Music Time Line

1877

Thomas A. Edison built the first phonograph, Edison's records were made of tinfoil

1920's

Chicago becomes jazz capital, trumpeter Louis Armstrong, pianist Jelly Roll Morton perform

1925

Grand Ole Opry, Nashville, Tennessee, begins Saturday night radio broadcasts featuring regional music, helps fuse Southeastern and Western styles, creating country and western genre

1930s

Plastic audio tape was developed.

1933

Laurens Hammond introduces his Hammond organ.

1936

Electric guitars debut.

1948

Columbia Records introduces the 33 1/3 LP (“long playing”) record at New York's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. It allows listeners to enjoy an unprecedented 25 minutes of music per side, compared to the four minutes per side of the standard 78 rpm record.

1949

45 rpm records are sold in the U.S.

1951

Cleveland disc jockey Alan Freed uses term "rock 'n' roll" to promote rhythm and blues to white audiences

1953

Herb Reed put together a group of four men and called them "The Platters" in 1953.

1954

Bill Haley and the Comets begin writing hit songs. As a white band using black-derived forms, they venture into rock 'n' roll.

1955

Elvis Presley and Pat Boone appear together in concert in Cleveland, Ohio, Sunday October 19, 1955
Chuck Berry's "Maybellene" is first of series of hits for "Mr. Rock' n' Roll"
The Platters signed a recording contract with Mercury Records. Herb Reed and the Platters is the only group which includes an original member.
Sun Studio sells RCA Victor its contract with Elvis Presley for $30,000. The King gets $5,000 of that money and buys his mother a shiny pink Cadillac with the advance.
Five titles considered by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to be among the 500 Most Influential - Ain't That a Shame (Fats Domino), Earth Angel (The Penguins), Mannish Boy (Muddy Waters), Maybellene (Chuck Berry), and Rock Around the Clock (Bill Haley and the Comets).

1956 Elvis Presley becomes first "rock star"

1958

Billboard debuts its Hot 100 chart. Ricky Nelson's "Poor Little Fool" boasts the first No. 1 record.
Elvis Presley is inducted into the U.S. Army (March 24).

1959

National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences presents first Grammy Award for music recorded in previous year

1960's

stars include the Supremes, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye

1961

Berry Gordy Jr. founds Motown record company to mass-market black music, the Miracles, "Shop Around," 1961, is company's first song to sell one million copies;

1963

A wave of Beatlemania hits the U.K. The Beatles, a British band composed of John Lennon, George Harrison, Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney, take Britain by storm. The Rolling Stones emerge as the anti-Beatles, with an aggressive, blues-derived style.

1964

Folk musician Bob Dylan becomes increasingly popular during this time of social protest with songs expressing objection to the condition of American society.
Psychedelic bands such as The Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane also enjoy great success with songs celebrating the counterculture of the '60s. The Beatles appear on The Ed Sullivan Show.

1967

The Beatles release their break-through concept album, Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

1969

In August, more than half a million people attend the Woodstock music festival in Bethel, N.Y. (near Woodstock, N.Y.) Performers include Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Joan Baez, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Jefferson Airplane and Sly and the Family Stone.
A Rolling Stones fan is killed at the group's Altamont, California, concert by members of theHell's Angels.

1970

The Beatles break up. By the end of the year, each member had released a solo album.

1974

Patti Smith releases what is considered to be the first punk rock single, “Hey Joe.” Punk roars out of Britain during the late-'70s, with bands such as the Sex Pistols and the Clash expressing nihilistic and anarchistic views in response to a lack of opportunity in Britain, boredom, and antipathy for the bland music of the day.

1978

Sony introduces the Walkman

1980

John Lennon of the Beatles shot dead in New York City.

1981

MTV goes on the air running around the clock music videos, debuting with “Video Killed the Radio Star.”

1983

With the introduction of noise-free compact discs, the vinyl record begins a steep decline.

1988

CDs outsell vinyl records for the first time.

1990

Euro dance band Milli Vanilli admits to lip-synching hits such as "Girl You Know Its True," and has its Grammy award revoked

1992

Compact discs surpass cassette tapes as the preferred medium for recorded music.

1994

Woodstock '94 commemorates the original weekend-long concert. Green Day and Nine Inch Nails join Woodstock veterans Bob Dylan and the Allman Brothers.

1995

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum opens in Cleveland. Renowned architect I. M. Pei designed the ultra-modern, 150,000 square-foot building.

1998

Legendary crooner Frank Sinatra dies of a heart attack at age 82.

1999

The merger of two major recording labels, Universal and Polygram, causes upheaval in the recording industry. It is estimated that the new company, Universal Music Group, controls 25% of the worldwide music market. Woodstock '99 kicks off in Rome, N.Y. Concertgoers complain that the spirit of the original Woodstock has been compromised and commercialized.

Updated 27 Jan 2007