My top eight musical artists of the 1970s
Photo Courtesy of Heinrich Klaffs- Wikimedia Commons
The year is 1970. Joan Didion is in the midst of writing her infamous analytical essays. President Reagan has yet to be elected. The Apollo 13 crew landed safely in the Pacific Ocean two days after takeoff. And the music on the radio is better than ever.
The 1970s were a time of significant cultural change. In the wake of the 60s, American culture experienced a shift towards personal introspection and political disillusionment, which naturally impacted the arts, creating a golden age of music.
These are my top eight personal favorite solo artists and bands of the decade.
Joy of Cooking
According to AllMusic, this band was founded in 1967 in Berkley, California under the name Gourmet’s Delight, reaching their peak in the early 70s with the minor hit single “Brownsville” before disbanding in 1973. The Joy of Cooking primarily consisted of Terry Garthwaite (guitar/vocals), Jeff Neighbor (bass), Toni Brown (keyboards/guitar/vocals), Ron Wilson (percussion) and Fritz Kasten (drums). Fronted by Toni Brown and Terry Garthwaite, the band was a driving force in the Bay Area Women’s Movement, and blended styles of blues, jazz, and folk.
Best track: “Three Day Loser” from the Castles (1972) album.
2. The Band
The Band was active on and off between 1967 and 1999, but reached their peak in the early to mid-70s. Key aspects of their sound included three part harmonies between Rick Danko, Levon Helm, and Richard Manuel, twangy instrumentals, and the classic Americana feel. They blended folk, rock, and blues with narrative lyricism to achieve artwork that is definitively “70s” while also retaining resonance to this day.
Best track: “Whispering Pines” from their album The Band (1969)
3. Bill Withers
As stated on the official site of Bill Withers music, he was born in 1938 in Slab Fork, West Virginia—a coal mining town—to a family of eight. Seeking a way out of that life, he joined the navy, where he served for nine years. In 1967, he left for Los Angeles to pursue a career in music. In 1971, he released his debut album featuring tracks like the fan-favorite “Grandma’s Hands,” which became an immediate figure in the soul and R&B genres. Bill Withers and his work has been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, Songwriters Hall of Fame, the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as seen on his official site.
Best track: “Ain’t No Sunshine” from the Just As I Am (1971) album.
4. Joan Baez
Joan Baez, a staple of the New England folk music scene, was a political activist and singer-songwriter who included anti-war and social justice themes in her music. According to Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, “she went to jail for her protests against the war in Vietnam, and she performed for various benefits, rallies, and protests,” which led to the cause gaining attention. While she released her debut album in 1959, she released her sixteenth studio album Diamonds and Rust in 1975, and it is broadly considered some of her best work. Some of her songs, like “Diamonds and Rust” and “It Ain’t me Babe,” have made a resurgence in the last few years.
Best track: “Farewell, Angelina” from the album of the same name.
5. Jim Croce
Jim Croce was known to have packed a lifetime of talent into a short-lived music career. It was only the year after his death in 1973 that his most well known-hits reached number one in the charts, according the biography on the Jim Croce official website. One of his most popular tracks, “Time in a Bottle,” has been featured in major films like The Hangover Part II (2011), X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), and She Lives! (1973), as their respective soundtrack pages on IMDb confirm.
Best Track: “Operator (That’s Not the Way it Feels)” from You Don’t Mess Around with Jim (1972).
6. Cass Elliot
Ellen Cohen, known by the stage name Cass Elliot, as explained on her official website, pursued a successful solo career after her three year participation in the Mamas and the Papas during the later half of the ‘60s. She produced five albums in her solo career, proving herself to be a gifted presence in the folk-rock scene. She frequently performed for nighttime television before her sudden passing in 1974.
Best Track: “Jesus was a Cross Maker” from the Cass Elliot (1972) album.
7. Paul Simon
As described in the Songwriters Hall of Fame, Paul Simon started his career as a member of the duo Simon and Garfunkel, before pursuing a solo career in 1971, releasing his debut solo album Paul Simon (1972). His Grammy-winning album Still Crazy After All These Years (1975) contained many popular tracks, including “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover.” He is also the co-founder of the Children’s Health Fund, a nonprofit which seeks to provide health initiatives to homeless and underprivileged youth.
Best Track: “Kodachrome” from the There Goes Rhymin’ Simon (1973) album.
8. Labi Siffre
Labi Siffre, born in 1945, released his first two albums with producer Ian Greene, but received significantly more attention with his third album, Crying Laughing Loving Lying (1972), which was “entirely self-written, produced, and arranged,” according to AllMusic. While he did not reach commercial success in the U.S. until the 1980s, I consider his music from the ‘70s some of his best. His 1970 track “Bless the Telephone” reentered mainstream media in 2025.
Best Track: “Crying Laughing Loving Lying” from the 1972 album with the same name.