’70s Rock Essentials

For the rockers who swaggered and strutted through the ’70s, bigger nearly always meant better. Songs that were built to have maximum impact in stadiums and arenas somehow sounded even larger on home hi-fis thanks to multitrack recording technology and other studio advances that made the drums of Led Zeppelin’s John Bonham and The Who’s Keith Moon sound like cannon fire. Even the mellower, headphone-ready sounds of Fleetwood Mac, Pink Floyd, and the Eagles boasted unprecedented breadth and richness. Yet the decade’s sound was defined just as much by leaner, meaner takes on rock fundamentals, courtesy of artists such as AC/DC and Alice Cooper.