I'd Love to Change the World

There aren't many periods or genres in the history of popular music that can't be recognized by a signature sound, but the early ‘70s atmosphere of creative freedom birthed a diversity of rock that's too kaleidoscopic to classify. It was a time when you could dig the beautiful-people blend of SF groovy, rock virtuosity, and Tito Puente salsa that is Santana's “Oye Come Va,” then dive happily into the onslaught of slow-moving sludge that was Black Sabbath's Birmingham bruiser “Iron Man.” Jethro Tull jumped multiple genres in one epic song, folding Brit-folk flute into heavy hitting crunch and seething psychedelia on “Aqualung,” and glam godfather Alice Cooper rolled back the idea of happy-go-lucky teen-dream days on a beautifully brutish “Eighteen.” This is volume 4 of our Classic Rock FM Years series.