people often ask me why history fascinates me so even though i call myself the guitar historian my love of history goes past just music and i find myself drawn to touch points and moments and especially certain years there's something about looking back on anniversaries of great events like the upcoming 250th anniversary of america's declaration of independence in 1776. history is chiseled into stone it's linear that's why as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of 1971 i thought it would be fun to
look back on this seminal year in rock music by the albums that were released and finally ask the question was 1971 the greatest year in music history [Music] 1971 tricky dick nixon was entering his third year in the white house as president of the united states ted heath also entered his second year as prime minister of the uk as queen elizabeth ii entered her 19th year of her reign apollo 14 would become the united states third successful moon mission after the prior year's successful failure
of apollo 13 to reach the moon the nasdaq debuted the ed sullivan show aired its final episode charles manson is sentenced to death in california for the murder of sharon tate and others the milwaukee bucks win their first nba championship interestingly they would win their second exactly 50 years later this year arsenal football club wins the division one championship later to double the cup by defeating liverpool six days later for the fa cup nixon would declare the war on drugs in june that
went well gene wilder starred in willy wonka and the chocolate factory scarring children's minds for decades apollo 15 becomes the second successful u.s moon mission in the same year on august 1st george harrison holds his benefit concert for bangladesh in new york a late september cyclone in the indian state of odisha kills ten thousand people walt disney world opens in orlando florida d.v cooper jumps from a moving plane into history as one of the most mysterious true crime stories ever the so
viet mars three lander becomes the first piece of equipment to reach the red planet but only lasts about three seconds before going silent forever kubrick's a clockwork orange is released in december at mcdonald's opens its very first store in australia 1971 was a year of many interesting tales but it's not exactly a year remembered by historians as particularly noteworthy from a historical perspective the following year of 1972 with its many turning points in the vietnam war and the watergate b
reak-ins was more of a focal point at least here in the united states that is but the musicians of 1971 for some reason decided to release some of the greatest music ever to reach our lucky ears and as we go through the albums of this titanic year in rock history i think you'll agree that it has a real chance to stand alone as the greatest in rock history 1971 would start off right with a number of notable releases but we came into 71 with the number one album being november 1970s all things mus
t pass george harrison's epic triple album on the apple records label that album would stay at number one all the way through to mid-february when it would be replaced by the soundtrack to jesus christ superstar but released in january chicago would release their third album canned heat would put out arguably the greatest blues album ever made hooker and heat as a memorial to their departed guitarist alan wilson booker t and the mgs put out melting pot proto metal band uriah heap released their
second album salisbury another notable january release was the debut album by texas blues trio zz top and although it didn't contain any of their better known hits to come it put the band on the map quickly as a down and dirty blues combo to be reckoned with gibbons was hot on the heels of his being called out by jimi hendrix on tonight's show as the best young guitar player that he'd seen 50 years later just a few short weeks ago we would mourn the death of top's iconic bass player dusty hill b
ut the top release from january was the final album from iconic blues rock vocalist janice joplin with the album pearl produced by the doors paul rothschild the album stayed at number one for many weeks and ruled the winter months on the billboard 200. 1971 second month saw debut releases by carly simon and david crosby proud rockers yes debuted new guitar steve howe on their third album the yes album the faces released their third album as well with long player but unquestionably the month's bi
ggest release would be the second studio released by the legendary songwriter carol king with tapestry this album would go on to sell 13 million copies and win the grammy for album of the year king was one half of songwriting duo goffin and king who wrote such standard hits as will you still love me tomorrow up on the roof and one fine day other notable events in the month were a drum off held at the lyceum between ginger baker and elvin jones after the pair had feuded for months in the press te
enage girls everywhere request fallen when davey jones left the monkeys an unknown british band called queen would play their first public show in london march was a bit of a slower month with releases but there are still a few gems mercurial singer songwriter nick drake would put out his second album brighter later jimi hendrix and the rolling stones put out compilation albums the cry of love and the stone age respectively and humble pie's fourth album rock on will be the last with guitarist pe
ter frampton before he would depart for a solo career probably the most notable release from march was jethro tull's aqualung which firmly cemented the band into the prague rock genre and featured the timeless fm radio hits locomotive breath and the title track the allman brothers would also record the tracks for one of the greatest live albums live at the fillmore east and the stones started a quote unquote farewell uk tour as they prepared to relocate to france as a protest against uk tax laws
here we go the start of the good stuff april is chock full of amazing releases so many it's hard to figure out which one is the best the month would start slowly enough with elton john and csn and y releasing live albums but on april 19th the doors would drop la womanos their last studio album before jim morrison's death and arguably the best performance by our seventh forgotten fretmaster robbie krieger only four days later the rolling stones would release sticky fingers which is in my opinion
their best album cover to cover next year's exile on main street usually gets tagged as their best but for me sticky fingers just has no bad tracks anywhere it's just amazing then only a few days after that we'd get two titanic debut albums by the doobie brothers and thin lizzy another notable release from april was the james gang's thirds which featured the joe walsh led hit single walk away 1971's fifth month saw some more debut albums from the likes of jazz fusion group weather report the hi
gh end of the csn and y super group graham nash with his songs for beginners and from the irish blues guitarist rory gallagher recently departed from his late 60s outfit called taste other notable albums released in may were rod stewart's best solo effort every picture tells a story featuring the smash hit maggie may marvin gaye's seminal masterwork what's going on and the soft rock smash hit third album from the carpenters but the most important release from may was the second solo album from f
ormer beatle paul mccartney called ram this album was caught up in the post-beatles feud between john lennon and paul and due to john's friends in high places at rolling stone magazine the album was actually largely panned at the time but fans have been rediscovering the genius and beauty of ram and it is now generally regarded as one of paul's best albums may also saw the high profile wedding of rolling stone mick jagger to bianca demacias with the staggering guest list including the rest of th
e stones paul and ringo eric clapton and steven stills i guess there was no need to hire a wedding band with june being another slow month in the record release department there were still as always a few gems released emerson lake and palmer would release an early album that strangely made it into my childhood collection with tarkus joni mitchell also released her best album blue which features just genius level songwriting in 2020 blue was voted in rolling stone magazine's list as the third gr
eatest album of all time and in music news the fillmore east would close at the end of the month with a final concert featuring the allman brothers the beach boys and mountain even though several albums would be released later this year featuring the iconic venue stay tuned july would begin with the death of a member of the 27 club dora's lead singer and poet jim morrison who died in his sleep on july 3rd in paris with the summer in full swing the album releases would also start to heat up the a
lmonds finally released their album that they recorded earlier in the year at the fillmore east but not soon enough to keep it open i guess the proto metal band mc5 released their second and final album high time the moody blues put out their seventh album every good boy deserves favor and deep purple's fifth album fireball was also released we also saw a solo effort from former cream bassist jack bruce for soundtracks isaac hayes and stax records would put out the seminal album supporting the t
imeless film shaft but in the rock world the biggest release was by far black sabbath's fourth album master of reality for this album tony iaomi and the band went even heavier on some songs by down tuning a step and a half to make it easier on tony's injured fingertips but they inadvertently taught thousands of then unnamed metal guitarists that deep down tuning of the guitars created a sonic experience unlike any other august saw some more titanic releases alvin lee's 10 years after would relea
se their sixth album best known for their biggest hit i'd love to change the world the beach boys would put out the little gem of an album called surfs up which featured some of the last compositions that were holdovers from brian wilson's experimentation phase when the boys released good vibrations and the smile sessions but the biggest release of august was the legendary fifth album from the who titled who's next featuring songs from an aborted rock opera follow-up to tommy called lifehouse th
e who's use of synthesizers on tracks baba o'reilly and won't get fooled again was a drastic departure from their prior sound one of the few albums that doesn't really have a bad track on it who's next was unquestionably the who's best release [Music] september saw releases by fleetwood mac the first album featuring new guitarist bob welsh and christine mcvea's full-time members interestingly we also saw the second album by british pop rock group curved air why do you care well curved air in fle
etwood max paths would cross later in the decade is some members of that band ended up playing in the fake fleetwood mac assembled by manager clifford davis to fulfill tour dates left open when the real fleetwood mac would temporarily split up you can see the whole story right here three dog night released their seventh album harmony featuring the hits just an old fashioned love song and never been to spain uriah heaps third album and second of the year look at yourself was released we also had
albums released from the steve miller band with rock love santana with their third album free put out a live record appropriately titled free live and we also got a live album from james gang with joe walsh for the last time but the month's biggest release belonged to another former beatle john lennon when his second album imagined dropped onto the listening public the alm would utilize many similar techniques that his fellow beale george had employed in his all things must pass album with john
also drafting phil spector to produce and using musicians allen white klaus voorman and even george himself as supporting musicians as we all know the album is forever married to the title track which is probably one of the greatest musical compositions ever written october was chock full of cool little releases as well we would see cat stevens now yusuf islam released his fifth album teaser and the fire cat on the first of the month frank zappa put out the soundtrack to 200 motels space rock le
gends hawkwind released their second album in search of space the doors tried their hand at a post jim morrison released with other voices pink floyd would put out their sixth album metal which would become a hidden gem in their catalog with interesting prog rock experimentations and speaking of prague we'd also get the sixth album by the underrated van der graaf generator with pawn hearts we'd also get a pre kevin cronin debut from rock band reo speedwagon with their self-titled first album but
the big boy from october was the second album from singer-songwriter don mclean with american pie whose title track would go on to define the moment that buddy holly and others were killed in a plane crash as the day the music died the final sing-along chorus of the song featured a gaggle of famous names including pete seeger of whom mclean was a protege james taylor and carly simon oh boy what a month buckle your seatbelts the month began with the debut by future megastar billy joel with cold
spring harbor on the fifth elton john released madman across the water featuring smash hits tiny dancer and levon genesis would release their third album nursery crime the first to feature new guitar steve hackett and new drummer phil collins genesis biggest rivals of the time yes would release their arguably best album fragile their first with keyboardist rick wakeman rory gallagher put out his second album a favorite of guitarists with deuce traffic would also release their fifth and best rele
ase the low spark of high-heeled boys that album featured former domino jim gordon on drums and former blind faith bassist rick ratch humble pie put out one of the greatest live records ever with rock and the film war we even got hard rockers nazareth's self-titled debut carly simon's second album featuring the smash hit anticipation but there can only be one king of the month even with all these other amazing albums and this one stands far and away the best of the bunch lead zeppelin 4 recorded
on the rolling stones mobile studio at headley grange unquestionably one of the greatest if not the greatest hard rock albums ever released stairway to heaven black dog when the levee breaks there is no filler on this album at all and it may have the claim for the best album of the whole year but i'll let you be the judge before you decide let's look at the last month of the year month 12 opened with the debut of one of my favorite bands ever electric light orchestra with their self-titled firs
t album a few days later we got another minor debut wildlife from a little band called wings paul mccartney's new project post beatles english prog rockers king crimson would release their fourth album islands we would also get the best album from beetle clones badfinger with their fourth album straight up featuring day after day and baby blue on that one carol king tried mostly unsuccessfully to follow up her earlier 1971 release tapestry with her third effort music we'd also get the debut from
the acoustic band america with their self-titled release david bowie would release his fourth album hunky dory which was a bridge to his future releases that would feature a more hard-edged glam sound hunky-dory however is often overlooked as a little bit more of a softer album and is one of bowie's top few albums sadly it didn't really get noticed for the gem it is until after bowie's next album ziggy stardust would go nuts the next year just making it into 1971 at least in the united states a
s it wouldn't be released until early january in the uk would be george harrison's massive triple lp live compilation from his concert for bangladesh featuring the amazing star power of players like bob dylan ravi shankar ringo starr billy preston leon russell eric clapton the members of badfinger jim horn klaus voorman and jim keltner the album was a bellwether for live recordings and for rock fundraisers to come but anyway what a year man this was a blast to put together i gotta tell you even
little gems that were released in between some of the more well-known albums hold up to this day make sure you comment below on what your favorite album of 1971 was make sure you like the video to let youtube know that other music fans would like to see it and be sure to subscribe to the guitar historian channel for so much more content just like this but i guess there's just one more question you need to answer in the comments was 1971 actually the greatest year in music thanks for watching and
we will see you next time
Comments
* FEW CORRECTIONS * - I erroneously list Master of Reality as Black Sabbath’s 4th album when it is, in fact, their third album. - I erroneously used the wrong album cover for Jesus Christ Superstar. The one pictured is the film soundtrack, not released until 1974. It should have been the cast recordings from the stage show, released 1971 and featuring Deep Purple singer Ian Gillan as Jesus. - How many people have been pointing out the albums that I missed, and I just wanted to say that it was impossible to put every album made in 1971 without having some form of entertaining blurb about some of them. I tried to fit as many genres in as I could, as well as touch most of the high points. Also, since I’m a classic rock channel, most of my focus was on rock albums. - Just to point out that I don't say "1971 WAS the greatest year ever," I say, "WAS 1971 the greatest year ever?" Its to foster discussion. In fact, in my opinion, there are years in the 60s that blow 1971 away. But I did this years SPECIFICALLY because it is the 50th anniversary of it. Next year I will probably do a "1972" sequel. Or a "1962."
1971 I was18,married with a Baby and became a United States Marine.Good year.We would remain married untill 2019 when she entered Heaven.1971 Great Music,Good times.
Folks , all the records of our youth were the best . What a blast it was to be a youngster back then . You can't appreciate it if you weren't there. Lucky for us we were. The best to all of you that are still here , bye .
Led Zeppelin IV is the best album of 1971 and one of the best albums of ALL TIME.
I turned 21 in '71. Hearing the list of all these great albums brought back so many memories of people and places. This is a great video. Thanks.
I have been telling people for about 40 years that 1971 was the best music year. Thanks Guitar Historian for doing the heavy lifting and explaing why. You see, for at least the last 20 years I have not had the patience or energy to try to explain it myself! Great Job.
There's more iconic moments in this one year than the last 20 years
I think it's very subjective, but I have always argued the 10 year period of late 60s to 1st half of the 70s was the greatest period of creativity for modern music. Hard to seperate which year was best but do agree that 71 was a great year!
As a 11 year old in 1971! I remember seeing album covers and found them scary. But now amazing. Really 1971 music is a powerhouse.
I was a 15 year old in Australia and didn't realise then, how lucky I was to experience this music. I loved it then but so grateful now, that I could experience this brilliant music first hand, at the time.
l was 15 in 1971, an excellent age/year of music to be certain! l remember, vividly, unwrapping Sticky Fingers and wondering about that lump in his pants (a more innocent time) and unzipping the pants, several x's. l knew nearly every album you spoke of. I can't pick a favorite, l hadn't realized so many favs were in one year! OK, actually I'd have to go with the Allman Brothers live at the Filmore. No Moody Blues? Music and album releases were so anticipated the lines went around the block. Life was good & l didn't have any bills to pay. ☮
Amazing how many of those albums I still have in my vinyl collections purchased that year. I feel fortunate to have in that era. I feel that today could be called the "dark ages of music"
At only 13 years old in 71, this music influenced my soul, and still does to this day! Still have some of my original LP’s and still play them.
“Love It to Death” + “Killer” = Two 1971 masterpieces from Uncle Alice...
The first half of 1971 I was stationed in Vietnam. I know I was turned on to a lot of great music over there. CCR, Neil Young “after the gold rush, ChicagoTransit Authority, Grand Funk Railroad, Beatles Revolver, Jeff Beck Truth, Savoy Brown Hellbound Train, I know a lot of these may have been released earlier but that’s when I found them. Also Jethro Tull Benefit, Elton John Tumbleweed Connection, James Gang. All in all what a wonderful time for Rock music. It helped me through the war immensely. My love continued on until today at 70 years old and being a disc jockey in my youth at a underground alternative album station “free form” my love for music has never waned. Thanks for a great rundown on the phenomenal music of the early 70’s
I like Who’s Next best. Cutting edge and amazing musicianship.
Master of Reality had the biggest impact on me. What an album! Mind blowing!
I was born December 3 1971. Best year in music IMO. VAN MORRISON is my favorite artist of all time. His fantastic 5th album TUPELO HONEY was released October 15, 1971. He has 42 studio albums. It’s understandable that you missed this one.
I was sweet 16 in 71 and the two tracks that just blew me away were " Whats Going On " and " Battle of Evermore " ! Two strikingly different gendres but both tattooed to this day in my heart !
“Who’s Next”…..’nuff said.