1979 in music: Encyclopedia II - 1979 in music - Events

1979 in music - Events

Disco reigned supreme in 1979, with several #1 hits from The Bee Gees and Donna Summer that year. Several artists who were not regarded as dance/disco acts, scored major successes by releasing disco singles, including New Wave band Blondie with their first US number one single "Heart Of Glass" and Rod Stewart with "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy".

However, the backlash against disco among rock loyalists was also peaking. An anti-disco event in Chicago, Illinois ultimately forced the cancellation of a major league baseball game. When The Knack's song "My Sharona" hit Billboard's #1 for six weeks, many rock critics gushed that the band was "the next Beatles" and celebrated the beginning of the end for disco music. While 1979 may have marked the climax of disco, it was also the beginning of the end for The Knack, who quickly faded into obscurity.

One event of 1979 which would have later significance was the success of the single "Rapper's Delight" by The Sugarhill Gang, which marked the commercial emergence of hip hop.

Chuck Brown & the Soul Searchers' Bustin' Loose was released; this is the first go go record.

• January 1 - Bill Graham closes San Francisco's Winterland Theater following a New Year's Eve performance by the Blues Brothers and the Grateful Dead
• January 1 - During a New Year's Eve concert in Cleveland, Ohio, Bruce Springsteen is injured when a fire-cracker is thrown onstage from the audience
• January 4 - The Star-Club in Hamburg, Germany, best known for its connections to the early days of the Beatles, reopens.
• January 13 - Singer Donny Hathaway dies after falling 15 stories from his hotel room in New York City. According to Hathaway's record company, Atlantic, the singer had been having some psychological problems.
• January 15 - MCA Records purchases ABC Records for a reported $20 million.
• February 3 - Dead Man's Curve, a made-for-TV-movie about surf-rock singers Jan & Dean, airs on US television
• February 7 - The Clash kick off their first concert on their first American tour at the Berkeley Community Theatre outside San Francisco, California. Bo Diddley opens the show and the Clash open their set with the song "I'm so bored with the U.S.A.".
• February 10 - Rod Stewart's "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy" hits #1 on the Billboard magazine charts, and stays there for 4 weeks.
• February 11 - 43 million viewers watch "Elvis!" on ABC, a made for TV movie starring Kurt Russell as Elvis.
• February 15 Minnie Riperton appears on the Grammys as a presenter with Stephen Bishop
• February 23 - Dire Straits begins their first U.S. tour in Boston.
• February 24 - Friedrich Cerha's completion of Alban Berg's opera Lulu is premiered at the Paris Opera
• March 21 - The Pretenders sign a contract with Sire Records
• March 5 - MCA Records dissolves ABC Records.
• March 10 - James Brown performs at the Grand Ole Opry
• March 27 - Eric Clapton marries Patti Boyd, ex-wife of Clapton's friend George Harrison
• 30 March The Eurovision song contest, the biggest music festival in the world, takes place for the first time in a country outside Europe - Israel. The amazing show is broadcast live from Jerusalem to Europe and few countries in Asia. The big winner of this night is Israel again, for the second time after its first victory in 1978. The winning song is "Halelujah" sang by Gali Atari and the backing group Milk and honey . A few months after the winning the song had been translated into more then 82 languages, and broke a new record by entering the Guinness Book of Records as the most translated song in the world.
• April 6 - Rod Stewart marries Alana Hamilton.
• April 7 - 110,000 people attend the California Music Festival at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum. Performers include Aerosmith, The Boomtown Rats, Cheap Trick, Ted Nugent and Van Halen.
• April 12 - Mickey Thomas replaces Marty Balin as the lead singer of Jefferson Starship
• April 13 - During a concert by Van Halen in Spokane, Washington, David Lee Roth collapses from exhaustion.
• May 1 - Elton John becomes the first pop music artist to perform in Israel.
• May 2 - The Who perform their first concert following the death of drummer Keith Moon. The band performed with new drummer Kenny Jones.
• May 5 - "Reunited" by Peaches and Herb hits #1 on the Billboard charts, and stays there for 4 weeks.
• June 1 - Alternative Tentacles record label established by Dead Kennedys frontman Jello Biafra
• [July 12] [Minnie Riperton] singer/songwriter best known for her 1975 #1 hit single Lovin' You dies of breast cancer in Los Angeles, she was 31.
• July 12 - "Disco Demolition Night", an anti-disco promotional event for a Chicago rock station involving exploding disco records with a bomb, causes a near-riot between games during a baseball major league doubleheader, forcing the cancellation of the second game.
• July 14 - Donna Summer's "Bad Girls" hits #1 on the Billboard charts, and stays there for five weeks
• August 4-11British rock band Led Zeppelin played what were to be their last British concerts at Knebworth in Hertfordshire. Total attendance's for the two concerts approached 400,000
• August 25 - "My Sharona" by The Knack hits #1 on the Billboard charts. This is the first time in over a year that a song hits #1 that is not either a disco song or a ballad. It remains at #1 for eight weeks.
• September 2 - U2 enters the studio for the first time to record a locally released single.
• October 20 - Queen Elizabeth II opens Sydney Opera House.
• December 3 - In Cincinnati, Ohio, a stampede for seats at Riverfront Coliseum during a Who concert kills 11 fans (band members were not made aware of the deaths until after the show).
• The Welsh Philharmonia becomes the Orchestra of Welsh National Opera.
• Diamond Head's career begins
• INXS career begins
• Michael Schenker leaves U.F.O. after the Obsession tour and his solo career began
• The Feelies' musical career begins
• Marianne Faithfull returns to music after a hiatus
• Solid Gold premieres on television.
• Bad Brains forms
• Fishbone forms
• Was (Not Was) forms
• Mr & Mrs No Smoking Sign forms in Sydney (later to become Severed Heads)

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Events", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki