60 YEARS OF THE ROCK ERA. This update: 1981.

60 YEARS OF

ROCK

(1955-2015)

1981

   

 

   

 
  

    

 

 

-John Lennon & Yoko Ono's 'Double Fantasy' goes platinum 1 month after his murder.

-Bill Haley dies of natural causes.

-Debbie Harry is working on a solo album with Chic's Nile Rodgers & Bernard Edward.

-Christopher Cross wins 4 Grammy Awards.

-Blondie enter the Soul Albums chart with 'Autoamerican'.

-Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis & Carl Perkins record an album together.

-Bob Marley dies of a brain tumour.

-John Lennon's killer is sentenced to a 20 years- life prison term.

-Stevie Nicks releases solo LP 'Belladonna', co-produced by Jimmy Iovine & Tom Petty.

-MTV is launched (though excludes R&B videos & many black artists).

-More than 10 years after Jim Morrison's death, The Doors are more popular than ever.

-Simon & Garfunkel perform together again at Central Park in New York.

-The Specials call it quits. 

    

   

   

1981 began with the world still grieving the loss of John Lennon. Record sales were down on past years as labels blamed home taping (off the radio or friends' albums) for dwindling revenue. Nevertheless, there were still big sellers in the marketplace. Rap entered the mainstream via Blondie's #1 hit "Rapture"- arguably the first rap disc purchased by many white music fans. Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five became the genre's best exponents. Prince and Rick James became R&B's latest rising stars. In Britain, the New Romantics hit the pop chart. In August, the musical landscape changed again, with the arrival of MTV. A new trend emerged: dance medleys (eg. "Stars On 45" and "Hooked On Classics").