Vinyl in the 1970s: The Golden Age of Vinyl and Hi-Fi

This is the defining decade. Vinyl sales hit their historic peak in 1978, around $1.5 billion in the US. Budgets follow suit: gatefold sleeves, inserts, posters, printed inner sleeves. Led Zeppelin IV in 1971, The Dark Side of the Moon in 1973, Hotel California in 1976, Rumours in 1977, the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack that same year. Two technical innovations leave a lasting mark on the format: the Technics SL-1200 in 1972 establishes direct-drive turntables, and the 12-inch single is born in 1976 in disco clubs, later becoming the backbone of electronic music. Hip-hop is born in 1973 in the Bronx, on two turntables and a mixer. A note of caution for collectors: the 1973 oil crisis drives up PVC prices, and many American pressings from the second half of the decade are thinner and noisier than their Japanese or German counterparts.