Who was the best of the '70s?

So the other day I got to talking to someone about one of my favorite artists when something struck me — just about all of his stuff came out in the ’70s.  Like every album, which was something I hadn’t considered.  It got me thinking — was this the greatest act of the decade?
Then I got into a phase with another group, which made the whole discussion fascinating enough that I had to try to list the best acts, in my little universe, of the ’70s.  This is spread across genres, and I even kinda try to step out of what I like to appreciate the impact of stuff that just isn’t up my alley.  
Also, remember my somewhat clinical approach to music at times.  I kinda look at it like sports.  I give points for consistency.  Further, great albums are the biggest key to me.  To me, the album is the musical statement, a cohesive presentation of some set of ideas.  That’s what I’m in this for.
(Oh yeah, this is really hastily compiled, so I know I’m leaving something out.)
Here we go…
5.  Parliament/Funkadelic.  Somehow, in the course of everything, I think we’ve lost sight of what amazing musicians the P-Funk bands had.  Eddie Hazel was up there with the great guitarists, Bernie Worrell is a musical genius, and Bootsy is…Bootsy.  The rhythms were always tight, in spite of the amorphous focus of any given P-Funk track.  Maybe it’s because, now that P-Funk is reduced to a touring act, the extraterrestrial stage presence is the dominant image of the group.  Or maybe it’s because George Clinton insists upon wearing that ridiculous hairpiece shit, which makes it impossible to stop and recognize what P-Funk was — the most versatile band ever assembled.  They did funk.  They did rock.  They did blues.  They did R&B.  They did gospel.  And they did them all incredibly.
4.  Michael Jackson.  Think about it — the ’70s are everything from the first Jackson 5 record until Off the Wall.  We’ve all got jokes on Michael, and I think a lot of his solo stuff is overrated, but you listen to “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough” and “Can You Feel It” and try to tell me there was a badder motherfucker on the planet than Michael Jackson.
Now, this is where things got to feeling like splitting hairs…
3.  Pink Floyd.  I’m not sure any group has ever been more inventive and creative…and bloated and self-indulgent…and absolutely incredible.  The thing about Floyd is the ’70s gets all the great stuff and leaves out most of the Waters-egomania phase (couldn’t get rid of The Wall).  Five great records, two all-timers — Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here — and the most ambition of any band ever.  This was stuff that required precision and imagination, and it was all fueled by the funk of Roger Waters’ bass.  Oh, and he wrote stuff I wish I’d written.  If someone argued that Wish You Were Here was the best written album ever, I wouldn’t scoff.  Wouldn’t agree, but wouldn’t scoff.
2.  Stevie Wonder.  First, let me duck all the people throwing things at me for putting Stevie at 2.
(still down)
I’m back.  Here’s something amazing about Motown — it produced child stars that were able to turn themselves into self-sufficient entities when they got grown.  Check Michael Jackson, and then look at Stevie.  When you think of the nonsense child stars put out now, you recognize they have no hope of becoming anything but too old to do the stuff they used to.  Stevie hit the ’70s on fire and, had he not made that damn album about the plants, would have made it through 10 years without dropping anything less than fire.  Think about this — except for the plants, the worst Stevie album of the ’70s might have been Talking Book.  And that ain’t no knock.  That’s just how amazing Stevie Wonder is.
1.  Bob Marley.  What’s the difference between Marley and everyone else on this list but MJ?  He hit the end of the decade sounding as good, if not better, than he did at the start, and the start was pretty awesome.  Dunno if Survival is his best record, but I know it’s the most polished album released while Bob was alive, but also the most incendiary and revolutionary.  Marley and Family Man figured out how to make their sound as clean as possible without sacrificing any authenticity, a fact that makes Marley’s death in 1981 such an interesting “what if?” moment.  
When Hendrix died in 1970, it’s almost universally reported that he was confused about what to do next.  Marley knew exactly what he was doing and how to get there, like all the amazing stuff he did in the early part of the decade was just practice for the ’80s, when his message was needed the most.  
I don’t think Bob Marley was a prophet, but I fully understand how someone would.  He was always on point without ever being preachy, even on albums when he talked about revolution on every single song.  His songs never wasted a word, but never sacrificed any texture, whether singing a modern spiritual or a love song.  And he did it just about every time out for 10 damn years.  
He was bigger than his island, bigger than his genre and remains, in many ways, bigger than any artist in pop music has ever been.  Only Muhammad Ali was a more popular black man in the ’80s, but Marley may have been even more influential.
Bands in January are going to be excited to play at an inauguration ball.  Marley headlined a friggin independence ceremony.  Top that, baby.