Timeline of trends in music (1980-1989)
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1980 in music
- International trends
- Alternative rock and post punk artists like Joy Division (Closer), The Specials (More Specials) and U2 (Boy) achieve some popularity with influential releases; they are accompanied by popular punk and New Wave releases from Devo (Freedom of Choice), Talking Heads (Remain in Light), The Pretenders (Pretenders), The Clash (London Calling) and The Jam (Sound Affects)
- Van Halen helps to revitalize the heavy metal genre, and brings the rock scene in Los Angeles, California to the world's attention.
- Hank Sapoznik, The Klezmorim, Kapelye, Andy Statman and the Klezmer Conservatory Band emerge at the forefront of a klezmer revival among Jews in Israel, the US and UK.
- Artists like Wilfrido Vargas help popularize merengue, drawing on a large Dominican minority internationally in cities like New York
- Talking Heads' Remain in Light is the beginning of worldbeat music
- Music of Argentina
- Cuarteto undergoes a popular revitalization
- A concert by Serú Girán draws more than 60,000 Argentinean rock fans, who are defying official repression of rock by military authorities
- Music of Australia
- The Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association (CAAMA) begins broadcasting, leading to a revival in traditional aboriginal music
- Music of Canada
- Artists like Figgy Duff inspire a resurgence in popularity of Newfoundland and other Maritime musical traditions
- Music of China
- Rangzen Shonu helps lead a merger of Tibetan and Western rock and pop music; recordings by Mickey Hart and Philip Glass (Koyaanisqatsi) help further fuse Tibetan, New Age and Western classical music. One year later, Alain Presencer's The Singing Bowls of Tibet proved an influential fusion of Western and Tibetan forms
- Music of Finland
- Even while its hipness fades worldwide, opera experiences a massive revival in Finland
- Music of Germany
- Alt-folk group Biermosl Blosn appear on Bavarian TV playing the national anthem with words attacking the Bavarian President Franz Josef Strauss, leading to increasing attention and controversy of the new wave of folk music
- Music of Guinea-Bissau
- Super Mama Djombo's debut, Cambança, is popular across Guinea-Bissau
- Music of Japan
- Okinawa begins its ascent as a major influence on Japanese rock with the release of Bloodline by Shoukichi Kina with Ry Cooder and Hosono Haruomi
- Music of Korea
- T'ong guitar music becomes soft and ballad-oriented, fueling the grow, alternative Norae Undong rock movement
- Music of Martinique and Guadeloupe
- Music of Mexico
- Music of Nigeria
- Ebenezer Obey releases Current Affairs, making him briefly an international star and bringing new attention to Nigerian music
- Music of Iceland
- Music of Portugal
- "Chico Fininho" by Rui Veloso marks the beginning of a distinct rock sound in Portugal
- Music of Thailand
- A form of Thai pop called string develops
- Music of Trinidad and Tobago
- The Network Riddum Band's Breaking Out marks the peak of rapso's popularity in Trinidad and abroad
- Music of the United States
- Casper's "Groovy Ghost Show" is the beginning of recorded hip hop from Chicago
- Hardcore punk rock begins its golden age, centered in California and Washington DC, while hardcore fusion genres are created by The Cramps' Songs the Lord Taught Us (voodoobilly) and Bad Brains' Pay to Cum (reggae-punk)
1981 in music
- International trends
- Pop musicians Phil Collins (Face Value), Rick Springfield (Working Class Dog), Hall & Oates (Private Eyes) and Carpenters (Made in America) are extremely popular and dominate the year's sound
- Peter Gabriel (Peter Gabriel (3)), Brian Eno (My Life in the Bush of Ghosts), David Byrne (The Catherine Wheel) and Bob Marley (Uprising) help to popularize world music; Marley dies this year
- African-Belgian artists like Princesse Mansia M'Bila, Cécile Kayirebwa and Dieudonné Kabongo create a vibrant world music scene in Belgium
- Daniel Ponce and 125,000 other Cubans expelled by Fidel Castro; many, including Ponce, bring songo to New York, fuelling the development of timba and other forms of salsa
- Music of Colombia
- Joe Arroyo and La Verdad help make Colombia a center for salsa music
- Music of Germany
- German musicians Kraftwerk (Computer World) help define what is later known as electronica
- Music of New Zealand
- Roger Shepherd forms Flying Nun Records in New Zealand; the record label will go on to dominate kiwi rock; Clean and Tall Dwarfs invent a form of lo fi pop
- Music of Puerto Rico
- Music of the United Kingdom
- Dick Gaughan's Handful of Earth is released; it is widely considered one of the best modern Scottish folk albums
- The record label Fflach Tradd is formed by Richard and Wyn Jones of Ail Symudiad; the label goes on to play a central role in the Welsh roots revival; Dafydd Iwan's first hit, "Yma O'Hyd (Still Here)", is a major breakthrough for the Welsh language singer-songwriter scene
- Synth pop enters the mainstream
- Following the success of Stars on 45, there is a sudden craze for medley records.
- Venom's Welcome to Hell is the beginning of black metal
- A riot between the white audience and local Asians breaks out in London following a performance by Business, The Last Resort and The 4-Skins
- Music of the United States
- MTV first airs
- Grandmaster Flash's "Adventures on the Wheels of Steel" changes DJing
- Captain Rapp and Disco Daddy's "Gigolo Rapp" is the beginning of recorded West Coast rap
- Juan Atkins revolutionizes techno music
- Hüsker Dü and The Replacements arise at the forefront at Minneapolis scene, fusing punk and pop
1982 in music
International trends in music
- Thomas Brooman is inspired by the Master Drummers of Burundi to organize the first WOMAD festival (with Peter Gabriel), igniting the world music scene
- The unexpected chart success of The Clash (Combat Rock), The Go-Go's (The Beauty and the Beat) and The Bangles (All Over the Place) reflect an increasing popularization of punk-influenced pop music
- Soro, an influential fusion album, is recorded by Malian star Salif Keita, Senegalese producer Ibrahima Sylla and French keyboardist Jean-Philippe Rykiel; the album is considered the start of modern Malian pop
- Music of Argentina
- The release of politicized Argentinean rock songs like "Tiempos Dificiles" by Fito Páez, "Maribel" by Luis Alberto Spinetta, "Sólo le Pido a Dios" by León Gieco and "Dinosaurios" by Charly García, marks the end of effective control over the Argentine rock industry
- Music of Cameroon
- A group of Paris-based makossa artists, many incorporating zouk elements, become popular in Cameroon, France and farther abroad; these include Bébé Manga and Moundy Claude
- Music of Iceland
- End of the first wave of punk rock in Iceland
- Music of Jamaica
- Jamaican musicians like Yellowman (Mister Yellowman), and Sugar Minnott (Good Thing Going) kickstart dancehall music
- Music of Nigeria
- Looking for another Bob Marley-type Third World star, Island Records signs King Sunny Ade; his Juju Music proves a remarkable, of short-lived, success among international audiences
- Music of Senegal
- Super Diamono's Jigenu Ndakaru establishes the band as one of the most popular of its day, adding jazz and reggae to native mbalax
- Music of the United Kingdom
- The Straycats' Built For Speed surprise popularity brings about a brief renaissance in rockabilly
- Alistair Anderson's Steel Skies is an innovative album that helps bring Northumbrian smallpipe music to mainstream audiences
- Bhangra artists like Alaap and Chirag Pehchan are the most popular musicians in the British Asian community
- Duran Duran's Rio sets the stage for the dominance of New Romantic synth pop and New Wave music by 1984 -- Soft Cell (Non-Stop Ecstatic Dancing) and A Flock of Seagulls (A Flock of Seagulls) also release influential albums.
- Music of the United States
- Afrika Bambaataa releases Planet Rock, an early hip hop album that mixed rapping with electronic beats; it became one of the most influential hip hop recordings of the decade, influenced countless genres, including the emerging electro hop and Miami bass scenes
- House music emerges from the club scene in Chicago and Detroit; a hip hop-influenced variant, hip house, also emerges
- Sonic Youth invents noise rock
- R.E.M. brings Athens, Georgia's folk-rock and jangle pop scene to national audiences
- Violent Femmes brings a roots rock sound to the punk scene, creating a style sometimes known as folk-punk
1983 in music
- International trends
- Montserratian soca band Arrow releases "Hot! Hot! Hot!", which is the first major worldwide hit for soca
- Van Halen becomes the highest paid band in music history, receiving $1,000,000 for a 90-minute set at the US Festival in Southern California.
- Music of Armenia
- With the loosening of restrictions, Thessilk becomes the first Armenian rock band to gain in fame
- Music of Barbados
- The Belair Jazz Club, the island's most pre-eminent jazz club, closes
- Music of Burkina Faso
- The Semaine Nationale de la Culture is first held; the music festival helps to popularize native stars
- Music of Côte d'Ivoire
- Alpha Blondy becomes a star after appearing on the TV show First chance and his first recording, "Brigadier Sabari", is a national hit; this is the beginning of reggae's mainstream popularity in the country
- Music of Ireland
- Traditional set dancing undergoes a major revival of interest
- Music of Japan
- Charlie Ahearn's film Wild Style is shown in Tokyo, sparking a local hip hop scene, soon based around Yoyogi Park
- Music of Mali
- Jali Musa Juawara's Yasimiki sparks a Malian roots revival and a wave of popular acoustic albums of traditional Mande music
- Music of New Zealand
- Flying Nun Records releases The Clean's Boodle Boodle Boodle and Great Sounds Great and a compilation called Dunedin Double which establish the Dunedin Sound
- Music of Switzerland
- Ex-Trem Normal release "Warum" and "Welcome to Switzerland", which establish a new wave of distinctively Bernese rock
- Music of the United Kingdom
- The Cocteau Twins' Head Over Heels defines dream pop and is arguably the beginning of all the styles of late 1980s and early 90s British rock, including twee pop, Britpop, noise pop and shoegazing.
- Robin Morton's A Controversy of Pipers, featuring six of the top bagpipers in the world, is released to great acclaim
- Electropop is also big, with New Order's Blue Monday a big hit, hits from Yazoo and Bronski Beat all contributing to the sound.
- Music of the United States
- Several bands important in the future development and popularization of thrash metal form, including Megadeth, Metallica and the Red Hot Chili Peppers; Metallica's Kill 'Em All was especially important, defining speed metal
- Hair metal begins it's run of mainstream chart success, with bands like Mötley Crüe (Shout at the Devil), W.A.S.P. (Animal (F**k like a Beast))), Quiet Riot (Metal Health) and Def Leppard (Pyromania) being most popular.
- Some West Coast rap artists begin to achieve local stardom; these include Ice-T
- DJ Marley Marl's technical innovations influence hip hop and Electro, and future genres of electronic music (including techno)
- The Clark Sisters' "You Bring the Sunshine" is a crossover hit and marks the beginning of the popularization of the Detroit Sound in gospel music
- R. Carlos Nakai's Changes launches a revitalization of Native American flute music; this was a major influence on New Age music
- The Paisley Underground arises in Los Angeles
- Suicidal Tendencies fuses hardcore punk with heavy metal
- Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis produce their first major hit, The SOS Band's "Just Be Good to Me", which helps popularize the use of the Roland TR-808 in R&B music.
1984 in music
- International trends
- Tina Turner (Private Dancer), Madonna (Like a Virgin) and Cyndi Lauper (She's So Unusual) dominate the year's pop sound with dance-oriented singles and ballads of female empowerment.
- Van Halen (1984) dominates the year's rock sound, and videos, with heavy metal's first hit crossover album.
- Tabou Combo's 8eme Sacrement makes compas into a major international best-selling genre
- José Alberto's Noches Calientes is the beginning of salsa romantica
- Thrash-influenced bands like Dokken (Tooth and Nail), Celtic Frost (Morbid Tales), Hellhammer (Apocalyptic Raids 1990 A.D.), Mercyful Fate (Don't Break the Oath) and Helloween (Helloween) come to dominate the European metal scene
- Menudo (Reaching Out) reaches the height of their fame, breaking into markets in Asia and elsewhere
- 3 Mustaphas 3 begin popularizing Jewish klezmer revival
- Music of Argentina
- A number of soft rock-influenced light Argentinean rock bands arise, most notably including Los Abuelos de la Nada and Sumo
- Music of Austria
- Roland Neuwirth's Die Extremschrammeln use American blues and Viennese schrammelmusik to form what becomes known as the Danube New Wave
- Music of France
- Dee Nasty's Paname City Rappin is the first recorded French hip hop
- Music of South Africa
- Yvonne Chaka Chaka's "I'm in Love With a DJ" is the first hit for bubblegum
- Music of the United Kingdom
- New Wave bands like The Cars (Heartbeat City), General Public (All the Rage), Spandau Ballet (Parade), Adam Ant (Strip) and A Flock of Seagulls (The Story of a Young Heart) achieve their greatest mainstream success.
- Pop phenomenon of the year is Frankie Goes to Hollywood.
- Music of the United States
- Stryper's The Yellow and Black Attack is the first Christian metal album and sets the stage for later Christian artists in punk, hip hop and other genres
- The peak of electro hop begins with artists like Egyptian Lover and World Class Wreckin' Cru
- Releases from Run-D.M.C. and the Beastie Boys begin fusing hip hop and rock and roll/heavy metal
- Van Halen's "Jump" is the first heavy metal song to top Billboard's pop charts
- New Age music begins to enter the mainstream
- Music of Vietnam
- The Maison des Cultures du Monde helps lead a revival in roi nuoc (water puppetry)
1985 in music
- International trends
- Aerosmith begins its return to popular acceptance with Done with Mirrors
- Changes in British immigration laws results in a large number of Ghanaians emigrating to Germany instead; the Ghanaian-German community creates a distinctive kind of highlife called burgher-highlife
- Zouk has become an international success, influencing merengue and compas, along with most other forms of Latin American music
- Chart success helps to jumpstart the careers of Sting (The Dream of the Blue Turtles), Wham! (Make It Big) and Prince (Around The World In A Day)
- The Rock in Rio festival brings about the dominance of rock and roll in Brazil and other Latin American countries
- Live Aid starts the trend for charity festivals and records, and catapults a number of notable acts to prominence, such as U2, Simple Minds and Phil Collins
- Ali Baba's Northern meroonian nganja gains unprecedented popularity at home and in the United Kingdom
- Soukous, or popular Congolese music, becomes closely associated with Paris, where several new stars of Congolese descent emerge, including Four Stars and some of the first female African stars like M'Pongo Love and Mbilia Bel.
- Music of Brazil
- Lambada, having moved its center of innovation from Belém to Salvador, becomes a local favorite dominated by light pop rhythms and synthesizers
- Music of Ireland
- The Pogues' Rum Sodomy & the Lash is an influential fusion of Irish traditional music of punk rock
- Music of Jamaica
- Wayne Smith's "Under Me Sleng Teng" is the first ragga recording
- Music of Japan
- Music of Madagascar
- Most of the popular record labels in Madagscar fold due to financial problems; Western pop dominates the Malagasy audiences
- GlobeStyle Records records two compilations of folk music, helping to inspire American and European musicians like Henry Kaiser to take an interest in Malagasy folk
- Music of Nigeria
- King Sunny Ade's band walks out in the middle of a Japanese tour and Island Records drops his contract, thus ending the brief boom for juju music outside of Nigeria; in Nigeria, juju begins to lose ground to Yo-pop music
- Music of Senegal
- Hip hop begins to break into Senegalese audiences
- Music of Spain
- Ketama's Ketama is an influential nuevo flamenco album which fuses rock and roll and salsa with traditional flamenco
- Music of Tanzania
- Hugo Kisima lures musicians from DDC Mlimani Park Orchestra and disbands the wildly-popular Orchestra Safari Sound, forming the International Orchestra Safari Sound
- Orchestre Maquis Original's "Karubandika" introduces a popular new dance called the zembwela
- Jah Kimbuteh and his band, Roots and Kulture, bring reggae to mainstream Tanzanian audiences
- Music of Thailand
- Music of Turkey
- Belkis Akkale's mainstream career peaks, setting the stage for the next wave of TRT (popular urban folk music) performers
- Zülfü Livaneli innovates the guitar-based özgün genre
- Music of the United Kingdom
- The Pogues (Rum Sodomy & the Lash) fuse punk and folk-rock (rogue-folk)
- Music of the United States
- Releases by Bruce Springsteen (Born in the U.S.A.), John Fogerty (Centerfield), Rick Springfield (Tao) and John Cougar Mellencamp (Scarecrow) reflect a popular emphasis on heartland roots rock and roll
- European New Wave pop musicians European like a-ha (Hunting High and Low) and Simple Minds (Once Upon a Time, "Don't You (Forget About Me)") achieve their greatest success in the United States
- The end of the golden age of hardcore punk rock
- Releases by Hüsker Dü (New Day Rising), The Replacements (Tim), R.E.M. (Fables of the Reconstruction) and Talking Heads (Little Creatures) help define alternative rock
- Rappers like LL Cool J (Radio) and Kurtis Blow (America) help bring rap closer to the mainstream than ever before; LL Cool J is especially known for organizing rap into traditional song structures
- Zydeco musicians like Rockin' Sidney (My Zydeco Shoes Got the Zydeco Blues, "My Toot Toot") and Buckwheat Zydeco (Waitin' for My Ya-Ya) engender a brief surge in zydeco's popularity
- The mainstream success of Amy Grant (Straight Ahead, Unguarded) begins, marking the peak of popularity for Contemporary Christian Music (CCM)
- Green River begins to define the burgeoning Seattle grunge music scene
- Operation Ivy fuses hardcore punk and ska
- Ice-T's "6N' Da Mornin'" is the first nationally successful West Coast rap single, and is often considered the beginning of modern gangsta rap
- Music of Zambia
- Popular musicians like Paul Ngozi help invent a kind of music called kalindula
1986 in music
- International trends
- Paul Simon's Graceland with Ladysmith Black Mambazo and Mahlathini & the Mahotella Queens launches the mainstream popularity of world music
- Wimme Saari begins performing Sami joiks, beginning a roots revival of the form
- Music of Algeria
- The first state-sanctioned rai music festival is held, and rai becomes a major part of the world music scene
- Music of China
- The beginning of the Northwest Wind style, part of a broader cultural movement; the Northwest Wind draws on folk traditions from the Shaanxi Province and Western rock
- Cui Jian's "I Have Nothing" is said to be the beginning of Chinese rock
- Music of Iceland
- A punk rock revival begins in Iceland
- Music of Mexico
- Music of the Philippines
- Pinoy rock has become socially aware in its lyrical tone, and helps set the stage for a revolution in this year; at the same time, some reject this new development, resulting in a punk rock scene in Manila
- Music of Trinidad and Tobago
- David Rudder of Charlie's Roots becomes a solo star and marks the beginning of the rise of brass bands in the annual Carnival music competitions
- Music of Uganda
- Ndere Troupe is formed to study and perform varieties of folk music from across Uganda
- Music of the United Kingdom
- New Musical Express releases C86, the beginning of twee pop.
- Robin Huw Bowen begins his professional music career by joining Mabsant; he will go on to become one of the most influential musicians of the Welsh roots revival
- American house music begins to enter the British club culture
- MacTullagh Vannin releases their debut, MacTullagh Vannin, which places the band at the forefront of the Manx roots revival
- Music of the United States
- Metallica releases Master of Puppets and Slayer Reign In Blood, marking the zenith of thrash metal and arguably all metal itself.
- Country musicians like Dwight Yoakam (Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc.,), Randy Travis (Storms of Life) and George Strait (#7) bring about a honky tonk revival.
- 2 Live Crew's 2 Live Crew Is Who We Are begins the popularization of Miami bass
- Mr. T Experience and Green Day found a punk-pop scene based in Berkeley
- John Trudell's Aka Graffiti Man launches the field of Navajo spoken word poetry
- Music of Vietnam
- A new government in Vietnam allows for a resurgence in popular religious-oriented music like hat chau van
1987 in music
- International trends
- U2 (The Joshua Tree) and R.E.M. (Document) release albums that signify a move back towards politically and socially aware music
- Death's Scream Bloody Gore helps to define the burgeoning death metal scene
- Noise pop emerges with releases from The Jesus and Mary Chain (Darklands) and Yo La Tengo (New Wave Hot Dogs)
- The term world music is first used as a marketing category to describe several dozen kinds of folk music from around the world; the term immediately draws criticism from artists like David Byrne and other critics
- The Gipsy Kings' "Djobi Djoba" and "Bamboleo" mark the commercial emergence of Sevillana, a pop-oriented flamenco music, in Europe
- Music of Belize
- Punta becomes the most popular form of Belizean music, aided by the release of Punta Rockers, a compilation featuring Pen Cayetano, Andy Palacio and Sounds Incorporated.
- Music of Cape Verde
- Cesaria Evoria is invited to Portugal and begins recording again, soon becoming the first international morna star
- Music of France
- Dalida's suicide at 54.
- Music of Ghana
- The Gospel Musicians Union is founded to provide support for the burgeoning gospel music scene
- Amekye Dede releases Kose Kose, which establishes him as the biggest highlife performer in the country and remains an influential highlife-reggae fusion
- Music of Greece
- Nikos Xydhakis and Eleftheria Arvanitaki's Konda sti Dhoxa Stigmi is an influential album in the development of an orientalized form of Greek pop music
- Music of Israel
- After the Intifada, a hard-edged group of performers and songwriters emerged, led by El Funoun, songwriter Suhail Khoury, Thaer Barghouti's Doleh and Sabreen's Mawt a'nabi
- Music of Japan
- Zeni Geva's How To Kill begins the Japanese noise scene
- Music of Kenya
- Them Mushrooms moves to Nairobi and quickly becomes the most popular band playing pop covers in hotels
- Music of Spain
- Pata Negra's Blues de la Frontera incorporates rock and blues into Andalucian flamenco music
- Music of Taiwan
- Martial law is lifted, helping give impetus to a revival in traditional and aboriginal musical forms
- Music of Tanzania
- Vijana Jazz adds synthesizers and electronic drums to dansi
- Music of Uganda
- In Sweden, a group of musicians-in-exile led by Philly Lutaaya record Born in Africa, establishing the first distinctively Ugandan popular music sound
- Music of the United Kingdom
- Gothic rock's popularity peaks with bands like The Sisters of Mercy (Floodland), Fields of the Nephilim (Dawnrazor), Mission UK (The First Chapter) and Peter Murphy (Should the World Fail to Fall Apart)
- The UK charts are dominated by pop hits produced by Stock, Aitken and Waterman.
- Edward II & the Red Hot Polka's Let's Polkasteady is the first album to fuse reggae with English folk music
- Electronic sampling of existing records (as opposed to turntablism) is used on underground hits by the Justified Ancients of Mu Mu and Coldcut, and subsequently enters the mainstream through M/A/R/R/S' innovative one-off hit "Pump Up The Volume".
- Najma Akhtar's Qareeb is a popular jazz/ghazal fusion
- Napalm Death forms grindcore
- Music of the United States
- Guns n' Roses releases Appetite for Destruction and dominate the American music scene for the year with an arena rock and thrash metal-influenced sound; in Europe, Celtic Frost's (Into the Pandemonium) influence and sales peak
- Ian MacKaye's Embrace LP Embrace and Rites of Spring's EP All Through a Life are said to be the beginning of emo music, based around MacKaye's Washington DC label, Dischord Records
- Guy's Guy is often considered the beginning of New Jack Swing
- Los Lobos' "La Bamba" and Linda Ronstadt's Canciones de Mi Padre surprise success revitalizes Mexican-Texan music
1988 in music
- International trends
- Songhai, a group consisting of Toumani Diabate, Danny Thompson and Ketama release Songhai, an influential world music album
- Ali Farka Toure (Ali Farka Toure) brings blues music to international audiences, especially in Africa
- Oliver Lorsac visits Bahia, Brazil and learns of what eventually becomes known as lambada; he brings it back with him to France
- Goran Bregovic's "Ederlezi" is a surprise hit in its native Macedonian Roma community and abroad; the song comes from the soundtrack to Emir Kusturica's film The Time of the Gypsies
- Music of Algeria
- Rai's popularity and influence in Algeria and among immigrants in France help to begin breaking into the mainstream there, and elsewhere in Europe, including future-superstar Cheb Khaled (Kutche)
- Mory Kanté releases "Yeke Yeke", a classic Mande song; it becomes a surprise chart-topper throughout Europe
- Music of China
- Chi Zhiqiang's songs about his time in prison begin a brief period of popularity for prison songs in Chinese rock
- Music of Croatia
- Vjestice is the first band to mix rock and roll with Croatian folk music
- Music of Dominica
- Music of Egypt
- Hamid el-Shaeri's "Lolaiki" is the first major hit for al-jil music
- Music of Estonia
- Some 300,000 singers gather at a rally in Tallinn to demand independence from the Soviet Union
- Music of Germany
- The formation of R&S Records in Ghent, Belgium and Frankfurt, Germany (as well as important labels in Chicago and Detroit) and the recordings of seminal tracks like "Energy Flash" (Joey Beltram) mark the formation of trance music out of acid house.
- Music of Iceland
- Led by The Sugarcubes, Icelandic rock music begins to enjoy popularity elsewhere, primarily in Europe
- Music of Mali
- Ami Koita's Tata Sira is the best-selling album of the year in Mali, and is perhaps the pinnacle of success for the jelimusolu
- Music of New Zealand
- Upper Hutt Posse's E Tu is the first pure hip hop album from New Zealand
- Palestinian music
- Thaer Barghouti's Doleh and Sabreen?s Mawt a?nabi are influential recordings among the youths of the Intifada
- Music of Romania
- Taraf de Haidouks begins recording, bringing much international attention to Romanian folk music
- Music of Senegal
- Music of the United Kingdom
- Steven Morrissey leaves The Smiths for a solo career, going on to release albums that reflect the beginning of a new psychedelic-pop sound in the UK
- The "Summer of Love" in the UK marks a boom in house music
- My Bloody Valentine's Isn't Anything is released, commonly considered the first shoegazing album
- Aswad's "Don't Turn Around" is the first chart-topper from a British reggae band and marks the peak of popularity for mainstream reggae
- Music of the United States
- End of the golden era of East Coast rap, including Eric B. & Rakim (Follow the Leader) and Slick Rick (The Great Adventures of Slick Rick)
- Releases from Sonic Youth (Daydream Nation) and Jane's Addiction (Nothing's Shocking) begin to bring indie rock towards the grunge explosion
- k.d. lang (Shadowland) and Tracy Chapman (Tracy Chapman) release albums that help to kickstart a new female singer-songwriter scene
- Industrial music begins to move into the mainstream with the success of bands like Ministry (The Land of Rape and Honey), My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult (I See Good Spirits & I See Bad Spirits), Skinny Puppy (VIVISect VI), Front 242 (Front by Front) and Nine Inch Nails (Pretty Hate Machine)
- Debut singles by Gang Starr ("Words I Manifest") and Stetsasonic ("Talkin' All That Jazz") are often considered the beginning of jazz rap
1989 in music
- International trends
- Black metal emerges out of thrash with bands like Anthrax (State of Euphoria) and Sepultura (Beneath the Remains)
- Senegalese folk musician Baaba Maal's Djam Leelii is a surprise hit in the United Kingdom
- Abana ba Nasery releases Abana ba Nasery, a surprise success across Europe for bandleader Shem Tube's omutibo music
- Music of Burkina Faso
- Kaboré Moussa founds an influential and prolific record label, Bazar Musique
- Music of China
- Drawing on prison songs and the Northwest Wind style, Chinese rock enters the mainstream in China
- Music of Malawi
- The Pope visits Malawi, helping to spark religious fervor and the already-burgeoning gospel music scene
- Music of Mali
- Oumou Sangaré's Moussoulou makes her in a star and brings wassoulou music to mainstream audiences in Mali
- Music of Nigeria
- Shina Peter's 1989 Afro-Juju Series 1 launches a national craze called Shina Mania
- Music of Norway
- Annbjørg Lien's Annbjørg is an influential revitalization of the Hardanger fiddle and its distinctive music
- Music of Russia
- Pianist Vladimir Horowitz returns to his land of birth, the Soviet Union, to play a landmark performance, the first in his own country since self-exile in 1925
- Music of Senegal
- Music of Trinidad and Tobago
- Ras Shorty I and his family create a fusion of reggae and gospel called jamoo
- Music of Ukraine
- The first Chervona Ruta, a festival of traditional Ukrainian folk music, is held
- Music of the United Kingdom
- The first outdoor raves are held
- 808 State's "Pacific State" is said to be the first ambient house recording
- Warp Records, the influential electronic and Intelligent Dance Music label is started in Sheffield
- Music of the United States
- Slint's Tweez is considered the beginning of post-rock
- N.W.A. releases Straight Outta Compton, defining gangsta rap and bringing it out of urban ghettos to mainstream audiences; De La Soul releases 3 Feet High and Rising, a pivotal album in the development of alternative rap later in the next decade, while Kool G Rap's Road to the Riches defines what eventually is known as Mafioso rap
- Clint Black's Killin' Time sweeps country music, reflecting a move towards pop-oriented country
- Bands like the Red Hot Chili Peppers (Mother's Milk), Faith No More (The Real Thing) and Fishbone (Truth and Soul) bring funk metal to its commercial pinnacle. Many of these bands, along with Anthrax, Ice-T and others also fuse hardcore hip hop with thrash metal and similar influences
- Psychic TV's Towards Thee Infinite Beast is the peak of the industrial-trance phenomenon