If you could only listen to the popular music of a single year in history, what would you pick?
Actually, never mind. The correct answer is 1971 and no other will be accepted, because 50 years later, the music of 1971 remains as vital, as influential, as unsurpassed as ever it was.
Sure, the top single of the year was Three Dog Night’s “Joy To The World,” and depending on how you feel about talking bullfrogs that may or may not be your thing. But if you were to spin the AM radio dial that year you’d have also heard Rod Stewart singing “Maggie May,” Carole King with “It’s Too Late,” or Al Green crooning “Tired Of Being Alone.”
It’s the albums of 1971, though, where things really sparkle. Some were hits from the day they arrived, others overlooked at first. And the best remain influential across the decades and genres.
Here then, in no particular order, are the 12 most influential albums of 1971, each of them paired with a thematically similar record to know as well.
1. “What’s Going On,” Marvin Gaye: Consistently at the top of lists of best albums of all time and you’ll get no disagreement here. Already a star in the Motown template, Gaye forced the label to let him make a record that addressed the social issues that concerned him, from the Vietnam War to poverty, environmental crisis to police violence. A socially conscious album that speaks to and about the soul, it continues to inspire and influence today in the work of artists such as John Legend and Kendrick Lamar.
Now hear this: With “Roots,” Curtis Mayfield touched on similar themes — peace, Black power, social consciousness and the environment — against a backdrop of sweet soul music.
2. “Blue,” Joni Mitchell: Another of the all-time greats, “Blue” is a quintessential singer-songwriter album, an achievement few if any have matched. A break-up album, written after a long relationship with Graham Nash, and a short but intense one with James Taylor, the emotions are immediate and raw in songs such as “My Old Man,” the title track, “River” and “A Case of You.” Mitchell’s simple accompaniment of guitar, piano and Appalachian dulcimer only increases its beauty.
Now hear this: With “Songs of Love and Hate,” singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen also spilled emotions into songs such as “Avalanche,” “Famous Blue Raincoat” and “Joan Of Arc,” music that endures in his own versions and covers by artists such as Nick Cave, Aimee Mann, Tori Amos and Judy Collins.
3. “Led Zeppelin IV,” Led Zeppelin: Officially untitled, the fourth album from Led Zeppelin featured the best of everything the band wanted to do: blues rock (“Black Dog” and “When The Levee Breaks”), hard rock/heavy metal (“Rock and Roll” and “Misty Mountain Hop”), folk and traditional influences (“The Battle of Evermore,” “Going To California”), and, of course, the sprawling epic of “Stairway To Heaven.” Their biggest seller, and for many their best album, this launched the band into the orbit it occupied for the rest of the decade.
Now hear this: Critics in 1971 sneered at Black Sabbath‘s “Master Of Reality” but the album sold a ton and thanks to songs such as “Sweet Leaf” and “Into The Void” influenced sludgy heavy metal, stoner rock and grunge for years to come.
4. “Tapestry,” Carole King: King already had a decade of success as a songwriter with former husband Gerry Goffin by the time “Tapestry” arrived in 1971 to establish her as a critically acclaimed and commercially success solo artist. With original songs such as “You’ve Got A Friend,” “It’s Too Late,” and “I Feel The Earth,” warm voice and strong piano-based arrangements it’s no wonder “Tapestry” become one of the best-selling albums of all-time and a model for singer-songwriters.
Now hear this: James Taylor‘s breakout came a year earlier but his 1971 follow-up, “Mud Slid Slim and the Blue Horizon” lands here both for his No. 1 hit cover of King’s “You’ve Got A Friend” and the fact that he, King, and Mitchell all played on each other’s 1971 releases..
5. “Hunky Dory,” David Bowie: With “Hunky Dory,” Bowie started to figure out who he was or wanted to be after he returned from a failed tour of the United States. The album contains some of his most-loved songs, tracks such as “Changes,” “Oh! You Pretty Things,” and “Life On Mars?” His band also firmed up with guitarist Mick Ronson, bassist Trevor Bolder and drummer Woody Woodmansey — all of whom in 1972 would be the Spiders from Mars backing Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust persona, which supercharged his stardom.
Now hear this: German art rock band Can‘s “Tago Mago” is far more experimental than “Hunky Dory” but its avant-funk, free-form vocals, and use of the recording studio as an instrument itself became a huge influence on artists from Bowie to Public Image Ltd., the Flaming Lips and Radiohead.
6. “Sticky Fingers,” the Rolling Stones: With this classic album, the Rolling Stones proved you could have a second act in rock ‘n’ roll. The Beatles had broken up. The Stones’ guitarist Brian Jones was dead, their Altamont festival a disaster. But here, on their own label, free of a despised manager, they delivered a collection of classic songs that included “Brown Sugar,” “Wild Horses,” “Dead Flowers,” and “Moonlight Mile.” With the first appearance of the Stones’ lips-and-tongue logo on the album they also taught those who followed a bit about branding, too.
Now hear this: The Who‘s failed “Lifehouse” rock opera nearly broke the band and almost gave guitarist Pete Townshend a nervous breakdown, but out of its ashes rose “Who’s Next,” with classic songs such as “Baba O’Reilly,” “Behind Blue Eyes,” and “Won’t Get Fooled Again.”
7. “Coat of Many Colors,” Dolly Parton: This is the record that completed Dolly Parton’s rise to solo stardom. She broke onto the country scene as the established star Porter Wagoner’s musical partner, and struggled to find individual success. But “Coat of Many Colors,” her second 1971 release, established her as a singer-songwriter of honest, emotional work that transcended genres. That the title track, drawn from Parton’s childhood, remains her signature song 50 years later only adds to this album’s influence.
Now hear this: On Waylon Jennings’ “The Taker/Tulsa,” the country singer started to break away from traditional Nashville, find true voice and help launch the outlaw country movement.
8. “Imagine,” John Lennon: The Beatle had already made a solo splash in 1970 with the excellent “John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band,” but “Imagine” is better known in large part due to its inescapable title track. There are other gems here, too, though, including the confessional “Jealous Guy,” the protest song “Gimme Some Truth,” and the love song “Oh Yoko.” Lennon also set the standard for kiss-off songs with “How Do You Sleep?” a musical missile aimed at Beatle Paul McCartney.
Now hear this: “Ram,” Paul McCartney‘s 1971 album with wife Linda, opens with “Too Many People,” the sweetly melodic dig at Lennon that provoked his response. While lacking an “Imagine”-sized hit, it has plenty of charms including the chart-topping “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey,” “Dear Boy,” and “Heart Of The Country.”
9. “There’s a Riot Goin’ On,” Sly and the Family Stone: Sly Stone, adrift in drugs and depression, created a dark masterpiece here with an album that transports the listener from the optimism of the ’60s into the anxiety and paranoia of the ’70s. Stone reportedly made most of the album without his band, but the album works as a cohesive whole with songs such as the singles “Family Affair” and “Runnin’ Away,” as well as album tracks such as “Just Like A Baby” creating sounds and moods that would inspire funk, jazz and hip-hop artists for decades to come.
Now hear this: George Clinton‘s Funkadelic explores similar concerns and disappointments and grooves on “Maggot Brain,” another much-sampled classic of 1971 also renowned for the Eddie Hazel guitar solo of the title track .
10. “Fragile,” Yes: Yes and other early prog-rock bands such as King Crimson, Emerson Lake and Palmer, and Genesis had been around for a few years but “Fragile,” the second album released by Yes in 1971, was something different. With new keyboardist Rick Wakeman and more synths in the mix the album opened with the now-iconic “Roundabout,” which proved prog could be pop music, too. Bonus points for the Roger Dean cover, the first of many fantastical collaborations between band and artist.
Now hear this: Pink Floyd‘s “Meddle” features the track “Echoes,” which takes up all of side two of the LP, and what’s more prog than that? A bridge from the band’s past to its future, it foreshadowed the trip to “Dark Side of the Moon” two years later.
11. “At Fillmore East,” The Allman Brothers Band: Live rock albums still were relatively new when the Allman Brothers Band recorded three nights at the Fillmore East in New York City in March 1971. While the Rolling Stones, the Who, the Grateful Dead and the MC5 had all found success with live LPs, “At Fillmore East” stands above those for its musical significance, capturing the band in peak form, and historical resonance -— just months after the July release of the album, guitarist Duane Allman died in a motorcycle crash, leaving this a final testament to his greatness.
Now hear this: “Aretha Live at Fillmore West” captures Aretha Franklin and her band in San Francisco, where in addition to classics such as “Respect” and “Doctor Feelgood” she covered rock numbers including Stephen Stills’ “Love the One You’re With,” the Beatles’ “Eleanor Rigby,” and Simon and Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water.”
12. “John Prine,” John Prine: The 24-year-old singer-songwriter’s self-titled album is one of the great debut albums, with songs such as “Hello In There,” “Sam Stone,” “Paradise” and “Angel From Montgomery” all now much-covered standards. Despite its finely drawn lyrical portraits and its the honest traditional-sounding music, the album wasn’t a big seller on release, though today it can stake a claim as a source of the Americana scene later to arise.
Now hear this: Bonnie Raitt was even younger — just 21 — when she released her debut, “Bonnie Raitt,” which with its mix of blues, folk and rock also paved the way for the roots scene to come.
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50 years later, these are the most influential albums of 1971 - East Bay Times
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