The 1970 album Runt is widely considered Todd Rundgren’s solo debut, though technically it was recorded by a band also called Runt. That band was essentially a Rundgren solo project, though, so it’s all semantics.
I only recently stopped confusing Todd Rundgren with Ted Nugent, so I’m very much in the dark about the man’s career. But everything of his I’ve heard suggests I should be a fan.
Black Sabbath released both their debut and sophomore albums in 1970, and are pretty much credited with giving birth to heavy metal. Credited or blamed, depending on your musical taste.
Paranoid was the second of those albums, and widely considered their best work. Tracks such as ‘War Pigs,’ ‘Iron Man’ and the title track became instant metal classics.
During my final week looking at 1970, I’ll feature albums and bands with which I have very little familiarity. I’ve heard the names, but I’ve pretty much never heard the music.
First up are The Stooges, whose sophomore album Funhouse served as a loud, obnoxious rebuttal to the melodic pop of the 60s.
The Random iTunes Fairy is inadvertently jumping the gun here, unaware that I’m planning a theme week on Sinead O’Connor. This track wasn’t in the lineup, though, so no harm, no foul.
‘Just Call Me Joe’ is the final track of O’Connor’s impressive 1987 debut album, The Lion and the Cobra. For those (like me) whose first exposure to the bald songstress was through the quiet elegance of ‘Nothing Compares 2 U,’ this album was eye-opening.
Talking Heads’ 1983 album Speaking in Tongues was the band’s commercial breakthrough, to whatever extent a band this idiosyncratic can break through. The single ‘Burning Down the House’ became the group’s only top ten hit.
Speaking in Tongues followed the critically lauded but less accessible Remain in Light, and these two records form the band’s creative high point.
