Was 1977 the peak year for music?

I recently took part in a Twitter poll to vote for the best 5 albums of 1977. (Quick plug: these polls are run fortnightly for different years by Richard Shaw – @RichardS7370 – and are both fun and sometimes educational). Beyond the explosion of punk – which felt like a defining moment even at the time – it had not previously occurred to me what a seminal year that was in the history of pop and rock music.

The choice was difficult not just because there so many great albums that year, but because they all came from different genres.

The punk of the Sex Pistols, the Clash, The Ramones and (to a degree) Talking Heads kicked against all that had gone before (while using many of its tropes and chords), punk poets Elvis Costello and Ian Dury also produced magnificent debuts.

At the same time, David Bowie was on fire. He alarmed his record company with the ground-breaking Low, followed in the same year by Heroes – neither of which were much like anything any famous pop star had produced previously. Bowie was also busy co-writing and producing Iggy Pop’s first two solo albums while they were holed up in Berlin fighting addiction. Lust For Life and The Idiot are two very striking albums, entirely distinct from each other – the first seen as proto-punk, the second resembling parts of Low. Kraftwerk – who had considerable influence on Bowie’s new electronic sound – were acclaimed for Trans-Europe Express. And Television’s Marquee Moon already sounded post-punk as punk was taking off.

‘Adult orientated rock’ – a term sometimes used derisively, masking some of the brilliance the genre produced – arguably peaked in 1977 with Fleetwood Mac’s timeless classic Rumours, while Billy Joel’s The Stranger won many admirers and Meatloaf’s astonishing Bat Out Of Hell was pure rock theatre. Peter Gabriel broke free from the shackles of Genesis with a stunning solo debut. In yet another genre, one of reggae’s greatest albums and Bob Marley’s finest, Exodus, also came out that year.

In the 21st century, we are used to a plethora of music genres, many of which emerged long after 1977. Many people now only hear the genre they like or close relatives of it. But in 1977, when most people relied on radio or the odd TV show for their fix of music, 77 feels with hindsight like the year the idea of competing genres really exploded. You could not get five more different albums than Never Mind The Bollocks, Rumours, Low, Exodus and Bat Out Of Hell – and while punks of that era may frown on it, it is possible to love all five. Each was seismic in its impact and legacy. Trying to choose between them is real apples and pears stuff – and when you bring in the other LPs listed above, the choice is near impossible. 1977 almost needs a categorised chart – best punk album, best electronic, best AOR, best rock, etc – Marley can probably walk the reggae category. Albums involving David Bowie could easily make up four of the top five in the general category.

I am not really saying that 1977 was the best year for popular music – I’m just wondering if it was the point at which it went in so many different directions that the move towards specialist radio stations and bespoke playlists became inevitable. It is hard to know how a Spotify algorithm would calculate a cohesive playlist from that year that didn’t jar with each radical change of direction. But for those of us with eclectic taste, it is just great to have too much to choose from.

I hesitate to include my top 5 as we are sure to part company there and I am going to annoy many of my punkier friends by leaving out The Clash’s remarkable debut and The Ramones’ Rocket To Russia – though both came very close to my podium. Choosing across genres is, as I say, near impossible. I went for Low first, then Rumours, Lust For Life, Heroes and Never Mind The Bollocks (definitely annoying the punks now, but look at what’s ahead of it and how well they have endured).

I am sure that on another day, I could come up with a different list to annoy different people. That’s the beauty of music, our tastes change depending on what day it is or what genre we fancy. In 1977, there were many to choose between – each of them producing all-time classics.