1970s in music

Main article: Timeline of musical events

For music from a year in the 1970s, go to 70 | 71 | 72 | 73 | 74 | 75 | 76 | 77 | 78 | 79

Music of the 1970s saw the rise of experimental classical music and minimalist music by classical composers. Funk, disco, Art rock, progressive rock, hard rock, glam rock, and punk music were also popular. Emerging genres included jazz-rock fusion, chamber jazz, reggae, Heavy Metal and hip hop.

This article includes an overview of the major events and trends in popular music in the 1970s.

The U.S. and North America

See also: Music history of the United States (1960s and 70s) § 1970s

Rock

Hard rock, Arena rock and Heavy metal

AC/DC, August 1979

The 1970s saw the emergence of hard rock as one of the most prominent subgenres of rock music. Bands like Alice Cooper and Deep Purple were highly popular by 1972. By the half of the decade, several bands had achieved stardom, namely Journey, Aerosmith, Kiss and AC/DC.

Arena rock grew in popularity through progressive bands like Styx ("Come Sail Away"), and hard rock bands like Boston ("More Than a Feeling").

Heavy metal music (though not recognized as a separate genre from hard rock at the time) gained a cult following in the 1970s, led by Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple, with their styles later influencing other bands like Judas Priest and Motörhead, which eventually started the New Wave of British Heavy Metal in the 1980s.

Psychedelic rock declined in popularity after the deaths of Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison and the breakup of The Beatles.

Soft rock and singer-songwriter

Billy Joel performing at Perth Western Australia in 2006

Soft rock used to be prominently featured on many Top 40 and contemporary hit radio stations throughout the 1970s. Soft rock often used acoustic instruments and placed emphasis on melody and harmonies. Major soft rock artists of the 1970s included Carole King, James Taylor, Billy Joel, Chicago, America and Fleetwood Mac, whose Rumours (1977) was the best selling album of the decade.. (See the country music section of this article for more about country music that crossed over onto the pop charts.)

A large number of country-pop and soft rock songs fit into the singer-songwriter classification — that is, songs written and recorded by the same person. Some of the most successful singer-songwriter artists were Jackson Browne, Eric Carmen, Jim Croce, John Denver, Steve Goodman, Arlo Guthrie, Joel, Dave Mason, Don McLean, Joni Mitchell, Paul Simon, Taylor and Neil Young. Some artists — including King, Kris Kristofferson and Gordon Lightfoot — had previously been primarily songwriters but began releasing albums and songs of their own. King's album Tapestry (with 10 of its 12 tracks written or co-written by King), became one of the top-selling albums of the decade, and the song "It's Too Late" became one of the 1970s biggest songs. McLean's 1971 song "American Pie," inspired by the death of Buddy Holly, became one of popular music's most-recognized songs of the 20th century, thanks to its abstract and vivid storytelling, which center around "The Day the Music Died" and popular music of the rock era.

The early 1970s marked the departure of Diana Ross from The Supremes and the breakup of Simon & Garfunkel. Ross, Simon and Art Garfunkel all continued hugely successful recording careers throughout the decade and beyond. Several of their songs are listed among the biggest hits of the 1970s: Simon & Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Water," Simon's solo hit "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover," and Ross' "Ain't No Mountain High Enough."

Country rock and Southern rock

The Eagles

Country rock, formed from the fusion of Rock music with Country music gained it's greatest commercial success in the 1970s. This style reached its popularity pinnacle during the 1970s, beginning with non-country artists such as Bob Dylan, Gram Parsons and The Byrds. By the mid-1970s, Linda Ronstadt, along with other newer artists such as Emmylou Harris and The Eagles, were enjoying mainstream success and popularity that continues to this day. The Eagles themselves emerged as one of the most successful rock acts of all time, producing albums that included Hotel California (1976).

During the 1970s, a similar style of country rock called southern rock (fusing rock, country and blues music, and focusing on electric guitars and vocals) was enjoying popularity with country audiences, thanks to such non-country acts as Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Allman Brothers Band and The Marshall Tucker Band.

Progressive rock

Styx

The American brand of prog rock varied from the eclectic and innovative Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart and Blood, Sweat and Tears, to more pop rock orientated bands like Boston, Foreigner, Kansas, Journey and Styx. These, beside British bands Supertramp and ELO, all demonstrated a prog rock influence and while ranking among the most commercially successful acts of the 1970s, issuing in the era of pomp or arena rock, which would last until the costs of complex shows (often with theatrical staging and special effects), would be replaced by more economical rock festivals as major live venues in the 1990s.

Disco

Donna Summer at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in 2009

For many people, disco is the genre of music most readily associated with the 1970s. First appearing in dance clubs by the middle of the decade, (with such hits as "The Hustle" by Van McCoy), songstresses like Donna Summer, Gloria Gaynor and Anita Ward (in North America); and Dalida (in Europe) popularized the genre and were described in subsequent decades as the "disco divas." The movie Saturday Night Fever was released in December 1977, starring John Travolta and featuring the music of the Bee Gees and several other artists. It had the effect of setting off disco mania in the United States. The Bee Gees' soundtrack to Saturday Night Fever became the best selling album of all time until 1983 when Michael Jackson's Thriller broke that record.

Almost as quickly as disco's popularity came, however, it soon fell out of favor. The genre started to become increasingly commercialized, and the large number of disco songs flooding the radio airwaves in 1978-1979 resulted in a growing backlash against it, as epitomized by the "Disco Demolition Night" stunt by a Chicago disc jockey at a July 1979 baseball game at Comiskey Park. Disco clubs also gained a reputation as decadent places where people engaged in drug use and promiscuous sex. The popularity of the genre waned, and 1980's "Funkytown" by Lipps Inc. was one of the last disco hits. Along with the demise of disco came the end of the orchestrations and musical instruments (such as strings) which had become associated with disco, in part because of the high cost of producing such music. 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 Blondie ("Heart of Glass"), The Knack ("My Sharona") and Devo ("Whip It"), all who formed their bands in the 1970s. Many artists such as The Bee Gees, who came to be associated with disco, found it difficult to sell records or concert tickets in the 1980s.

R&B and urban

Stevie Wonder became one of the most popular R&B artists during the 1970s.

Along with disco, funk was one of the most popular genres of music in the '70s. Primarily an African-American genre, it was characterized by the heavy use of bass and "wah-wah" pedals. Rhythm was emphasized over melody. Artists such as James Brown, The Meters, Parliament-Funkadelic and Sly And The Family Stone pionered the genre. It then spawned artists such as Stevie Wonder, The Brothers Johnson, Earth, Wind & Fire, Bootsy's Rubber Band, King Floyd, Tower of Power, Ohio Players, The Commodores, War, Kool & the Gang, Confunkshun, Slave, Cameo, the Bar-Kays, Zapp, and many more.

The Jackson 5 became one of the biggest pop-music phenomena of the 1970s, playing from a repertoire of rhythm and blues, soul, pop and later disco. The Jacksons — brothers Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon and Michael — the first act in recording history to have their first four major label singles: "I Want You Back", "ABC", "The Love You Save", and "I'll Be There" reach the top of the Billboard Hot 100. The band served as the launching pad for the solo careers of their lead singers Jermaine and Michael, and while Jermaine had some success, it was Michael who would transform his early fame into greater success as an adult artist, with songs such as "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" and "Rock with You."

The Commodores were another group that played from a diverse repertoire, including R&B, funk and pop. Lionel Richie, who went on to even greater success as a solo artist in the 1980s, fronted the group's biggest 1970s hits, including "Easy," "Three Times a Lady" and "Still."

Country

Willie Nelson became one of the most popular country music artists during the 1970s.

A number of styles defined country music during the 1970s decade. At the beginning of the decade, the countrypolitan — an offshoot of the earlier "Nashville Sound" of the late 1950s and early 1960s — and the honky-tonk fused Bakersfield Sound were some of the more popular styles.

The countrypolitan sound — a polished, streamlined sound featuring string sections, background vocals and crooning lead vocalists — was popularized by artists including Lynn Anderson, Glen Campbell, Ann Murray, Dottie West, Tammy Wynette and others, achieving their successes through such songs as "(I Never Promised You A) Rose Garden," "Snowbird" and others. The Bakersfield sound, first popularized in the early 1960s, continued its peak in popularity through artists such as Buck Owens and Merle Haggard.

But other styles began to emerge during the 1970s. One of the more successful styles was "outlaw country," a type of music blending the traditional and honky tonk sounds of country music with rock and blues music, and mixed with the anger of an alienated subculture of the nation during the period. The leaders of the movement were Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson, although others associated with the movement were David Allan Coe, Jessi Colter, Tompall Glaser, Gary Stewart and Billy Joe Shaver. The efforts of Jennings, Nelson, Colter and Glaser were encapsulated in the 1976 album Wanted! The Outlaws.

The country pop sound was a successor to the countrypolitan sound of the early 1970s. In addition to artists such as Murray and Campbell, several artists who were not initially marketed as country were enjoying crossover success with country audiences through radio airplay and sales. The most successful of these artists included The Bellamy Brothers, Charlie Rich, John Denver, Olivia Newton-John, Marie Osmond, B. J. Thomas and Kenny Rogers. Newton-John, an Australian pop singer, was named Female Vocalist of the Year by the Country Music Association, sparking a debate that continues to this day — what is country music? A group of traditional-minded artists, troubled by this trend, formed the short-lived Association of Country Entertainers, in an attempt to bring back traditional honky-tonk sounds to the forefront. The debate continued into 1975, a year where six songs reached No. 1 on both the Billboard Hot Country Singles and Billboard Hot 100 charts. Things came to a head when, at that year's CMA Awards, Rich — the reigning Entertainer of the Year, and himself a crossover artist — presented the award to his successor, "my good friend, Mr. John Denver." His statement, taken as sarcasm, and his setting fire to the envelope (containing Denver's name) with a cigarette lighter were taken as a protest against the increasing pop style in country music.

By the later half of the 1970s, Dolly Parton, a highly successful traditional-minded country artist since the late 1960s, mounted a high profile campaign to crossover to pop music, culminating in her 1977 hit "Here You Come Again," which peaked at No. 1 country and No. 3 pop. Rogers, the former lead singer of The First Edition, followed up a successful career in pop, rock and folk music by switching to country music. Like Parton, he enjoyed a long series of successful songs that charted on both the Hot Country Singles and Billboard Hot 100 charts; the first of the lot was "Lucille," a No. 1 country and No. 5 pop hit. Crystal Gayle, Ronnie Milsap, Eddie Rabbitt and Linda Ronstadt were some of the other artists who also found success on both the country and pop charts with their records as well.

The 1970s continued a trend toward a proliferation of No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart. In 1970, there were 23 songs that reached the top spot on the chart, but by the mid 1970s, more than 40 titles rotated in and out of the top spot for the first time in history. The trend temporarily reversed itself by the late 1970s, when about 30 to 35 songs reached the pinnacle position of the chart annually.

Other developments

In the second half of the decade, a 1950s nostalgia movement prompted the Rockabilly Revival fad. The Stray Cats led the revival into the early 1980s. Queen participated through their hit "Crazy Little Thing Called Love." Billy Joel provided "Piano Man" and "Only The Good Die Young." Also symbolizing this trend was the hit movie Grease in 1978, starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John.

Tying in with the nostalga craze, several stars of the late 1950s and early 1960s successfully revived their careers during the early- to mid-1970s after several years of inactivity. The most successful of these were Rick Nelson ("Garden Party," 1972), Paul Anka ("(You're) Having My Baby," 1974), Neil Sedaka ("Laughter in the Rain" and "Bad Blood," both 1975), and Frankie Valli as both a solo artist (1975's "My Eyes Adored You") and with The Four Seasons (1976's "December 1963 (Oh, What A Night)"). In addition, Perry Como — one of the most successful pre-rock era artists — enjoyed continued success, albeit on a somewhat smaller scale (as most of his fans were adults who grew up during the 1940s and early 1950s, and not the rock record-buying youth); his most successful hits of the decade were "It's Impossible" (1970) and "And I Love Her So" (1973).

Two of popular music's most successful artists died within six weeks of each other in 1977: Elvis Presley (on August 16) and Bing Crosby (October 14). Presley — whose top 1970s hit was 1972's "Burning Love" — ranked among the top artists of the rock era, while Crosby was among the most successful pre-rock era artists.

The early seventies also marked the deaths of rock legends Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, and Jimi Hendrix as well as the tragic plane crash in 1977 in which three members of Lynyrd Skynyrd were killed.

Billboard Artist of the Decade

On December 1979 the American music magazine Billboard Magazine named the English singer Elton John as the best Artist of the Decade for the 1970s. He joined the list with The Beatles and Elvis Presley, who have also been awarded with this prestigious honor in their respective decades.

The U.K and Europe

See also: Music of the United Kingdom (1970s)

Pop

Agnetha Fältskog at the opening concert of ABBAs Europe & Australia Tour in Oslo, January 28, 1977.

Elton John is considerated to be one of the most commercially successful solo pop acts of the 1970s

One of the most successful European groups of the decade was the quartet ABBA. The Swedish group, who are still the most successful group from their country, first found fame when they won the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest. They became one of the most widely known European groups ever and one of the best selling artists of all time. "Take a Chance on Me" and "Dancing Queen" are two of ABBA's most popular songs.

Elton John became the decade's biggest pop star, releasing diverse styles of music that ranged from ballads to arena rock; some his most popular songs included "Crocodile Rock," "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road," "Bennie and the Jets," "Philadelphia Freedom and "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" (the latter a duet with Kiki Dee). Other European soft rock major artists of the decade included Cat Stevens, Fleetwood Mac and Joan Armatrading. (See the country music section of this article for more about country music that crossed over onto the pop charts.)

Rock

One of the first events of the 1970s was the break up of The Beatles in the spring of 1970. Paul McCartney formed a new group, Wings, and continued to enjoy great mainstream success. The three other former Beatles — John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr — all continued hugely successful recording careers throughout the decade and beyond. Several of their songs are listed among the biggest hits of the 1970s: Wings' "Silly Love Songs" and "My Love," and Harrison's "My Sweet Lord"."

Progressive rock

Pink Floyd, 1973.

Progressive or prog rock developed out of late 1960s blues-rock and psychedelic rock. Dominated by British bands it was part of an attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility. Progressive rock bands attempted to push the technical and compositional boundaries of rock by going beyond the standard verse-chorus-based song structures. The arrangements often incorporated elements drawn from classical, jazz, and world music. Instrumentals were common, while songs with lyrics were sometimes conceptual, abstract, or based in fantasy. Progressive rock bands sometimes used "concept albums that made unified statements, usually telling an epic story or tackling a grand overarching theme." King Crimson have been seen as the band who established the concept of progressive rock". The term was applied to the music of bands such as Yes, Genesis, Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, Soft Machine, and Emerson, Lake & Palmer. It reached its peak of popularity in the mid 1970s, but had mixed critical acclaim and the punk movement can be seen as a reaction against its musicality and perceived pomposity.

Hard rock and Heavy metal

Led Zeppelin, 1977

The hard rock and heavy metal genres were developed from blues-rock in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in England and the United States. Played louder and with more intensity, it often emphasised the electric guitar, both as a rhythm instrument using simple repetitive riffs and as a solo lead instrument, and was more likely to be used with distortion and other effects. Key acts included British Invasion bands like The Who and The Kinks, as well as psychedelic era performers like Cream, Jimi Hendrix Experience and The Jeff Beck Group. Adopting a form of boogie rock, Status Quo became one of the UK's leading rock bands throughout the rest of the 1970s.

From the late 1960s the term heavy metal began to be used to describe some hard rock played with even more volume and intensity. By 1970 three key British bands had developed the characteristic sounds and styles which would help shape the sub-genre. Led Zeppelin added elements of fantasy to their riff laden blues-rock, Deep Purple brought in symphonic and medieval interests from their progressive rock phrase and Black Sabbath introduced facets of the gothic and modal harmony, helping to produce a "darker" sound. These elements were taken up by a "second generation" of heavy metal bands into the late 1970s. Rainbow helped turn the genre into a form of arena rock; Judas Priest helped spur the genre's evolution by discarding much of its blues influence and Motörhead introduced a punk rock sensibility and an increasing emphasis on speed. Bands in the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, such as Iron Maiden and Saxon, followed in a similar vein. Unlike progressive rock, heavy metal (already a minority sub-culture) was able to survive the rise of punk and electronic music intact. Despite a lack of airplay and very little presence on the singles charts, late-1970s heavy metal built a considerable following, particularly among adolescent working-class males in North America and Europe.

Glam rock

David Bowie in the early 1970s during the Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders Tour.

Glam or glitter rock developed in the UK in the post-hippie early 1970s. It was characterised by outrageous clothes, makeup, hairstyles, and platform-soled boots. The flamboyant lyrics, costumes, and visual styles of glam performers were a campy, playing with categories of sexuality in a theatrical blend of nostalgic references to science fiction and old movies, all over a guitar-driven hard rock sound. Pioneers of the genre included David Bowie, Roxy Music, Mott the Hoople, Marc Bolan and T.Rex. These, and many other acts straddled the divide between pop and rock music, managing to maintain a level of respectability with rock audiences, while enjoying success in the singles chart, including Queen and Elton John. Other performers aimed much more directly for the popular music market, where they were the dominant groups of their era, including and Slade and Sweet. The glitter image was pushed to its limits by Gary Glitter and The Glitter Band. Largely confined to the British, glam rock peaked during the mid 1970s, before it disappeared in the face of punk rock and new wave trends.

Soft rock and singer-songwriters

Cat Stevens is widely considerated as one of the most prominent Soft rock acts of the decade

From the late 1960s it became common to divide mainstream rock music into Soft rock and Hard rock. Soft rock was often derived from folk rock, using acoustic instruments and putting more emphasis on melody and harmonies. It reached its commercial peak in the mid- to late- 70s with acts like the reformed Fleetwood Mac, whose Rumours (1977) was the best selling album of the decade. Major British soft rock artists of the 1970s included 10cc, Mungo Jerry and Rod Stewart. A large number of soft rock songs fit into the singer-songwriter classification — that is, songs written and recorded by the same person. Some of the most successful singer-songwriter artists were Cat Stevens, Steve Winwood and Elton John.

Punk rock

File:WB 77-Sex Pistols promo (video) (crop).jpg

Sex Pistols, in early 1977.

The mid '70s saw the rise of punk music from its protopunk/garage band roots in the 1960s and early 1970s. The Ramones, Blondie, the Sex Pistols, and The Clash 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 ska influences in their music. Punk music has also been heavily associated with a certain punk fashion 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.

Latin America and Caribbean

Reggae

Bob Marley, 1980

The Wailers, a band started by Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, and Bunny Wailer in 1963 which used to play Ska and Rocksteady music during the 1960s which became popular in the Caribbean and Africa since the early 1970s after they start playing Reggae music. Later on the band became very popular in the U.S. and in Europe. The Wailers broke up in 1974 with each of the three main members going on to pursue solo careers. Despite the breakup, Marley continued recording music as "Bob Marley & The Wailers". In 1975, Marley had his international breakthrough with his first hit outside Jamaica, "No Woman, No Cry", from the Natty Dread album. The success of the album Exodus (1977), which included the major international hits "Jamming", "Turn Your Lights Down Low" and "One Love, propelled Marley to international stardom.

In addition to the Wailers, other significant pioneers include Prince Buster, Desmond Dekker, Jackie Mittoo and several others.

Rock and Nueva canción

File:Suigeneris-1975.jpg

Sui Generis bandmates Charly Garcia and Nito Mestre, 1975.

During the 1970s in Latin America the '60s music influence remained strong and two styles developed from it one that followed the European and North American trends and Nueva Canción that focused on the renewal of folklore including Andean music and Cueca. Some bands such as Los Jaivas mixed both streams and created a syncretism between folklore and progressive rock. The Nueva Canción movement got an even more marked protest association after all countries in the Southern Cone became (or were already) military dictatures in the '70s

In the '70s Rock en Español began to emerge (specially in Argentina), and as imitation bands became fewer rock music started to develop more independtly from the outside, althought many rock bands still preferred to sing in English. The Argentine defeat in the Falklands War in 1982 followed by the fall of the military junta that year disminished need of Nueva Canción as protest music there in favour of other styles. In Chile the Nueva Canción styles developed through the '70s would remain popular until the return to democracy in 1990.

Cumbia

It was during the '70s the cumbia became widely popular outside Colombia. Several bands bought Cumbia to Mexico, Peru and Argentine, places that later became major scenes for further developments of cumbia music. While Nueva Canción was the music of the New Left and the rock developments of Argentina reflected the European oriented youth, cumbia became widely popular among the large poor sectors of Latin American countries, to such degree that it came to be associated with shantytowns and low-prestige Native American populations.

Salsa and merengue

The salsa music developed in the 1960s and '70s by Puerto Rican and Cuban immigrants to the New York City area but did not enter into mainstream popularity in Latin America until the late '80s. The Merengue music experienced during the late '70s a golden age of productivity characterized by the rise of a new generation of musicians.

Australia and New Zealand

Bee Gees, 1968

The Bee Gees — brothers Barry, Maurice and Robin Gibb — had been a successful harmonic act as the 1970s dawned; while they continued to have success with ballads such as "How Deep is Your Love," the Gibb brothers' most successful songs were their disco recordings, including "Stayin' Alive" and "Night Fever" (both from the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack). The Gibbs' youngest brother, Andy, had a successful solo career of his own, also with disco songs such as "I Just Want to Be Your Everything" and "Shadow Dancing."

The most successful Australian female artist of the decade, Olivia Newton-John became a leading singer in the 1970s in both popular and country music and had several number one hits, including the songs "Let Me Be There" and "I Honestly Love You" for which she received three Grammys.

Additional top music acts in Australia/New Zealand included Little River Band, Sherbet, Skyhooks, Dragon, Hush and the Ted Mulry Gang.

Other Trends

The first half of the 1970s saw many jazz musicians from the Miles Davis school achieve cross-over success through jazz-rock fusion. The exponential groups of the genre were Mahavishnu Orchestra, Soft Machine, Return to Forever, created by Chick Corea, and Weather Report, built upon the keyboards and saxophone of Joe Zawinul and Wayne Shorter, respectively. In Germany, Manfred Eicher started the ECM label, which quickly made a name for 'chamber jazz' through the likes of Jan Garbarek, Keith Jarrett and Terje Rypdal. These two movements attracted many fans of progressive rock after its overlap by punk in 1976–77.

Another experimentation in European classical music was brought about by composers such as Philip Glass, Steve Reich and Michael Nyman, with what was to be called Minimalist music. This was a break from the intellectual serial music of the tradition of Schoenberg 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 Menuhin 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 Asia and Bollywood movies from India.

In the summer of 2006, 1st June to 31st August, the songs that were heard on radios were mostly seventies music.

External links

• Top Albums of the 70s
• Hit Singles of the 70s