For music from a year in the 1970s, go to
70- Events :* Charles Wuorinen becomes the youngest composer ever to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music.* January 3 - Davy Jones announces he is leaving the Monkees...
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71-Events:*February 5 - Eric Burdon & War disband. They didn't perform together again until April 21, 2008 at the Royal Albert Hall in London.*February 8 - Bob Dylan's hour-long documentary film, Eat the Document, premieres at New York's Academy of Music...
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72-Events:*January 17 - Highway 51 South in Memphis, Tennessee is renamed "Elvis Presley Blvd"*January 20 - Pink Floyd debuts Dark Side of the Moon during a performance at The Dome, in Brighton, but due to technical difficulties, is halted during the song 'Money'. Dark Side of the Moon would be...
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73-January–April:*January 9 - Mick Jagger's request for a Japanese visa is rejected on account of a 1969 drug bust, putting an abrupt end to The Rolling Stones' plans to perform in Japan during their forthcoming tour of Hawaii, Australia and New Zealand....
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74-Events:*January - The Ramones form.*January - Joni Mitchell releases her monumental album Court and Spark, supported by the single "Help Me" reaching the highest moment of commercial success....
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75-Events:*January 2 - New York City U.S. District Court Judge Richard Owen rules that former Beatle John Lennon and his lawyers can have access to Department of Immigration files pertaining to his deportation case....
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76-January-February:* January 5 - Bob Dylan releases Desire.* January 6 - Peter Frampton releases Frampton Comes Alive!* January 7 - Kenneth Moss, a former record company executive, is sentenced to 120 days in the Los Angeles County Jail and four years probation for involuntary manslaughter in the...
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77-Events:Bohemian Rhapsody is named 'The Best Single Of The Last 25 Years' by BPI.In this year, the St. Magnus Festival was founded in Orkney by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies....
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78-Events:*January to May - The Bee Gees dominate the singles and album charts as Saturday Night Fever becomes a cultural phenomenon. At one point, the album was selling 1 million copies per week....
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79See also:Musical groups established in 1979Record labels established in 1979* 1979 in music -Events:*Stevie Wonder uses digital audio recording technology in recording his album Journey through the Secret Life of Plants....
Music of the
1970s saw the rise of
experimental classical musicExperimental music refers, in the English-language literature, to a compositional tradition which arose in the mid-twentieth century, particularly in North America, and whose most famous and influential exponent was John Cage...
and
minimalist musicMinimalist music is an originally American genre of experimental or Downtown music named in the 1960s based mostly in consonant harmony, steady pulse , stasis and slow transformation, and often reiteration of musical phrases or smaller units such as figures, motifs, and cells...
by classical composers.
FunkFunk is an American music genre that originated in the late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, soul jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
,
discoDisco is a genre of dance music that that had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, psychedelic and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and early 1970s...
,
Art rockArt rock is a term describing a subgenre of rock music that tends to have "experimental or avant-garde influences" and emphasizes "novel sonic texture." Art rock is an "intrinsically album-based" form, which takes "advantage of the format's capacity for longer, more complex compositions and...
,
progressive rockProgressive rock is a form of rock music that evolved in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility."...
,
hard rockHard rock or heavy rock is a sub-genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage and psychedelic rock and is considerably harder than conventional rock music...
,
glam rockGlam rock is a style that developed in the UK in the post-hippie early 1970s that was "performed by singers and musicians wearing outrageous clothes, makeup, hairstyles, and platform-soled boots." The flamboyant costumes, and visual styles of glam performers were a campy, theatrical blend of...
, and punk music were also popular. Emerging genres included
jazz-rock fusionFusion or, more specifically, jazz fusion or jazz rock, is a musical genre that developed in the late 1960s from a mixture of elements of jazz such as its focus on improvisation with the rhythms and grooves of funk and R&B and the beats and heavily amplified electric instruments and electronic...
,
chamber jazzChamber jazz is a genre of jazz based around small, acoustic-based ensembles where group interplay is important. It is influenced aesthetically by musical neoclassicism and is often influenced by classical forms of non-Western music. That stated in many cases the influence is traditional Celtic...
,
reggaeReggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s.While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady. Reggae is based...
,
Heavy MetalHeavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in England and the United States...
and
hip hopHip hop as a cultural movement "manifest in B-boying , graffiti writing, DJing and eMCeeing/rapping – is an artistic commitment to seize freedom from oppressive social conditions...
.
Rock
The seventies were a time when a new generation of youthful people were exposed to new media and hence newer ideas in almost every field. TV and motion picture brought to varied audiences images, lifestyles and music from diverse regions and peoples. This led to the emergence of a new vocabulary and experimentation in music. After the war the second generation of German musicians began experimenting with music, these included
experimental classical musicExperimental music refers, in the English-language literature, to a compositional tradition which arose in the mid-twentieth century, particularly in North America, and whose most famous and influential exponent was John Cage...
and the tradition of
KrautrockKrautrock is a generic name for the experimental music scene that appeared in Germany in the late 1960s and gained popularity throughout the 1970s, especially in Britain...
or Kraut music, rooted in the experimental classical music. This later influenced both
art rockArt rock is a term describing a subgenre of rock music that tends to have "experimental or avant-garde influences" and emphasizes "novel sonic texture." Art rock is an "intrinsically album-based" form, which takes "advantage of the format's capacity for longer, more complex compositions and...
and
progressive rockProgressive rock is a form of rock music that evolved in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility."...
as well as the
punk rockPunk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed the perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
and New Wave genres. The main exponents of progressive rock include
GenesisGenesis are a Grammy Award-winning English rock band formed in 1967, and are among the top 30 highest-selling recording artists of all time with approximately 150 million albums sold worldwide, including 21.5 million albums sold in the United States. In 1988, the band won the Grammy Award for Best...
,
YesYes are an English progressive rock band that was formed in London in 1968. Their music is marked by sharp dynamic contrasts, extended song lengths, abstract lyrics, and a general showcasing of instrumental prowess. Yes blends symphonic and other 'classical' structures with their own brand of...
,
Gentle GiantGentle Giant was a British progressive rock band active between 1970 and 1980. The band was notable for the particular complexity and sophistication of its musical material and for the diverse musical skills of its members .The band's onetime stated aim was to "expand the frontiers of contemporary...
,
King CrimsonKing Crimson is a progressive rock band founded by guitarist Robert Fripp and drummer Michael Giles in 1969. They have typically been categorised as a foundational progressive rock group, although they have incorporated diverse influences and instrumentation drawing from jazz, classical and...
,
RushRush is a Canadian rock band originally formed in August 1968, in the Willowdale neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario, composed of bassist, keyboardist, and lead vocalist Geddy Lee, guitarist Alex Lifeson, and drummer and lyricist Neil Peart...
,
Jethro TullJethro Tull are a British rock group formed in 1967. Their music is characterised by the songs, vocals and flute work of Ian Anderson, who has led the band since its founding, and guitarist Martin Barre, who has been with the band since 1969....
,
Emerson, Lake & PalmerEmerson, Lake & Palmer were an English progressive rock supergroup. In the 1970s, the band was extremely popular, selling over 35 million albums and headlining huge concerts...
,
SupertrampSupertramp were a British progressive rock band that released a series of top-selling albums in the 1970s and early 1980s.Their early music included ambitious concept albums, from which were drawn a number of hits including "Goodbye Stranger", "Bloody Well Right", "The Logical Song", "Breakfast in...
,
Pink FloydPink Floyd were an English rock band who, in the late 1960s, earned recognition for their psychedelic and space rock music, and in the 1970s, as they evolved, for their progressive rock music. Pink Floyd's work is marked by philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album cover art,...
and
Premiata Forneria MarconiPremiata Forneria Marconi is an Italian progressive rock band. They were the first Italian band to have success abroad, entering both the British and American charts. Between 1973 and 1977 they released five albums with English lyrics for the international market...
. The experimental nature of progressive rock is exemplified in compositions such as "
Close to the Edge"Close to the Edge" is the title track to progressive rock band Yes's album of the same name. The song is over 18 minutes in length and takes up the entire first side of the album. It consists of four movements.- Movements :-I...
" by
YesYes are an English progressive rock band that was formed in London in 1968. Their music is marked by sharp dynamic contrasts, extended song lengths, abstract lyrics, and a general showcasing of instrumental prowess. Yes blends symphonic and other 'classical' structures with their own brand of...
, or "
Supper's ReadySupper's Ready is a song by the band Genesis. A recorded version appeared on their 1972 album Foxtrot, and the band performed the song regularly on stage for several years following this...
" by
GenesisGenesis are a Grammy Award-winning English rock band formed in 1967, and are among the top 30 highest-selling recording artists of all time with approximately 150 million albums sold worldwide, including 21.5 million albums sold in the United States. In 1988, the band won the Grammy Award for Best...
. Also the start of
Hard rockHard rock or heavy rock is a sub-genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage and psychedelic rock and is considerably harder than conventional rock music...
in many forms began with the British bands
Deep PurpleDeep Purple are an English rock band formed in Hertford, Hertfordshire in 1968. Along with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, they are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal and modern hard rock, although some band members have tried not to categorise themselves as any one genre. The band...
,
Uriah HeepUriah Heep are an English rock band, formed in December 1969 when record producer Gerry Bron invited keyboardist Ken Hensley to join Spice, a band signed to his own Bronze Records label....
,
Led ZeppelinLed Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in 1968 by Jimmy Page , Robert Plant , John Paul Jones and John Bonham . With their heavy, guitar-driven sound, Led Zeppelin are regarded as one of the first heavy metal bands, helping to pioneer the genre...
and
Black SabbathBlack Sabbath are an English rock band, formed in Birmingham in 1968 by Ozzy Osbourne , Tony Iommi , Geezer Butler , and Bill Ward . The band has since experienced multiple lineup changes, with a total of twenty-two former members...
.
One of the first events of the 70s was the break up of the Beatles in 1970. The early seventies also marked the deaths of rock legends
Jim MorrisonJames Douglas "Jim" Morrison was an American singer, songwriter, poet, writer and filmmaker. He was best known as the lead singer and lyricist of The Doors and is widely considered to be one of the most charismatic frontmen in rock music history. He was also the author of several books of poetry ...
,
Janis JoplinJanis Lyn Joplin was an American singer, songwriter and music arranger, from Port Arthur, Texas. She rose to prominence in the late 1960s as the lead singer of Big Brother and the Holding Company and later as a solo artist...
, and
Jimi HendrixJames Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter...
. The members of
Lynyrd SkynyrdLynyrd Skynyrd is an American rock band, formed in Jacksonville, Florida in 1964. The band became prominent in the Southern United States in 1973, and rose to worldwide recognition before three members and one road crew member died in an airplane crash in 1977, including lead vocalist and primary...
were killed in a tragic plane crash in 1977.
The mid-seventies saw the rise of punk music from its
protopunkProtopunk is a term used retrospectively to describe a number of music artists who were important precursors of the punk rock movement of the mid-1970s and later, or who have been cited by early punk musicians as influential....
/
garage bandThe term garage band can refer to:* A band that performs garage rock* GarageBand, audio production software published by Apple Inc.* GarageBand.com, a website that helps publicize emerging bands...
roots in the 1960s and early 1970s. The
RamonesThe Ramones were an American rock band often regarded as the first punk rock group. Formed in Forest Hills, Queens, New York in 1974, all of the band members adopted pseudonyms ending with the surname 'Ramone', though none of them were actually related. They performed 2,263 concerts, touring...
,
BlondieBlondie is an American rock band founded by singer Deborah Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. The band was a pioneer in the early American new wave and punk rock scenes of the mid 1970s...
,
Patti SmithPatricia Lee "Patti" Smith is an American singer–songwriter, poet and visual artist who was a highly influential component of the New York City punk rock movement with her 1975 debut album Horses. Called the "Godmother of Punk", she integrated the beat poetry performance style with three-chord rock...
, the
Sex PistolsThe Sex Pistols are an English punk rock band that formed in London in 1975. They are responsible for initiating the punk movement in the United Kingdom and inspiring many later punk and alternative rock musicians...
, and
The ClashThe Clash were an English rock band that formed in 1976 as part of the original wave of British punk rock. Along with punk, they experimented with reggae, ska, dub, funk, rap and rockabilly...
were some of the earliest acts to make it big in both the United Kingdom and the United States. Groups like the Clash were noted for the experimentation of style, especially that of having strong
reggaeReggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s.While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady. Reggae is based...
influences in their music. Punk music has also been heavily associated with a certain
punk fashionPunk fashion is the clothing, hairstyles, cosmetics, jewelry, and body modifications of the punk subculture. Punk fashion varies widely, ranging from Vivienne Westwood designs to styles modeled on bands like The Exploited. The distinct social dress of other subcultures and art movements, including...
and absurdist humor which exemplified a genuine suspicion of mainstream culture and values. Blondie quickly lost their Punk roots going on to become a pop/ska/reggae band
Late in the decade, interest in 1950s music prompted the Rockabilly Revival fad. The Stray Cats led the revival into the early 1980s.
QueenQueen were an English rock band. Formed in London in 1970 following the demise of the band Smile, Queen consisted of vocalist Freddie Mercury, guitarist Brian May, bassist John Deacon and drummer Roger Taylor. The band became popular with audiences via their hit songs, live performances,...
participated through their hit
Crazy Little Thing Called Love"Crazy Little Thing Called Love" is a song performed by the English rock band Queen, written by singer Freddie Mercury. While it peaked at number two in the UK, it hit number one on the U.S. charts on February 23 1980, remaining there for four consecutive weeks. It topped the charts in Australia...
.
Billy JoelBilly Joel is an American rock musician, singer-songwriter, and classical composer. Since releasing his first hit song, "Piano Man", in 1973, Joel has become the sixth best-selling recording artist in the United States, according to the RIAA....
provided
Piano ManPiano Man may refer to:*Piano Man , a 1973 rock album by Billy Joel**"Piano Man" , a 1973 hit song from the album**A nickname for Billy Joel*Pianoman, an alias of dance music producer James Sammon...
and
Only The Good Die Young"Only the Good Die Young" is a song from Billy Joel's 1977 pop rock album, The Stranger. The song was controversial for its time, with the lyrics describing a boy who tries to convince a Catholic girl who is a virgin to have sex with him....
New Wave musicNew Wave is a genre of rock and pop music that emerged in in the middle to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, and...
began late in the decade with
The CarsThe Cars were an American rock band that emerged from the early New Wave music scene in the late 1970s. The band consisted of singer and rhythm guitarist Ric Ocasek, singer and bassist Benjamin Orr, guitarist Elliot Easton, keyboardist Greg Hawkes and drummer David Robinson...
,
Talking HeadsTalking Heads was an American rock band formed in 1974 in New York City and active until 1991. The band comprised David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth and Jerry Harrison...
, and
The FixxThe Fixx are an English New Wave band. They are one of the few such bands to have enjoyed significant success outside their country of origin while remaining almost unknown in their home land. The band is best known for their song "One Thing Leads to Another", from their most successful album...
seeing popularity.
Carole KingCarole King is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. While she has been a successful songwriter for decades, her singing career and fame peaked during the first half of the 1970s....
started a new trend, the rise of the female singer-songwriter.
Steely DanSteely Dan is an American jazz-rock band centered on core members Walter Becker and Donald Fagen. The band reached a peak of popularity in the late 1970s, with the release of seven albums blending elements of jazz, rock, funk, R&B, and pop...
spawn an interest in
jazz fusionFusion or, more specifically, jazz fusion or jazz rock, is a musical genre that developed in the late 1960s from a mixture of elements of jazz such as its focus on improvisation with the rhythms and grooves of funk and R&B and the beats and heavily amplified electric instruments and electronic...
.
Country rockCountry-rock is a musical genre formed from the fusion of rock with country music, with its country origins being initially referenced to the rockabilly music of the 1950s....
peaks in popularity as bands like Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Eagles, and
The Allman Brothers BandThe Allman Brothers Band is a Southern rock band once based in Macon, Georgia, United States. The band was formed in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1969 by brothers Duane Allman and Gregg Allman...
become widely successful.
Arena rockArena rock is a loosely defined term describing a generation of rock music. It was established by heavy metal, hard rock and progressive rock bands in the 1970s...
begins to popularize through progressive bands like
StyxStyx may refer to:* Styx , the river that forms the boundary between the Greek underworld and the world of the living, as well as a goddess and a nymph that represent the river.-Popular culture:* Styx , an American rock band...
and hard rock bands like
BostonBoston is an American rock band from Boston, Massachusetts that achieved its most notable successes during the 1970s and 1980s. Centered on guitarist, keyboardist, songwriter, and producer Tom Scholz, the band is a staple of classic rock radio playlists...
.
Metal music begins in the seventies, led by
AC/DCAC/DC are an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1973 by Scottish-born brothers Malcolm and Angus Young. Although the band are commonly classified as hard rock and are considered pioneers of heavy metal, they have always classified their music as "rock and roll".AC/DC underwent several line-up...
and
Def LeppardDef Leppard are an English rock band from Sheffield, who formed in 1977 as part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement. Largely on the strength of their albums Pyromania and Hysteria, Def Leppard became one of the top-selling rock bands throughout the 1980s, selling over 65 million albums...
. This would ultimately evolve into glam metal in the eighties.
Psychedelic RockPsychedelic rock is a style of rock music that is inspired or influenced by psychedelic culture and attempts to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. It emerged during the mid 1960s among garage and folk rock bands in Britain and the United States...
declines in popularity due to the deaths of Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morisson and the breakup of the Beatles.
Folk RockFolk rock is a musical genre, combining elements of folk music and rock music. In its earliest and narrowest sense, the term referred to a genre that arose in the United States and the UK around the mid-1960s...
sees a decline as Lite Rock enters popularity, with bands like
Elton JohnSir Elton Hercules John, CBE is an English singer-songwriter, composer and pianist.In his four-decade career, John has sold more than 200 million records, making him one of the most successful artists of all time. His single, Candle in the Wind 1997, has sold over 37 million copies, becoming the...
and
James TaylorJames Vernon Taylor is an American singer–songwriter and guitarist born in Boston, Massachusetts, and raised in Carrboro, North Carolina...
being the most successful.
Pop
To many people, the Seventies will be most remembered for the rise in
discoDisco is a genre of dance music that that had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, psychedelic and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and early 1970s...
music. First creeping into dance clubs in the mid-seventies (with such hits as "
The HustleThe Hustle is a catchall name for several disco dances which were extremely popular in the 1970s. Today it mostly refers to a unique partner dance done in ballrooms and nightclubs. It has some features in common with swing dance...
" by
Van McCoyVan Allen Clinton McCoy was an accomplished musician, music producer and arranger, songwriter, and orchestra conductor. He is best known for his massive 1975 international hit "The Hustle", which is still played on dance floors and radio today, 30 years after his death...
), songstresses like
Donna SummerDonna Summer is an American singer and songwriter who gained prominence during the disco era of music, earning the title "The Queen of Disco"....
,
Gloria GaynorGloria Gaynor is an American singer, best-known for the disco era hits; "I Will Survive" , "Never Can Say Goodbye" , "Let Me Know " and "I Am What I Am" .-Early career:Gaynor was a singer with the Soul Satisfiers, a jazz/pop band,...
,
DalidaDalida was an Italian Egyptian singer and actor. Dalida was born and raised in Egypt, but she lived most of her adult life in France. She received 55 gold records and was the first singer to receive a diamond disc....
and
Anita WardAnita Ward is an African-American singer and musician. She is best known for her 1979 million selling chart-topper, "Ring My Bell".-Career:...
popularized the genre and were described in subsequent decades as the "disco divas." The Village People scored a Top Ten hit with "
Y.M.C.A."Y.M.C.A." is a 1978 song by the Village People which became a hit in January 1979. The song reached #2 on the U.S. charts in early 1979 and reached No.1 in the UK around the same time, becoming the group's biggest hit ever. Taking the song at face value, its lyrics extol the virtues of the Young...
" and the
Bee GeesThe Bee Gees were a singing trio of brothers — Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The group was successful for most of its forty years of recording music, but the trio had two distinct periods of exceptional success: as a harmonic "soft rock" act in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and as the foremost...
had a string of #1s following their collaboration on the
Saturday Night FeverSaturday Night Fever is a 1977 film starring John Travolta as Tony Manero, a young man, coming of age, whose weekend activities are visits to a local Brooklyn discothèque and Karen Lynn Gorney as his dance partner and eventual girlfriend...
soundtrack.
As quickly as disco's popularity came, however, it fell out of favor with the new decade, due to a religious revival and the rise of conservatism. Disco came to be associated with gays and minorities. Conservatives such as
Steve DahlStephen Robert Dahl has been an American radio personality for over thirty years. He was most recently on the air at WJMK , in Chicago, Illinois. Before WJMK, Dahl broadcast with Chicago stations WCKG, WDAI, WLUP, WMVP and WLS...
spoke out against disco and held demonstrations against it. Due to this tremendous backlash, disco effectively died in 1981. Along with the demise of disco came the end of the orchestrations and musical instruments (such as strings) which had become associated with disco. Electronic and synthesized music quickly replaced the lush orchestral sounds of the 1970s and rock music resurged in popularity with New Wave bands such as
BlondieBlondie is an American rock band founded by singer Deborah Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. The band was a pioneer in the early American new wave and punk rock scenes of the mid 1970s...
and
DevoDevo , often spelled DEVO or DEV-O, is an American New Wave band formed in Akron, Ohio in 1973. They are best known for their 1980 hit "Whip It", which made it to #14 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart...
, who both formed their respective bands in the seventies. Many of the aforementioned singers who became popular during the disco era found themselves out of tune with the 1980s, and were out of work for many years, until a renewed interest in disco brought many of them back to the forefront. So many songs from the disco era are still very popular dance hits and receive continuous airplay in nightclubs throughout the world.
Urban
The 1970s saw a rise in
FunkFunk is an American music genre that originated in the late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, soul jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
music which spawned the genre
DiscoDisco is a genre of dance music that that had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, psychedelic and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and early 1970s...
. Artists such as
James BrownJames Joseph Brown , originally James Joseph Brown, Jr., also known as "The Godfather of Soul", was an American entertainer. He is recognized as one of the most influential figures in 20th century popular music and was renowned for his vocals and feverish dancing...
,
The MetersThe Meters were an American funk band based in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Meters performed and recorded their own music from the late 1960s until 1977 and also played an influential role as backing musicians for other artists such as Lee Dorsey and Dr John...
,
Parliament-FunkadelicParliament-Funkadelic is a funk, soul and rock music collective headed by George Clinton. They are the main performers of the soul and funk subgenre known as P-Funk and performed under the names Parliament and Funkadelic , and also in a score of offshoot groups and solo ventures...
and Sly And The Family Stone pionered the genre. It then spawned commercial artists such as
Stevie WonderStevie Wonder is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. Blind from birth, Wonder signed with Motown Records at the age of eleven, and continues to perform and record for the label. He has recorded more than thirty U.S...
, The Brothers Johnson,
Earth, Wind & FireEarth, Wind & Fire is an African American R&B band formed in Chicago, Illinois, in 1969 and led by founder Maurice White. Also known as EWF, the Elements or the Elements of the Universe, the band has won ten Grammy Awards and four American Music Awards. They have been inducted into both the Rock...
, Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Tower of PowerTower of Power is an American soul and funk based horn section and band, originating from Oakland, California. For over 40 years.-History:In the mid-1960s, 17-year-old tenor saxophonist Emilio Castillo moved from Detroit, Michigan to Fremont, California. He started a band called 'The Gotham City...
,
Ohio PlayersThe Ohio Players are a funk and R&B band. They are best known for their hit songs "Fire" and "Love Rollercoaster".-Biography:The band formed in Dayton, Ohio in 1959 as the Ohio Untouchables, and initially included members Robert Ward , Marshall "Rock" Jones , Clarence "Satch" Satchell , Cornelius...
, The Commodores,
WarWar, originally called Eric Burdon & War and often typeset as WAR, is an American funk band from California, known for the hit songs "Low Rider", "Spill the Wine", "The Cisco Kid" and "Why Can't We Be Friends?". Formed in 1969, War was a musical crossover band which fused elements of rock, funk,...
,
Kool & the GangKool & The Gang are an American jazz/R&B/soul/funk/disco group. They originally formed in Jersey City, New Jersey, U.S.A. in 1964. They went through several musical phases during the course of their recording career, starting out with a purist jazz sound, then becoming practitioners of R&B and...
, Confunkshun,
SlaveSlave was an Ohio funk band popular in the 1970s and early 1980s. Trumpeter Steve Washington and Mark Hicks formed the group in Dayton, Ohio in 1975.-Career:Trombonist Floyd Miller teamed with Tom Lockett Jr...
,
CameoCameo is a funk-influenced R&B group that was formed in the early 1970s. Cameo was initially a 13-member group known as the New York City Players; this name was later changed to Cameo to avoid a lawsuit from The Ohio Players, a more successful group of that era. Since then, Cameo has recorded...
, the
Bar-KaysThe Bar-Kays are a popular soul, R&B, and funk group who began performing in 1966 and continue to perform today, although with only one original member. The group had dozens of charting singles from the 1960s to the 1980s, including "Soul Finger" The Bar-Kays are a popular soul, R&B, and funk group...
,
ZappZapp is a soul and funk band formed in 1978 by brothers Roger Troutman, Larry Troutman, Lester Troutman, Tony Troutman and Terry "Zapp" Troutman...
, and many more.
The late 70s saw the beginning of hip hop music with the song Rapper's Delight by Sugarhill Gang.
Country
Country musicCountry music is a blend of popular musical forms originally found in the Southern United States and the Appalachian Mountains...
remained very popular in the U.S. In 1977 it became more mainstream after
Kenny RogersKenneth Ray "Kenny" Rogers is an American country music singer-songwriter, photographer, record producer, actor and entrepreneur...
became a solo singer and scored many hits on both the country and pop charts. He achieved the biggest crossover success ever for the genre (although he would later be replaced by
Garth BrooksTroyal Garth Brooks is an American country music artist. His eponymous first album was released in 1989; it peaked at #2 in the US country album chart and reached #13 on the Billboard 200 pop album chart...
).
Waylon JenningsWaylon Arnold Jennings was an American country music singer and musician. A self-taught guitar player, he rose to prominence as a bass player for Buddy Holly following the break-up of The Crickets. He escaped death in the February 3, 1959 plane crash that took the lives of Buddy Holly, Ritchie...
was very big and
Willie NelsonWillie Hugh Nelson is an American country singer-songwriter, author, poet, actor and activist. He reached his greatest fame during the outlaw country movement of the 1970s, but remains iconic, especially in American popular culture.He has continued to tour, record and perform in recent years, and...
released
Red Headed StrangerRed Headed Stranger is a 1975 album by American outlaw country singer Willie Nelson. A concept album, Red Headed Stranger is about a fugitive on the run from the law after killing his wife. Sparse and jumbled, with brief, poetic lyrics, no one involved in the creation of the album thought it...
. The 1970s was also a period for country legend Emmylou Harris, who was one of the most succesful country artists, scoring eight straight Gold albums.
Jamaica and reggae
Towards the end of the decade,
JamaicaJamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length and as much as in width, amounting to 11,100 km
2. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harboring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
n
reggaeReggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s.While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady. Reggae is based...
music, already popular in the
CaribbeanThe Caribbean is a region consisting of the Caribbean Sea, its islands , and the surrounding coasts...
and Africa since the early 1970s, became very popular in the U.S. and in Europe, mostly because of reggae superstar and legend
Bob MarleyRobert Nesta "Bob" Marley was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and musician. He was the lead singer, songwriter and guitarist for the ska, rocksteady and reggae bands The Wailers and Bob Marley & The Wailers...
as well as his band,
The WailersThe Wailers were a ska, rocksteady, and reggae group formed in Kingston, Jamaica in 1963, consisting of Bob Marley, Junior Braithwaite, Beverley Kelso, Bunny Wailer, Peter Tosh, and Cherry Smith....
, his former bandmate
Peter ToshPeter Tosh, born Winston Hubert McIntosh was a reggae musician who was a core member of The Wailers who then went on to have a successful solo career as well as being a trailblazer for the Rastafari movement....
and other artists like
Burning SpearWinston Rodney, OD , also known as Burning Spear, is a Grammy Award winning Jamaican roots reggae singer and musician...
and
Jimmy CliffThe Honourable Jimmy Cliff, OM is a Jamaican ska and reggae singer, musician and actor. He is the only currently living musician to hold the Order of Merit, the highest honour that can be granted by the Jamaican government for achievement in the arts and sciences...
; though the 1972 film The Harder They Come saw the introduction of the form to the West.
Europe
One of the most successful European groups of the decade was the quartet
ABBAABBA was a pop music group formed in Sweden in November 1970. The band consisted of Anni-Frid Lyngstad , Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Agnetha Fältskog. They topped the charts worldwide from 1972 to 1982...
. The Swedish group, who are still the most successful group from their country, first found fame when they won the
1974 Eurovision Song ContestThe Eurovision Song Contest 1974 was the 19th Eurovision Song Contest. It was held in the seaside resort of Brighton on the south coast of the United Kingdom...
. They became one of the most widely known European groups ever, and were the decade's biggest sellers. "
Take a Chance on Me"Take A Chance On Me" is a song recorded in 1977 by Swedish dance-pop group ABBA. It was the 2nd single to be released from their fifth album, simply called The Album, and has appeared on numerous ABBA compilations such as ABBA Gold: Greatest Hits....
" and "
Dancing Queen"Dancing Queen" is a hit single recorded by Swedish pop group ABBA. It was the follow-up single to the massive hit "Fernando" & is commonly regarded as one of the best singles of the 1970s. Dancing Queen was written by Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus and Stig Anderson and is considered by many to be...
" are two of ABBA's most popular songs.
QueenQueen were an English rock band. Formed in London in 1970 following the demise of the band Smile, Queen consisted of vocalist Freddie Mercury, guitarist Brian May, bassist John Deacon and drummer Roger Taylor. The band became popular with audiences via their hit songs, live performances,...
was another band which enjoyed success in the UK and international success.
Australia/New Zealand
Top music acts in Australia/New Zealand included
SherbetSherbet was one of the most prominent and successful Australian rock bands of the 1970s. Their biggest singles were "Summer Love" and "Howzat" , both reaching number one in Australia. "Howzat" was also a top 5 hit in the UK. Though the band's success in the U.S...
,
SkyhooksSkyhooks were an Australian rock band of the 1970s, sometimes classified as a glam rock band, because of their flamboyant costumes and make-up.The name "Skyhooks" comes from a fictional organisation that appears in the film Earth vs. the Flying Saucers...
,
DragonDragon is a popular New Zealand / Australian rock band, they were formed in Auckland, New Zealand in January 1972 and relocated to Sydney, Australia in May 1975. They were previously led by singer Marc Hunter and are currently led by his brother bass player Todd Hunter...
,
HushHush was a 1970s Australian Glam Rock pop group and became famous during frequent appearances on the ABC show Countdown for teenagers and live concerts, and they would not have come into existence without the superb John Koutts on Drums....
and the Ted Mulry Gang.
Other Trends
The first half of the 1970s saw many jazz musicians from the
Miles DavisMiles Davis III was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer.Widely considered one of the most influential jazz musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music including cool jazz, hard bop, free jazz...
school achieve cross-over success through
jazz-rock fusionFusion or, more specifically, jazz fusion or jazz rock, is a musical genre that developed in the late 1960s from a mixture of elements of jazz such as its focus on improvisation with the rhythms and grooves of funk and R&B and the beats and heavily amplified electric instruments and electronic...
. The exponential groups of the genre were Mahavishnu Orchestra,
Soft MachineSoft Machine were an English rock band from Canterbury, named after the book The Soft Machine by William S. Burroughs. They were one of the central bands in the so-called "Canterbury scene," and helped pioneer the progressive rock genre....
,
Return to ForeverReturn to Forever was a jazz fusion group founded and led by keyboardist Chick Corea. Through its existence, the band cycled through a number of different members, with the only consistent band mate of Corea's being bassist Stanley Clarke...
, created by
Chick CoreaArmando Anthony "Chick" Corea is a multiple Grammy Award winning American jazz pianist, keyboardist, drummer, and composer.He is known for his work during the 1970s in the genre of jazz fusion...
, and
Weather ReportWeather Report was an influential jazz fusion band of the 1970s and early 1980s combining jazz and latin jazz with art music, ethnic music, r&b, funk and rock elements ....
, built upon the keyboards and saxophone of
Joe ZawinulJosef Erich Zawinul was an Austrian jazz keyboardist and composer.First coming to prominence with saxophonist Cannonball Adderley, Zawinul went on to play with trumpeter Miles Davis, and to become one of the creators of jazz fusion, an innovative musical genre that combined jazz with elements of...
and
Wayne ShorterWayne Shorter is an American jazz saxophonist and composer, commonly regarded as one of the most important American jazz musicians of his generation. His efforts have arguably made him a household name amongst jazz fans around the world, and won him honors and recognition, including multiple...
, respectively. In Germany,
Manfred EicherManfred Eicher is a German record producer and the founder of the ECM record label and its subsidiaries.Eicher studied music at the Academy of Music in Berlin. He is a fan of jazz music and a bass guitar player. In 1969 he founded a new record label in Munich called ECM - Edition of Contemporary...
started the
ECMECM is a record label founded in Munich, Germany, in 1969 by Manfred Eicher. ECM is best known for jazz music, but has released a wide variety of recordings, the artists associated with it often refusing to acknowledge boundaries between genres...
label, which quickly made a name for 'chamber jazz' through the likes of
Jan GarbarekJan Garbarek is a Norwegian tenor and soprano saxophonist, active in the jazz, classical, and world music genres. Garbarek was the only child of a former Polish prisoner of war Czeslaw Garbarek and a Norwegian farmer's daughter...
,
Keith JarrettKeith Jarrett is an American pianist, composer, and jazz icon.His career started with Art Blakey, soon moving on to play with Charles Lloyd then Miles Davis. Since the early 1970s he has enjoyed a great deal of success in both classical music and jazz, as a group leader and a solo performer...
and
Terje RypdalTerje Rypdal is a Norwegian guitarist and composer. Most of his music has been released on several albums of the German record label ECM....
. These two movements attracted many fans of progressive rock after its destruction by punk in 1976–77.
Another experimentation in European classical music was brought about by composers such as
Philip GlassPhilip Morris Glass is an American music composer. He is considered one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century and is widely acknowledged as a composer who has brought art music to the public .Although his music is often, though controversially, described as...
,
Steve ReichStephen Michael Reich is an American composer who pioneered the style of minimalist music. His innovations include using tape loops to create phasing patterns , and the use of simple, audible processes to explore musical concepts...
and
Michael NymanMichael Laurence Edward Nyman, CBE is an English composer of minimalist music, pianist, librettist and musicologist, perhaps best known for the many movie scores he wrote during his lengthy collaboration with the filmmaker Peter Greenaway, and his multi-platinum soundtrack album to Jane Campion's...
, with what was to be called
Minimalist musicMinimalist music is an originally American genre of experimental or Downtown music named in the 1960s based mostly in consonant harmony, steady pulse , stasis and slow transformation, and often reiteration of musical phrases or smaller units such as figures, motifs, and cells...
. This was a break from the intellectual serial music of the tradition of
SchoenbergArnold Schoenberg was an Austrian and later American composer, associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art, and leader of the Second Viennese School...
which lasted from the early 1900s to 1960s. Minimalist music sought to appreciate simple music with systematic patterns repeated in complex variations.
These experimentations were also used in several movies made in the early 1970s. In world music the musical collaboration of violinists
Yehudi MenuhinYehudi Menuhin, Baron Menuhin, OM, KBE was a violinist and conductor who spent most of his performing career in the United Kingdom. He was born to Jewish parents in the United States, but became a citizen of Switzerland in 1970, and of the United Kingdom in 1985. He is commonly considered one of...
and L. Subramaniam was appreciated by a large audience.
The commercial cinemas around the world tended to imitate nuances of disco beats in their movies to present their movies as western and upbeat. These included the increasingly popular Kung-fu movies in far
East AsiaEast Asia or Eastern Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either geographical or cultural terms. Geographically and geo-politically, it covers about , or about 28 percent of the Asian continent, about 15 percent bigger than the area of Europe, though some categorize Tibet, Xinjiang,...
and
BollywoodBollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the Indian film industry. Bollywood is the largest film producer in India and one of the...
movies from India.
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