1977 in music
See also: 1976 in music, other events of 1977, 1978 in music, 1970s in music and the list of 'years in music'
Events
In this year, the St. Magnus Festival was founded in Orkney by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies.
Perhaps most important is the release of several pivotal albums in the development of punk music. Widely-acknowledged as masterpieces and among the earliest first full-length purely punk albums, the Ramones' Rocket to Russia, the Jam's In the City, Iggy Pop's Lust for Life, the debut by the Clash, The Clash, Richard Hell & the Voidoids' Blank Generation, Elvis Costello's My Aim Is True, the Sex Pistols' Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols, and Television's Marquee Moon are usually considered their respective masterpieces, and kickstarted punk music as the musical genre it eventually became.
The soundtrack to the film Saturday Night Fever was an enormous hit that established the Bee Gees (who had composed most of the tracks) as the most popular artists in the world, and the best-selling artist since the Beatles. Saturday Night Fever also moved disco music into the mainstream, and it dominated the charts for the next few years.
Jimmy Buffett's Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Atitudes is also especially notable in its inclusion of "Margaritaville", the biggest single of his career. This album helped establish Buffett as a popular artist, and earned him much of the rabid fanbase ("Parrotheads") that he eventually became known for. Billy Joel's The Stranger was enormously popular, and included one of his most beloved songs today, "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant". Lastly, Fleetwood Mac's Rumours is the most popular and critically acclaimed LP of the band's career; it is one of the best-selling albums of all time.
And "The King" left the building for the last time
- January 1 - The Clash headline the gala opening of the London music club, The Roxy.
- January 12 - Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards is fined 750 pounds for possession of cocaine which was found in his wrecked car on May 19, 1976. Richards was charged an additional 250 pounds for court costs and found "not guilty" of possession of LSD.
- January 26 - Patti Smith falls off the stage while opening for Bob Seger in Tampa, Florida. Smith is rushed to the hospital for 22 stitches to close head lacerations. While recovering, Smith writes her fifth book of poetry, Babel.
- January 26 - Fleetwood Mac's original lead guitarist, Peter Green, is committed to a mental hospital in England after firing a pistol at a delivery boy bringing him a royalties check
- January 27 - After releasing only one single for the band, EMI terminates their contract with the Sex Pistols.
- February 4 - American Bandstand celebrates its 25th anniversary on television with an special hosted by Dick Clark. An "all-star band" made up of Chuck Berry, Seals & Crofts, Gregg Allman, Junior Walker, Johnny Rivers, the Pointer Sisters, Charlie Daniels, Doc Severenson, Les McCann, Donald Byrd, Chuck Mangione and three members of Booker T and the MGs perform "Roll Over Beethoven."
- February 14 - The B-52's make their debut at a party in Athens, Georgia
- February 15 - Sid Vicious replaces Glen Matlock as the bassist for the Sex Pistols.
- February 27 - Royal Canadian Mounted Police raid Keith Richards' Toronto hotel suite while he is sleeping and seize 22 grams of heroin, 5 grams of cocaine and narcotics paraphernalia. Richards is arrested and charged with possession of heroin with intent to traffic, and possession of cocaine. He is released on $25,000 bail
- March 1 - Sara Lowndes Dylan files for divorce from her husband of 11 years, Bob Dylan.
- March 10 - A&M Records signs the Sex Pistols in a ceremony that takes places in front of Buckingham Palace.
- March 16 - A&M Records terminates its contract with the Sex Pistols.
- April 24 - Several artists including Joan Baez, Santana and others perform at a free concert for the inmates of California's Soledad Prison.
- Saturday Night Fever appears in theaters, igniting a new popularity for Disco music.
- April 25 - During a concert at the Saginaw, Michigan Civic Center, Elvis Presley makes what would turn out to be the last recordings he would ever make. Three songs recorded at the show would later appear (with overdubs), on the posthumously released album, Moody Blue.
- April 26 - New York's legendary disco Studio 54 opens.
- June - Founding of the Nikikai Opera Foundation.
- May 11- The Stranglers and support band London start a 10 week national UK tour.
- August 16 - Elvis Presley is found dead at his home in Graceland.
- August 17 - Florists Transworld Delivery (FTD) reported that in one day the number of orders for flowers to be delivered to Graceland for the funeral of Elvis Presley had surpassed the number for any other event in the company's history
- Alice Cooper is hospitalized in a New York sanitarium for alcoholism.
- Kenny Rogers releases his album "Ten Years Of Gold" less than 12 months after scoring his first solo hit, following the break up of his pop/country band, The First Edition. The album features the original versions of his recent solo hit's and re recordings of First Edition classics.
- INXS forms in Sydney, Australia
- Black Flag forms
- The B-52's forms
- Crass forms
- Def Leppard forms in Sheffield, Yorkshire
- The Feelies forms
- Whitesnake forms
- X (US) forms
- The Fall forms in Manchester, England
- The Meters break up
- Dire Straits' career begins
- Midnight Oil's career begins
- The Cars sign a contract with Elektra Records
- Devo signs a contract with Warner Bros.
- Midnight Oil sign a contract with CBS Records
- The Neville Brothers sign a contract with A&M Records
- The Police sign a contract with A&M Records
- Van Halen signs a contract with Warner Bros.
Albums released
- Let There Be Rock - AC/DC
- Draw the Line - Aerosmith
- Breaking Through - A Foot in Cold Water
- On Earth as It Is in Heaven - Angel
- Live at the El Mocambo - April Wine
- Visitors - Automatic Man
- Spectres - Blue Öyster Cult
- Every Day of My Life - Michael Bolton
- Boston - Boston (band)
- Heroes - David Bowie
- Low - David Bowie
- The Pretender - Jackson Browne
- Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes - Jimmy Buffett
- Come In From The Rain - Captain & Tennille
- Passage - Carpenters
- Chic - Chic
- XI - Chicago
- Slowhand - Eric Clapton
- The Clash - The Clash
- The Alice Cooper Show - Alice Cooper
- Lace and Whiskey - Alice Cooper
- My Aim Is True - Elvis Costello (debut)
- Femme est la Nuit - Dalida
- Olympia 77 - Dalida
- Pour Toujours - Dalida (soundtrack)
- Salma Ya Salama - Dalida
- Damned, Damned, Damned - The Damned (debut)
- New Boots and Panties! - Ian Dury
- Out of the Blue - Electric Light Orchestra
- Works Volume I - Emerson, Lake & Palmer
- Montreux '77 - Ella Fitzgerald
- Blue Lights in the Basement - Roberta Flack
- Rumours - Fleetwood Mac
- Peter Gabriel - Peter Gabriel
- Raw Power - Iggy and the Stooges
- Terrapin Station - Grateful Dead
- Oxygene - Jean-Michel Jarre
- Songs From The Wood - Jethro Tull
- Next - Journey
- Sin After Sin - Judas Priest
- Leftoverture - Kansas
- The Point of Know Return - Kansas
- Love Gun and Alive II- Kiss
- Street Survivors - Lynyrd Skynyrd
- It Feels So Good - The Manhattans
- Exodus - Bob Marley and the Wailers
- Book of Dreams - Steve Miller Band
- A Period of Transition - Van Morrison
- Motörhead - Motörhead
- Making a Good Thing Better - Olivia Newton-John
- Cat Scratch Fever - Ted Nugent
- Regeneration - Roy Orbison
- Funkentelechy Vs. the Placebo Syndrome - Parliament
- Here You Come Again - Dolly Parton
- Animals - Pink Floyd
- The Idiot - Iggy Pop
- Lust for Life - Iggy Pop
- Prism - Prism
- News of the World - Queen
- Rocket to Russia - Ramones
- Never Mind The Bollocks Here's The Sex Pistols - The Sex Pistols
- All Skrewed Up - Skrewdriver
- Aja - Steely Dan
- No More Heroes - The Stranglers
- Rattus Norvegicus - The Stranglers
- The Grand Illusion - Styx
- Even in the Quietest Moments - Supertramp
- Marquee Moon - Television
- Equal Rights - Peter Tosh
- Small Change -Tom Waits
- You Think You Really Know Me - Gary Wilson
- Pink Flag - Wire
- Going for the One - Yes
Chronological Table of US and UK Number One Hit Singles
US Number One Singles and Artist (Weeks at Number One) | UK Number One Singles and Artist (Weeks at Number One) |
---|---|
"Tonight's The Night" - Rod Stewart (7 weeks in 1976 + 1 week in 1977)
|
|
Other significant singles and major hits
- "Alison" - Elvis Costello
- "American Girl" - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
- "Another Star" - Stevie Wonder
- "As" - Stevie Wonder
- "Baby What A Big Surprise" - Chicago
- "Best Of My Love" - The Emotions
- "Black Betty" - Ram Jam
- "California" - Manfred Mann's Earth Band
- "Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft" - The Carpenters
- "Complete Control" - The Clash
- "Coyote" - Joni Mitchell
- "Dancing In The Moonlight(It's Caught Me In The Spotlight)" - Thin Lizzy
- "Dancing The Night Away" - The Motors
- "Disco Inferno" - The Trammps
- "Do Anything You Wanna Do" - Rods
- "Don't Believe A Word" - Thin Lizzy
- "Don't Stop" - Fleetwood Mac
- "Down To Zero" - Joan Armatrading
- "Dreamboat Annie" - Heart
- "Dreams" - Fleetwood Mac
- "Egyptian Reggae" - Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers
- "Fanfare For The Common Man" - Emerson Lake and Palmer
- "Father Christmas" - The Kinks
- "(Get A)Grip(On Yourself)" - The Stranglers
- "Give A Little Bit" - Supertramp
- "Go Your Own Way" - Fleetwood Mac
- "God Save the Queen" - Sex Pistols
- "Heroes" - David Bowie
- "Holidays in the Sun" - Sex Pistols
- "Hotel California" - The Eagles
- "How Deep Is Your Love?" - Bee Gees
- "I Don't Wanna Talk About It/First Cut Is The Deepest" - Rod Stewart
- "I Feel Love" - Donna Summer
- "I Need A Man" - Grace Jones
- "In The City" - The Jam
- "Jamming/Punky Reggae Party" - Bob Marley and the Wailers
- "Jet Airliner" - Steve Miller Band
- "Juke Box Music" - The Kinks
- "Knowing Me Knowing You" - Abba
- "Lay Down Sally" - Eric Clapton
- "Let There Be Rock" - AC/DC
- "Lido Shuffle" - Boz Scaggs
- "Life In The Fast Lane" - The Eagles
- "Like A Hurricane" - Neil Young
- "Lonely Boy" - Andrew Gold
- "Love Is The Answer" - Utopia
- "Mannequin" - Wire
- "Mary Of The Fourth Form" - Boomtown Rats
- "More Than A Feeling" - Boston
- "Motörhead" - Motörhead
- "Mull Of Kintyre/Girls School" - Wings
- "Native New Yorker" - Odyssey
- "New Kid In Town" - The Eagles
- "No More Heroes" - The Stranglers
- "Nobody Does It Better" - Carly Simon
- "Oh Bondage Up Yours" - X-Ray Spex
- "Peaches/Go Buddy Go" - The Stranglers
- "Peg" - Steely Dan
- "Pourin' It All Out" - Graham Parker and the Rumour
- "Pretty Vacant" - Sex Pistols
- "Psycho Killer" - Talking Heads
- "Really Free" - John Otway and Wild Willy Barrett
- "Road Runner" - Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers
- "Rock Bottom" - Lynsey De Paul and Mike Moran
- "Rockaria" - Electric Light Orchestra
- "Rockin' All Over The World" - Status Quo
- "Rose Of Cimarron(EP)" - Poco
- "Sex And Drugs And Rock And Roll" - Ian Dury
- "She's Not There" - Santana
- "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker" - The Ramones
- "Sir Duke" - Stevie Wonder
- "Sleep Walker" - The Kinks
- "Smoke On The Water" - Deep Purple
- "Solsbury Hill" - Peter Gabriel
- "Something Better Change/Straighten Out" - The Stranglers
- "Sound And Vision" - David Bowie
- "This Is Tomorrow" - Bryan Ferry
- "Tie Your Mother Down" - Queen
- "Trans-Europe Express" - Kraftwerk
- "2-4-6-8 Motorway" - Tom Robinson Band
- "Tumbling Dice" - Linda Ronstadt
- "Uptown Top Ranking" - Althea and Donna
- "Walk This Way" - Aerosmith
- "Watching The Detectives" - Elvis Costello
- "We Are The Champions" - Queen
- "White Punks On Dope" - The Tubes
- "White Riot" - The Clash
- "Whole Wide World" - Wreckless Eric
- "Wonderous Stories" - Yes
- "Year Of The Cat" - Al Stewart
- "Yes Sir I Can Boogie" - Baccara
- "You're In My Heart" - Rod Stewart
- "Your Song" - Billy Paul
Published popular music
- "After The Lovin'" w. Richie Adams m. Alan Bernstein
- "Annie" w. Martin Charnin m. Charles Strouse from the musical Annie
- "Brazzle Dazzle Day" w.m. Al Kasha & Joel Hirschhorn, from the film Pete's Dragon
- "But The World Goes 'Round" w. Fred Ebb m. John Kander. Introduced by Liza Minnelli in the film New York, New York
- "Candle on the Water" w.m. Al Kasha & Joel Hirschhorn, from the film Pete's Dragon
- "Child In A Universe" w.m. Laura Nyro
- "Come In From The Rain" w.m. Melissa Manchester & Carole Bayer Sager
- "Easy Street" w. Martin Charnin m. Charles Strouse from the musical Annie
- "The Greatest Love Of All" w. Linda Creed m. Michael Masser
- "Happy Endings" w. Fred Ebb m. John Kander. Introduced by Liza Minnelli, Larry Kert and chorus in the film New York, New York
- "Here You Come Again" w.m. Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil
- "I Don't Need Anything But You" w. Martin Charnin m. Charles Strouse from the musical Annie
- "I Think I'm Gonna Like It Here" w. Martin Charnin m. Charles Strouse from the musical Annie
- "It's Not Easy" w.m. Al Kasha & Joel Hirschhorn, from the film Pete's Dragon
- "It's The Hard-Knock Life" w. Martin Charnin m. Charles Strouse from the musical Annie
- "Just The Way You Are" w.m. Billy Joel
- "Little Girls" w. Martin Charnin m. Charles Strouse from the musical Annie
- "The Love Boat theme song" w.m. Norman Gimbel & Paul Williams
- "Love Is In The Air" w.m. George Young & Harry Vanda
- "Maybe" w. Martin Charnin m. Charles Strouse from the musical Annie
- "Maybe I'm Amazed" w.m. Paul McCartney
- "Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)" w.m. Billy Joel
- "N. Y. C." w. Martin Charnin m. Charles Strouse from the musical Annie
- "A New Deal For Christmas" w. Martin Charnin m. Charles Strouse from the musical Annie
- "New York, New York" w.m. Fred Ebb & John Kander. Introduced by Liza Minnelli in the film New York, New York
- "Nobody Does It Better" w. Carole Bayer Sager m. Marvin Hamlisch
- "She's Always A Woman" w.m. Billy Joel
- "Someone's Waiting For You" w. Carol Connors & Ayn Robbins m. Sammy Fain from the film The Rescuers
- "Something Was Missing" w. Martin Charnin m. Charles Strouse from the musical Annie
- "Star Wars-Main Theme" m. John Williams from the Star Wars films
- "Stayin' Alive" w.m. Barry Gibb, Maurice Gibb & Robin Gibb
- "Thank You For The Music" w.m. Benny Andersson & Björn Ulvaeus
- "There Goes The Ball Game" w. Fred Ebb m. John Kander. Introduced by Liza Minnelli in the film New York, New York
- "Tomorrow" w. Martin Charnin m. Charles Strouse, from the musical Annie
- "We'd Like To Thank You, Herbert Hoover" w. Martin Charnin m. Charles Strouse from the musical Annie
- "You Won't Be An Orphan For Long" w. Martin Charnin m. Charles Strouse from the musical Annie
- "You're Never Fully Dressed Without A Smile" w. Martin Charnin m. Charles Strouse, from the musical Annie
- Enrique Crespo - American Suite No. 1
- George Crumb - Star-Child (1977, revised 1979) for soprano, antiphonal children's voices, male speaking choir, bell ringers, and large orchestra
- Bengt Hambraeus - Antiphonie: Cathedral Music for Organ
- Arvo Pärt - Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten
- Tōru Takemitsu - A Flock Descends into the Pentagonal Garden
- Tōru Takemitsu - Water-ways for clarinet, violin, cello, piano, two harps and two vibraphones
- Isang Yun - Concerto for Flute and Small Orchestra
- Julian Livingston - Twist of Treason
- Thea Musgrave - Mary, Queen of Scots
- Donald Sosin - Esther
- The Act Broadway production
- Annie (Martin Charnin and Charles Strouse) - Broadway production
- I Love My Wife Broadway production
- The King and I(Rodgers & Hammerstein) - Broadway revival
- Side by Side by Sondheim Broadway production
- Oliver! (Lionel Bart) - London revival
- A Little Night Music
- New York, New York released on June 21 starring Liza Minnelli and Robert De Niro
- Pete's Dragon
Births
- January 28 - Tweety, Next
- January 28 - Joey Fatone, *NSYNC
- February 2 - Shakira
- February 8 - Dave 'Phoenix' Farrell, Linkin Park
- February 11 - Mike Shinoda, Linkin Park
- February 15 - Brooks Wackerman, current drummer of Bad Religion as of 2001
- March 2 - Chris Martin, Coldplay
- March 6 - Bubba Sparxxx
- March 15 - Joseph Hahn, Linkin Park
- March 18 - Devin Lima, LFO
- June 3 - Yuri Ruley, MxPx
- June 12 - Kenny Wayne Shepherd
- July 18 - Tony Fagenson, Eve 6
- July 28 - Coby Dick, Papa Roach
- August 10 - Aaron Kamin, The Calling
- October 2 - Jeremiah Rangel, Mest
- October 16 - John Mayer
- September 4 - Ian Grushka, New Found Glory
- September 11 - Jon Buckland, Coldplay
- September 13 - Reverend Flash, The Mystical Majesty Band
- Chris Knapp, The Ataris
Deaths
- January 1 - Michael Mann, violinist, son of Thomas Mann
- January 21 - Errol Garner, jazz pianist
- February 10 - Grace Williams, composer
- February 28 - Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, comic actor and singer
- June 13 - Matthew Garber, former child star of Mary Poppins, 21
- July 26 - Gena Branscombe, composer and conductor
- August 16 - Elvis Presley
- September 13 - Leopold Stokowski, conductor
- September 16 - Marc Bolan, singer-songwriter, car crash
- October 13 - Shirley Brickley, the Orlons
- October 20 - A plane carrying Lynyrd Skynyrd crashes in Mississippi, killing songwriter & vocalist Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines and background vocalist Cassie Gaines
- November 5 - Guy Lombardo, violinist and bandleader
- November 14 - Richard Addinsell, Warsaw Concerto composer
- December 25 - Charlie Chaplin, actor and composer
- December 30 - St. Louis Jimmy Oden, blues singer