#1 Rock Act of the 70's?

[WildRanger]

In your opinion who was the greatest rock act of the 70's? Who owned that decade?

[El Barto]

KISS

[EPICVIEW]

Aerosmith
Judas Priest
Thin Lizzy
UFO
Black Sabbath
Scorpions
Saxon
Cheap Trick

Too hard to just name one

[El Barto]

Aerosmith is a good call.

[EPICVIEW]

Aerosmith is a good call.

Thanks  so many good ones Kiss was also

[The Walrus]

Led Zeppelin

Yes, two albums were in '69, yes, most of their stuff was very early 70s. Still gets my pick.

[Indiscipline]

Pink Floyd?

[Crow]

was gonna come in here and post "the shaggs" but their album released in 1969 i'm upset now

[Elite]

was gonna come in here and post "the shaggs" but their album released in 1969 i'm upset now

What a shame

[LudwigVan]

Zeppelin

[Cool Chris]

First inclination, not having lived it, is to say Zep. Looking backwith retrospect in 2020, I might be inclined to say Floyd, because of how history has treated the big 4 albums they released in that decade. Do we need to factor Eagles in this conversion? Again I don't know how big they were in real time in the 70s.

Regardless, hard to say any band/artist "owned" the decade.

[KevShmev]

I would give Pink Floyd the nod. 

Led Zeppelin is probably the band many would say, but like Kattlelox said, their first two albums, which are two of their best, are from 1969. 

Queen has to be in this conversation as well, and of course we cannot forget the early prog giants like Yes and Genesis.

Oh, and Black Sabbath. 

I could go on and on and on...

[Stadler]

As much as I love the Kiss answer - and for about 18 months or so in late '77, '78, that is unequivocally the right answer - it's got to be either Zeppelin or Floyd.   Both bands spanned the decade to a greater degree than either the Eagles or Queen.  The only other band that went wire to wire was the Dead, but they were still largely doing regional theater legs of tours in the 70's.

[hefdaddy42]

Led Zeppelin

[Cool Chris]

...and of course we cannot forget the early prog giants like Yes and Genesis.

Personal tastes aside, wasn't prog still a bit of a niche market even in the 70s?

[hefdaddy42]

...and of course we cannot forget the early prog giants like Yes and Genesis.

Personal tastes aside, wasn't prog still a bit of a niche market even in the 70s?

The 70's were the only time that prog was NOT as much a niche market. 

[King Postwhore]

I would give Pink Floyd the nod. 

Led Zeppelin is probably the band many would say, but like Kattlelox said, their first two albums, which are two of their best, are from 1969. 

I would not say their 1st & 2nd are the best, 4 through 6 would be.  In my estimation.

[Cool Chris]

...and of course we cannot forget the early prog giants like Yes and Genesis.

Personal tastes aside, wasn't prog still a bit of a niche market even in the 70s?

The 70's were the only time that prog was NOT as much a niche market. 

Ha! But I still can't think prog bands were at the level of a more traditional "rock" band like Zep/Floyd/Queen even in the 70s, no?

[pg1067]

Aerosmith
Judas Priest
Thin Lizzy
UFO
Black Sabbath
Scorpions
Saxon
Cheap Trick

Too hard to just name one

If there's any objective element to this, I'm not sure any of those, with the possible exception of Sabbath and Aerosmith, would even crack a top 10.

Zeppelin
Journey
KISS
Fleetwood Mac
Eagles
Queen
Floyd
Elton John
Van Halen (although only for the second half of the decade)


On the other hand, if it's entirely subjective, then I'm going with Yes or Rush.

[KevShmev]

I would give Pink Floyd the nod. 

Led Zeppelin is probably the band many would say, but like Kattlelox said, their first two albums, which are two of their best, are from 1969. 

I would not say their 1st & 2nd are the best, 4 through 6 would be.  In my estimation.

I did say, "two OF their best."

[Architeuthis]

I would say Boston, Styx, and Bad Company deserve a honorable mention.

[jjrock88]

I would go with Kiss. They were gigantic and hugely successful with both men and women, adults and children. Comics, cereal, tv shows, lunch boxes, whatever else. I see Kiss madness in the same light as what happened with Star Wars. Huge over the top success. They were one of the definitions of the 70s. They obviously fell off at the end of the 70s due to a few issues, but their time at the top was massive.

[Stadler]

...and of course we cannot forget the early prog giants like Yes and Genesis.

Personal tastes aside, wasn't prog still a bit of a niche market even in the 70s?

I don't know; Genesis don't have a platinum record until 1978 (And Then There Were Three), and Yes has The Yes Album, Fragile, and Close To The Edge... but Zeppelin has three DIAMOND (ten times platinum) records in a row (IV, Houses Of The Holy, and Physical Graffiti).   Floyd has two (Dark Side... and The Wall), with two multi-platinum records in between. 

Genesis didn't tour stadiums as far as I know until at least the mid-80's, Yes did stadium dates on occasion (they played Yale Bowl here in CT in '71, with intermittent stadium dates in the mid-70's), but Zeppelin and Floyd were touring stadia - in certain markets, anyway - fairly regularly in the mid- to late-70's.  Still with arena dates interspersed, no doubt, but I think Zeppelin and Floyd were on another level.

EDIT:  Saw Elton John; didn't think of him.  That's not a bad suggestion either.

[max_security]

Kansas
Blue Oyster Cult
The Who

[WildRanger]

If there's any objective element to this, I'm not sure any of those, with the possible exception of Sabbath and Aerosmith, would even crack a top 10.

Zeppelin
Journey
KISS
Fleetwood Mac
Eagles
Queen
Floyd
Elton John
Van Halen (although only for the second half of the decade)

No David Bowie and Bruce Springsteen on your list? But you have Elton John?

[WildRanger]

Kansas
Blue Oyster Cult

These two bands were far from mass popularity.

[bosk1]

For the "'70s band" that actually put out good music, I much prefer their '80s output.  That said, if I had to pick one, it would be Y&T.

[King Postwhore]

\We considering Fleetwood Mac and the Eagles?

[EPICVIEW]

I would give Pink Floyd the nod. 

Led Zeppelin is probably the band many would say, but like Kattlelox said, their first two albums, which are two of their best, are from 1969. 

Queen has to be in this conversation as well, and of course we cannot forget the early prog giants like Yes and Genesis.

Oh, and Black Sabbath. 

I could go on and on and on...

Queen and Zep   No doubt way high up on the list,,, I vaper locked

[Cool Chris]

For the "'70s band" that actually put out good music....

That should rule out KISS.

[El Barto]

Perhaps I'm reading more into the "act" part of the question than I should be. I'm thinking about popularity, concerts, merchandising, crappy movies, the whole big picture. Not just biggest band of the 70s, which would be Zeppelin. KISS just had a whole lot more going on, starting from some time in 75 and being huge for the rest of the decade.

[KevShmev]

For the "'70s band" that actually put out good music....

That should rule out KISS.

I was trying to be nice, but, yeah, this.

[Stadler]

For the "'70s band" that actually put out good music....

That should rule out KISS.

I was trying to be nice, but, yeah, this.

I think you all have corona virus in your ears. 

[EPICVIEW]

Doobie Brothers

Yes

Deep Purple

[pg1067]

If there's any objective element to this, I'm not sure any of those, with the possible exception of Sabbath and Aerosmith, would even crack a top 10.

Zeppelin
Journey
KISS
Fleetwood Mac
Eagles
Queen
Floyd
Elton John
Van Halen (although only for the second half of the decade)

No David Bowie and Bruce Springsteen on your list? But you have Elton John?

I'm not a fan of either, but as far as I can tell, Bowie's biggest success was in the 80s.  In the 70s, he put out three platinum albums in a row, but it doesn't look like any of them hit platinum status in the 70s.  I'm not sufficiently educated about Springsteen to comment.  That said, if you wanted to add the two of them to a list, I wouldn't argue.