This is difficult, but fun...I guess. The sort of fun that leaves me thinking, 'why do I care about this nonsense?' The answer, as you all well know, is because. And that's good enough for me.

1. Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers--L.A.M.F. (better than So Alone or Live At Max's. Best rock'n'roll rec of the decade? You bet yr bippy. At least until tomorrow when I'll nominate the soundtrack to the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart Club Band movie)

2. Rolling Stones--Exile On Main St. (better than Sticky Fingers, possibly the best double album of all time)

3. Ramones--Ramones (better than Road To Ruin, my other favorite Ramones album, and one that I'm pained to exclude from this top 10)

4. Iggy & The Stooges--Raw Power (better than Fun House, and one of the greatest rock-band-guitar albums of all time, never anything like it before or since, really...though that's something that can be said for most of the albums on these lists)

5. The Who--Quadrophenia (better than Who's Next, and another one of the very best double albums of all time)

6. John Lennon--Plastic Ono Band (better than Imagine)

7. Big Star--#1 Record (better than Radio City, though I've noticed over the years that some on this board disagree with me on this)

8. Soft Boys--A Can Of Bees (nearly as good as Raw Power in terms of "rock guitar" innovation, and with better lyrics, though Hitchcock's snarl doesn't quite equal Iggy's output, at least on these two albums)

9. Richard Hell & The Voidoids--Blank Generation (I like this better than Television's Marquee Moon, one of my absolute favorites from this era, Hell's best moment by a mile, and quite possibly the best work the recently departed Robert Quine ever got on tape, either)

10. You know, it's ridiculously difficult to decide here...I suppose that I should have London Calling here, it makes the most sense, though I wasn't considering it a 70s album when I went through these. If I had it might well place higher, but there's plenty of love for that record in this thread anyway. Which means that it gets the nod over Blood On The Tracks, Moondance, All Things Must Pass, In The City, This Year's Model, Labour Of Lust, David Johansen, The Dictators Go Girl Crazy, Paranoid, Serge Gainsbourg's Histoire Du Melody Nelson, and the other recs I mentioned in parentheses. At one time I might've had Houses Of The Holy or another Zep rec in there, but not at this point; and at some point in the future I might discover a jazz album I think worthy of this list, but I haven't heard it yet; my taste in jazz remains solidly restricted to (mostly) stuff recorded prior to 1965.

Half or more of my list could be considered punk rock, which should surprise no one, but this raises a point (or beats a dead horse, depending on what you think of my raising this point from time to time): beyond an elite few albums, punk rock as a genre, as well as disco, featured a lot of artists who put out great singles but not great albums. How about a thread about singles, or great singles bands? I guess I should start one myself. Unless someone beats me to it, hint, hint. If anyone cares enough, that is.