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Fittingly, and not surprisingly, given the\u00a0decade’s\u00a0musical climate changes, the last 12 months of the ’70s marked the turning of an era.<\/p>\n
Just as punk\u00a0evolved into new wave and post-punk, influencing pop music along the way, classic rock began to absorb some of these changes, as veteran artists such as\u00a0Pink Floyd<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Neil Young<\/a>\u00a0incorporated elements of these emerging<\/span>\u00a0styles into their music.<\/p>\n As you’ll see in the list below of the Top 50 Albums of 1979, as chosen by the UCR staff, it was a year of transitions,\u00a0genre swapping, big debuts and famous last stands. Some of the\u00a01970s’ biggest names are here – Fleetwood Mac<\/a>, Led Zeppelin<\/a> and Paul McCartney<\/a> all released albums – as are emerging artists whose influence would be felt for decades to come.<\/p>\n READ MORE:<\/strong> Top 50 Albums of 1984<\/a><\/p>\n Most artists were still on an annual album release schedule, with a handful still\u00a0adhering to multiple LP releases as acts had done in the ’60s. Newcomer Joe Jackson <\/a>and relative newcomers Motorhead<\/a> both had a busy 1979, but others slowed their pace, leaving long gaps,\u00a0at least for the time, between records. Fleetwood Mac and Led Zeppelin each waited more than two years between No. 1 albums to issue follow-ups.<\/p>\n The Top 50 Albums of 1979 feature\u00a0a mix of artists who’d been making music since the ’60s and those who’d formed only a short time earlier; disco, pop, dub, punk and experimental sounds rub alongside jazz, rock, world and easy listening. It was the end of a decade that adapted to its era with open-armed\u00a0excitement.<\/p>\n It was a year of era-defining changes, bending of genres, big debuts and famous last stands.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Gallery Credit: Michael Gallucci<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nTop 50 Albums of 1979<\/h2>\n