 
|
|
Sometime » |
The piano is
invented by Bartolommeo Cristofori when an instrument in the form of a
triangular box on legs has its internal strings struck with hammers, instead of
being plucked like those on a harpsichord. |
|
| Sometime » |
Antonio
de Torres Jurado “fine tunes” a stringed instrument into a form
that we recognize today as the modern guitar. He perfects the top soundboard,
changes the string length to 65 cm and makes the fingerboard pattern wider and
thicker. |
|
|
August 12 » |
Thomas
Edison invents the phonograph for playing back stored sounds. The first
recording he makes is Mary Had a Little Lamb. |
|
| Sometime » |
Valdemar
Poulsen develops magnetic recording onto steel piano wire. |
|
|
Sometime » |
The Chicago
Automatic Machine and Tool Company invents the jukebox that plays records (as
opposed to the cylinder recordings type of player that had been around since
1889). |
|
| Sometime » |
The 78 rpm
record is introduced. |
 
|
| Sometime » |
At the age
of only 14, Les Paul invents the electric guitar when he takes the
stylus (needle) from his record player and jams it into the wood beneath the
strings of an acoustic guitar. The sound from his guitar comes out of the
phonograph and gives birth to the amplification required for rock and
roll. |
|
| Sometime » |
Telefunken helps develop magnetic tape for use with tape
recorders. |
|
| August 16 » |
Blues
man Robert Johnson is poisoned, leaving behind a legacy of music that
will often be revisited by artists like Eric Clapton, The Rolling
Stones and Led Zeppelin. |
|
| Sometime » |
The 33 1/3
rpm long play album (LP) is invented by Columbia Records. |
|
| Sometime » |
RCA
Records comes out with the 45 rpm single. |
|
|
Sometime » |
Todd
Storz and Bill Stewart invent Top 40 radio when they are hired by
KOWH in Omaha, Nebraska, to find a way to increase the radio station’s 5%
audience share. The idea of playing the same songs over and over throughout the
day is borrowed from the listening habits of restaurant patrons making
selections on a jukebox. |
|
|
March 21 » |
The rock
‘n’ roll frenzy officially begins when a riot breaks out at Alan
Freed’s concert event, the Moondog Coronation Ball. |
| September » |
American
Bandstand is broadcast for the first time, under the title, Bob
Horn’s Bandstand, from Philadelphia. |
|
| June » |
Gee by The
Crows is released. It’s considered to be one of the first rock
‘n’ roll records. |
|
|
January 14 » |
The term,
rock ‘n’ roll, is first used at a concert promoted by Alan
Freed, known as the Rock ‘n’ Roll Jubilee. Freed
tries unsuccessfully to copyright the term later in the year. |
|
| February 27 » |
45 rpm records outsell 78s.
Ask your grandparents. |
| July 9 » |
The first
rock ‘n’ roll song to hit number 1 is (We’re Gonna) Rock
Around the Clock by Bill Haley and His Comets, hanging in there for
8 weeks. |
| August 31 » |
With the help of Willie
Dixon on bass, Maybellene gives Chuck Berry a number 5
hit. |
|
| January 28 » |
Little Richard
reaches the top 40 with Tutti-Frutti. |
| April 21 » |
Heartbreak Hotel hits number 1 for the first of 8 weeks,
giving Elvis Presley his first top hit. |
| April » |
Carl Perkins stalls
at number 2 with Blue Suede Shoes. |
| October 27 » |
The double hit, Hound Dog
/ Don’t Be Cruel gives Elvis the number 1 entry on rock
‘n‘ roll’s list of the top songs of all time when it held its
last of 11 weeks at the top. |
| Throughout » |
Hollywood
recognizes the popularity of rock ‘n’ roll by filming six
music-related movies: Don’t Knock the Rock, The Girl Can’t
Help It, Rock Around the Clock, Shake Rattle and Rock!,
Rock Pretty Baby and Love Me Tender. |
|
| September » |
Jerry Lee Lewis
climbs to number 3 with Whole Lotta Shakin’ Going
On. |
| September 23 » |
Buddy Holly gains
international attention when That’ll Be the Day jumps to number
1. |
|
| March 14 » |
The Recording Industry
Association of America grants Perry Como the very first gold record
for Catch a Falling Star. |
| March 24 » |
Elvis Presley starts
his service with the U.S. army, creating a void that will soon be filled by
teen idols and pop acts. |
| August 4 » |
Billboard
begins its Hot 100 chart for singles. Married people read it
too. |
| November 24 » |
The Kingston Trio
becomes the first group to have a number 1 album when their self-titled LP
beats out all the solo competition. |
| Year-end » |
Stereo records begin
production in both the U.S. and the U.K. |
|
| February 3 » |
Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper
are killed in a plane crash. |
| August 17 » |
Ray “The
Genius” Charles goes to number 6 with What’d I Say, his
first major hit. |
| October 5 » |
Bobby
Darin’s, Mack the Knife is a killer as 50% of all hits are now
rock related. |
|
| July 25 » |
Roy Orbison peaks at
the number 2 spot with a heartfelt recording of Only the
Lonely. |
| September 19 » |
The Twist
hits number 1 on the first of two occasions for Chubby
Checker. |
|
| January 30 » |
The Shirelles start
the “girl group” revolution as Will You Love Me Tomorrow sees
its first of 2 weeks at number 1. |
| December 11 » |
Please Mr. Postman
gives Motown its first number 1 when The Marvelettes take the song
to the top for a week. |
|
| January 13 » |
Adults discover The Twist
craze and propel the song back to number 1, eighteen months after its first
domination of the charts. |
| May 5 » |
The West Side Story
soundtrack begins the first of 54 weeks at number 1. |
|
| August 10 » |
Fingertips – Pt. 2
enjoys the first of 3 weeks at number 1, giving 13 year old Little
Stevie Wonder his first hit. |
| September 7 » |
The last big doo wop hit
drops out of the top 10. Denise by Randy and The Rainbows hangs
on at number 10 for 2 weeks before ending the doo wop era. |
| Sometime » |
Philips introduces
the compact audio cassette, a new tape recording format. |
|
| February 9 » |
The
Beatles start the British Invasion when they appear on The Ed
Sullivan Show. |
| April 4 » |
The top 5
songs on the Billboard singles chart are by The Beatles.
Can’t Buy Me Love is at number 1, followed by Twist and
Shout, She Loves You, I Want to Hold Your Hand and Please
Please Me. |
| July 11 » |
The
Supremes have their first of 5 consecutive number 1 hits, with Where Did
Our Love Go. |
| December 11 » |
Sam
Cooke, the greatest soul singer of all time, is shot and killed under
mysterious circumstances. What a Wonderful World. |
| Year-end » |
The
Beatles have 19 hits in 1964 alone, and account for 60% of all record sales
in the U.S. from January to March. |
|
| July 10 » |
The Rolling Stones
have the first of 4 weeks of Satisfaction at number 1. |
| July 25 » |
Bob Dylan turns
electric when he performs three songs with a backup band at the Newport Folk
Festival. After a lot of booing he returns to play two folk songs on acoustic
guitar. |
| September 13 » |
What would become the most
covered pop song of all time is released as a U.S. single by The
Beatles, eighteen months after it was first conceived. Yesterday
wasn’t a U.K. single until 1976. |
| December 3 » |
The Beatles redefine
the long play album format with the release of Rubber Soul. |
|
| May 16 » |
The Beach Boys
release Pet Sounds, their best album. |
| July 30 » |
The Troggs do the
Wild Thing at the top of the charts. |
| August 29 » |
The
Beatles play their last concert at Candlestick Park. |
| December 10 » |
The Beach Boys see
their elaborate and expensive recording of Good Vibrations pay off, as
the song takes over the number 1 position. |
|
| June 1 » |
The
Beatles release their masterpiece, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club
Band, which ushers in The Summer of Love. |
| June 16 » |
The
Monterey Pop Festival features The Mamas and The Papas, Janis
Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and The Who. |
|
| August 3 » |
The Doors hit the top
with Hello, I Love You, their second and last number 1 song. |
| September 28 » |
Hey Jude begins a 9
week perch at the top of the U.S. singles chart on the way to becoming the
biggest hit of the 1960s. The new song from The Beatles also broke
barriers with its length of over 7 minutes. |
|
| January 17 » |
Led
Zeppelin introduces heavy rock when it releases its self-titled album,
which is followed up by Led Zeppelin II before the end of the
year. |
| August 15 » |
The original
Woodstock is held. |
|
| March » |
Simon and
Garfunkel split up. |
| April » |
The
Beatles break up. It wouldn’t be made official until the end of the
year when Paul McCartney has no choice but to sue his former
bandmates. |
| Fall » |
Jimi
Hendrix and Janis Joplin die of drug overdoses. |
|
| January 23 » |
Elton
John hits number 8 with Your Song, his first of a string of top 10
hits in the 1970s. |
| June 19 » |
Carole King enters
the spotlight before It’s Too Late when Tapestry goes number
1, and James Taylor’s cover of You’ve Got a Friend
later takes a turn at the top of the singles chart. |
|
| January 15 » |
Don McLean’s,
American Pie, is the highlight of the year, hitting number 1 early
on. |
|
| February 24 » |
Killing Me Softly With
His Song gives Roberta Flack her second consecutive Billboard
song of the year. |
| March 23 » |
Pink
Floyd releases the classic, Dark Side of the Moon. |
| August 1 » |
The
beginning of the decline in the quality of popular music was acknowledged with
the debut in theatres of American Graffiti. It offered the first
official look back at times when music was much better than what was currently
being produced. This trend continues today in the form of retrospective box
sets and endless reunion tours. |
|
| Throughout » |
Pop starts to wear thin as
disco makes its move. |
|
| Throughout » |
The career of Elton John
peaks as he chalks up three number 1 hits and a fourth that makes number
4. |
|
| Throughout » |
With his Frampton Comes
Alive! album, Peter Frampton starts a long running industry trend of
issuing live recordings. |
|
| February » |
Fleetwood Mac’s
long awaited follow-up to their self-titled album from 1975 is released.
Rumours would become one of the best selling albums of all
time. |
| August 16 » |
Elvis
Presley dies of prescription drug abuse. |
|
| Throughout » |
The Bee Gees saturate
the airwaves with their falsetto sound laid over a driving beat. |
|
| July 2 » |
The first Walkman (the
TPS-L2) is made available by its inventor, Sony. |
| Throughout » |
Classic rock bands like
The Eagles, The Doobie Brothers and Supertramp are fading
fast as the decade comes to a close. |
| Year-end » |
Disco is officially
pronounced dead, although it is still prevalent in today’s
music. |
|
| February 16 » |
Queen
is in their prime when Crazy Little Thing Called Love hits number 1,
and is matched by Another One Bites the Dust later in the
year. |
| December 8 » |
John
Lennon is murdered. |
|
| August 1 » |
 launches its music video channel,
airing what are really just commercials for songs. Video Killed the Radio
Star, a song by The Buggles that barely scraped into the top 40, is
the first video shown. |
|
| Throughout » |
Hall and Oates
provide bookend number 1 hits for the year, with I Can’t Go for
That and Maneater, on their way to becoming the most successful duo
of all time. |
|
| Throughout » |
CDs begin appearing on store
shelves, a new format developed jointly by Philips and
Sony. |
| November » |
Tina
Turner mounts a comeback when she releases a cover of Al
Green’s, Let’s Stay Together. |
|
| Throughout » |
Huey Lewis and The News
continue releasing hit after hit from the Sports album. |
|
| July 13 » |
Live Aid
is held in London, England and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to help starving
Africans. |
| September 21 » |
Money for Nothing
goes to number 1 for Dire Straits, on the strength of an original
video, a digital recording and the background vocals of
Sting. |
|
| Throughout » |
Rock veterans Heart,
Steve Winwood, Peter Gabriel, Robert Palmer and Boston
all return with number 1 hits. |
|
| May 16 » |
U2 comes on strong
when With or Without You makes number 1. |
| August » |
After spending more than one
Night in the Ruts, Aerosmith makes a major comeback with their
Permanent Vacation album. |
| Year-end » |
CDs outsell
records. |
|
| Throughout » |
More rock ‘n’ roll
comebacks occur with top songs by George Harrison, Cheap Trick,
The Beach Boys and Chicago. |
| December 6 » |
Roy
Orbison dies of a heart attack. |
|
| January 28 » |
The Traveling Wilburys
supergroup pushes its way up to the number 3 position with their Volume
1 album. Members include Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison, George
Harrison, Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne. |
|
| Fall » |
The Righteous Brothers
re-enter the top 40 with two different recordings of Unchained
Melody, a song included in the movie, Ghost. |
|
| July 13 » |
Bryan Adams sets a
U.K. record when (Everything I Do) I Do It for You begins a 16 week hold
on the number 1 spot. |
| November 30 » |
Billboard
modifies the way chart positions are calculated, which now favour rap and
country artists. |
| Year-end » |
CDs outsell
cassettes. |
|
| May 9 » |
Queen watches their
1975 hit, Bohemian Rhapsody, go to number 2 after it is featured on the
soundtrack for the movie, Wayne’s World. |
|
| October 30 » |
Meat Loaf hits number
1 on the albums chart with Bat Out Of Hell II: Back Into
Hell. |
|
| April 8 » |
Kurt
Cobain brings an end to Nirvana by shooting himself. |
| November » |
1970s icons,
The Eagles, return as Hell Freezes Over. |
|
| April 4 » |
The first
new single by The Beatles in 25 years, Baby It’s You, is
released. |
| August 9 » |
Jerry Garcia dies of
a heart attack, ending an era of incredibly successful tours by The Grateful
Dead. |
| August » |
With his new single,
Lenny Kravitz suggests that Rock and Roll is Dead, and he may be
right. |
| September 2 » |
The Rock
and Roll Hall of Fame opens in Cleveland, Ohio. |
|
| March 30 » |
Celine Dion steals
the top position on the Adult Contemporary chart for the first of 19
weeks, with Because You Loved Me. |
|
| February » |
It is announced that a sheep
has successfully been cloned, leaving fans of rock ‘n’ roll to wonder
if in the future they may hear music from cloned versions of Buddy
Holly, John Lennon, Sam Cooke, Jimi Hendrix and
others. |
| August 19 » |
The classic line-up of
Fleetwood Mac is back with The Dance, an
effort
that will earn several Grammy nominations. |
| September 22 » |
Elton John’s
musical tribute to Princess Diana, Candle in the Wind 1997, is
released. It takes only 37 days to sell almost 32 million copies, making it the
best selling single of all time. |
| Sometime » |
Paul McCartney and
Bob Dylan release highly acclaimed albums. Dylan’s, Time
Out of Mind, later wins a Grammy for Album of the Year, over
McCartney’s, Flaming Pie. |
|
| May 14 » |
Frank Sinatra dies of
a heart attack at the age of 82. |
| September » |
Aerosmith has their
first number 1 hit with I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing from the
Armageddon soundtrack. |
| Year-end » |
Consumers over the
age of 30 purchase more music than those under 30, for the first time
ever. It is suspected that teenagers buy less music because they are more
likely to download for free what they listen to in the form of MP3 sound
files. |
|
| March 20 » |
Cher takes 25 years
between number 1 singles as Believe goes all the way to the top for the
first of 3 weeks. |
| September 21 » |
David Bowie’s
newest album, hours..., becomes the first by a major artist to be
made available by Internet download, and $17.98. It is issued in the Liquid
Audio format, and includes the bonus track, No One Calls, not available
on the retail release. |
| November 10 » |
It is announced that The
Eagles have the biggest selling album of the millennium (in the U.S.), when
Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975 reaches the 26 million mark. |
| December » |
The world’s top music
publishers report that You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’
(BMI) was the most played song, and Happy Birthday
(ASCAP) the most performed song of the last 100 years. |
|
| February 23 » |
Carlos Santana makes
it into the record books when he collects 8 Grammy Awards in recognition
of his popular Supernatural album and its singles. |
| March 8 » |
Billy Joel and
Dave Brubeck help the Smithsonian Institute celebrate the
300th birthday of the piano. |
| October 14 » |
Pearl Jam sets a new
Billboard record when it debuts 5 new albums on the chart in the same
week. All are double CDs recorded on their recent tour. |
| November 7 » |
Warner Brothers Records
releases the first batch of DVD audio discs as Emerson, Lake and
Palmer’s Brain Salad Surgery album becomes available in the new
music format. |
| Throughout » |
Music file sharing is very
popular at sites like MP3.com
and through the use of Napster software, before lawsuits from the large record
companies bring the free services to a halt. |
|
| Spring » |
Rock ‘n’ roll is
in fine form when impressive albums from artists like Stevie Nicks
(Trouble in Shangri-La), Electric Light Orchestra
(Zoom), John Phillips (Pay Pack and Follow), Saga
(House of Cards), Aerosmith (Just Push Play), The
Bee Gees (This Is Where I Came In), Journey (Arrival)
and Blue Öyster Cult (Curse of the Hidden Mirror) are
released. |
| Fall » |
Three giants of rock
‘n’ roll, Paul McCartney, Elton John and Bob
Dylan, release standout albums in the form of Driving Rain, Songs
From the West Coast and Love and Theft, respectively, all within
weeks of each other. |
| Late Fall » |
Fund-raising efforts, such
as America: A Tribute to Heroes and The Concert for New York, are
released, with proceeds donated to victims of the New York terrorist attacks
that occurred on September 11, 2001. And 20 years after The Guitar Man
was in the top 40 in the U.S., a three song charity single, titled
America the Beautiful, returns Elvis Presley to the charts when
it hits number 6 in sales. |
| November 29 » |
George Harrison dies
of cancer at the age of 58. Horse to the Water, the last recording he
appears on that is released during his lifetime, is a song he co-wrote with son
Dhani. The track is included on the Small World Big Band CD by
ex-Squeeze member, Jools Holland. |
| Year-end » |
Billboard’s top
album of the year is 1 by The Beatles. It comes thirty-one years
after the group split up. |
|
| May 3 » |
Dick Clark hosts
American Bandstand’s 50th ... A Celebration! anniversary
show, taped over a three day period. Performers include Cher, Kiss
and Stevie Wonder. |
| June 16 » |
Elvis Presley
reclaims the record in the U.K. for the most number 1 singles, with 18,
when a remix of A Little Less Conversation hits the top. |
| Fall » |
Limited editions of new
releases (by Tom Petty, Mark Knopfler, Bob Dylan,
U2, George Harrison, Paul McCartney, Tom Cochrane,
Elton John, James Taylor), become widespread as record companies
battle a slump in CD sales. |
|
| Early » |
It is announced that
computer software, such as Hit Song Science, is being used to analyze
songs to predict if they are good enough to become hits. |
