5 Classic Rock Masterpieces From the 70s That Were Released in the Month of December

For the most part, the month of December tends to be a relatively quiet one when it comes to new album releases. Record execs often fear that a release too close to the holiday season won’t get the attention it deserves.

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Nonetheless, December hosted several stellar albums throughout the 70s. Here are five bona fide masterpieces of rock music that came out in the final month of the year during the decade.

‘Hunky Dory’ by David Bowie (1971)

David Bowie was briefly considering being nothing more than a songwriter-for-hire at the beginning of the 70s. As such, many of the Hunky Dory songs were written with an eye to possibly pitching them elsewhere. Luckily, Bowie realized what he had and ended up collecting them for the first truly great album of his career. Any record where you get “Changes”, “Oh! You Pretty Things”, and “Life On Mars?” within the first four songs is something special, right? Hunky Dory is the closest Bowie got to a singer-songwriter album, and it’s pretty spectacular.

‘Band On The Run’ by Paul McCartney And Wings (1973)

Paul McCartney had suffered mostly barbs and putdowns from the music press about the first few years of his post-Beatles output. To make matters worse, 40 percent of his band quit right before the sessions were to begin on Band On The Run. Working with only wife Linda and Denny Laine, he rose to the occasion with the best set of rockers in his career. These tracks were mostly uptempo, but in no way simple. The sprawl, ambition, and melodic brilliance of songs like the title track, “Jet”, and “Nineteen Hundred And Eighty-Five” still amaze.

‘Hotel California’ by The Eagles (1976)

The Eagles had slowly progressed from a country-oriented outfit at the start of their career to one of the slickest West Coast rock bands of all. For Hotel California, they added Joe Walsh to join Don Felder and give them a fierce guitar-based attack. Meanwhile, Don Henley and Glenn Frey had emerged as the chief songwriters in the group. Combine all those developments, and you end up with a massive album. From the mesmerizing title track in the beginning to the elegiac “The Last Resort” at the end, you get nothing but peaks from this record.

‘Running On Empty’ by Jackson Browne (1977)

Like The Eagles, Jackson Browne saw the commercial wisdom of putting his piercing singer-songwriter narratives into more of a rock setting. How he managed that maneuver on Running Empty was the ingenious part. Browne took advantage of a killer backing band at his disposal to record a bunch of new songs at various live venues and informal backstage settings. It gave the album the perfect balance of live rock energy and Browne’s unassailable songwriting. And it led to classics like the title track, “Shaky Town”, and “The Load-Out”.

‘London Calling’ by The Clash (1979)

United States listeners didn’t get a hold of London Calling until January 1980. But it arrived in Great Britain right before Christmas. What a gift it proved to be for discerning music fans. The Clash brought their musical variety to the fore by delivering a double album, giving them much more room for genre-hopping. They also concentrated on the songwriting aspect of their music more than ever. Whether getting political (the title track, “The Guns Of Brixton”) or personal (“Lost In The Supermarket”, “Train In Vain”), they didn’t miss.

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