1978 was great! While Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, and Uriah Heep were becoming (or had become) yesterday’s news, a storm was brewing in England and the coasts of America. This storm would turn into a full blown monsoon come the 80s, but not without the help of a few albums released this year. Today, we examine those and others in our Top 10 Metal Albums of 1978.
10. Rose Tattoo – Rose Tattoo
AC/DC weren’t the only Aussies dealing in bold and brawny hard rock in the late 70s. Right by their side were The Angels and Rose Tattoo. Ironically, both bands were discovered by Harry Vanda and George Young (Angus and Malcolm’s older brother) who gave AC/DC their start a few years earlier. These two industry shakers had a real ear for rough and ready rock n’ roll. Rose Tatoo’s self titled debut combines the muscular edge of hard rock with the dangerous flash of the flourishing punk scene. It’s loud, it’s unapologetic, and it’s in your face. The difference between AC/DC and Rose Tattoo is that despite being a drunken lunatic, Bon Scott had a seductive edge, a finesse, that could lure any teenage girl to bed. Not Angry Anderson. There was and is nothing sweet or sexy or seductive about this dude. He’s 5 feet and 1 inch of rage and passion, set to a four on the floor beat. Anderson said it best: “I’m not a nice boy, and I never was.”
9. UFO – Obsession
After the commercial and critical success of Lights Out, UFO continued their newfound sophisticated metal sound on Obsession. For every carefree ode to rock n’ roll (“Only You Can Rock Me”) and underage sex (“Hot ‘n’ Ready”) was an introspective observation (“Lookin’ Out for No. 1”, “One More for the Rodeo”). By this point, Phil Mogg was writing and singing with the same fervent honesty as Phil Lynott and Bruce Springsteen. It was his songwriting approach which would keep UFO afloat into the 1980s, as Obsession was band’s last album to feature Michael Schenker until 1995’s Walk on Water.
8. Paul Stanley – Paul Stanley
In one of the greatest marketing strategies of all time, the four members of KISS simultaneously released solo albums on September 18, 1978. Ace Frehley’s is regularly hailed as the greatest. It was the best selling of the bunch, fueled by the commercial success of “New York Groove”. However, the older I get, the stronger Paul Stanley’s album becomes. It’s so much so that here he is making the list over Ace. I think what draws me and so many others to this album is that of the four, Stanley’s sounds closest to KISS. And KISS was still on top of the world. From the commandingly heavy “Tonight You Belong to Me”, to the sugary power pop infused hard rock of “Wouldn’t You Like to Know Me”, “Love in Chains”, and just about every other song on here, Paul Stanley’s solo album stands shoulder to shoulder with Love Gun and Rock and Roll Over in terms of top quality rock n’ roll.
7. Alice Cooper – From the Inside
After a couple mediocre missteps and a sanitarium stay, Alice Cooper returned with his most ambitious project yet, From the Inside. This concept album, equal parts silly and serious, tells the story of Alice’s stay. Produced by David Foster and co-written by Bernie Taupin, From the Inside is regularly panned for being pompous and pretentious. Keep in mind that the year was 1978. The biggest album on the planet was Bat Out of Hell and everybody was trying to out-Meat Loaf Meat Loaf. The Coop came pretty damn close with this one. From straightforward hard rockers (“Serious”, “Wish I Were Born in Beverly Hills”) to melodramatic piano ballads (“The Quiet Room”, “How You Gonna See Me Now”), From the Inside fully encapsulates the glitz and vice of it’s era. Indeed, “we’re all crazy”.
6. AC/DC – Powerage
Can we take a second to appreciate AC/DC’s work ethic. After 3 albums and modest success stateside, you’d think they’d start to bitch about the endless “album/tour/repeat” cycle. Nope. They kept chugging along with Powerage: an album that’s amazingly even more powerful and hard hitting than its predecessors. Oddly enough, Powerage is the one AC/DC album that hasn’t been tarnished by classic schlock radio programmers. There might be the occasional playing of “Sin City” on a “deep tracks weekend”, but that’s about it. Perhaps that’s part of it’s charm. For AC/DC fanatics such as myself, it’s like our dirty little not so secret secret. No matter how many times we blast “Riff Raff” and “Kicked in the Teeth”, the masses go right on back to “You Shook Me All Night Long”. Their loss.
5. Judas Priest – Killing Machine
Killing Machine was one of two albums Priest released in 1978. Due to controversy over its title, it wouldn’t be released stateside until 1979 under the name Hell Bent for Leather. Though not nearly as musically superior as Stained Class (more on that in a little bit), Killing Machine is an album that most metal bands would kill to write. Tracks like “Delivering the Goods”, “Burnin’ Up”, and “Rock Forever” proved that Priest could please the most mental metal maniacs, while throwing in enough hard rock hooks to land on FM radio rotations. The latter would become the band’s main focus as they made their way into the 80s.
4. Rainbow – Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll
By the time Rainbow dropped Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll, they had their formula down to a science. A savage proto-power metal romp (“Kill the King”)? Check. A fantastical epic complete with an extended guitar solo (“Gates of Babylon”)? Check. A couple no frills rockers (“L.A. Connection”, “Sensitive to Light”)? Check. A tear jerking ballad (“Rainbow Eyes”)? Check. Some might call it predictable. I call it brilliant. After releasing two excellent albums, Rainbow proved three is a magic number with Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll. It’s Blackmore and Dio at their absolute creative peak. Well, Blackmore at least. Dio would go on to have a pretty fruitful career in Black Sabbath and as a solo artist.
3. Van Halen – Van Halen
There’s a popular belief that there’s no such thing as an original thought. This would mean there’s no such thing as an original piece of art. Now granted, just about every band we know and love took something from a band before them. I say “just about” because while there is some salt to this philosophy, I don’t find it to be completely true. Why? Because of Van Halen. When these four dudes from Pasadena dropped their self titled debut, there had never been anything like it before. 43 years later and there hasn’t been anything like it since…well, aside from the other early Van Halen albums. Sure the entire L.A. glam metal scene co-opted the band’s carefree attitude, flashy stage personas, and hedonistic lifestyle. But name me one L.A. glam metal band who came close to capturing their sound. You can’t. “Atomic Punk”, “Runnin’ with the Devil”, “I’m the One”: This was a moment in time, folks. Lightning in a bottle. If this were any other year, this is the type of album that would be a shoe-in for #1. Alas, there are two more albums from this glorious year that reach such heights of brilliance in their own respective ways.
2. Rush – Hemispheres
After singlehandedly inventing progressive metal in the mid 70s, Rush knew a creative shift was nigh. They’d showcase the style they originated on both Permanent Waves and Moving Pictures. However, it was Hemispheres that served as the band’s final prog metal hurrah and arguably the genre’s finest hour. The centerpiece of the album is its 18 minute title track, which Rolling Stone described as “bridging the gap between heavy metal and sterile technology”. If that’s the case, Rolling Stone must bridge the gap between feces and shit. As today’s meme generation would say, Hemispheres is “big brain” music. Hell, the entire title track is centered around the human brain. There’s a damn brain on the cover! If you don’t like Hemispheres, you must be “Insane in the membrane…insane in the brain!” Sorry folks, but I had to say it.
- Judas Priest – Stained Class
“Wild eyed and tight fisted”, Judas Priest unleashed what may be the greatest metal album of all time in Stained Class. Words simply can’t describe the emotions conjured from this album’s lyrics, vocals, twin guitars, and even the revolutionary drums of Les Binks. As much as people love to namedrop Motörhead’s “Overkill” as the birth of speed/thrash metal, let’s not forget that the double bass assault of “Exciter” predated it by a year. Every song is its own masterpiece, including a rendition of Spooky Tooth’s “Better by You, Better Than Me” which would gain notoriety a decade later. Stained Class is dark, progressive, and almost gothic in nature. There are many bands and albums one can point to and say, “If you don’t like *insert band/album here*, you don’t like heavy metal.” This is one of those albums. If you don’t like…no. If you don’t worship Stained Class, you don’t like heavy metal. Period.
Honorable Mentions
- Ace Frehley – Ace Frehley
- The Godz – The Godz
- Magnum – Kingdom of Madness
- Ram Jam – Portrait of the Artist as a Young Ram
- Y&T – Struck Down