Nineteen hundred and seventy-one. Even for a year that falls squarely in the heart of the "classic rock" era, it was a particularly classic year.
It was the year of Who's Next, Sticky Fingers and Fragile, albums that are so renowned that we don't have to name the bands that created them (But, just in case, it was The Who, The Rolling Stones and Yes).
On the heavier side of things, there was Led Zeppelin's mega-classic Led Zeppelin IV, Black Sabbath's Master of Reality and Deep Purple's Fireball.
Three of the recently dubbed "ex-Beatles" were busy; John Lennon and Paul McCartney released their first truly polished solo albums, Imagine and Ram, respectively. Meanwhile, George Harrison hosted his legendary Concert For Bangladesh that August and released the corresponding triple live album in December. (Ringo Starr was busy too, but he didn't release an album in 1971.)
In blues land, all three ax-wielding Kings released killer albums -- Getting Ready... by Freddie King, B.B. King in London by B.B. King and Lovejoy by Albert King -- not to mention At Fillmore East by The Allman Brothers Band, ZZ Top's First Album by -- you guessed it -- ZZ Top and The London Howlin' Wolf Sessions by Howlin' Wolf.
Well, I could keep going, but that's what the photo gallery below is for. Here's our list of 50 classic albums that are celebrating their 40th anniversary this year. Remember: Life begins at 40!
“He would beat the crap out of the guitar. The result can best be described as Jackson Pollock trying to play like John Lee Hooker”: Aggressively bizarre, Captain Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica remains one of the craziest guitar-driven albums ever made
“There is no-one who can do this process with me as well as he can”: Alex Van Halen says a new Van Halen album is in the works – and he’s recruited Steve Lukather to help him complete it
