MGK’s Top 10 Rock Albums from July 13, 1977

A blackout left 12 million New Yorkers in darkness, and chaos ensued, Bjorn Borg beat Jimmy Connors to take the men's single championship at Wimbledon, and I was just four days away from starting my radio career on WPST in Trenton! As that was going on, these were MGK's Top 10 rock albums from July 13, 1977.

The eighth album by The Climax Blues Band was their biggest hit here in the U.S. Gold Plated peaked at #10 and also featured the band's most successful single.

Nowadays, you could have easily created the cover of Supertramp's fifth album right on a computer.  Back in 1977, though, with unlimited record company budgets, an actual piano was airlifted onto a mountaintop in Colorado and photographed.  The album, Even In The Quietest Moments, was the #9 rock album on July 13, 1977.

Don't try to take a recreation of the photo of the Beverly Hills Hotel, on the cover of The Eagles' Hotel California. As I remember, the art director Kosh explaining to me when we chatted, the photographer was perched 60 feet in the air in a cherry picker! On July 13, 1977, it was the #8 rock album.

Firmly entrenched in the top 10 was the debut album, by Boston.  It would be the biggest selling debut ever, until Appetite For Destruction came along, and on July 13, 1977 it was #7.

One of the few artists to build an entire career and brand based on a song, Jimmy Buffett is synonymous with magaritas, parrots and the beach life, and it all started with this song.  It's from the #6 rock album on the countdown, Changes In Latitudes, Changes In Attitudes.

Freeing themselves from their former record contract, Heart signed with Portrait Records, who gave them a much bigger promotional push than their previous label could muster.  The first album on that new label was one of their best, Little Queen. It peaked here at #5 and features this Heart all-time classic,

Like Boston, Foreigner's self titled debut album made them instant superstars! On July 17, 1977 it was the #4 rock album.

While no album is, by any means, easy to make, Steve Miller had a slightly easier time with the followup to Fly Like An Eagle. The reason was all the songs on Book Of Dreams came from the Fly  Like An Eagle sessions.  Rather than release a double, Steve spaced them out, and Book Of Dreams did even better on the charts, peaking at #2 before dropping one to #3 this week.

How in the world do you follow up an absolute career-changing smash album? Peter Frampton gave it his best shot and, while I'm In You wasn't as big as Frampton Comes Alive, it did peak here at #2 and sell over a million copies.

I guess the #1 album this week shouldn't surprise anyone.  It's the eleventh album by this legendary rock and roll band that captivated the country with lyrics about failed relationships within the band, and their bond that wouldn't break.  It not only hit #1, it stayed there for SIX months and, this week, it was in its tenth week at the top spot. #1 on July 13, 1977 was Rumours by Fleetwood Mac.