1976 - The greatest year in Hard Rock/Metal history?

I was making lists of my favourite Hard Rock/Metal albums for each year 1970-, and 1976 was such an awesome year for classic releases. Here are my top 20 of 1976 in order:

1. Aerosmith - Rocks (#1 on my all time list)
2. Thin Lizzy - Johnny The Fox ((#2 on my all time list)
3. Sweet - Give Us A Wink
4. Thin Lizzy - Jailbreak
5. Judas Priest - Sad Wings Of Destiny
6. Rainbow - Rising
7. Angel - Helluva Band
8. Rush - 2112
9. Boston - Boston
10. Scorpions - Virgin Killer
11. Blue Oyster Cult - Agents Of Fortune
12. Kiss - Destroyer
13. Led Zeppelin - Presence
14. Queen - A Day At The Races
15. AC/DC - Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
16. Black Sabbath - Technical Ecstasy
17. The Ramones - The Ramones
18. AC/DC - High Voltage
19. The Runaways - The Runaways
20. Ted Nugent - Free For All

That is a classic year for Metal, are their any i missed from 1976. Is their a more classic year in your opinion?

Yes, I think 1980 is probably a more classic year. I'll have to get my list out when I can.

Yeah 1980 would be my 2nd year followed closely by 1984

1976. A good year indeed. Rocks would top my list as well.

1980
Iron Maiden - Iron Maiden
Black Sabbath - Heaven and Hell
Ozzy Osbourne - Blizzard of Ozz
Scorpions - Animal Magnetism
Judas Priest - British Steel
AC/DC - Back In Black
Motorhead - Ace Of Spades
Saxon - Wheels Of Steel
Saxon - Strong Arm Of The Law
Def Leppard - On Through The Night
Blue Öyster Cult - Cultösaurus Erectus
Van Halen - Woman & Children First
Michael Schenker Group - s/t
Krokus - Metal Rendez-Vous
Diamond Head – Lightning to the Nations
Samson – Head On
Molly Hatchet - Beating the Odds
Queen - The Game
Angel Witch - Angel Witch
Rush - Permanent Waves

I vote for 1990.

Testament - Souls of Black
Slayer - Seasons in the Abyss
Megadeth - Rust in Peace
Anthrax - Persistence of Time
Suicidal Tendencies - Lights, Camera, Revolution
Sacred Reich - The American Way
Tourniquet - Stop the Bleeding
Pantera - Cowboys from Hell
Death Angel - Act 111
Death - Spiritual Healing
Deliverance - Weapons of our Warfare
Flotsam and Jetsam - When the Storm Comes Down
Exodus - Impact is Imminent
Judas Priest - Painkiller
King's X - S/T
Prong - Beg to Differ
Trouble - S/T
Danzig - S/T

I forgot Alice in Chains - Facelift

Ult, thanks for the 1980 list. You put more than I could have come up with.

1983 and 1986 were great years.

You know, you could make a Top 20 list of great metal releases from the years 1980-1993, and each year will seem just as classic as the last.

every year has it's gems... if you are a die hard, you can come up with a list every year.

I reckon 1985 was a weak year compared to the others in the 80's it had some excellent albums but it didn't have the depth of other years.

rattpoison wrote:

I reckon 1985 was a weak year compared to the
others in the 80's it had some excellent albums but it didn't have the
depth of other years.

1985

Fates Warning - The Spectre Within

Slayer - Hell Awaits

Trouble - The Skull

Exodus - Bonded By Blood

Artillery - Fear Of Tomorrow

Celtic Frost - To Mega Therion

Megadeth - Killing Is My Business

Celtic Frost - To Mega Therion

Anthrax - Spreading The Disease

Helloween - Walls Of Jericho

Armored Saint - Delirious Nomad

Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force - Marching Out

Piledriver - Metal Inquisition

Vicious Rumors - Soldiers of the Night

Stryper - Soldiers Under Command

Hirax - Raging Violence

Dokken - Under Lock and Key

Accept – Metal Heart

Agent Steel – Skeptics Apocalypse

Artillery – Fear of Tomorrow

Dark Angel – We Have Arrived

Exodus – Bonded by Blood

Grim Reaper – Fear No Evil

Hallows Eve – Tales of Terror

Helloween – Walls of Jericho

Kreator – Endless Pain

Militia – The Sybling EP

Nasty Savage – Nasty Savage

Overkill – Feel the Fire

Piledriver – Metal Inquisition

Razor – Executioner's Song

Razor – Evil Invaders

S.O.D. – Speak English or Die

Slayer – Hell Awaits

Warrior – Fighting for the Earth

AC/DC - Fly on the Wall

Iron Maiden - Live After Death

Iron Angel - Hellish Crossfire

Abattoir - Vicious Attack

Kreator - Endless Pain

Whiplash - Power And Pain

Possessed - Seven Churches

Running Wild - Branded And Exiled

Tyrant (US) - Legions Of The Dead

Zoetrope - Amnesty

You listed To Mega Therion twice.

1986 was the greatest year for thrash! Why? Three reasons:

Metallica - MASTER OF PUPPETS
Megadeth - PEACE SELLS...BUT WHO'S BUYING?
Slayer - REIGN IN BLOOD

all released the same year!! Man, we had it good back then!!

King's X's 1990 cd was Faith Hope Love not their self titled cd.

Yeah your right but either way both albums are good.

Required Fields wrote:

You listed To Mega Therion twice.

it was that damn good!

you could make an argument for vitually any year since maybe 1966 or so.

Many great years in metal history. 1979 was cool too, and 1985 and 1997.

I'm thinking back to what I actually listened to in 1976 (as opposed to the virtual 1976 that I live in now) . Man was I missing out on a lot. I was raised in a very conservative environment; and the heaviest things we were exposed to were BTO, Nuge, Grand Funk, Kansas,etc. I wish I could go back in time and say "pssst, hey kid" and give myself a list to check out. At that point Priest or Sabbath would have been too much for me, but I really wish I would have known about Budgie and UFO and about a million other bands like Status Quo and Wishbone Ash and Slade and Robin Trower. I only knew Sweet from the radio, and didn't really appreciate how hard they could rock until many years later. At least I got the chance to learn about all this stuff eventually.

Hey Rattpoison,
Can you post some of your lists from other years in the 70's, since you are already compiling them?

ult

stepcousin wrote:

you could make an argument for vitually any year since maybe 1966 or so.

I agree. Making a list like this is really subjective to their personal preferences, especially to this group. We could start a thread of Worst Years for Rock/Metal and there would be 30 replys saying "Wrong...Band x was released in 19xx".

That being said, I do enjoy reading the choices, so by all means, carry on...

mc666 wrote:

every year has it's gems... if you are a die hard, you can come up with a list every year.

True.

For some reason, I'm having a hard time making a top 10 list this year....

1976-1980 was pretty big.

I was born in 1991, and that was pretty big

Metallica: s/t (Black Album)

AC/DC: Live

Ozzy Osbourne: No More Tears

3 cool albums from 3 cool groups.