Take any year from the history of rock music and chances are by the end of it there are a few loose ends, the odd caught thread that will be cut loose for good – or alternatively create a hole through which a new trend will soon appear.
The 1970s provided a number of these instances, the most obvious being the October 1970 ‘Ride A White Swan‘ hit by T. Rex, which at the time must have come across as something of a novelty, particularly as young men wearing glitter across their faces on ‘Top of the Pops‘ was hardly likely to catch on – only for glam-rock to dominate the UK singles charts for the next four years.
It was to have a parallel, if in far more menacing overtones, later in the decade when the Sex Pistols (repeatedly) swore on late-afternoon television.
With Christmas 1976 fast approaching, the young of the nation would for the moment share the shock of their elders at such behaviour – yet by the early months of 1977, there was a swathe of British youth not only in thrall to the Sex Pistols but forming punk bands in their image.
Following the 70s path to its 1979 conclusion, you would expect to find some pulled stitches, particularly with the decade coming to an end – the snagged hem that will either be left as it is or altered drastically for the 80s.
But taking a considered view of the rock music that soared (or bored) in the closing year of the 1970s is to discover a curious, almost perceivable state of coalescence. Many of the punk groups who had followed in the Sex Pistols slipstream had become established acts themselves (the Pistols had set things ablaze but gone up in smoke after one incendiary album), while bands labelled as ‘new wave’ were taking their power chord and harmonic influences from a Kinks/Byrds/Who blueprint.
It was also a year those rock titans of old, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac and the Eagles resurfaced, appearing like old hulks from beneath rolling waves of scorn – the tide set in motion by a music press now more enamored with passion than precision.
When considering the albums to truly resonate from 1979, the number of significant debut LPs to appear is fewer than in the two previous years (although in terms of quality ‘Unknown Pleasures‘ by Joy Division proved not just a marvel of the time but for all-time) with the superior disco and dance music also being created by established acts.
Meanwhile, two artists renowned for taking career paths away from any trace of a fixed course once again headed for unchartered territory – David Bowie and Neil Young striking out with all the creative audacity one had come to expect.
With three weeks of the year remaining both Bowie and Young were on the shortlist, joined in no small measure by the brilliant ‘Squeezing Out Sparks‘ by Graham Parker and equally accomplished ‘Armed Forces‘ (Elvis Costello & the Attractions), to finish top of the 1979 pile – but in December appeared ‘LONDON CALLING‘ by The Clash to make that decision redundant.
Track for track the best double-album ever recorded, it was not only the last big statement of 70s rock, but also a work of era-defining scope and proportion. Working in a vein akin to the Stones or The Band, but innovative and original on their own terms, spread over four exhilarating sides, ‘London Calling‘ was angry, confident, thoughtful, hard-rocking and melodic.
From their punk origins The Clash, in less than three years, had not only become the most thought-provoking and politically attuned band in the world, but also the most vital.
Young had a few years on The Clash, both with regard to age and career span, but on ‘RUST NEVER SLEEPS‘ he spoke with the voice of an informed auteur rather than cantankerous veteran. Evoking both Elvis Presley and Sex Pistols front man Johnny Rotten in the outstanding ‘Hey Hey, My My (Out of the Black)’ Young explores the transient notion of rock stardom – is it better to implode quickly than stick around and turn into an irrelevance?
On an album bursting with pointed observations and gloriously off-hand music, there was no sign he suffered from the burnout implied by the title – Neil making his position clear by stating (rather than asking):
‘It’s better to burn out than to fade away.’
The burning on ‘SQUEEZING OUT SPARKS‘ came from the toughest and most lyrically astute songs Graham Parker had yet cut – this formidable set a superb exercise in untamable, rasping rock that should have left nobody lamenting the absence of a Springsteen record during the year.
From the same pub rock stable honourable mention is made of ‘Labour of Lust‘ by Nick Lowe which brimmed with tracks containing a gorgeous line in attractive tunes and clever-Dick lyrics – the sly humour contained therein smartly encapsulated in the album title.
With ‘ARMED FORCES‘ Elvis Costello showed no let-up in his social and political concerns, but still displayed a sure touch in expressing his anger through compelling pop melodies.
Newcomer Joe Jackson infused his new wave/power pop debut piece ‘LOOK SHARP!’ with several engaging reflections on the perils of love, including the classy hit ‘Is She Really Going Out with Him‘ – and with ‘Sunday Papers,’ delivered a sharp critique of the UK tabloid press.
Four albums in, Blondie continued to excel with their catchy brand of pop craft on ‘EAT TO THE BEAT‘,’ lead singer and vocalist, the camera-shy Debbie Harry, leading the troupe through an engaging fusion of pop, reggae and disco.
For those peddling 60s-affected rock, Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers delivered a work of lasting resonance with ‘DAMN THE TORPEDOES‘, Petty providing stellar material as the Heartbreakers asserted themselves as a top-notch mainstream rock ensemble.
Quite why The Jam chose to end ‘SETTING SONS‘ with a cover of the Motown classic ‘Heatwave‘ (particularly when it was a ringer for the version cut by you-know-Who back in the day) was a mystery – but everywhere else this was strident, powerful stuff, Paul Weller taking the mantle of Ray Davies in drawing potent images of class consciousness and divisions.
Fleetwood Mac had been around in the previous decade but were now far removed from the blues outfit built around long-since departed guitar virtuoso Peter Green – at times on ‘TUSK‘ it was hard to believe they were even the same line-up who had cut the soft-rock landmark ‘Rumours‘ eighteen months earlier. For the reputed one million dollars it cost to make, ‘Tusk‘ amounted to three mini-solo albums for the cost of a double LP.
Christine McVie contributed her customary brand of love songs for the vulnerable, Stevie Nicks more abstract romanticism, leaving Lindsey Buckingham to fill out the four sides with tracks that could be ambiguous, subtle or sparse. While hardly a unified piece – it needed several listens to establish what wavelength Buckingham was on – it steered clear of being a formulaic ‘Rumours‘ follow-up and for such they deserved credit, even if it was hard to decide what exactly you were admiring.
Far easier to fathom were the intentions of Michael Jackson – whose ‘OFF THE WALL‘ contained the most oft-heard songs of the year.
From boy pop star, Jackson had matured into an artist with a keen sense of disco savvy, the dance grooves he fashioned in conjunction with Quincy Jones instantly irresistible, his confident, agile vocalising also taking on the role of prominent instrument.
When it came to dance music laudable double-acts were everywhere – Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers gave Chic their share of disco domination, ‘RISQUE‘ providing incisive beats at every turn, the record signaling a shift in emphasis from traditional disco to the coming of hip hop.
‘BAD GIRLS‘ by Donna Summer could in fact be seen as a three-way effort between her and producers Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte. Even if a double album of smoochie soul and flighty funk seemed a touch excessive to the leaden-footed, there was no doubting Summer was a first-rate purveyor of easy to embrace dance music.
For the more discerning ‘UNCLE JAM WANTS YOU‘ by Funkadelic had far stronger political themes, but the grooves were no less discernible, the synthesiser now a key weapon in the funksters fusillade.
Van Morrison returned after a three-year absence with the majestic ‘INTO THE MUSIC‘ an artistic and spiritual manifesto for the slew of fine albums that would carry him well into the next decade. At times introspective but always uplifting, the upbeat lyrical themes in a superb one-two opening of ‘Bright Side of the Road,’ and ‘Full Force Gale‘ created a lofty platform from where Van affirms his faith with breezy delight.
Roger Waters of Pink Floyd had always been an ambitious wordsmith and with ‘THE WALL‘ explored the concept of a jaded rock star being at odds with the modern world. Told through the eyes of main character ‘Pink’ the story-line veers from compelling to confused (to be fair there are few ‘concept albums’ where the plot actually hangs together) and the music does much the same.
Ambitious, pretentious, sketchy, sobering, as this was Floyd every compliment or criticism seemed justified – the lyrics, sound effects and speech fragments either genius or jaundiced, dependent on your view of how Waters saw the world.
Of those other returning heavyweights neither the Eagles nor Led Zeppelin were able to cover themselves in glory. ‘The Long Run‘ was an uninspired affair that sounded slight and over-wrought at the same time and although Zeppelin fared slightly better on ‘In Through The Out Door,’ it lacked cohesion and felt as if they were pitching ideas before a sense of direction emerged.
‘UNKNOWN PLEASURES‘ was hands down the best debut album of the year – even those of us who initially backed off from the overriding sense of disquiet eventually came to acknowledge this was melancholy in the guise of atmospheric gravitas.
With its Bowie/Doors inflections, Joy Division arrived with an extraordinary declaration of purpose – the air of foreboding given tragic resonance early in 1980 with the suicide of lyricist and lead singer Ian Curtis at the age of just 23.
There were also snatches of Bowie to be found on ‘METAL BOX‘ by Public Image – a group formed by Johnny Rotten (now reverting to his real name of John Lydon) following the Sex Pistols demise.
At times their proto-punk sound was reminiscent of Ziggy Stardust-era Bowie and although the electronic element had strains of his recent techno experiments, the mesh of searing guitar, dub and ominous bass, placed this propulsive set (on initial release it was a set of three 12″ singles to be played at 45 rpm packaged inside a metal canister), firmly in post-punk territory where it stood as a standard bearer.
‘VAN HALEN II‘ took their popularist brand of heavy metal to a place somewhere between Boston and Kiss, where it was lapped up by the converted. The clean-cut lead guitar breaks were the most expressive feature as the lyrics contained little to write home about – although taken to writing of home as the promised land was Bob Dylan.
His conversion to Christianity informed ‘SLOW TRAIN COMING‘ but such was the confusion among fans following his declaration of faith, to begin with an album boasting songs of great depth and humanity met with a diffident response. Dire Straits guitarist Mark Knopfler was an inspired choice as leader of a noteworthy backing troupe as Dylan delivered his most impassioned set since ‘Blood on the Tracks‘ – which is a sentence unlikely to be found among any reviews of the time.
In many ways it feels appropriate ending things with comment on ‘LODGER‘ – the last Bowie album of the 70s, a decade in which he had been a constantly evolving figure, the single most creative force in the field. For his final outing before the 80s dawned, like Dylan, there was initial hesitancy in declaring it a major work.
But if the final instalment of his ‘Berlin Trilogy’ (following ‘Low‘ and ‘Heroes‘) was greeted with indifference, over time critics changed their tune, history now regarding it as another example of why his influence is so lasting and profound – ‘Lodger‘ cited as a key source of inspiration by 90s Britpop bands Oasis and Blur.
Different from its two predecessors by containing no instrumentals, in places it feels the ‘Berlin‘ sequence is being wrapped up and although his fascination with German electro music still prevailed, world music and Middle Eastern-tinged reggae make an appearance to hint they may be forthcoming explorations.
As it transpired, 1980 brought the guitar/synth masterpiece ‘Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps‘). So much then for trying to second guess Bowie.
An epitaph for 70s rock if ever there was one.
TWENTY GREAT ALBUMS of 1979
- LONDON CALLING – The Clash;
- RUST NEVER SLEEPS – Neil Young;
- SQUEEZING OUT SPARKS – Graham Parker;
- LODGER – David Bowie;
- OFF THE WALL – Michael Jackson;
- ARMED FORCES – Elvis Costello & The Attractions;
- UNKNOWN PLEASURES – Joy Division;
- SLOW TRAIN COMING – Bob Dylan;
- METAL BOX – Public Image;
- RISQUE – Chic;
- DAMN THE TORPEDOES – Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers;
- SETTING SONS – The Jam;
- INTO THE MUSIC – Van Morrison;
- UNCLE JAM WANTS YOU – Funkadelic;
- THE WALL – Pink Floyd;
- TUSK – Fleetwood Mac;
- BAD GIRLS – Donna Summer;
- LOOK SHARP ! – Joe Jackson;
- EAT TO THE BEAT – Blondie;
- VAN HALEN II – Van Halen;
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NEIL SAMBROOK is the author of ‘MONTY’S DOUBLE‘ – an acclaimed thriller now available in paperback and as an Amazon Kindle book.
