Timeline of trends in music (1970-1979)
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1970 in music
- International trends
- Simon & Garfunkel release Bridge Over Troubled Water; this, along with releases from James Taylor (Sweet Baby James), Cat Stevens (Tea for the Tillerman) and Joni Mitchell (Ladies of the Canyon) help define the singer-songwriter tradition
- Taj Mahal releases Happy to Be Just Like I Am, a pioneering fusion of blues and African music, setting the stage for the development of rock-based world music
- Music of Argentina
- Tango-rockéro, mixing tango music with rock music, rises in Buenos Aires due to the influence of artists like Litto Nébbia, alongside groups like Siglo XX who add jazz influences
- Pelo, a long-lasting music magazine, is first published, and goes on to hold the first of several Argentinean rock concerts called Festival BARock
- Music of Australia
- Spectrum marks the beginning of a new phase of Australian rock when their debut single 'I'll Be Gone' goes to #1.
- The first Australian rock festivals are staged
- The rock musical Hair (musical) premieres in Sydney
- Music of Canada
- The Canadian content regulations are passed, requiring AM radio stations to devote 30% of their time to Canadian content
- Music of China
- Cantopop arises in Hong Kong, dominated by stars like James Wong and Joseph Koo
- Music of Mali
- Colonel Moussa Traoré begins to encourage a roots revival of Mande traditional music; one of the future stars of Malian pop, Tidiane Koné forms Rail Band du Buffet Hôtel de la Gare, launching the careers of Salif Keita and Mory Kanté
- Fanta Sacko's Fanta Sacko is the first album of bajourou music
- Music of the Philippines
- A revival of Spanish zarzuela begins
- The Manila sound of Pinoy rock begins
- Music of Quebec
- A revival of traditional Quebecois folk music begins.
- Music of Senegal
- Music of Thailand
- Rewat Buddhinan and similar rock artists begin using the Thai language
- Music of the United Kingdom
- First performance of Andrew Lloyd Webber's influential rock opera, Jesus Christ Superstar
- T. Rex's "Ride a White Swan" is considered the beginning of true glam rock
- Black Sabbath begins recording a dark and gloomy form of heavy metal, laying the groundwork for the genre's intense diversification by the late 80s
- Music of the United States
- Important country-influenced albums are released by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (Déjà Vu, Merle Haggard (Okie from Muskogee), Creedence Clearwater Revival (Cosmo's Factory) and The Grateful Dead (American Beauty, Workingman's Dead) -- the beginning of a distinctly country rock sound
- The beginning of the success of a group of Afrocentric poets and musicians, including The Last Poets (The Last Poets) and Gil Scott-Heron (Small Talk at 125th and Lennox); this is an early forerunner of hip hop
- ZZ Top and the Allman Brothers Band invent southern rock out of country rock and folk-rock influences
- The Jackson 5 release four #1 hits, catapulting Michael Jackson and his brothers into the pop conciousness, and popularizing a new sound called "bubblegum soul".
- Smokey Robinson & the Miracles's The Tears of a Clown is an influential soft-pop album that mixes elements of vaudeville and classical music.
1971 in music
- International trends
- Singer-songwriters like John Denver (Poems, Prayers and Promises), Van Morrison (Tupelo Honey), Joni Mitchell (Blue, Don McLean (American Pie), Elton John (Tumbleweed Connection, Madman Across the Water), Billy Joel (Cold Spring Harbor), Cat Stevens (Teaser and the Firecat) and Carole King (Tapestry) release influential and popular albums
- Early prog rock bands like Genesis (Nursery Cryme), Deep Purple (Fireball), Electric Light Orchestra (Electric Light Orchestra), Yes (The Yes Album), Gong (Camembert Electrique), Procol Harum (Broken Barricades), Pink Floyd (Meddle) and Jethro Tull (Aqualung) release influential albums marking the beginning of progressive rock's peak period.
- Music of Belgium
- Artists like Herman Dewit, Hubert Boone and Wannes Van de Velde lead a revival of Belgian folk music
- Music of China
- Henry Wolff and Nancy Hennings' release Tibetan Bells, which is the earliest fusion of Tibetan music and Western New Age music
- Music of Cuba
- Nueva trova songs, marked by confrontational political and social lyrics, become popular; Los Van Van also invents songo
- Music of Egypt
- Ahmed Adaweyah is the first mainstream star to emerge from shaabi music
- Music of Estonia
- Ruja, for many years the most popular Estonian rock band, is formed
- Music of France
- Alan Stivell's Renaissance of the Celtic Harp brings international popularity to Breton folk music
- Music of Germany
- Krautrock begins with German musicians like Amon Düül II aka Amon Duul II (Tanz der Lemminge), Faust (Faust) and Can (Tago Mago), moving progressive rock towards new sonic territory, eventually influencing genres including New Wave, electronica and industrial rock
- Tangerine Dream creates a German alternative rock sound
- Music of Ghana
- The Soul to Soul festival is held in Accra, featuring Wilson Pickett, Ike and Tina Turner and Carlos Santana; the concert is seen as a validation of Ghanaian music by the African American (and Mexican-American) superstars
- Music of Martinique and Guadeloupe
- Music of Iceland
- The beginning of the English language period of domination of the Icelandic rock scene
- Music of Israel
- Shlomo Gronich's debut Why Didn't You Tell Me?! is the first major release from the Israeli progressive rock scene
- Music of Kenya
- Simba Wanyika's career as a popular performer in Kenya begins, marking the beginning of the commercial success of Swahili music and the Wanyika legacy
- Music of Korea
- T'ong guitar music, which is a Koreanized version of acoustic guitar folk revivalists from the US, becomes very popular in Korea
- Music of Mali
- Les Ambassadeurs du Motel forms in Bamako, playing mainly French and Cuban pop in spite of official encouragement of traditional music; Les Ambassadeurs and Rail Band, a state-supported band, soon become major rivals on the Malian scene
- Music of Norway
- Junipher Greene's Friendship is Norway's first double album and the beginning of Norwegian progressive rock
- Music of Trinidad & Tobago
- Lancelot Layne's "Blown Away" is the beginning of rapso
- Music of the United Kingdom
- Black Sabbath's Paranoid and Led Zeppelin's untitled fourth album are enormously influential albums in the development of heavy metal
- Malcolm McLaren opens a boutique that becomes a haven for alienated youth, and a center for early punk rock
- Martin Carthy plugs in on stage, leading to intense controversy as some accused him of mainstreaming the rough sounds of English folk music, just as Steeleye Span's pioneering fusion Please to See the King is released
- Progressive rock begins its period of greatest mainstream success
- Music of the United States
- Maranatha! and Love Song release The Everlastin' Livin' Jesus Concert and Love Song; this is the beginning of the popularization of contemporary Christian music (CCM)
- Funkadelic releases Maggot Brain, an early fusion of soul, funk and heavy metal; releases from Roberta Flack (Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway), Isaac Hayes (Black Moses) and Sly & the Family Stone (There's a Riot Goin' On) similarly influence the development of a more pop-oriented funk and soul
- Alice Cooper creates a distinctive kind of glam and heavy metal-influenced shock rock
- Salsa comes to be used to describe any kind of Cuban dance music in the country
1972 in music
- International trends
- Sivan Perwer begins his rise as a Kurdish musical star, known throughout Kurdistan and abroad
- The first Caribbean jazz festival is held in Bridgetown, Barbados
- Manu Dibango's "Soul Makossa" is the first major worldwide hit for makossa, as well as perhaps the first disco release
- Music of Argentina
- The Acusticazo concert inspires a wave of folky acoustic acts like Vivencia, Pacifico and Sui Generis, while heavier bands like Pappo's Blues, Billy Bond y la Pesada, Jorge Pinchevsky, Kubero Díaz, Claudio Gábis and Alejandro Medina also became popular
- Music of Benin
- The Kérékou government institutes curfews and other measures that inhibit musical expression and innovation
- Music of the Czech Republic
- The Annual Banjo Jamboree in Kopidlno is the first European bluegrass festival
- Music of France
- Perlinpinpin Folc's Musiqe Traditionelle de Gascogne marks the beginning of a rebirth in Gascon folk music
- Music of Germany
- Popol Vuh's In den Garten Pharaos is an influential avant-garde album that uses ambient textures, redefining the German rock scene
- Music of the United Kingdom
- David Bowie releases Ziggy Stardust, which marks the height of glam rock and is an important influence on the development of punk rock; similarly influential albums by Lou Reed (Transformer) and Mott the Hoople (All the Young Dudes) are also released
- Deep Purple releases Machine Head, one of the first pure heavy metal albums
- Eggs Over Easy (Good 'n' Cheap) and Kippington Lodge formulate a sound known as pub rock
- Music of Turkey
- Ruhi Su, a leftwing activist and saz player, leads a roots revival of asik music
- Music of the United States
- Big Star draws on pioneers like Badfinger and The Raspberries to form power pop
- Neil Young's Harvest is the top-selling album in the United States and foreshadows the future popularity of country-rock
- Curtis Mayfield's Superfly (soundtrack to the Blaxploitation film of the same name) and Marvin Gaye's What's Going On are popular and help redefine soul music; most influentially, they add a socially aware tone to the lyrics
- Norman Whitfield lays the foundation for extra-length soul singles ("cinematic soul") with his record for The Temptations, "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone".
- Cuban immigrants in New York City and elsewhere invent salsa music, drawing on rumba, mambo, son and other Cuban forms, as well as Puerto Rican plena
1973 in music
- International trends
- Singer-songwriters Elton John (Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road), Jim Croce (I Got a Name), Roberta Flack (Killing Me Softly) and Billy Joel (Piano Man) release hugely successful albums and singles
- Music of Algeria
- Music of Barbados
- Spouge's greatest period of mainstream popularity comes to an end
- Music of Chile
- Augusto Pinochet's new government drives nueva canción artists underground and murders some, including Víctor Jara
- Music of Finland
- "Hiki haisee ja haitari soi" is popular among Finnish-Swedish dancehalls; the song is distinctively Finnish-Swedish tango, unlike Swedish or Finnish works
- Music of Guinea-Bissau
- Ernesto Dabó records "M'Ba Bolama", considered the beginning of gumbe music as well as the first expression of a distinctive culture in the entire country, which will become independent the following year; the producer was Zé Carlos, whose recently-formed band, Cobiana Djazz, was becoming extremely popular throughout the country
- Music of India
- Ravi Shankar releases Ragas; it is enormously popular in India and reflects the commercial pinnacle of eastern music in western markets
- Music of Jamaica
- Jimmy Cliff's soundtrack to The Harder They Come (soundtrack) is the first commercially successful reggae music in western markets -- meanwhile, Bob Marley & the Wailers most well-reviewed works are released, though sales are limited outside of Jamaica
- Early dub artists like Lee Scratch Perry (Cloak & Dagger), Bunny Lee, U-Roy (Version Galore), Clive Chin and King Tubby reach the peak of their popularity in Jamaica, as they revolutionize mixing techniques and toasting; Perry and Tubby's Blackboard Jungle is particularly notable
- Music of South Africa
- Ladysmith Black Mambazo releases Amabutho, the first African gold record
- Music of Switzerland
- "Warehuus Blues" by Rumpelstilz is the first German dialect rock released in Switzerland
- Music of the United Kingdom
- Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon is released; the album is often considered the best concept album and the height of experimental rock
- Boys of the Lough, a pioneering Scottish roots revival band including Aly Bain, release their debut, The Boys of the Lough, which proves enormously influential
- Music of the United States
- Philadelphia soul artists like The Delfonics ("I Don't Want to Make You Wait"), The O'Jays (Ship Ahoy) and The Stylistics (Rockin' Roll Baby) are extremely popular
- George Lucas releases a film called American Graffiti, which launches a teen genre of soundtrack-driven nostalgia films
1974 in music
- International trends
- Singer-songwriters like Jackson Browne (Late for the Sky), Elton John (Caribou), Joni Mitchell (Court and Spark), Randy Newman (Good Old Boys), Billy Joel (Piano Man), Harry Chapin (Verities and Balderdash) and Van Morrison (Veedon Fleece) are extremely popular
- ABBA win the Eurovision Song Contest, bringing them international attention, and kicking off the Europop style in Europe
- Rocky Horror Picture Show draws on glam rock to help foment the Gothic rock and sexual revolutions
- Mose Fan Fan of OK Jazz and Somo Somo move to East Africa, bringing with them Congolese rumba, which becomes popular in Kenya and elsewhere in the area
- Kraftwerk's Autobahn is the first to be recorded with entirely electronic instruments
- Music of Australia
- Rover Thomas claims to have discovered the Krill Krill song cycle
- Music of Barbados
- The 1974 revival of the Crop Over Festival, which features the Pic-O-De-Crop Calypso Competition, revitalized and organized the Barbadian calypso scene
- Music of France
- Alan Stivell and Dan Ar Bras release Chemins de Terre, the first folk-rock fusion from continental Europe
- Music of Kuwait
- Shadi al Khaleej popularizes sawt music
- Music of Madagascar
- Mahaleo emerges as a popular Malagasy band fusing soft rock with native instruments and folk music forms
- Music of Nigeria
- King Sunny Ade & the African Beats release Esu Biri Ebo Mi, which launches the career of Ade and makes him into the country's biggest star
- Music of Switzerland
- Toad and Krokus establish Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple-inspired hard rock as the dominant sound in Swiss pop music
- Music of Trinidad
- Ras Shorty I's Sweet Music and Lord Shorty's Endless Vibrations and Soul of Calypso are released, thus beginning the international popularization of soca
- Music of the United Kingdom
- Peter Bellamy receives a type from his old history teacher; it contains recordings of folk singer Walter Pardon. Both soon become stars of a folk revival
- Robert Wyatt's Rock Bottom is the peak of the Canterbury Scene
- Music of the United States
- Brian Eno's Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy is an electronic-pop fusion influenced by post-modernism
- Patti Smith's "Hey Joe" is released; it is commonly considered the first punk single, while her "Piss Factory" is the foundation for New Wave; legendary punk band The Ramones begin performing
- Outlaw country's domination of the country music scene is exemplified by the chart success of Waylon Jennings (The Rambling Man, This Time), David Allan Coe (Once Upon a Rhyme, Mysterious Rhinestone Cowboy), Merle Haggard ("Things Aren't Funny Anymore", "Old Man from the Mountain"), Kris Kristofferson (Spooky Lady's Sideshow) and Willie Nelson (Phases and Stages) this year
- CODOFIL founds the Festival Acadien to promote Cajun and Creole music
1975 in music
- International trends
- Music of Australia
- The advent of Countdown and Triple J help Australian rock groups to find a domestic audience
- Music of Cambodia
- The Khmer Rouge's ascent to power ends a revival of classical dance and music
- Music of France
- Dalida is the pionner of disco in France with the first french disco song, "J'attendrai", realised in single in 1976.
- Music of Iceland
- Musicians like Gunnar Þórðarson, Megas, Stuðmenn and Magnús Eiríksson (then of Mannakorn), songwriters like Þorsteinn Eggertsson, begin using Icelandic language lyrics and begin to develop a distinctively Icelandic rock sound inspired by Bob Dylan and similar folk- and country-influenced artists
- Music of Indonesia
- A form of dance music called dangdut becomes extremely popular
- Music of Italy
- Antonio Infantino founds the Tarantolati di Tricarico to explore the percussion-based music of the tarantolati ritual music
- Music of Kenya
- Congolese bands like Zaiko Langa Langa and Orchestra Shama Shama popularize the cavacha rhythm; Congolese bands dominate Kenyan pop, especially Baba Gaston, Boma Liwanza, Super Mazembe and Boma Liwanza
- Kamba pop enters the Kenyan mainstream with the rise of Les Kilimambogo Brothers Band, Kalambya Boys & Kalambya Sisters and Peter Mwambi & His Kyanganga Boys
- Music of Mali
- Kasse Mady Diabaté and Boncana Maiga, part of the band National Badema, begin incorporated traditional Maninka music into the Cuban-style popular music
- Fanta Damba, a jelimusolu, becomes the first such to tour Europe as bajourou music continues its rise in Mali
- Wassoulou music begins to develop in the region of Wassoulou
- Musix of Mozambique
- Mozambique becomes independent and Radio Bantu opens a Tsonga radio station; these events lead to the development of Portuguese Shangaan music losing most of its Portuguese characteristics
- Music of the Netherlands
- While the mainstream popularity of the Dutch roots revival declines, Friesland manages to produce groups like Irolt, who continue exploring the roots of Frisian folk music
- Music of Papua New Guinea
- Bamboo band music from the Solomon Islands becomes popular in Papua New Guinea
- The commercial recording industry begins in Papua New Guinea
- Music of Portugal
- After the previos year's revolution, a new form of socially aware, folk-based fado arises, with Brigada Victor Jara, which formed this year, being especially influential; this is the birth of canto livre
- Music of Russia
- Pojuschie Gitary's Orpheus and Eurydice is the first rock opera from Russia, a country known for classical opera
- Music of Spain
- The death of Francisco Franco heralds the beginning of a renaissance in Spanish regional folk musics, which had been suppressed during his reign
- Music of the United Kingdom
- Lovers rock begins its period of popularity in Britain with Louisa Marks' "Caught You in a Lie"
- Brinsley Schwarz and Ducks Deluxe break up, ending the pub rock trend
- Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" and its accompanying music video revolutionize the possibilities of progressive pop
- Music of the United States
- Bruce Springsteen makes the cover of Time and Newsweek on the same week, releases Born to Run, and breaks into the mainstream
- 1970s-style funk is at the height of its popularity with important releases from Parliament (Chocolate City), War (Why Can't We Be Friends?) and The Meters (Fire on the Bayou)
- The first radio stations with a Christian Contemporary Music (CCM) format begin broadcasting
- Country-oriented songs are popular, including releases from Linda Ronstadt (Prisoner in Disguise), John Denver ("Calypso", "Thank God I'm a Country Boy", "I'm Sorry", "Sweet Surrender", "Sunshine on My Shoulders"), The Eagles (One of These Nights), Lynyrd Skynyrd (Nuthin' Fancy), Glen Campbell ("Rhinestone Cowboy") and B.J. Thomas ("(Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song")
- Fusion jazz's golden age ends and contemporary jazz emerges
- Smokey Robinson's Quiet Storm is released, defining what comes to be known as easy listening
- Hercules Campbell revolutionizes the breakbeat and the developing hip hop genre
1976 in music
- International trends
- Rainbow's "Stargazer" is the first power metal recording
- Hard rock and heavy metal bands like Aerosmith (Rocks), AC/DC (High Voltage), Blue Öyster Cult (Agents of Fortune) and Judas Priest (Sin After Sin) release landmark albums that gain unprecedented success for heavy metal
- Philip Glass' Einstein on the Beach is an early example of minimalism
- Prince Nico Mbarga and Rocafil Jazz have one of the biggest hits of the year with "Sweet Mother", which sells big across Africa, the Caribbean and elsewhere
- William Ackerman founds Windham Hill Records and helps invent New Age
- Ry Cooder's Chicken Skin Music (featuring Gabby Pahinui and Flaco Jiménez) is an early and innovative world music album
- Music of Algeria
- Ahmad Baba Rachid and other performers begin popularizing Algerian rai music outside of North Africa; the new pop singers call themselves cheb
- Music of Argentina
- A famous speech by Admiral Messera marks the beginning of a crackdown on Argentinean rock by military authorities, who consider the style's fans and performers subversive
- Music of Australia
- The Saints' "I'm Stranded" is the first Australian punk single
- Music of the Bahamas
- Bahamanian junkanoo pioneers The Music Makers begin performing and adding a more up-tempo beat to the music's sound
- Music of Benin
- Nel Oliver begins recording (in France), the first major star to emerge after the Kérékou government came to power
- Music of Greenland
- Malik Hoegh and Karsten Sommer form ULO Records, which comes to dominate Greenlandic music
- Music of Hungary
- Music of Jamaica
- Sly & Robbie's rockers reggae came to dominate the music scene across Jamaica
- Music of Korea
- Small bands playing nongak become very popular in South Korea
- Music of Nigeria
- Jim Lawson & the Mayor's Dance Band leads highlife's peak in Nigeria, which ends as Lawson dies this year
- Salawa Abeni's Late General Murtala Ramat Mohammed becomes the first Nigerian recording by a woman to sell more than a million copies
- Music of Switzerland
- Rumpelstilz's Füüf Narre im Charre launches reggae-influenced dialect rock as a mainstream trend
- Music of Thailand
- State suppression of pro-democracy activists results in many fleeing to rural areas; this includes pleng phua cheewit bands like Caravan
- Music of Trinidad & Tobago
- Cheryl Byron performs rapso in calypso tents, marking the beginning of rapso's mainstream acceptance in Trinidad
- Music of Turkey
- The State Conservatoire's foundation in Istanbul signals an end to five decades of repressing Turkish classical music as "too Arab"; the Conservatoire provides education and support for classical musicians
- Music of the United Kingdom
- The end of progressive rock's period of mainstream success
- Music of the United States
- The Eagles release Hotel California, one of the best-selling albums of the year and all time; this is the commercial peak of southern rock
- Blondie's debut, Blondie and Pere Ubu's Modern Dance solidify the New Wave sound in punk music, centered in New York City
- Soft, disco-oriented ballads by The Bee Gees (Children of the World, "You Should Be Dancing"), Bay City Rollers ("Saturday Night", "Money Honey"), Orleans ("Still the One"), The Doobie Brothers (Takin' It to the Streets), Starland Vocal Band ("Afternoon Delight"), Peter Frampton (Frampton Comes Alive) and Paul Simon ("50 Ways to Leave Your Lover", "Still Crazy After All These Years") are popular
- David Grisman invents the term newgrass
- Wanted: The Outlaws by Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Tompall Glaser and Jessi Colter is first country album to go platinum
- Grandmaster Flash begins DJing, soon adding new techniques like phasing and cutting to hip hop
- Music of Zambia
- President Kenneth Kaunda decrees that 95% of music on Zambian radio must be Zambian in origin
1977 in music
- International trends
- DIY fanzines like Sniffin' Glue arise alongside punk rock
- The Sex Pistols release Never Mind The Bollocks Here's The Sex Pistols, kickstarting the punk rock movement in the UK, while the Ramones' Rocket to Russia helps break in punk in the US - art-punk bands like Television (Marquee Moon), Elvis Costello (My Aim Is True), The Damned (Machine Gun Etiquette), Richard Hell & the Voidoids (Blank Generation), UFO (Lights Out) and Talking Heads (Talking Heads: 77) also emerge
- The soundtrack to Saturday Night Fever (largely by the Bee Gees) is the dominant album of the year and helps cement disco as the most popular genre; Chic also releases a pivotal disco album, Risque
- Pop and prog rock bands like Chicago (Chicago XI), Electric Light Orchestra (Out of the Blue), Jethro Tull (Songs from the Wood), Journey (Next), Kansas (Point of Know Return), Rush (A Farewell to Kings), Pink Floyd (Animals) and Steely Dan (Aja) release important and popular albums
- Music of Côte d'Ivoire
- Ernesto Djédjé's Gnoantre-Ziboté is the first international success for Ivorian music
- Music of Egypt
- A court case rules that The Holy Qur'an contains the words of God, who recited it in a manner who do not comprehend. Qur'an recitation is an act of compliance and does not involve innovation, thus ruling valid laws against musical performance and recording in religious ceremonies, because doing so adds the performers' interpretation to God's words
- Music of Ethiopia
- Aster Aweke begins her singing career, which will soon make her the most internationally famous Ethiopian musician
- Music of the Gambia
- The Super Eagles travel to London to appear on a radio show; there, they are encouraged by an unknown man to switch from American and Cuban pop to their country's native sounds; they do so, and become the most famous and influential band in Gambian history
- Music of Senegal
- The entire rhythm section and many other performers of the Star Band left to form Étoile de Dakar, who quickly eclipsed their compatriots, and launched the careers of El Hadji Faye and Youssou N'Dour
- Music of Spain
- The first Festival Internacional do Mundo Celta takes place, part of the roots revival of Galician music
- Music of the United States
- Hip hop DJ Grandwizard Theodore invents scratching
- Suicide's Suicide influentially mixes electronic music, rockabilly and punk rock
- Mick Moloney founds Green Fields of America to promote Irish-American music
1978 in music
- International trends
- Sonny Okosun's "Fire in Soweto" is an enormous pan-African hit that fuses rock and reggae with lyrics praising black nationalism
- Important releases cement the sound of heavy metal and begin to move it towards the mainstream; this includes albums from Blue Öyster Cult (Some Enchanted Evening), Van Halen (Van Halen), Judas Priest (Stained Class, Killing Machine), Ace Frehley (Ace Frehley), Rush (Hemispheres) and Styx (Pieces of Eight)
- Public Image Ltd. begin to combine punk and dub music
- Music of Australia
- John Paul Young's "Love Is in the Air" is the first international hit for an Australian performer
- Groups like The Saints (Prehistoric Sounds) and Radio Birdman (Radios Appear) help create a distinctively Australian punk scene
- Music of Greece
- Manolis Rasoulis' Iy Ekdhikisis tis Yiftias is a landmark release in Greek laïkó music
- Music of Kenya
- Les Wanyika splits off of Simba Wanyika Original, adding rumba influences and becoming very popular as the dominant form of Swahili music
- Music of Mali
- Les Ambassadeurs move to Abidjan and record Mandjou, which features the hti "Mandjou"; the song is phenomenally popular across Mali, and launches singer Salif Keita into a solo career
- Music of Mozambique
- The Ministry of Education and Culture organizes a National Dance Festival which leads to newfound recognition and acceptance for native Mozambican culture
- Music of the Philippines
- Joey Aguilar's "Anak" is the most popular Filipino song in history, and helps popularize Pinoy rock internationally
- Music of the United Kingdom
- Runrig's Play Gaelic is the first major album in Scots-Gaelic
- American composer Monte Cazazza and the British band Throbbing Gristle (D.O.A.: The Third and Final Report of Throbbing Gristle), Suicide (Suicide) and Cabaret Voltaire (Cabaret Voltaire) invent industrial music and establish Sheffield as its capital
- Gary Numan (Tubeway Army), Human League ("Being Boiled") and similar artists pioneer the development of New Wave and synth pop out of the avant-garde stylings of Roxy Music and Kraftwerk
- Music of the United States
- Brian Eno produces No New York, which cements the avant-garde sound of No Wave and includes material from bands like Teenage Jesus & the Jerks, DNA, Mars and Chance & the Contortions
- The Germs' "Forming" is the first single of California's punk rock scene
- Music of Zimbabwe
- Thomas Mapfumo forms the group Blacks Unlimited while adding native rhythms and instrumentations, helping to form chimurenga music
1979 in music
- International trends
- Bauhaus' "Bela Lugosi's Dead" marks the beginning of Gothic rock in the US; The Cure (Three Imaginary Boys), Joy Division (Unknown Pleasures) and Siouxsie & the Banshees (The Scream) move punk in the same direction in the UK
- Music of Algeria
- Cheb Fadela's "Ana ma h'lali ennoum" is the first rai song to be a pan-Algerian hit and is considered the beginning of modern pop rai
- Music of Australia
- The movie Wrong Side of the Road, featuring the bands No Fixed Address and Us Mob, depict the bands' struggle for recognition as reggae musicians and link their struggle with Aboriginal land rights issues
- Music of Belize
- Punta develops into punta rock among the Garifuna people, led by artists like Pen Cayetano
- Music of Iran
- A revolution creates an Islamic Republic, which then goes on to encourage the development of traditional music
- Music of Italy
- Franco Battiato's L'era del cinghiale bianco is the first in a trilogy of albums that will popularize his Sicilian roots, rock and classical fusion
- Re Niliu is formed and begins popularizing Calabrian folk music
- Music of Jamaica
- Recordings by Roots Radic backing Barrington Levy mark the beginning of dancehall music
- Music of Mexico
- Country musician Linda Ronstadt helps lead a popularization of Mexican mariachi music, beginning with a major festival in San Antonio, Texas
- Music of Mozambique
- The Orchestra Marrabenta Sar de Moçambique is formed; led by Wazimbo, the group brings marrabenta music to audiences across the world, especially in Europe
- Music of the United Kingdom
- The Clash releases London Calling, a pivotal album in the popularization of punk rock and a fusion of reggae and other influences
- Alaap's Tere Chunni de Sitare takes the British Asian community by strom and sets the stage for the bhangra explosion
- The Specials begin popularizing Jamaican ska in the UK, creating the two-tone explosion
- Music of the United States
- The Sugarhill Gang releases what is commonly considered the first successful hip hop single, "Rappers Delight"
- Chuck Brown & the Soul Searchers' Bustin' Loose is released; this is the first go go record.
- Casper's "Groovy Ghost Show" is the first recorded hip hop from Chicago, while Jocko Henderson's "Rhythm Talk" is the first recorded hip hop from Philadelphia
- Talking Heads' Fear of Music creates a fusion of New Wave and funk called techno-funk
- The B-52's innovate a fusion of New Wave and dance music to great popular acclaim