The Biggest Rock + Metal Moments of 1973

The music industry is a completely different world than it was 50 years ago. Today, you'll read about artists bickering over backing tracks and hear countless songs describing the downfalls of social media. But in 1973, some of the biggest bands in rock formed, and some of the biggest albums in history were released.

In 1973, heavy metal was still in its infancy, having only really become popular a few years prior. Hard rock, however, was on top of the world, as bands such as Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple were in their prime — though the latter would undergo some lineup changes around this time. In fact, some pretty monumental lineup changes occurred in other bands that year, too, and if they hadn't, heavy music may have turned out quite a bit different than it did.

We can't physically travel through time just yet, but we can certainly look back on historical events and compare them to how things happen in music today. So, we compiled a list of the biggest moments in rock and metal that took place during 1973 to show just how important of a time it was for music, and how an oil crisis almost ruined the vinyl industry.

For the sake of this list, we aren't including band formations (you can check out the list of bands that formed in 1973 here), or the release of albums — well, except for one, because it was just that huge.

Scroll through the photos below to look back on the biggest events in rock and metal that took place 50 years ago.