The Unsung Greats of Classic Rock

Classic rock forum is a term used loosely to describe the albums released in the early to late 70's by artists which have become legendary and therefore 'classics".

Most of these albums/artists were highly original and would become influential on many other bands for generations to come. No matter what era you were born in since the 70's almost ANY band you listen to would have been influenced by artists and bands from this era. So even if you are now only in your teens and you find you favorite band sounds "totally original" you can bet your bottom dollar that they were influenced by someone from this era ( even if they don't even know it!)

The seventies was a great era for music because it truly was a ground breaking time for original music. Nothing was copied, or rehashed, everyone had their own sound even though, as always in music, the 70's was a continuance and evolution of music from the 60's, but it matured more fully in the 70's.

Bands and artists such as Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Jimi Hendrix , Free, Allman Brothers, Queen, Black Sabbath, Cream, David Bowie, Status Quo are all examples of acts who made their start in the 60's but found their sound and style in the 70's, and therefore gave rise to many other bands who then added their own flavor to these styles.

Lesser known bands such as Uriah Heep, Wishbone Ash, Grand Funk Railroad, Scorpions (who became quite huge in the 80's), and Thin Lizzy are worthy of mentions but would not necessarily be known as legends, where as other acts such as Queen became absolutely huge and remain so to this day.

It is the same with "guitar heroes". Almost every guitarist no matter what age has heard of or has listened to Hendrix, Clapton. Jimmy Page etc but there are other extremely talented and influential guitarists who are less well known that should be in the legend status as well. Two such examples are Richie Blackmore from deep purple and Michael Schenker from UFO. You will find some modern players such as Kirk Hammet and Dimebag Darrel were heavily influenced by Michael Schenker, but Schenker has not really achieved "god like" status such as some of his contemporaries like Jimmy Page and Eric Clapton.