“The Sixties are definitely not with us anymore,” Neil Young once said, adding, “The change into the music of the Seventies is starting to come with people like David Bowie and Lou Reed.” He continued, “They don’t expect to live more than thirty years, and they don’t care. And they don’t care. They’re in the ’70s.”

Musicians treated things as though there was an expiry date on life, as they released music relentlessly and brilliantly. Simon and Garfunkel got things underway to brilliant effect with Bridge Over Troubled Water, along with Black Sabbath who decided to introduce an entire new genre of heavy rock to the world with Paranoid.

Then, in the year that followed, music fans were treated to what might just be the greatest year in music history. 1971 was awash with innovation, from Gil Scott-Heron introducing the foundations of hip-hop with Pieces Of A Man while Marvin Gaye delivered the greatest soul record of all time with What’s Going On. And that’s completely overlooking Carole King’s Tapestry and Joni Mitchell’s Blue which in their own right could have staked a claim for royal musical status.

As the years continued on, the same pattern continued and artists continued to push the realms of possibility with their music. Whether it was David Bowie with The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars or Pink Floyd, with Dark Side Of The Moon, the art form of music was expanding rapidly.

In 1975, the story was no different. The newly formed Fleetwood Mac made their mark on the world with their self-titled album, which may as well been considered a debut because upon release, there was simply no looking back. They had a formidable songwriting team in Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie, and the former of those three was the one quietly delivering songs of brilliance. ‘Landslide’ and ‘Rhiannon’ made it onto that record, and triumphantly introduced Nicks as one of the most interesting songwriters of the decade.

So much more came along with it. David Bowie introduced his plastic soul era, Led Zeppelin turned the power up to ten and Bob Dylan wrote one of the most captivating political tracks of all time, in ‘Hurricane’. It was once again, another year for the history books in this wildly fruitful decade and to celebrate it, here are our top 50 best songs.

Far Out’s best songs of 1975:

• ‘Rhiannon’ – Fleetwood Mac
• ‘Kashmir’ – Led Zeppelin
• ‘Born To Run’ – Bruce Springsteen
• ‘Tangled Up In Blue’ – Bob Dylan
• ‘Wish You Were Here’ – Pink Floyd
• ‘Hurricane’ – Bob Dylan
• ‘Landslide’ – Fleetwood Mac
• ‘Golden Years’ – David Bowie
• ‘Politicians in My Eyes’ – Death
• ‘Gloria’ – Patti Smith
• ‘I’ll Come Running’ – Brian Eno
• ‘Why Can’t We Be Friends’ – War
• ‘I’m Not In Love’ – 10cc
• ‘Roxette’ – Dr Feelgood
• ‘Love Is The Drug’ – Roxy Music
• ‘That’s The Way Of The World’ – Earth Wind and Fire
• ‘One Of These Nights’ – Eagles
• ‘You’re No Good’ – Linda Ronstadt
• ‘Diamonds and Rust’ – Joan Baez
• ‘Baby This Love I Have’ – Minnie Riperton
• ‘Shine On You Crazy Diamond’ – Pink Floyd
• ‘Young Americans’ – Bowie
• ‘Nasty Gal’ – Betty Davis
• ‘Sweet Emotion’ – Aerosmith
• ‘Thunder Road’ – Bruce Springsteen
• ‘Tired Eyes’ – Neil Young & Crazy Horse
• ‘Get Off Your Ass And Jam’ – Funkadelic
• ‘Take It To The Limit’ – Eagles
• ‘Roadrunner’ – Jonathan Richman & the Modern Lovers
• ‘Give Up the Funk (Tear The Roof Off The Sucker) – Parliament
• ‘Fame’ – David Bowie
• ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ – Queen
• ‘No Woman No Cry’ – Bob Marley
• ‘Cortez The Killer’ – Neil Young & Crazy Horse
• ‘Love To Love You Baby’ – ‘Donna Summer’
• ‘50 Ways To Leave Your Lover’ – Paul Simon
• ‘TNT’ – AC/DC
• ‘Letting Go’ – Wings
• ‘Right Back Where We Started From’ – Maxine Nightingale
• ‘Say You Love Me’ – Fleetwood Mac

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