Top 10: Metal Albums of 1976

Looking for some heavy music to get your kicks? It’s our Top 10 Metal Albums of 1976! Being the Bicentennial, the American bands came out swinging this year. But it isn’t just Yankees making up this week’s list. Joining them are bands from Canada, Ireland, England, Germany, and even Australia! It just may be metal’s most diverse year yet. So without further ado, let’s pack our bags and take a trip around the globe, shall we?

10. Thin Lizzy – Jailbreak

After striking gold in ’75 with Fighting, Thin Lizzy proved that their success was more than just the “luck of the Irish”. Jailbreak was the first of two albums they’d release in ’76. It was their breakthrough American release, with “The Boys Are Back in Town” peaking at #12 on the Billboard 40, and cuts like the title track and “Cowboy Song” becoming FM rock radio staples. Ideally, this should’ve been the beginning of a long American reign for Phil Lynott and company. However, drugs, egos, and all around irresponsibility would prevent that from happening. That doesn’t mean Thin Lizzy was done making high quality hard rock and heavy metal. It just means that to this day, most Americans only know them for this album which is a crying shame.

9. Scorpions – Virgin Killer

If one could get past the disgustingly distasteful album art of Scorpions’ fourth album, Virgin Killer (not pictured here for obvious reasons), they’d be greeted by yet another stunning collection of no frills Germanic metal. Powered by the high octane fretwork of Uli Jon Roth, Virgin Killer boasts some headbanger essentials such as the frantic title track, the Americanized sleaze of “Backstage Queen” (a sign of things to come), and my favorite Scorpions song of all time, “Pictured Life”. Fun fact: According to Roth, the opening to “Pictured Life” was ripped off from Derek and the Dominoes’ “Layla”. At least that’s what he told me at an after show meet and greet. I’m still trying to find the resemblance.

8. AC/DC – High Voltage

I already know what you’re gonna say. “What’s this doing on here? High Voltage isn’t an album! It’s a compilation!” Technically speaking, you’re right. However, due to its historical importance and the fact that this is AC/DC’s international debut, it’s an exception to the rule. In other words, unless you were a headbanging Aussie keeping tabs on your rock n’ roll in ’74 and ’75, this was your introduction to the one and only AC/DC. With a track listing that boasted “Live Wire”, “She’s Got Balls”, and “It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘n’ Roll)”, how could you go wrong?

7. KISS – Rock and Roll Over

“In the morning I raise my head, and I’m thinkin’ of days gone by. And the thing I want out of life…is…” duh duh duh duh duh duh duh duh duh duh duh duh duh duh duh duh DUH DUH DUH DUH DUH DUH DUH DUH DUH “I WANT YOU!” What can I say? Rock and Roll Over is one of those albums that starts playing in my head just by looking at the cover. I’m sure most of you can say the same. After the pseudo-experimentation of Destroyer, Rock and Roll Over was largely considered a return to form. It was the same sugary hard rocking power pop that dominated their first three albums, but with a refined production that would’ve been unthinkable the year before. By 1976, the U.S. was in the throes of KISS mania. Casablanca could finally afford to put out something that didn’t sound like it was recorded on a potato (I’m looking at you Hotter Than Hell in all your proto-grunge glory).

6. Blue Öyster Cult – Agents of Fortune

Agents of Fortune was a radical departure for BÖC. While the first three albums were defined by their ominous black and white motif, Agents of Fortune was “presented in stunning Technicolor”. The differences didn’t end there. To quote Lanie in The Stoned Age, “Agents of Fortune is a total fuck album.” Good luck getting it on to the methamphetamine fueled madness of Tyranny and Mutation. Speaking of The Stoned Age, there’s multiple scenes where Lanie is described as looking “just like the girl from the cover of Virgin Killer, man”, but I digress. The biggest difference of all between the first three albums and Agents is that Agents had a hit, and a massive one at that. The release of “(Don’t Fear) the Reaper” saw Blue Öyster Cult become a household name nationwide. BÖC may have toned things down a notch musically for Agents, but lyrically they were sharp as always; ever the intellectuals. One could even say they were the first true pop metal band. Subsequent releases would continue this newfound formula, but more on those in future lists.

5. KISS – Destroyer

I think people fail to appreciate just how gutsy KISS was for releasing Destroyer. While it’s easy to point to Dynasty‘s foray into disco as the first in a string of questionable creative decisions for this band, it’s actually Destroyer that put all the chips on the table. Ballads? Choirs? Strings? Soundscapes? For a band who built their reputation on catchy 3 minute pop rock songs, this should’ve been a recipe for disaster. Instead, it became the defining album of their career. Amidst the experimentation were simple rockers like “Shout It Out Loud” and “Do You Love Me” that recalled the early days, as well as defiant metal hymns like “Detroit Rock City” and “God of Thunder”, the latter of which almost came off as saying, “Your move Sabbath.”

4. Rush – 2112

Here’s the scenario: You’re three albums deep into a record contract in which you’ve sold virtually no albums. Your entire reputation has been built on endless touring, but that’s not enough to appease the label. You’re faced with an option: Make a radio friendly rock album they can actually pedal OR take a hike. Rush chose neither. In what might be the greatest act of defiance in rock history, they presented Mercury with a 20+ minute progressive metal opera chronicling an oppressive intergalactic authoritarian theocracy known as “The Solar Federation”. The tyrannical priests reign until one brave soul rises up and saves the universe with the power of music and free thought. As a semi-official music reviewer/analyst, I can’t help but think this whole story was written by Neil Peart as a parallel to the real life battle between Rush and Mercury. And just like how our hero reigns supreme in the song, Rush reigned supreme in real life. 2112 sold over 3 million copies in America alone. “Attention all planets of the Solar Federation. We have assumed control.”

3. Aerosmith – Rocks

After releasing two hard rock classics in Get Your Wings (1974) and Toys in the Attic (1975), Aerosmith reached their creative pinnacle with Rocks. I think Scott Carlson of Repulsion said it best: “It’s so sleazy, it feels greasy when you take it out of its sleeve.” Look, I don’t advocate drug use. Most human beings probably wouldn’t be able to survive a fraction of the substances Aerosmith were on while writing and recording this album. But if such “abuse” ends up resulting in a masterpiece of these proportions, by all means “abuse” at your own risk. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Sobriety was the worst thing that happened to this band. No sober mind could write such sleazy symphonies like “Nobody’s Fault”, “Back in the Saddle”, and “Rats in the Cellar”. Hell, if I had a time machine, I’d go back in time to 1976 and play Aerosmith “Dude (Looks Like a Lady)” to warn them of their own demise. I don’t care if it causes a butterfly effect in the long run. I’d be doing humanity a favor.

2. Judas Priest – Sad Wings of Destiny

If Black Sabbath’s debut is the most important album in metal history because it invented the genre, Sad Wings of Destiny might very well be the second most important album in metal history. Having spent a couple years as a floundering half psych/half metal band, Judas Priest decided to follow their destiny (no pun intended) and devote their lives to metal. Little did they know what was to come. There’s a handful of tracks on Sad Wings that are truly ahead of their time. For example, “The Ripper” and “Tyrant” sounds light years ahead of anything else released in ’76. If anything, they have more in common with the traditional metal sound that’d become commonplace in the early 80s. All in all, Sad Wings is as masterful today as it was 45 years ago. It’s dark, brooding, and introspective, but such is life.

1. Rainbow – Rising

1976: The year of Blackmore’s revenge. While his previous band Deep Purple finally succumbed to drugs and creative tensions, Rainbow rose from the darkness with an album that’s widely regarded as “the greatest metal album of all time”. And while I don’t necessarily hold that position, I can’t really disagree either. From the opening synths of “Tarot Woman” to the closing cacophony of “A Light in the Black” (the greatest metal song of all time, in my opinion), Rising is an otherworldly collection of scorching hot metal and steely hard rock. At times we even hear power metal in its most embryonic form. The soaring vocals of Dio, neoclassical guitars of Blackmore, and fantasy themed lyrics and imagery paved the way for thousands of metal bands to come, though none of these bands would come close to the brilliance of Rising. Furthermore, what self respecting metalhead in the last 45 years hasn’t screamed out the lyric, “My eyes are bleeding and my heart is leaving here!!!!”? Exactly.

Honorable Mentions

• AC/DC – Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
• Black Sabbath – Technical Ecstasy
• Cool Feet – Burning Desire
• Thin Lizzy – Johnny the Fox
• UFO – No Heavy Petting