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The\u00a0list of the Top 30 American Classic Rock Bands of the ’70s reflects just how much music grew in the aftermath of the previous decade.<\/p>\n
The rise of FM radio in the late ’60s now provided a home for music’s more experimental records, while AM remained the domain of pop. Although a Top 40 hit was still a goal for many acts, it was no longer the be-all and end-all it had been since the dawn of the recording industry; rock artists taking on\u00a0weightier musical or lyrical concerns now had a place where they could\u00a0be heard and thrive.<\/p>\n
You can hear this new freedom in the lengthy\u00a0jams of the Allman Brothers Band<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Lynyrd Skynyrd<\/a> as well as in the aggressive punk and New Wave sounds of the Ramones<\/a> and Blondie<\/a>.<\/p>\n Similarly, R&B\u00a0music underwent its own evolution\u00a0and got heavier with bands like Sly & the Family Stone<\/a> and Funkadelic<\/a>\u00a0leading the way by mixing psychedelic rock with the harder-hitting rhythms of funk,\u00a0as their lyrics dealt with the growing Black consciousness of the day.<\/p>\n The list doesn’t include\u00a0solo artists, so you won’t find such ’70s notables as Stevie Wonder<\/a>, Bruce Springsteen<\/a>, Linda Ronstadt<\/a> or Billy Joel<\/a>. It also focuses specifically\u00a0on the years\u00a01970\u00a0through 1979,\u00a0so someone like\u00a0Paul Simon<\/a> is graded only for\u00a0his work with Art Garfunkel<\/a> during\u00a0that period and not\u00a0the excellent solo records\u00a0he released.<\/p>\n One final note:\u00a0The bands’ lineups must consist\u00a0exclusively of Americans,\u00a0so legendary acts like Fleetwood Mac<\/a>, Foreigner<\/a> and Crosby, Stills\u00a0& Nash<\/a> (with or without Canadian Neil Young<\/a>) are excluded from consideration. But that still left us with plenty of luminaries to choose from, which you’ll see below in our list of the\u00a0Top 30 American Classic Rock Bands of the ’70s.<\/p>\nTop 30 American Classic Rock Bands of the ’70s<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n