Curated category
1980s in music
- House musicIn 1977, a dimly lit basement club named the Warehouse opened its doors on South Michigan Avenue in Chicago. Frankie Knuckles stood behind the turntables…
- Punk rockThe Kingsmen released "Louie, Louie" in 1963, a song that later became known as punk rock's defining ur-text. This garage band from Portland, Oregon, played…
- Gangsta rapPhiladelphia rapper Schoolly D released a self-titled debut album in 1985 that contained the song "P.S.K. What Does It Mean?" This track is widely regarded…
- Rap metalIn 1987, the heavy metal band Anthrax released their extended play I'm the Man. This record fused hip hop with heavy metal for the first time on a major…
- EmoIn 1983, a band called Rites of Spring formed in Washington, D.C., playing music that sounded like hardcore punk but felt different.
- New wave musicSeymour Stein launched a campaign in October 1977 to replace the word punk with new wave. He was the founder of Sire Records and believed that calling bands…
- Contemporary R&BIn 1973, Marvin Gaye released the album What's Going On. This record introduced jazz influences that loosened the rigid structures of earlier rhythm and…
- FunkThe word funk initially referred to a strong odor. It is originally derived from Latin via Old French, and in this sense it was first documented in English…
- Electronic dance musicIn 1973, a Jamaican-American DJ named Kool Herc introduced large bass-heavy speaker rigs to the Bronx. His parties kick-started the New York City hip-hop…
- Country musicIn the early 1920s, a young fiddler named Henry Gilliland stood in a small studio in Bristol, Tennessee. He held his instrument tight as he prepared to…
- Kino (band)In 1981, two local groups from Leningrad merged to create a new musical entity. The members of Palata No. 6 and Piligrimy joined forces under the name Garin…
- J-popIn 1958, forty-five thousand people crammed into the Nichigeki Western Carnival to see Japanese singers perform rockabilly music.