1971
1971 was largely a year of consolidation, as by now bands such as Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Grand Funk Railroad were amongst the biggest in the world, with Deep Purple fast joining them. No longer did ‘heavy music’ have to forge its reputation as it had done a few years earlier and now had a much firmer stronger identity and was fast becoming a major force, displacing blues rock and rivalling the prog scene of the early 1970s. Despite being a major force, it would still remain in many people’s eyes as the final frontier in music, the unknown and the misunderstood, adjectives still very suitable today! 1971 was therefore a year of further consolidation for already established bands, as the major players would again put out pivotal works defining the genre even more. Whilst at the other end of the commercial spectrum, other bands were at the crossroads, after having failed to make the commercial breakthrough that had been required of them by their label. Some of these bands, would be bands that would steer into other musical directions in search of success and as a result hard rock and heavy metal would lose some great bands such as Lucifer’s Friend, High Tide and Stray to just name a few, whilst others such as Humble Pie sought to harden their heavy credentials even further. The whole year wasn’t just about major bands consolidating themselves and other band’s questioning whether they should be putting this type of music out or not, it was also a year that included more new arrivals on the stage, in the shape of bands such as Budgie and Nazareth, and other artists like Uriah Heep and Alice Cooper both finding their true calling throughout the year. As a year 1971 didn’t produce the quality of albums that 1970 had been blessed with and a number of the albums that missed the cut in my 1970 list, were probably stronger albums than some of the lower albums on my 1971 list, but of course there was still a lot to enjoy.