The 76 Best Albums of 1976

By Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone

The year was 1976. Everything was weird — but especially the music. Everyone walked around saying “Dy-no-mite!” or “Up your nose with a rubber hose.” Jimmy Carter became the first President to hang out with the Allman Brothers. The Apple computer and VHS player were invented. So was The Muppet Show. The Farrah Fawcett poster was everywhere. The radio was full of Stevie Wonder and Kiss. On Saturday Night Live, Lorne Michaels offered the Beatles $3000 to reunite. A few months later, George Harrison showed up to collect. It was that kind of year.

You could go to the movies and see Sly Stallone in Rocky, Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver, and Sissy Spacek in Carrie. (Blood had a big year.) Or you could sit around the house, get high and watch the tube, for The Jeffersons, Charlie’s Angels, What’s Happening!!, Family Feud, Good Times, or Welcome Back, Kotter. It was a great baseball summer, thanks to The Bad News Bears and Rolling Stone cover star Mark “The Bird” Fidrych. Richard Pryor was dating Pam Grier. Everyone was workin’ on their night moves.

But nothing was weirder — or cooler — than the music. So let’s break it down, with our celebration of the 76 best albums of 1976. Stevie Wonder made everybody’s fave with Songs in the Key of Life. New sounds were rising up, from Jamaican dub to CBGB punk, from outlaw country to stoner rock. The Band played their farewell “Last Waltz” show on Thanksgiving. Frampton came alive. P-Funk met Dr. Funkenstein. It was the Bicentennial summer immortalized in Dazed and Confused. Rush traveled to 2112. The Eagles checked into the Hotel California, and last we heard, they’re still arguing with the front desk. 

It was a glorious year for one-hit wonders on the radio — the Number One hits included “Disco Duck” (feathers in the club), “Play That Funky Music” (“white booooy”), “A Fifth of Beethoven” (classical disco), “Convoy” (truckers on CB radio), or “Afternoon Delight” (don’t aaaask). But it’s the classic albums we’re toasting right now. Our list has disco, prog, soul, folk, metal, Chicago blues, Brazilian samba, New Orleans funk. We’ve got classic debuts from the Ramones, Boston, Blondie, the Runaways. We’ve got singer-songwriter gems from Joni Mitchell, Jackson Browne, Bob Dylan, Al Green, and Warren Zevon. 

But the one thing all these albums have in common? They still sound dy-no-mite 50 years after they came out. So here’s to the Spirit of ’76. Don’t fear the reaper, people, and have a nice day.

• Hall & Oates, ‘Bigger Than Both of Us’

  

  Welcome to 1976, the kind of year where the hottest boy-boy duo in pop history could introduce themselves with the question, “Do you believe in hot cars, leather bars, and movie stars?” Philly dogs Daryl Hall and John Oates hit the spotlight with their breakthrough album Bigger Than Both of Us and their first Number One smash, “Rich Girl.” It also has the awesome Me Decade pep talk “Do What You Want, Be What You Are,” where Daryl sings the wise words, “The strong give up and move on/While the weak give up and stay.” “John and I have never been lovers,” Daryl confided to Rolling Stone. “He’s not my type. Too dark and short.” But 50 years later, they’re still on top of… [touches earpiece] Wait, seriously? They brokeup?Why? Get it together, you two! But Bigger is an archetypal 1976 pop classic—and the perfect place to start this party.–Rob Sheffield