3 Overlooked Rock Songs From 1977 That Deserve More Attention

A lot was happening in music in 1977. Seminal punk albums arrived side-by-side with classic, country, and progressive rock releases. Fleetwood Mac, David Bowie, Sex Pistols, The Clash, Pink Floyd, and Steely Dan were each reshaping rock music in unique ways. And that list is far from complete. Still, with so much groundbreaking music arriving at the same time, it’s easy to overlook songs deserving more attention. The first two songs on our list show artists already outgrowing punk while it happened. The third song features a restless legend doing exactly what he wants, regardless of the popular trends happening around him. Let these overlooked songs from 1977 send you on a deeper journey into the full-length albums they are pulled from.

Videos by American Songwriter

“Venus” by Television

The title track to Television’s debut Marquee Moon, continues to be the band’s most known and most referenced song. For good reason, Tom Verlaine’s epic guitar solo is a lesson in not only the Mixolydian scale, but it’s a masterclass in the kind of angular playing that created a new kind of guitar hero outside the blues rock tradition. “Venus” showcases how Television used minimalism and complexity, two techniques that are not mutually exclusive. Punk rock wasn’t supposed to be this sophisticated. I guess this is what happens when a poet starts a punk band.

“Three Girl Rhumba” by Wire

Melody, sophistication, and hypnotic repetition helped Wire’s debut Pink Flag stand apart from Britain’s early punk releases. The London band pushed the genre into its next chapter while the first one was still being written. How? Imagine if the late 70s CBGB bands had come up in West Germany’s krautrock scene. So punk’s boundaries were never capable of holding these musicians. They are another in a long list of artists whose influence far outweighs their record sales. But you know who didn’t overlook Wire? Elastica. The Britpop band used the guitar riff from “Three Girl Rhumba” for its hit “Connection”.

“The Old Country Waltz” by Neil Young

Neil Young’s American Stars ’N Bars stitches together a variety of genres like a quilted flag sewn together from different fabrics. Young’s inability to stay put has frustrated critics, and even his own record label at times. But his spiraling collection of songs also places the various sides of Young in one place. From country rock and folk to the chaotic proto-grunge of “Like A Hurricane”. But I love “The Old Country Waltz” because it gives you the sense of being in the room with Crazy Horse. You can almost hear the rest of the band reverberate in Young’s vocal mic.

Photo by Michael Putland Hulton