1977 in music

Of the events in music in 1977, a few bear closer scrutiny. 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, 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, U.F.O.'s Lights Out 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.

Events

• January 1 - The Clash headline the gala opening of the London music club, The Roxy[?].
• January 6 - After releasing only one single for the band, EMI terminates their contract with The Sex Pistols.
• 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
• 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 19 - 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.
• 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.
• INXS forms in Sydney, Australia
• Black Flag forms
• The B-52's forms
• Crass forms
• Def Leppard forms in Sheffield, Yorkshire[?]
• Diamond Head forms
• Whitesnake forms
• X forms
• The Meters break up
• Diamond Head's career begins
• 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
• Plastic Letters[?] - Blondie
• Blondie[?] - Blondie
• Spectres[?] - Blue Oyster Cult
• Every Day of My Life[?] - Michael Bolton[?]
• Heroes[?] - David Bowie
• The Pretender - Jackson Browne
• Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes - Jimmy Buffett
• Passage - The Carpenters
• Chic[?] - Chic
• XI[?] - Chicago
• My Aim Is True[?] - Elvis Costello (debut)
• Damned, Damned, Damned - The Damned (debut)
• Hotel California - The Eagles
• Out of the Blue[?] - Electric Light Orchestra
• Works Volume I[?] - Emerson, Lake & Palmer
• Blue Lights in the Basement[?] - Roberta Flack
• Rumours - Fleetwood Mac
• Blank Generation - Richard Hell & the Voidoids
• Flowing Rivers[?] - Andy Gibb
• In the City[?] - The Jam
• Ol' Waylon[?] - Waylon Jennings
• Songs From The Wood[?] - Jethro Tull
• Repeat --- The Best of Jethro Tull --- Vol II - Jethro Tull
• The Stranger - Billy Joel
• Next - Journey
• Sin After Sin[?] - Judas Priest
• Leftoverture[?] - Kansas
• The Point of Know Return[?] - Kansas
• Street Survivors[?] - Lynyrd Skynyrd
• Book of Dreams[?] - Steve Miller Band
• Making a Good Thing Better[?] - Olivia Newton-John
• Funkentelechy Vs. the Placebo Syndrome[?] - Parliament
• Animals - Pink Floyd
• Lust for Life - Iggy Pop
• Rocket to Russia - Ramones
• Fingerprince - The Residents
• All The World's a Stage - Rush
• A Farewell To Kings - Rush
• Rocket to Russia - Ramones
• Black and Blue[?] - The Rolling Stones
• Never Mind The Bollocks Here's The Sex Pistols - The Sex Pistols
• Aja[?] - Steely Dan
• Year of the Cat[?] - Al Stewart[?]
• Foot Loose & Fancy Free - Rod Stewart
• A Night on the Town - Rod Stewart
• The Grand Illusion - Styx
• Talking Heads '77[?] - Talking Heads
• Marquee Moon[?] - Television
• George Thorogood[?] - George Thorogood
• Lights Out - UFO
• Decade[?] - Neil Young
• Saturday Night Fever - Soundtrack (mostly by The Bee Gees)
• Best of ZZ Top[?] - ZZ Top
• Tejas - ZZ Top
• Warren Zevon - Warren Zevon
• Trans-Europe Express - Kraftwerk

Top Hits

• "Best of My Love" - Emotions[?]
• "Carry On Wayward Son" - Kansas
• "Cold As Ice" - Foreigner[?]
• "Come Sail Away" - Styx
• "Evergreen" - Barbra Streisand
• "Feels Like The First Time" - Foreigner[?]
• "The First Cut Is The Deepest" - Rod Stewart
• "Fly Like An Eagle" - Steve Miller Band
• "Go Your Own Way" - Fleetwood Mac
• "God Save The Queen" The Sex Pistols
• "Heard It In A Love Song" - Marshall Tucker[?]
• "Here Come Those Tears Again" - Jackson Browne
• "Hotel California" - The Eagles
• "How Deep Is Your Love" The Bee Gees
• "I Just Want to Be Your Everything" - Andy Gibb
• "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead" - Warren Zevon
• "Killing of Georgie, Pt. 1-2" - Rod Stewart
• "Lonely Boy" - Andrew Gold[?]
• "Margaritaville" - Jimmy Buffett
• "Memory Motel" - The Rolling Stones
• "The Pretneder" - Jackson Browne
• "Rich Girl" - Hall & Oates
• "Rip To Her Shreds" - Blondie
• "Save It For A Rainy Day" - Stephen Bishop[?]
• "Undercover Angel" - Alan O'Day[?]
• "We Are The Champions" - Queen
• "We Just Disagree" - Dave Mason[?]
• "When I Need You" - Leo Sayer[?]
• "Year Of The Cat" - Al Stweart[?]
• "You Light up My Life" - Debby Boone[?]
• "You Yesyesyes" - The Residents

For a more complete list of hits by month, see here (http://home.earthlink.net/~yellowbrickroad/1977.htm).

Births

• January 28 - Tweety[?], Next[?]
• January 28 - Joey Fatone[?], *NSYNC
• February 2 - Shakira
• February 8 - Dave 'Phoenix' Ferrel[?], Linkin Park
• February 11 - Mike Shinoda, Linkin Park
• 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
• December 12 - Dino Meneghin[?], The Calling[?]
• Chris Knapp, The Ataris

Deaths

• August 16 - Elvis Presley
• October 20 - A plane carrying Lynyrd Skynyrd crashes in Mississippi, killing several band members, including lead singer/guitarist Ronnie Van Zandt[?]

Awards

Grammy Awards

• Grammy Awards of 1977

Country Music Association Awards

Eurovision Song Contest

• Eurovision Song Contest 1977