Timeline of music in the United States (1970–2000)

This is a timeline of music in the United States from 1970 to 2000, the end of the 20th century.

1970 Diana Ross leaves the Supremes, considered to be the most successful and influential girl group of all time, to embark upon a solo career after her final performance with the group on January 14, 1970, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Armadillo World Headquarters opens in Austin, Texas. It will become a major venue for the music of Austin, especially the local country scene.Malone and Stricklin, p. 140Lewis, p. 60 Black Sabbath's Black Sabbath and Paranoid codify the genre later known as heavy metal music; though Black Sabbath is British, heavy metal will become an important American phenomenon in the next decade. Charlie Gillett's The Sound of the City is the first comprehensive history of R&B and rock. Growing Latino "political unrest and cultural awakening" manifests in musical expression, especially in the formation of a group called El Chicano, who had a major hit with "Viva Tirado". "Viva Tirado" becomes the "first single to attain positions in all popular music categories except country and western". Francis Grasso opens the Sanctuary, the first "notoriously gay discothèque" in the country in the New York club scene; he innovates a technique called disco blending, which allows for uninterrupted dancing, laying the groundwork for disco music. Miles Davis' Bitches Brew is an important part of the origin of jazz-rock.Southern, p. 499 Haitian performers with mini-djaz bands touring the United States begin deserting to settle in Miami and other cities, establishing a number of local Haitian music scenes. Nosotros, a Hollywood trade association for Latino entertainers, inaugurates what will become known as the Golden Eagle Awards, for Latino musicians. The works of Scott Joplin become the basis for a ragtime revival,Crawford, p. 545 inspired in large part by The Complete Piano Works of Scott Joplin, a recording by John W. Parker, and Scott Joplin: Piano Rags, a recording by Joshua Rifkin. Eubie Blake becomes the only ragtime pianist to ever record one of his own pieces, "Charleston Rag" (written in 1921).Chase, pgs. 424–426 The case Sinatra v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., though ultimately unsuccessful, contends for the first time that the use of a performer to imitate a different performer – in this case, Nancy Sinatra – could constitute the tort of passing off. Jamaican musician U-Roy becomes the first to record rhythmic speech over dubs, which is the direct ancestor of rapping, one of the elements of hip hop culture. Louis Wayne Ballard becomes the Director of Music Programs for the Bureau of Indian Affairs. He will be the first Native American to create educational materials on Native American music.Levine, p. xxiv The Stooges begin performing, becoming known for making physical contact with the crowd, one of the reasons they are considered an important predecessor of punk rock and hardcore.Blush, p. 209 The first digital synthesizers are created.

1971 Early 1970s music trendsWith more than 200 discos in Manhattan alone, New York City becomes the world capital of discotheques. Glam rock is created, based on British and American performers like David Bowie, New York Dolls and Lou Reed. Haitian cultural leaders form folkloric dance troupes in the United States, performing Haitian traditional music, including Mackandal, Troupe Shango, Ibo Dancers, Afro-Haitian Dance Company and Troupe Louines Louinis. The New Mexican Hispano trio of Al Hurricane, Tiny Morrie and Baby Gaby become the unofficial leaders of Onda Chicana, the Chicano Wave movement of social and cultural activism in the arts. The term rock changes from a "stylistic term into an umbrella, incorporating a myriad of musical styles, with only the audience as a common denominator.Crawford, p. 810 The Philly sound of soul, exemplified by the likes of The O'Jays and the Blue Notes, record Sigma Sound Studios. The word salsa enters wide usage in a musical context after it is used in Latin New York magazine.Koskoff, p. 266 Segments of the music industry begin to express alarm at the spread of home taping, the practice of making recordings using a cassette recorder without purchasing a copy of the recorded music. Cassette manufacturers and consumers rights organizations maintain that the practice does not reduce sales of recorded music. Musicians begin installing multitrack recording facilities in their homes, the beginning of home recording. Andrew Lloyd Webber's Jesus Christ Superstar is an important musical that used elements of rock and soul.Chase, p. 541 Edward V. Bonnemere's Missa a Nuestro Dio introduces jazz to the Lutheran church.Southern, p. 505 Eileen Southern's Music of Black Americans: A History is a groundbreaking history that helps establish the study of African American music "as a scholarly specialty". George Harrison is sued by the Bright Tunes Music Corporation, which contends that Harrison infringed on Ronald Mack's "He's So Fine" (recorded by The Chiffons) in Harrison's "My Sweet Lord". The court finds that Harrison took the melody from the Mack song, based on "substantial similarity", and that Harrison committed subconscious plagiarism. Marvin Gaye's What's Going On is released to great commercial and critical acclaim. It is a "bold musical experiment filled with stream-of-consciousness social commentary". The result is the best-selling album in Motown's history.Miller, pgs. 278–279 Portia K. Maultsby organizes the first African American popular music ensemble at a university (Indiana University) that constitutes a credit course. Robert E. Brown, with Sam and Louise Scripps, takes one of, if not the first, groups of American students to study music in Indonesia. The film Shaft and the following year's Super Fly innovate the style known as blaxploitation, which had profound effects on the aesthetic of black popular music over the next several decades. Wendy Carlos releases Timesteps, an important work that explores a "combination of imaginative programming and recording techniques", demonstrating "how the electronic medium could serve a composer who wanted to explore electronic sounds within the context of a more accessible concert music". Two federally funded music venues are created, Wolf Trap Farm Park in Virginia and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Quadrophonic recording, which uses four separate channels for superior sound quality, is introduced. Twelve out of the hundred top country singles in country this year are recorded at Buck Owens Recording Studio, the primary studio of the Bakersfield sound. Sigma Sound Studios is the first to successfully use mix automation.

1972

American copyright law is amended to required recorded materials be archived with the Library of Congress. British singer David Bowie brings his Ziggy Stardust tour to the United States. Despite his popularity in the British counterculture, he is greeted with skepticism and indifference, indicating that the "global youth culture created by the Beatles, and ratified at the Monterey Pop Festival, was already beginning to fall apart".Miller, p. 301 The movie Deliverance inspires a resurgence of interest in old time and American folk music, especially the banjo. Jimmy Cliff, one of the earliest Jamaican reggae singers to find success in the United States, reaches mainstream audiences with the movie The Harder They Come. The music from the movie spread awareness of Jamaican rock and reggae.Miller, pgs. 304–305 Bob Marley's Catch a Fire also establishes his international career and sets the stage for becoming a major American rock icon.Miller, p. 310 Myrrh Records becomes the first Christian rock record label.Cusic, p. 183 The earliest "rap musical events" are said to have been held in the Bronx. The first four-track tape recorder intended for nonprofessional use is released. "We Shall Overcome", a hymn-turned civil rights protest song becomes "a rallying cry, sung weekly at processions organized to mobilize the community in its fight against drugs". Elmhurst College inaugurates a nearly unique academic program, specializing in the music business. The Keystone Korner, one of the most important and longest-lasting jazz clubs in San Francisco, opens.Bird, p. 420

1973

The film American Graffiti is released. It is the "first Hollywood blockbuster about rock and roll".Miller, p. 311 Augusto Pinochet's coup in Chile inspires musicians both in South America and the United States to form pan-Andean ensembles consisting of bombo drums, the quirqincho and charango guitars, the quena flute and the zampoña panpipes. Billboard coins the term disco to describe a genre; this year, Manu Dibango's "Soul Makossa" becomes the first disco hit. DJ Kool Herc, known as the "Father of Hip Hop", begins providing music for parties, going on to spur the development of hip hop music. A film version of The Fiddler on the Roof helps inspire a resurgence of interest in tradition Jewish music.Mitchell, p. 173 Olivia Records, the first record label run entirely by women, is formed. The same year, the first women's music festival is held at Sacramento State University. One of the most successful groups to come out of the mid-20th century East Los Angeles music scene, Tierra, forms and records their first album, Tierra, an innovative work that fused elements of both Mexican and American popular music. The soundtrack to The Sting helps lead to a resurgence of interest in ragtime. This year will also see Gunther Schuller produce a performance of Scott Joplin's opera Treemonisha, and the following year will see Joshua Rifkin's three ragtime albums chart.Clarke, p. 66

1974

Gloria Gaynor's "Never Can Say Goodbye" is the first "disco hit to reach the charts". The National Endowment for the Arts creates a subcategory within its music program for "Jazz/Folk/Ethnic Music"; though jazz had previously been supported by the NEA, this is the first support for folk music.Koskoff, p. 32 The military establishes the Bicentennial Band, which will tour across the United States over the next few years in celebration of the country's bicentennial anniversary.U.S. Army Bands The case Schroeder v. Macaulay is a key ruling on the enforceability of music publishing agreements. Among the consequences of the case is the reversion of unused material to the ownership of the author.

1975 Mid-1970s music trendsAsian-American composers of Western classical music, jazz and other styles begin developing a loose community, based in San Francisco. This is the basis of the avant-garde Asian American jazz scene, which incorporates Jeanne Aiko Mercer, Paul Yamazaki and Russel Baba. A revival of interest in the button box accordion begins among Slovenian Americans. A revival in New England–style contra dance spreads across the country. Dance music, disco, and dance halls regain mass popularity.Krasnow, Carolyn H. and Dorothea Hast, "Snapshot: Two Popular Dance Forms", pgs. 227–234, in the Garland Encyclopedia of World Music All the major elements of hip hop culture: breakdancing, emceeing, DJing and graffiti, have fully developed.Sullivan, p. 606 Ethnomusicological investigation into Jewish American music begins in earnest. Gospel group the Mighty Clouds of Joy's "Ride the Mighty High" becomes that group's biggest hit, and charts on both the disco and rock charts.Darden, p. 286 Morris dancing groups in New England begin developing new tunes and dances, "ensuring a thriving creative pulse" in the scene.Cowdery, James R. and Anne Lederman, "Blurring the Boundaries of Social and Musical Identities", pgs. 322–333, in the Garland Encyclopedia of World Music A jazz-salsa fusion scene develops, based in the New Rican Village Cultural Center in New York and including artists like Jerry Gonzalez, Manny Oquendo and Andy Gonzalez.