Timeline of music in the United States (1970 to the present)

This is a timeline of music in the United States from 1970 to the present.__NOTOC__

1970

*Armadillo World Headquarters opens in Austin, Texas. It will become a major venue for the music of Austin, especially the local country scene. [Malone and Stricklin, pg. 140] [Lewis, pg. 60]
*Black Sabbath's "Black Sabbath" and "Paranoid" codify the genre later known as heavy metal music; though Black Sabbath is British, heavy metal will become an important American phenomenon in the next decade.
*Charlie Gillett's "The Sound of the City" is the first comprehensive history of R&B and rock.
*Growing Latino "political unrest and cultural awakening" manifests in musical expression, especially in the formation of a group called El Chicano, who had a major hit with "Viva Tirado". "Viva Tirado" becomes the "first single to attain positions in all popular music categories except country and western".
*Francis Grasso opens the "Sanctuary", the first "notoriously gay discotheque" in the country in the New York club scene; he innovates a technique called "disco blending", which allows for uninterrupted dancing, laying the groundwork for disco music.
*Miles Davis' "Bitches Brew" is an important part of the origin of jazz-rock. [Southern, pg. 499]
*Haitian performers with "mini-djaz" bands touring the United States begin deserting to settle in Miami and other cities, establishing a number of local Haitian music scenes.
*Nosotros, a Hollywood trade association for Latino entertainers, inaugurates what will become known as the Golden Eagle Awards, for Latino musicians.
*The works of Scott Joplin become the basis for a ragtime revival, [Crawford, pg. 545] , inspired in large part by "The Complete Piano Works of Scott Joplin", a recording by John W. Parker, and "Scott Joplin Piano Rags", a recording by Joshua Rifkin. Eubie Blake becomes the only ragtime pianist to ever record one of his own pieces, "Charleston Rag" (written in 1921). [Chase, pgs. 424-426]
*The case"Sinatra v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.", though ultimately unsuccessful, contends for the first time that the use of a performer to imitate a different performer - in this case, Nancy Sinatra - could constitute the tort of passing off.cite book|title=The Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World|chapter=Lawsuits|pages=495-497|first=Steve|last=Greenfield|coauthors=Guy Osborn]
*Jamaican musician U-Roy becomes the first to record rhythmic speech over dubs, which is the direct ancestor of rapping, one of the elements of hip hop culture.cite book|title=The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music|chapter=Hip-Hop and Rap|first=Dawn M.|last=Norfleet|pages=692-704]
*Louis Wayne Ballard becomes the Director of Music Programs for the Bureau of Indian Affairs. He will be the first Native American to create educational materials on Native American music. [Levine, pg. xxiv]
*The Stooges begin performing, becoming known for making physical contact with the crowd, one of the reasons they are considered an important predecessor of punk rock and hardcore. [Blush, pg. 209]
*The first digital synthesizers are created.cite book|title=Electroacoustic music|pages=30-35|first=Barry|last=Schrader|title=New Grove Dictionary of American Music]

1971

*Charley Rappaport, Stephen M. Wolownik and Lynn Carpenter form the Balalaika and Domra Association of America, which brings together many of the Russian balalaika orchestras across the country, and serves as a "clearinghouse for importing Russian instruments, books, and music".Livingston, Tamara E. and Katherine K. Preston, "Snapshot: Two Views of Music and Class", pgs. 55-62, in the "Garland Encyclopedia of World Music"]
*Erno Rapee's "Encyclopedia of Music for Pictures" is published, "to provide ideas for music appropriate to a scene" in a movie.Kassabian, Anahid, "Film", pgs. 202 - 205, in the "Garland Encyclopedia of World Music"]
*Don Cornelius' "Soul Train", an African American counterpart to "American Bandstand", first airs.
*The emcee begins to replace the DJ as the most prominent performer in hip hop.
*Simon Frith and Angela McRobbie are the first academic researchers to study the perceived inherent masculinity of rock music, concluding that it is a product of socialization early in life, in which females are encouraged to be passive and submissive, qualities antithetical to much rock music. [cite book|title=The Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World|chapter=Gender and Sexuality|pages=231-237|first=Sara|last=Cohen|last=Marion Leonard]
*Sony introduces the Walkman, a portable cassette player that contributes greatly to the success of that format for recorded music.cite book|title=The Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World|chapter=Amplifier|pages=505--506|first=Paul|last=Théberge]
*Martin Scorsese' documentary of The Band, "Last Waltz", pioneers a new style of concert film, presenting a more naturalistic image than the larger-than-life atmosphere of most earlier concert films.cite book|title=The Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World|chapter=Film and Television Documentaries|pages=26-29|first=Robert|last=Strachan|coauthors=Marion Leonard]
*Middle Class releases "Out of Vogue", the first West Coast hardcore punk recording. [Blush, pg. 17]
*The North American Basque Organization begins sponsoring a summer camp to help keep alive the musical and other cultural traditions of Basque Americans.cite book|title=The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music|chapter=Iberian Music|last=Sturman|first=Janet L.|pages=847--853]
*The Tyagaraja Festival in Cleveland is founded, by members of the Faith United Church of Christ, to protect and promote Carnatic music, becoming the largest music festival of its kind outside India, and the first such festival in the United States. [cite book|title=The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music|chapter=Snapshot: The Tyagaraja Festival in Cleveland, Ohio|last=Martin|first=Claire|pages=988-992]
*Kent State University establishes one of the first Thai musical ensembles in the United States.
*Sound Explosion becomes the first Filipino American mobile DJing group, which will soon become a major phenomenon in the San Francisco area.
*The Apple II's alphaSyntauri music system is the first "low-cost professionally usable computer music system". [Hinkle-Turner, pg. 46]

1979

*Blondie becomes the first band to release a video album with "Eat to the Beat". [Rettenmund, pg. 49]
*The Broadway musical turned film "Hair" is released; the film's soundtrack is a highly popular example of modern theater.
*A deejay, Steve Dahl, leads the disco demolition rally in Comiskey Park, a turning point in the backlash against disco.
*Paul Lansky's "Six Fantasies on a Poem by Thomas Campion" is an important composition that uses computer synthesis of sounds and human speech.
*The Federal Cylinder Project is created to rescue ethnographic records, [Koskoff, pg. 31] most of them made under the Bureau of Ethnology and repatriate the recordings to their peoples of origin. It will be the "largest repatriation project undertaken by any world archive".
*"Rappers Delight" by the Sugarhill Gang becomes the first commercially released hip hop recording, coming quickly after the Fatback Band's "King Tim III", which contains a hip hop-style rapping section. It is released by Sugar Hill Records, which sold over 500,000 copies.Southern, pgs. 361-364] Later that year, Joe Bataan's "Rap-O, Clap-O" is a minor in the United States but is the first international hip hop hit.
*The first large mariachi festival in the United States is held, the San Antonio International Mariachi Conference.
*John Storm Roberts publishes a book entitled "", a landmark study of Latin music in the United States.cite book|title=The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music|chapter=Latin Caribbean|last=Loza|first=Steven|authorlink=Steven Loza|pages=790-801]
*The complex traditions of Cambodian court music, long exclusive to the royalty in that country, are democratized both in Cambodia and among Cambodian Americans, who come to see court music as a fundamental part of their cultural identity.
*The most successful American group playing Balinese music, Gamelan Sekar Jaya, is founded.
*The Iranian Revolution leads to an influx of immigrants from Iran, many of them trained in classical Persian music; their concentration in Los Angeles leads to that city becoming a center for Iranian music in the United States.
*The second wave of American punk rock begins in Southern California, based in Hollywood, eventually evolving into the style known as hardcore punk. The form is closely associated with slamdancing, apocryphally said to have been invented in this year by Mike Marine of Huntington Beach, California. [Blush, pg. 22]
*Philip Tagg publishes an analysis of the theme song to "Kojak", the first major semiologist study on popular music. [cite book|title=The Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World|chapter=Semiology/Semiotics|pages=122-126|first=Richard|last=Middleton]
*After an effort led by Kenneth Gamble, President Jimmy Carter designates June National Black Music Month. Chuck Berry appears at the White House at the first official celebration of the month. [ [http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/06/20080617-10.html President Bush Honors Black Music Month] ]
*The Walkman is introduced by Sony. [cite book|title=The Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World|chapter=Walkman|first=Shuhei|last=Hosokawa|pages=524-525]

1980

*The film "Urban Cowboy" helps inspire a resurgence in mainstream popularity for mainstream country music.
*The movie "Fame" features an influential soundtrack.
*Afrika Bambaataa's "Planet Rock", which uses a sample from Kraftwerk's "Trans-Europe Express", enlarges the audience for electro-funk and hip hop.
*Bad Brains releases "Pay to Cum", the first East Coast hardcore punk release. [Blush, pg. 17] A compilation called "Rodney on the ROQ" is released with a copy of influential hardcore periodical "Flipside", spawning a wave of hardcore-themed zenes like Berkeley, California's "Maximum RockNRoll", San Jose, California's "Ripper" and New York's "The Big Takeover". [Blush, pg. 18]
*The band Blondie's "The Rapture" is a major hip hop-influenced hit. For many white audiences, it is their first exposure to hip hop, [ [http://www.rockhall.com/inductee/blondie Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: Blondie] ] and Deborah Harry's vocal work constitutes the first white person to rap on record. [Rettenmund, pg. 50]
*After the Mariel boatlift, Afro-Cubans begin arriving in the United States in larger numbers, bringing with them distinctive musical, especially religious, styles, techniques and instrumentation.
*John Donald Robb's "" is published, becoming the standard reference book on the subject; Robb's recordings are the base of the John Donald Robb Archive of Southwestern Folk Music at the University of New Mexico, which is the largest collection of Southwestern American folk music.
*John Lennon is murdered in New York, and his death is taken by many fans as a symbol of the end of the 1960s countercultural movement.cite book|title=The Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World|chapter=Death|pages=200-204|first=David|last=Buckley|coauthors=John Shepherd and Berndt Ostendorf]
*Ruben Bladés' "Siembra" sets sales records for American salsa, and makes him one of the most enduring figures in the field.
*The first usage of the word "hardcore" to describe what will later be known as hardcore punk may come from an article in the San Francisco magazine "Damaged". [Blush, pg. 16; Blush cites Joey Shithead of , whose 1981 "Hardcore 81" Blush describes as possibly the "first official use of the term in music".]
*Alison Geldard conducts one of the first major studies of Indian American music.cite book|title=The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music|chapter=Japanese Music|last=Asai|first=Susan M.|pages=967-974]
*The University of California, Los Angeles establishes a Near East Ensemble to perform Middle Eastern music, under the direction of Ali Jihad Racy.
*Roland introduces the TR-808, an influential early synthesizer.

*Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Phantom of the Opera" is one of the "most important" musicals of the 1980s.Cockrell, Dale and Andrew M. Zinck, "Popular Music of the Parlor and Stage", pgs. 179 - 201, in the "Garland Encyclopedia of World Music"]
*"Billboard" issues its first New Age chart.
*David Sanjek begins publishing the first comprehensive history of the American music industry.*Jazz musician Wynton Marsalis becomes the artistic director of the Jazz at Lincoln Center program, later organizing an influential orchestra and series of concerts.cite book|title=The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music|chapter=Jazz|last=Monson|first=Ingrid|pages=650-666]
*Public Enemy's "It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back" establishes their style and message, advancing the "cause of black nationalism and Afrocentricity".
*Salt-N-Pepa's debut "Hot, Cool & Vicious" goes double-platinum, leading to hip hop record labels scouting female acts for the first time.
*The first hip hop Grammy Award is given out.
*Linda Ronstadt's "Canciones de Mi Padre" is an unprecedented mainstream success for recorded mariachi music.
*Henry Louis Gates' "The Signifyin' Monkey" is a seminal work on signifying, an African American verbal folk practice that influenced hip hop. [cite book|title=The Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World|chapter=Signifying|pages=411-413|first=David|last=Horn]
*Tiny Morrie's "No Hay Amor" is the first song recorded by an American in the Spanish language to top the Mexican charts.cite book|title=The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music|chapter=Música Nuevomexicana|last=Leger|first=James K.|pages=754-769]
*"Kunqu", a form of Chinese opera, is first established in the United States with the formation of the Kunqu Society in New York.
*A number of Buddhist Vietnamese monks, from various temples throughout California, come together for the largest-scale performance of their chanting tradition outside of Vietnam.cite book|title=The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music|chapter=Vietnamese Music|last=Nguyen|first=Phong T.|coauthors=Terry E. Miller|pages=993-997]
*The success of MC Hammer's "Let's Get It Started" makes him the first hip hop "superstar". [Southern, pg. 601]
*Two controversial album covers are not sold in many stores: Jane's Addiction's "Nothing Shocking" and Prince's "Lovesexy".cite book|title=Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World|chapter=Obscenity|pages=294 - 296|first=Jon|last=Caraminica]
*New York's cabaret laws, which have restricted musical performances in the city since 1926, are repealed. [cite book|title=Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World|chapter=The State|pages=369-371|first=Peter|last=Wicke]

1989

*A number of Tibetan expatriates form Chaksam-pa, the "Tibetan Dance and Opera Company".Kealiinohomoku, Joann W. and Mary Jane Warner, "Dance", pgs. 206 - 226, in the "Garland Encyclopedia of World Music"]
*The United States-Canada Trade Agreement spurs arguments between the two countries regarding economics of cultural products, with many on both sides fighting for the "exclusion of cultural industries from trade liberalization".
*MTV's "Yo! MTV Raps" debuts; the show will lead to many hip hop artists finding new audiences.
*The Pacific Islander Festival is established in Los Angeles, inspiring other music festivals that bring together Hawaiians, Samoans and other Polynesian Americans.
*2 Live Crew's "Nasty As They Wanna Be" is accused of obscenity, resulting in a legal battle that gained national attention. N.W.A.'s "Fuck Tha Police" similarly becomes the target of protest from law enforcement officers.
*The simultaneous release of an international Pepsi advertising campaign with the "Like a Prayer" single by Madonna is perhaps the most successful and most-hyped tie-in of a popular song in an advertising campaign. [cite book|title=Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World|chapter=Popular Music in Advertising|pages=312-318|first=Robert|last=Strachan|coauthors=Marion Leonard]
*The United States becomes a signatory to the Berne Convention, an international agreement on copyright.
*Major record companies, fearing a rise in home taping reducing sales, refuse to license recorded music for the new medium of digital audio tape until the Serial Copy Management System is invented to prevent more than one copy of a recording and additional copies of the single allowed copy. [cite book|title=The Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World|chapter=DAT|first=Paul|last=Théberge|pages=509-510]
*The first compact disc jukebox is introduced.cite book|title=The Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World|chapter=Jukebox|first=Dave|last=Laing|pages=513-515]
*Milli Vanilli wins the Grammy Award for Best New Artist, even as a "Rolling Stone" poll of rock critics results in the group being voted the worst new band of the year. [cite book|title=The Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World|chapter=Polls|pages=561|first=Dave|last=Laing] After it is revealed that members of the group did not sing on the hit songs, Milli Vanilli becomes the first performers to return their Grammy.

1990

*The Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act extends the length of copyright by twenty years.Sanjek, David and Will Straw, "The Music Industry", pgs. 256 - 267, in the "Garland Encyclopedia of World Music"]
*Frankie Knuckles becomes the first deejay to win the Grammy Award for Best Remixer.
*Lauryn Hill's "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" and Missy Elliott's "Supa Dupa Fly" are popular releases, and are pivotal recordings for women in hip hop.
*R. L. Burnside's "Come on In" is a landmark recording that uses elements of hip hop, such as scratching, in a rural blues style. [Moore, pg. xvi]
*The soundtrack to "Yellow", a film by Chris Chan Lee, is the first to feature only musicians of Asian descent.
*Grammy Awards launches the first award for dance music, the Grammy Award for Best Dance Record.cite book|title=The Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World|chapter=Awards|pages=533-535|first=Dave|last=Laing]

1999

*Kongar-ol Ondar's "Back Tuva Future" features Ondar, a Tuvan popular enough in his homeland to be compared to Elvis Presley, and contributions from country star Willie Nelson and physicist Richard Feynman; the album uses Tuvan folk melodies and throat-singing with modern American popular music.Ho, Fred, Jeremy Wallach, Beverly Diamond, Ron Pen, Rob Bowman and Sara Nicholson, "Snapshot: Five Fusions", pgs. 334 - 361, in the "Garland Encyclopedia of World Music"]
*Daren Eric Hagen composes "Bandanna", a retelling of "Othello" with a Mexican American setting, the first full opera for wind ensemble. [Hansen, pg. 305]
*An attempt at a second Woodstock festival fails, and is perceived as succumbing to greed and poor planning. It ends in a frenzy of rape, theft, arson and looting. [cite book|title=Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World|chapter=Music Festivals|pages=281-284|first=Ralph|last=W. Willett]

2000

*The Grammy Awards designate seven awards for Latin music: Tejano Performance, Latin Pop Performance, Latin Rock/Alternative Performance, Mexican-American Performance, Salse Performance, Merengue Performance and Traditional Tropical Latin Performance.cite book|title=The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music|chapter=Overview|last=Sheehy|first=Daniel|coauthors=Steven Loza|pages=718-733] The Latin Grammys are also founded to focus specifically on rewarding Latin music in the United States.cite book|title=The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music|chapter=Hispanic California|last=Loza|first=Steven|authorlink=Steven Loza|pages=734-753]
*The "O Brother Where Art Thou?" is a surprise success, consisting of old time music, which provokes a resurgence of interest in American folk music.Erbsen, pg. 6]
*Napster is convicted of violating copyright law for enabling people to trade files without permission from the owner of the copyrights in the file. [cite book|title=The Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World|chapter=Copyright|pages=481-485|first=Dave|last=Laing]

2001

*The Ken Burns television documentary series "Jazz" is watched by an estimated 60 million people and is said to have led to a doubling of jazz sales in the United States.
*After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, television networks work together to show "", a telethon to raise money for victims of the attacks. Music stars who perform include Neil Young, Willie Nelson, Bruce Springsteen and Paul Simon. [cite book|title=The Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World|chapter=Disasters and Accidents|pages=207-210|first=David|last=Horn|coauthors=David Buckley]
*A concert tour featuring Hakim, Khaled and Simon Shaheen is a historic event, signaling new acceptance for Arab music in the United States. Rachid Taha and Cheb Mami had toured earlier -- all five performers are popular in the Arab world. The California-based record label Arc 21/Mondo Melodia is at the heart of the Arab music boom. [ [http://www.afropop.org/multi/feature/ID/69/Arabic+Music+in+the+US,+after+September+11 Arabic Music in the US, after September 11] ]

2002

*George N. Thompson becomes the first African American to serve as head of the United States Navy's Musical Training Program. [cite web|title=|url=https://www.cnet.navy.mil/cnet/pao/pr2002/02_063.pdf|title=First African-American to lead the Navy’s only Musical Training Facility|last=Gillis|first=Dennis|publisher=Chief of Naval Education and Training|format=pdf|accessdate=February 12|accessyear=2008|date=July 3, 2002]

2003

*The Library of Congress inaguarates the National Recording Registry, inducting fifty historically significant recordings. [Darden, pg. 11]
*A tribute is held to Sister Rosetta Tharpe, a gospel legend, at the Bottom Line Cabaret in New York, featuring performances from the Dixie Hummingbirds, Odetta, and others; the same year, a tribute album is released by MC Records, called "Shout, Sister, Shout: A Tribute to Rosetta Tharpe". [Darden, pg. 197]

2004

*Jin becomes the first Asian American rapper on a major label with the release of "The Rest Is History". [ [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4126877 Asian-American Rapper Jin Makes Hip-Hop History] ]

2005

*Jeff Chang's "Can't Stop, Won't Stop" is published. It will become the one of the definitive histories of hip hop music.

References

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publisher = W. W. Norton & Company
title = America's Musical Life: A History
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*cite web|accessdate=July 28|accessyear=2008|title=Hsu-Li arrives ready to set Fire to Portland|url=http://www.dailyvanguard.com/home/index.cfm?event=displayArticlePrinterFriendly&uStory_id=01c61b90-0a2a-46b7-9506-b7e7d3dcac7d|date=November 7, 2002|author=Nancy Rae Glass
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title = Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, Volume 3: The United States and Canada
year = 2000
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editor = John Shepherd, David Horn, Dave Laing, Paul Oliver and Peter Wicke (eds.)
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Notes

Further reading

*cite book|title=The Literature of Rock II-III (1979-1990).|others=2 volumes|location=Metuchen, New Jersey|publisher=Scarecrow Press
*cite journal|first=Simon|llast=Frith|title=Rock and Sexuality|year=1978|journal=Screen Education|issue=29 (republished in cite book|editor=Simon Frith and Andrew Goodwin|year=1990|title=On Record: Rock, Pop and the Written Word|location=New York|publisher=Pantheon Books|pages=419-424
*cite book|last=Gillett|first=Charlie|year=1970|title=The Sound of the City. The Rise of Rock and Roll|location=London|publisher=Souvenir Press
*cite book|title=Rap Music in the 1980s: A Reference Guide|first=Judy|last=McCoy|year=1992|location=Metuchen, New Jersey|publisher=Scarecrow Press
*cite book|first=Richard|last=Spottswood|title=Ethnic Music on Records: A Discography of Ethnic Recordings Produced in the United States, 1893-1942|location=Urbana, Illinois|publisher=University of Illinois Press
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