1975
The biggest rock and metal albums of 1975: Wish You Were Here, Physical Graffiti and T.N.T. and 4 more.
Saigon fell on 30 April, bringing the Vietnam War to an end, and the Khmer Rouge took Phnom Penh within a fortnight of that. Closer to home, Margaret Thatcher beat Edward Heath for the Conservative leadership in February, and Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Microsoft in Albuquerque. Few people noticed the last one at the time.
Rock was busy sorting itself out. Led Zeppelin were so in demand that three Madison Square Garden dates sold out in a record four hours, and Physical Graffiti arrived in February to meet the appetite. Pink Floyd answered with Wish You Were Here in September, while Queen's A Night at the Opera landed in November. Black Sabbath released Sabotage in July. AC/DC, meanwhile, put out High Voltage in February and T.N.T. in December, a sign of the noisy, blues-soaked hard rock that was coming. The roster of bands formed that year reads like a future festival bill: Iron Maiden, Motörhead (then called Bastard), Saxon, Rainbow, Quiet Riot and Triumph all began in 1975.
The year had its losses and shake-ups too. Ritchie Blackmore played his last Deep Purple show in Paris on 7 April and left to form Rainbow, with Tommy Bolin stepping in. Motörhead swapped drummer Lucas Fox for Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor. Alice Cooper broke up as a band and went solo, then broke six ribs falling off a Vancouver stage in June. Badfinger's Pete Ham was found dead in April, and former Uriah Heep bassist Gary Thain died in December, aged 27.
