20 albums that defined NYC in the '70s

Producer Brian Eno was a staple of the New York music scene and was significant in the transition of the city's sound to what would become New Wave. "No New York," produced by Eno and featuring four bands (Contortions, Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, Mars and D.N.A.) represented the short-lived "No Wave" movement and is a compilation that didn't get much love upon its 1978 release. It has since enjoyed a revival and reevaluation by critics as a landmark of cultural and musical history that is not only indicative of its time but also of its rarity.

New York Dolls lead singer David Johansen strikes out on his own with his self-titled solo album, a collection of songs that feel, in a way, like a throwback to a time when the Dolls played basement parties, still refining their sound while simply focusing on being entertaining. Despite the raw feel of the music, "David Johansen" relies and succeeds on Johansen's outrageous vocals, keeping up with the sporadic and genuine guitar solos and producing an album that, on final evaluation, is every bit as intense and alive as the city it was recorded in.

It might come across as peculiar that we include an album whose most memorable track is "Detroit Rock City" on a list of definitive New York albums of the '70s, but the proof is in the pudding of KISS' fourth studio album, "Destroyer." A rock album that feels every bit as gritty as the streets the band came from, tracks like "Shout it Out Loud" and "God of Thunder" fit the mood of '70s rock and never fail to live up to the standard. Mix in the surprising ballad "Beth" and you have an album that surpasses the kitch and face paint to represent a good time with a little filler.

Television did not let the earlier departure of co-founder Richard Hell sink the band, and its 1977 effort, "Marquee Moon," is testament to that. More than just punk, the album gave birth to something else completely — a sound best described as post-punk. Led by Tom Verlaine and sound engineer Andy Johns, "Marquee Moon" is a valentine of sorts to the East Village and pulls off a musical quality that's unexpected from a band that made its bones in traditional punk. 

The sixth album from Billy Joel has a distinctly New York feel, something that goes far beyond its title that hails 52nd Street, NY's hub for mid-century jazz, Joel's favorite era. Throughout the album Joel expands on a number of the themes featured on his classic album "The Stranger." But with tracks like the cynical "Big Shot" and the tender ballad "Honesty," he creates something slightly more mature and thoughtful. He also lays the groundwork for future albums via "Until the Night," a '60s-tinged soulful piece that would be expanded upon in 1983's "An Innocent Man."

Richard Lester Meyers embraced the vagabond nature of the late '60s, dropping out of school and moving from his old Kentucky home to the cold streets of NYC with only the hopes of being some poet in his plan. The poet would soon turn into punk rock pioneer Richard Hell, and after a successful run with his first band, Television, Hell would create a seminal punk album with his new band, the Voidoids. Hailed by critics and punk rock purists alike, "Blank Generation" was proof that punk was an American product, shortly before the second British Invasion would change the narrative.

While not the cultural hallmark that their debut album, the self-titled "Ramones" represented, "Rocket to Russia" gives listeners a much more accessible and refined version of the band's signature sound and is hailed by both critics and band members as the superior album, at least in terms of quality. That may not matter much to punk devotees, who operate under a DIY mindset, but the increased quality also allowed the band to spread its wings beyond its punk confines to deliver a more eclectic album that brought with it a wry sense of humor.

New York-based composer and bandleader Eddie Palmieri wanted to create something that spoke to the racially heated times in the city, focusing on inequalities faced by the Puerto Rican community. The result is the soulfully tortured "Harlem River Drive." More a sonic protest that was ahead of its time than a successful venture, the album remains relevant as a window into the lives of people in what was once known as Spanish Harlem. Palmieri creates an elegant and intense album that endures to this day as a bit of an underground classic and gives us an example of Latin funk that deserved far more success. 

The debut album by glam rockers New York Dolls is a quintessential New York album...and that was part of the problem. Critics fawned over it with proto-punk tracks like "Trash" and "Personality Crisis," but the album (and the band) lacked an appeal that could extend past the Hudson River, leading to poor sales. In time, as punk took over the landscape, the Dolls and this debut album became hallmarks of a genre that was still feeling itself out. The album is beloved by fellow musicians, which in turn gave it a new lease on life, as it's now regarded as a genuine classic. 

Anchored by post-punk phenomenon "Psycho Killer," the Talking Heads' debut studio album comes out with the force of a shotgun blast. "Talking Heads: 77" delivers an elegant rage that feels cut from the darkest streets of the city, wearing the sheen of an artistic vibe that would feel at home just outside of Studio 54, not unlike a punk who deserves a taste of a more glam life. On tracks like "Uh-Oh, Love Comes to Town" and "No Compassion," the feeling is one of intensity mixed with sonic detachment and delivered beautifully by eclectic weirdo David Byrne, making the album a must-listen.

A hybrid of punk, new wave and pop, "Parallel Lines," the third studio album from Blondie, is a testament to the magnetic power of the band's sound and the sheer sexual magnetism of lead singer Debbie Harry, who balances the flirtatious and fatal with songs like the classic "Heart of Glass," the rambunctious "One Way or Another" and the carefree Parisian-tinged "Sunday Girl." As New York albums go, "Parallel Lines" feels like a triptych of genres that coalesces into something special.

The debut studio album from complicated lyricist Gil-Scott Heron, "Pieces of a Man" is a jazzy meditation in poetry and prose. Heron mixes singing with recitations of poetry all against a soulful backdrop that conveys the sort of pain and frustration that lived within the hearts and minds of African-Americans in the U.S. during the '70s. While the sound is uniquely New York, it's also a clarion call of sorts that lays the groundwork for the coming hip-hop revolution, which, counter to Heron's prediction, was indeed televised, via MTV.

For an album recorded in Paris, "Some Girls," the 16th studio album from British rockers the Rolling Stones is about as New York as you can get. With the band in a creative lull, Mick Jagger used the Big Apple as inspiration, creating lyrics that were an antidote of sorts to the ruling punk and disco genres. Coupled with Ronnie Wood finally becoming a full-time member, the sound was defiant and vital, with seminal tracks "Beast of Burden," "Shattered" and "Miss You" creating a feeling and mood that screamed NYC and brought the band back into cultural relevance.

A fixture of the New York punk scene of the '70s, Patti Smith was there to see it all come to life, and her 1975 album, "Horses," is largely considered a historical classic that in turn served as inspiration for a number of popular groups,such as Siouxsie and the Banshees, Hole, Sonic Youth and R.E.M. in developing their own work. "Horses" is every bit as much about the lyrics as it is the standard three-chord sound indicative of the genre. Smith works like a beat poet, painting mental pictures with her words that hit hard and are floated by a sound that creates its own identity with each song.

When you think New York punk rock, there is only one band that comes up first and foremost: The Ramones. Featuring furiously rendered tracks like "Blitzkreig Bop" and "Judy is a Punk," the self-titled debut album was a cultural megaton bomb, as "The Ramones" became THE album that broke NY punk out of its shell and on its way to establishing the sound across the country. Critic Robert Christgau summed up the potency of the album, saying it "makes me uneasy. But my theory has always been that good rock and roll should damn well make you uneasy."

Socially aware, and endlessly funky, Curtis Mayfield's soundtrack to Gordon Parks Jr.'s "Super Fly" seems at war with the film itself. The songs take a hard view toward the life of dope dealers, which seems in contrast with the hero of the film being a drug dealer. When considered together, though, it only speaks toward the way in which Mayfield reigns as a troubadour of the troubled, painting a picture of a harsh and unforgiving New York where hope can still live among the souls of the damned.

Studio album No. 16 for Stevie Wonder is a prime pastiche of urban life in New York, with songs that felt right at home being blasted out of speakers in Harlem, Brooklyn and Queens. "Living for the City" feels like the ultimate biography of black life at the time, while the psychedelic rhythm of "Higher Ground" feels like a backhanded celebration under pressure. Balance all that against the Latin piano of the optimistic "Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing," and you have an album that rightly holds its place among the greatest albums of all time.

"Bridge Over Troubled Water" fits a number of categories and tells a number of tales. As a picture of NYC in the '70s, it has few peers. It's also the final album in a successful five-album run for a group that hit its creative limit. From melancholy yet wistful songs like "The Boxer" to breakup anthems like "Cecilia" and the contemplative title track, "Bridge," it is not unlike a watercolor painting of a city known for its pain and pleasure. This is typified in b-side "The Only Living Boy in New York," Paul Simon's way of depicting the breakup of the group at a time when Art Garfunkel went off to act instead of write songs for this very album.

The 1977 film "Saturday Night Fever" was more than a just a movie: It was a chronicle of an entire movement. NYC may have been a hub for punk and folk in the '70s, but the disco craze that stormed the nation had its epicenter in the Big Apple, and the songs featured on this soundtrack proved to be a sensation. While the Bee Gees are prominently featured with their instant classics like "Stayin' Alive," "How Deep Is Your Love?" and "More Than a Woman," the album also includes memorable cuts from KC and the Sunshine Band ("Boogie Shoes") and The Trammps ("Disco Inferno").

From the first notes of "Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)," Billy Joel's magnum opus, "The Stranger," lives and breathes as the quintessential picture of the New York of the 1970s. This is largely achieved by the way Joel tells the stories of those striving and surviving, and more importantly, growing up. The songs are a mixture of loneliness, defiance and uncertainty, all delivered with a charm and an honesty that's indicative of New Yorkers themselves. A pure pleasure in sound, "The Stranger" will take listeners through a range of emotions still relevant today but will always live as a window into a time long ago and seemingly farther away.