1978 albums I bought at Speakertree Record Shop in Lynchburg, VA.
When I first saw the title of an NPR article, “40 Years Later: Was 1978 The Greatest Year In Music?” I immediately thought that the writers of this commentary about music from 1978 were absolutely absurd. To even consider the possibility that 1978 was among the greatest years in modern music history sounded utterly ridiculous to this fellow.
As a student at James Madison University and having lived through the 1978 music scene, disco ruled as the most popular genre of music that year. Disco songs spent 30 out of the 52 weeks at the number 1 position of the Billboard Hot 100 during that year. Bees Gees, Andy Gibb, Bee Gees, Donna Summer (and did I mention Bee Gees?) all dominated popular music in America. Even the Rolling Stones hit number 1 with a disco record “Miss You” during 1978 for crying out loud!
For many music fans, the disco era was a low point in the recording industry and it was amazing that NPR (or anyone else) considered 1978 to be the greatest year in music. So I started thinking: Let me investigate the music released in 1978. Maybe I was missing something?
So I submit to you that there were actually some great albums and singles released during 1978. As the NPR article stated, “Kate Bush, The Cars, Devo, Dire Straits, The B-52’s, The Police, Buzzcocks and Van Halen released their debut albums” 40 years ago. Disco may have been king in 1978 but new rock artists emerged during this year.
Speakertree Record Shop in Lynchburg, VA
So I have come up with a listing of worthy top albums and singles from 1978. There are no ranking with my lists and music is listed in a random order. Many of the singles I am listing were not big Top 40 hits but are significant songs by these artists (and much better than the all of the disco songs that were hits during 1978).
“This Year’s Model” album by Elvis Costello and the Attractions: One of the most critically acclaimed albums from 1978 features the single “Pump it Up” which has one of the best rhythm sections from the 70’s and helped to bring Costello into the forefront of the new wave genre of music.
“More Songs About Building and Foods” album by Talking Heads: Released during the fall of 1978, the band’s cover of Al Green’s “Take Me to the River” became the first Top 30 hit for the group. Also in early 1978, a song from the Talking Heads ‘77 debut album entitled “Psycho Killer” was released as a single. This signature debut hit has one of the best bass lines in rock history.
“Outlandos d’Amour” album by The Police: The debut album by the rock trio mixes reggae, punk and rock that many considered “new wave” and has the memorable single “Roxanne.” Also on the album are “Can’t Stand Losing You” and “So Lonely” that helped to define the music output by the English band.
“Easter” album by Patti Smith Group: One of the leaders of the punk rock movement, the “Easter” album became her most successful with religious imagery from the Christian faith. Smith’s song “Because the Night”, that was co-written by Bruce Springsteen, was the biggest hit single during her career.
“Darkness on the Edge of Town” album by Bruce Springsteen: Since I mentioned Springsteen above, this is the appropriate place to mention that the 1978 album was the follow up to the landmark signature album “Born To Run” from 1975. The Boss delivers three of his best songs ever on this album: “The Promised Land,” “Badlands” and “Prove It All Night.”
“The Last Waltz” album by The Band: Although The Band’s last concert was on Thanksgiving Day 1976, the soundtrack for “The Last Waltz” was not released until 1978. Joining The Band for this historic concert were Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Emmylou Harris, Neil Young, Eric Clapton, The Staple Singers and a few other artists. In my humble opinion, the best overall rock album released during 1978.
Stardust by Wille Nelson, a record I purchased at Speakertree Record Shop in Lynchburg, VA
“Stardust” album by Willie Nelson: The “Outlaw Country” music artist switched gears in 1978 and recorded an album of early 20th century American pop standards by famous composers such as Irving Berlin and George Gershwin. Nelson had lots of music variety with different genres on the album: jazz, pop, folk and country. Interpretations of “Georgia on My Mind”, “Blue Skies” and “Stardust” provided Nelson with new respect in the eyes of fans across multiple categories of music.
In the singles only category, there are 4 songs I want to highlight from 1978 that are memorable but were not hits in America: “I Wanna Be Sedated” by The Ramones, “Wuthering Heights” by Kate Bush, “Rock Lobster” by The B-52’s and “Surrender” by Cheap Trick. All four of those songs are more substantial than just about all of the top 10 disco hits that charted on the Billboard Hot 100 during 1978.
Although I do not agree with NPR and their hypothesis that 1978 was the greatest year for music, I also can’t totally dismiss the entire year as musically wasted. I do submit that 1978 had many albums and individual single songs that merit consideration as some of the best music to be released during the late 70’s. 1978 is not the greatest year in music history but it does have some excellent tunes that stand the test of time.
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DJ Dave's Musical Musings 
Like you, I scratched my head on that article’s declaration. I also disagree that it was the best year, but there were several notable releases, as you and the article points out. Rolling Stone’s “Some Girls” And Blondie’s “Parallel Lines” are albums I might toss in. With disco being so prevalent in ’78, I enjoyed every nugget of rock-n-roll I could find. Oh, and there’s Seger’s “Old Time Rock-n-roll “! Rock on, David!
I’ll have to agree with you by saying that disco music is definitely not a era that most people think fondly of but I will say this. I don’t care for it but it did start the path that branched away from rock and still has a lot of influence in todays music. That being said I don’t think you can peg a specific year best year of music cause from 1965- 1977 was absolutely littered with amazing music. And there are a few albums in 1978 that fly under the radar due to flashy rock and disco. Like Stranger in Town by Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band with Old time Rock and Roll which is clearly a cry against the disco explosion. Even the album title tells the tale of how outta place he is in that year. Another album that’s flew really low under the radar is Backless by Clapton. Although not as good as his other previous albums it’s still a pretty solid album. Who are you by The Who and Heavy Horses by jethro Tull also got outshined but they are still there. This is off topic a bit but I also think 1977 brought a lot of music into 1978 with Rumors by Fleetwood Mac, Aja by Steely Dan, Slowhand by Clapton, Out of the Blue by ELO, News to the world by queen, and Book of Dreams by Steve miller band just to name a few and even though they weren’t released or ‘ top 40 popular’ in 1978 they still were popular among people who didn’t like disco and rightfully so.
Wow… agree. I can’t even think of albums I might have bought in 1978 except for some Christian ones (Keaggy’s “Master and the Musician” comes to mind). I was never a Costello or Patti Smith fan. The Police were cool and I remember the Last Waltz a little. But besides those I would also think disco when I think about 1978. Sorry NPR.
Certainly BOUGHT a lot of LP’s in 78,no disco but a wide range of good rock This because had been a year out of university, made some money ,had heard a lot of diverse stuff in last 5 years. So probability , it’s due to my
time of life, not so much that 78 was a classic year as such….
1978 was in the middle of the punk/new wave era of music. 1976-1980 saw a plethora of records that are important in the evolution of rock music. Without looking up the exact year of release,”This Year’s Model”, the Clash’s “Give Em Enough Rope”, Blondie’s “Parallel Lines”, Nick Lowe’s “Pure Pop” & “Labor of Lust”, “Television”, Ian Durie’s “New Boots”, Buzzcocks’ “Singles Going Steady”, Talking Heads 1st & 2nd LP, Lene Lovich, Rachel Sweet, Graham Parker & the Rumour. Springsteen, Southside Johnny, etc were indeed quite a fertile soundtrack to my formative years. That sort of melodic movement, IMHO, was an era without peer.
1967 has long secured its place as the greatest year in music.