25 rock albums from 1977 that are way better than Meat Loaf’s Bat Out of Hell

By Steve Newton

Since the death of Meat Loaf last Thursday I’ve been hearing an awful lot about his 1977 debut album, Bat Out of Hell.

The media’s been falling all over itself, declaring how it’s one of the best-selling albums of all time–moving over 40 million copies–and how much people love the music on it.

Well, nothing against Meat Loaf himself–he was a one-of-a-kind artist and he was great in concert–but I’m not one of those people. I don’t love Bat Out of Hell.

Oh sure, I bought it when it came out in October of ’77. I was a rock-crazed 20-year-old, and that album cover with the Richard Corben illustration of a long-haired dude on a motorbike blasting out of a graveyard was hard to resist.

But once I placed the LP on my Sony YP-701 turntable and ran it through my Pioneer HPM-100 speakers, I realized this music wasn’t for me. Back in 1977 I was heavily into Thin Lizzy, UFO, and Blue Oyster Cult, but Bat Out of Hell sounded more like the soundtrack to a Broadway musical or something. And I wasn’t into musicals.

Anyway, here’s 25 other rock albums from 1977, listed in alphabetical order, that are way better than Bat Out of Hell. I still have most of them on vinyl.

Aja: Steely Dan (“Peg”, “Deacon Blues”, “Josie”)

American Stars n’ Bars: Neil Young (“Hey Babe”, “Will to Love”, “Like a Hurricane”)

Bad Reputation: Thin Lizzy (“Opium Trail”, “Bad Reputation”, “Southbound”)

Book of Dreams: The Steve Miller Band (“Jet Airliner”, “Winter Time”, “Jungle Love”)

The Clash: The Clash (“White Riot”, “Career Opportunities”, “Janie Jones”)

CSN: Crosby, Still & Nash (“Shadow Captain”, “Dark Star”, “Just a Song Before I Go”)

Draw the Line: Aerosmith (“Draw the Line”, “I Wanna Know Why”, “Sight for Sore Eyes”)

Hard Again: Muddy Waters (“I Can’t Be Satisfied”, “Mannish Boy”, “Crosseyed Cat”)

“Heroes”: David Bowie (“Joe the Lion”, “Heroes”, “The Secret Life of Arabia”)

Hurry Sundown: Outlaws (“Gunsmoke”, “Heavenly Blues”, “Hurry Sundown”)

In Color: Cheap Trick (“Clock Strikes Ten”, “Southern Girls”, “Come On, Come On”)

In City Dreams: Robin Trower (“Somebody Calling”, “Sweet Wine of Love”, “Smile”)

Leave Home: Ramones (“California Sun”, “I Remember You”, “Swallow My Pride”)

Let There Be Rock: AC/DC (“Whole Lotta Rosie”, “Hell Ain’t a Bad Place to Be”, “Problem Child”)

Lights Out: UFO (“Too Hot to Handle”, “Lights Out”, “Love to Love”)

Loading Zone: Roy Buchanan (“Ramon’s Blues”, “Green Onions”, “Adventures of Brer Rabbit and Tar Baby”)

Moonflower: Santana (“I’ll Be Waiting”, “She’s Not There”, “Bahia”)

Nothin’ But the Blues: Johnny Winter (“TV Mama”, “Mad Blues”, “Tired of Tryin’”)

Oops! Wrong Planet: Utopia (“Love in Action”, “Love is the Answer”, “Trapped”)

Peter Gabriel: Peter Gabriel (“Solsbury Hill”, “Slowburn”, “Here Comes the Flood”)

Rumours: Fleetwood Mac (“Go Your Own Way”, “Dreams”, “The Chain”)

Slowhand: Eric Clapton (“Wonderful Tonight”, “Lay Down Sally”, “Cocaine”)

Spectres: Blue Oyster Cult (“Golden Age of Leather”, “Searching for Celine”, “Fireworks”)

Stick to Me: Graham Parker and the Rumour (“I’m Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down”, “Heat in Harlem”, “Stick to Me”)

Street Survivors: Lynyrd Skynyrd (“That Smell”, “I Know a Little”, “You Got that Right”)