1960s England. The double album’s centerpiece closes the record on an epic scale.

10. AC/DC, “Let There Be Rock” (From Let There Be Rock, 1970)

Few bands celebrated rock ‘n’ roll history – directly and indirectly – as consistently as AC/DC did in the ’70s. Taking a cue from Chuck Berry, the Australian rockers gaze at music’s storied past through a foggy lens in “Let There Be Rock,” somehow linking Romantic classical compositions to decibel-shattering young guitarists seeking fortune and fame  Live, the group goes all in with an unaccompanied shredding solo.

 

 

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9. Led Zeppelin, “Stairway to Heaven” (From Led Zeppelin IV, 1971)

It takes several minutes before Led Zeppelin reaches the hard-rock apex in their best-known song, methodically building to the moment, one pastoral passage after another before it all crashes into John Bonham‘s tumbling drums and Jimmy Page‘s majestic guitar solo. “Stairway to Heaven” has been mythologized ad nauseam since its release but that hasn’t diluted its impact. A masterly triumph of time, place and performance.

 

8. Van Halen, “Runnin’ With the Devil” (From Van Halen, 1978)

There are instances in ’70s rock that sound like pivotal moments, not just in a band’s career but in the genre itself. “Runnin’ With the Devil” is one such moment. As the opening track on the debut album by Van Halen, the song introduced a new way of remaking American rock ‘n’ roll as an image of changing times. Eddie Van Halen’s guitar revolutionized the instrument, just as the LP signaled a new era on the horizon.

 

7. Black Sabbath, “Paranoid” (From Paranoid, 1970)

The stop-start sludge of Paranoid‘s opening song “War Pigs” pushed Black Sabbath into new conceptual territory, but the album’s next track carried them even further from their center. “Paranoid” clocks in at less than three minutes, the shortest song on the album by almost two minutes (barring the short instrumental “Rat Salad”), and a near-pop song in its tone and construct. No surprise then it’s their only U.K. Top 10 single.

 

6. The Who, “Won’t Get Fooled Again” (From Who’s Next, 1971)

The Who had always considered “Won’t Get Fooled Again” as the centerpiece of their first post-Tommy project. Originally envisioned as the closing track on Pete Townshend’s ambitious Lifehouse, the song inherited the same position when the record was scaled down to the fat-free Who’s Next. As the longest song on the album, it doubles as a vocal showcase for Roger Daltrey, whose climatic scream is still a wonder.

 

5. AC/DC, “Highway to Hell” (From Highway to Hell, 1979)

The “highway” in “Highway to Hell” is a reference to the constant, and increasing, touring AC/DC had done in support of their first five albums. By the time the promotional cycle for their sixth album had ended, the title song had taken on a different meaning after singer Bon Scott was found unconscious in his car, and later pronounced dead, after a night of drinking. As legacy and requiem, “Highway to Hell” stands tall.

 

4. Deep Purple, “Smoke on the Water” (From Machine Head, 1972)

The king of hard-rock riffs from the moment it was introduced on Deep Purple’s 1972 album Machine Head, “Smoke on the Water” has lost little of its capacity to inspire budding guitarists’ rock dreams in the decades since its release. Inspired by the true story of an overzealous Frank Zappa fan who inadvertently torched the Swiss venue where Deep Purple was recording, “Smoke on the Water” has endured like few others.

 

3. Led Zeppelin, “Kashmir” (From Physical Graffiti, 1975)

Led Zeppelin’s sixth album is both a logical progression of the band’s restlessness over the decade and an anything-goes grab bag of old and new material. As the biggest band in the world in 1975, they were free to test new genres, adding clavinet here, lap steel there. Physical Graffiti‘s most epic song, “Kashmir,” was inspired by a trip to Morocco, but its references are wider. World, progressive and rock’s greatest summit.

 

2. Aerosmith, “Sweet Emotion” (From Toys in the Attic, 1975)

Three albums into their career, Aerosmith was still looking for a commercial breakthrough when they released the slippery “Sweet Emotion” as a single from Toys in the Attic. They soon had their first Top 40 hit, a move that triggered their record company to rerelease “Dream On” from their 1973 debut as the follow-up; that song went Top 10, finally giving the Boston band the success it was craving from day one.

 

1. Led Zeppelin, “Black Dog” (From Led Zeppelin IV, 1971)

Is there a more exciting, or fitting, moment in hard rock than the opening seconds of Led Zeppelin’s fourth album? A collage of guitars, tuning up and preparing for battle, followed by the briefest of pauses before Robert Plant storms in: “Hey, hey, mama, said the way you move… ” And then the band reveals its real hand, pushing and pulling at the verses (there’s no chorus to speak of in “Black Dog”), back and forth, as singer and band call-and-response (a trick Jimmy Page cribbed from Fleetwood Mac’s “Oh Well”). It’s five minutes of exciting release that always appears ready to spring into place before it resets itself. It’s a masterclass in hard-rock record-making played by hard-rock royalty at their best.