1975 was a stellar year for rock music. Many of the genre’s biggest hits came out smack dab in the middle of the decade. The three 1975-released rock songs below have become iconic and emblematic of the genre in that era. Revisit these classic tracks.
“Sweet Emotion” (Aerosmith)
The driving riff in Aerosmith’s “Sweet Emotion” is one of the best of the decade. Although not as flashy as some other guitar work from the 1970s, it has no shortage of iconography.
This 1975-released rock song has a swagger to it that has been indispensable in Aerosmith’s career. The melody was built around a bass line from Tom Hamilton. “I smoked a bowl or two and wrote the arrangements, the guitar parts,” Hamilton once said. Aerosmith has admitted they ran on drugs at this point in their career, so the fact that this song was written under the influence is no surprise. Many bands in the ’70s used drugs as a creative force. Aerosmith made excellent use of that force here.
“One of These Nights” (Eagles)
No song has better epitomized the depth of California rock than the Eagles’ “One of These Nights.” This track has it all: layered harmonies, driving bass line, and hypnotizing lyrics. It really was the Eagles at their best.
This song has a universal message of striving for something great. “It’s like, puttin’ things off… Everybody I’m sure has said, ‘One of these nights I’m gonna…’ Gonna drive back to that restaurant and take that waitress in my arms, whatever,” Henley once said. “Find that girl, make that money, buy that house. Move to that country. Any of that stuff. Everyone’s got his ultimate dream, savin’ it for ‘someday.’ And ‘someday’ is up to you.”
While the insatiable melody certainly helps, the lyrics are a large part of why this song has proven so popular over the decades.
“Born to Run” (Bruce Springsteen)
Bruce Springsteen cemented Heartland Rock with “Born to Run.” Though he had already garnered fame by 1975, this Springsteen song gave him the world. It made him a household name and remains a calling card today.
Springsteen wrote this song to have “cinematic drama,” and he certainly succeeded. “At first I thought it was the name of a movie or something I’d seen on a car spinning around the circuit,’” Springsteen once said. “I liked the phrase because it suggested a cinematic drama that I thought would work with the music that I’d been hearing in my head.” “Born to Run” is staggering. Seldom has a rock song been as world-building as this one.
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