Timeline of trends in music (1980-present)

1980s

• 1980 in music
  • International trends
    • Influential alternative rock and post punk artists like Joy Division (Closer), The Specials (More Specials) and U2 (Boy) achieve some popularity with influential releases; they are strongly influenced by popular punk and New Wave influenced releases from Devo (Freedom of Choice), Talking Heads (Remain in Light[?]), The Pretenders (Pretenders[?]), The Clash (London Calling) and The Jam (Sound Affects[?])
    • Hank Sapoznik[?], The Klezmorim[?], Kapelye[?], Andy Statman[?] and the Klezmer Conservatory Band[?] emerge at the forefront of a klezmer revival among Jews in Israel, the US and UK.
    • Artists like Wilfrido Vargas[?] help popularize merengue, drawing on a large Dominican minority internationally in cities like New York
    • Talking Heads' Remain in Light[?] is the beginning of worldbeat music
  • Music of Finland
    • Even while its hipness fades worldwide, opera experiences a massive revival in Finland
  • Music of Martinique and Guadeloupe
    • Kassav[?]'s popularity grows in Martinique, Guadeloupe, Haiti and Paris; the band and its imitators help invent a style of music called zouk[?], which will soon explode across the Caribbean, Africa and other parts of the world
  • Music of Iceland[?]
    • Punk rock emerges in Iceland, centered around Reykjavik and influenced primarily by British musicians
  • Music of Portugal[?]
    • "Chico Fininho" by Rui Velosa[?] marks the beginning of a distinct rock sound in Portugal
  • Music of Trinidad and Tobago
    • The Network Riddum Band[?]'s Breaking Out[?] marks the peak of rapso[?]'s popularity in Trinidad and abroad
  • Music of the United States
    • Casper[?]'s "Groovy Ghost Show" is the beginning of recorded hip hop from Chicago
• 1981 in music
  • International trends
    • Pop musicians Phil Collins (Face Value[?]), Rick Springfield Working Class Dog[?]), Hall & Oates (Private Eyes[?]) and The Carpenters (Made in America[?]) are extremely popular and dominate the year's sound
    • Peter Gabriel (Peter Gabriel (3)[?]), Brian Eno (My Life in the Bush of Ghosts[?]), David Byrne (The Catherine Wheel[?]) and Bob Marley (Uprising) help to popularize world music; Marley dies this year.
  • Music of Germany
    • German musicians Kraftwerk (Computer World[?]) help define what is later known as electronica
  • Music of New Zealand
    • Roger Shepherd[?] forms Flying Nun[?] in New Zealand; the record label will go on to dominate kiwi rock[?]
  • Music of the United States
    • MTV first airs
    • Grandmaster Flash's "Adventures on the Wheels of Steel" revolutionizes DJing
    • Captain Rapp and Disco Daddy[?]'s "Gigolo Rapp" is the beginning of recorded West Coast rap
• 1982 in music
  • International trends in music
    • The unexpected chart success of The Clash (Combat Rock[?]), The Go-Gos (The Beauty and the Beat) and The Bangles (All Over the Place[?]) reflect an increasing popularization of punk-influenced pop music
  • Music of Iceland[?]
    • End of the first wave of punk rock in Iceland
  • Music of Jamaica
    • Jamaican musicians like Yellowman (Mister Yellowman[?]), and Sugar Minnott (Good Thing Going[?]) kickstart dancehall music
  • Music of the United Kingdom
    • The Straycats' Built For Speed[?]s surprise popularity brings about a brief renaissance in rockabilly
    • Duran Duran's Rio sets the stage for the dominance of New Romantic synth pop and New Wave music by 1984 -- Soft Cell (Non-Stop Ecstatic Dancing[?]) and A Flock of Seagulls (A Flock of Seagulls[?]) also release influential albums.
  • Music of the United States
    • Afrika Bambaataa releases Planet Rock, an early hip hop album that mixed rapping with electronic beats; it became one of the most influential hip hop recordings of the decade, influenced countless genres, including the emerging electro hop and Miami bass scenes
    • House music emerges from the club scene in Chicago and Detroit; a hip hop-influenced variant, hip house, also emerges
• 1983 in music
  • Music of the United Kingdom
    • The Cocteau Twins' Head Over Heels defines dream pop and is arguably the beginning of all the styles of late 1980s and early 90s British rock, including twee pop, Britpop, noise pop[?] and shoegazing
  • Music of the United States
    • Several bands important in the future development and popularization of thrash metal form, including Megadeth, Metallica and the Red Hot Chili Peppers
    • heavy metal begins its run of mainstream chart success with hair metal and pop bands like Mötley Crüe (Shout at the Devil), Whitesnake (Saints & Sinners[?]), Van Halen (Diver Down[?]), W.A.S.P. (Animal (F**k like a Beast)[?])), Quiet Riot (Metal Health) and Def Leppard (Pyromania) being most popular.
    • Some West Coast rap artists begin to achieve local stardom; these include Ice-T and Toddy Lee[?]
    • DJ Marley Marl's technical innovations influence hip hop and electro funk, and future genres of electronic music (including techno)
• 1984 in music
  • International trends
    • Tina Turner (Private Dancer), Madonna (Like a Virgin) and Cyndi Lauper (She's So Unusual) dominate the year's sound with dance-oriented singles and ballads of female empowerment
    • Thrash-influenced bands like Dokken (Tooth and Nail[?]), Celtic Frost (Morbid Tales[?]), Hellhammer (Apocalyptic Raids 1990 A.D.[?]), Mercyful Fate (Don't Break the Oath) and Helloween (Helloween[?]) come to dominate the European metal scene.
    • Menudo (Reaching Out[?]) reaches the height of their fame, breaking into markets in Asia and elsewhere
    • 3 Mustaphas 3[?] begin popularizing Jewish klezmer revival
  • Music of the United Kingdom
    • New Wave bands like The Cars (Heartbeat City[?]), General Public (All the Rage[?]), Spandau Ballet (Parade[?]), Adam Ant (Strip[?]) and A Flock of Seagulls (The Story of a Young Heart[?]) achieve their greatest mainstream success
  • Music of the United States
    • Stryper's The Yellow and Black Attack[?] is the first Christian metal album and sets the stage for later Christian artists in punk, hip hop and other genres
    • The peak of electro hop begins with artists like Egyptian Lover and World Class Wreckin' Cru
    • Releases from Run-D.M.C. and the Beastie Boys begin fusing hip hop and rock and roll/heavy metal
• 1985 in music
  • International trends
    • Aerosmith begins its return to popular acceptance with Done with Mirrors[?]
    • Chart success helps to jumpstart the careers of Sting (The Dream of the Blue Turtles[?]), Wham! (Make It Big[?]) and Prince (Around the World in a Day[?])
    • The Rock in Rio[?] festival brings about the dominance of rock and roll in Brazil and other Latin American countries
  • Music of Jamaica
    • In Jamaica, Wayne Smith[?]'s "Under Me Sleng Teng" is the first ragga recording
  • Music of the United States
    • Releases by Bruce Springsteen (Born in the U.S.A.), John Fogerty (Centerfield[?]), Rick Springfield (Tao[?]) and John Cougar Mellencamp (Scarecrow[?]) reflect a popular emphasis on heartland roots rock and roll
    • European New Wave pop musicians European like a-ha (Hunting High and Low[?]) and Simple Minds (Once Upon a Time[?], "Don't You (Forget About Me)") achieve their greatest success in the United States
    • Releases by Hüsker Dü (New Day Rising[?]), The Replacements (Tim), The Pogues (Rum Sodomy & the Lash[?]), R.E.M. (Fables of the Reconstruction[?]) and Talking Heads (Little Creatures[?]) help define alternative rock
    • Rappers like LL Cool J (Radio) and Kurtis Blow (America[?]) help bring rap closer to the mainstream than ever before; LL Cool J is especially known for organizing rap into traditional song structures
    • Zydeco musicians like Rockin' Sidney (My Zydeco Shoes Got the Zydeco Blues[?], "My Toot Toot") and Buckwheat Zydeco (Waitin' for My Ya-Ya[?]) engender a brief surge in zydeco's popularity
    • The mainstream success of Amy Grant (Straight Ahead[?], Unguarded[?]) begins, marking the peak of popularity for Contemporary Christian Music (CCM).
    • Ice-T's "6N' Da Mornin'" is the first nationally successful West Coast rap single, and is often considered the beginning of modern gangsta rap
• 1986 in music
  • Music of Iceland[?]
    • A punk rock revival begins in Iceland
  • Music of Trinidad and Tobago
    • David Rudder[?] of Charlie's Roots[?] becomes a solo star and marks the beginning of the rise of brass bands in the annual Carnival music competitions
  • Music of the United States
    • Country musicians like Dwight Yoakam (Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc.,[?]), Randy Travis (Storms of Life[?]) and George Strait (#7) bring about a honky tonk revival.
    • 2 Live Crew's 2 Live Crew Is Who We Are[?] begins the popularization of Miami bass
• 1987 in music
  • International trends
    • U2 (The Joshua Tree) and R.E.M. (Document[?]) release albums that signify a move back towards politically and socially aware music
    • Noise pop[?] emerges with releases from Jesus & Mary Chain (Darklands[?]) and Yo La Tengo (New Wave Hot Dogs[?])
    • The term world music is first used as a marketing category to describe several dozen kinds of folk music from around the world; the term immediately draws criticism from artists like David Byrne, who eventually dismissed it as "a way of relegating this 'thing' into the realm of something exotic and therefore cute, weird but safe, because exotica is beautiful but irrelevant; they are, by definition, not like us".
    • The Gipsy Kings' "Djobi Djoba" and "Bamboleo" mark the commercial emergence of Sevillana[?], a pop-oriented flamenco music, in Europe
  • Music of the United Kingdom
    • Gothic rock's popularity peaks with bands like Sisters of Mercy (Floodland[?]), Fields of the Nephilim (Dawnrazor[?]), Mission UK (The First Chapter[?]) and Peter Murphy (Should the World Fail to Fall Apart[?])
    • New Musical Express releases C-86[?], the beginning of twee pop.
  • Music of the United States
    • Guns 'N Roses releases Appetite for Destruction and dominate the American music scene for the year with an arena rock and thrash metal-influenced sound; in Europe, Celtic Frost's (Into the Pandemonium) influence and sales peak
    • Ian MacKaye's Embrace[?] LP Embrace[?] and Rites of Spring's EP All Through a Life[?] are said to be the beginning of emo music, based around MacKaye's Washington DC label, Dischord Records
    • Guy[?]'s Guy[?] is often considered the beginning of New Jack Swing[?]
• 1988 in music
  • International trends
    • Ali Farka Toure (Ali Farka Toure[?]) brings blues music to international audiences, especially in Africa
  • Music of Algeria
    • Rai's popularity and influence in Algeria and among immigrants in France help to begin breaking into the mainstream there, and elsewhere in Europe, including future-superstar Cheb Khaled (Kutche[?])
  • Music of Germany
    • The formation of R&S Records[?] in Ghent, Belgium and Frankfurt, Germany (as well as important labels in Chicago and Detroit) and the recordings of seminal tracks like "Energy Flash" (Joey Beltram) mark the formation of trance music out of acid house.
  • Music of Iceland[?]
    • Led by The Sugarcubes, Icelandic rock music[?] begins to enjoy popularity elsewhere, primarily in Europe
  • Music of the United Kingdom
    • Morrissey leaves The Smiths for a solo career, going on to release albums that reflect the beginning of a new psychedelic-pop sound in the UK
    • The "Summer of Love" in the UK marks a boom in house music
    • My Bloody Valentine's Isn't Anything[?] is released, commonly considered the first shoegazing album
  • Music of the United States
    • End of the golden era of East Coast rap, including Eric B. & Rakim (Follow the Leader) and Slick Rick (The Great Adventures of Slick Rick)
    • Releases from Sonic Youth (Daydream Nation) and Jane's Addiction (Nothing's Shocking) begin to bring indie rock towards the grunge explosion
    • k.d. lang (Shadowland[?]) and Tracy Chapman (Tracy Chapman[?]) release albums that help to kickstart a new female singer-songwriter scene
    • Industrial music begins to move into the mainstream with the success of bands like Ministry (The Land of Rape and Honey[?]), My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult (I See Good Spirits & I See Bad Spirits[?]), Skinny Puppy (VIVISect VI[?]), Front 242 (Front by Front[?]) and Nine Inch Nails (Pretty Hate Machine)
    • Debut singles by Gang Starr ("Words I Manifest") and Stetsasonic ("Talkin' All That Jazz") are often considered the beginning of jazz rap
• 1989 in music
  • International trends
    • Black metal emerges out of thrash with bands like Anthrax (State of Euphoria) and Sepultura (Beneath the Remains).
  • Music of the United States
    • N.W.A. releases Straight Outta Compton, defining gangsta rap and bringing it out of urban ghettos to mainstream audiences; De La Soul releases 3 Feet High and Rising, a pivotal album in the development of alternative rap later in the next decade, while Kool G Rap[?]'s Road to the Riches[?] defines what eventually is known as Mafioso rap
    • Clint Black's Killin' Time sweeps country music, reflecting a move towards pop-oriented country
    • Bands like the Red Hot Chili Peppers (Mother's Milk[?]), Faith No More (The Real Thing) and Fishbone (Truth and Soul[?]) bring funk metal to its commercial pinnacle. Many of these bands, along with Anthrax, Ice-T and others also fuse hardcore hip hop with thrash metal and similar influences

1990s

• 1990 in music
  • Music of India
    • A vibrant electronica scene emerges in Goa, India.
  • Music of the United Kingdom
    • The peak of twee pop's popularity. In the UK, it is centered around Sarah Records[?] (Heavenly, The Field Mice (Skywriting[?]), The Orchids); in the US, a much smaller fanbase is centered around Olympia, Washington's K Records[?] and includes bands like Beat Happening
    • Groups like My Bloody Valentine, Lush (Black Spring[?]), Ride (Nowhere[?]) and The Boo Radleys (Ichabod & I[?]) begin to emerge and come to dominate the British mainstream.
  • Music of the United States
    • Hip hop and indie rock begin to influence metal, with pivotal releases by Primus (Frizzle Fry[?]), Jane's Addiction (Ritual de lo Habitual), Anthrax (Persistence of Time), Sisters of Mercy (Vision Thing[?]), Pantera (Cowboys from Hell) and Megadeth (Rust in Peace) revitalizing the genre
    • 2 Live Crew's Nasty As They Wanna Be[?] sets off a firestorm of controversy after it is banned in a Florida town as being "obscene"; the law is later overturned
• 1991 in music
  • Music of the United Kingdom
    • Massive Attack's Blue Lines combines hip-hop with other elements, creating what would later be known as trip-hop
    • Spacemen 3 breaks up just as space rock breaks into the mainstream in Britain.
  • Music of the United States
    • Releases by Melvins (Bullhead), Nirvana (Nevermind), Pearl Jam (Ten), Soundgarden (Badmotorfinger), Smashing Pumpkins (Gish) and Temple of the Dog (Temple of the Dog) solidify the sound of grunge in pop music
    • Garth Brooks' mainstream success with his third LP, Ropin' the Wind[?], sets the stage for the pop-country of the rest of the decade
    • A distinctively Scandinavian death metal scene emerges, especially in Norway at first, soon extending to Sweden and Finland with bands like Entombed (Clandestine), Amorphis[?] (Dismet of Soul[?]) and Therion[?] (Beyond Sanctorum[?])
    • A group of jam bands inspired by the Grateful Dead and Allman Brothers Band start to become popular, drawing upon rock-oriented predecessors like Spin Doctors, Widespread Panic and Blues Traveler, mixing their sound with worldbeat and other influences; these include Phish (A Picture of Nectar[?]), Dave Matthews Band, Rusted Root and Ben Harper, among others.
    • A Tribe Called Quest's Low-End Theory revolutionizes alternative rap, paving the way for its diversification of styles in the late 1990s
• 1992 in music
  • International trends
    • Kyuss (Blues for the Red Sun) and Monster Magnet (Spine of God[?]) help invent stoner metal
  • Music of India
    • Pratul Mukhopadhyay[?], Nachiketa[?], Anjan Dutta[?] and, most especially, Suman Chottopadhyay[?] lead a revival of various kinds of Bengali folk music in India and other parts of South Asia
  • Music of the United Kingdom
    • A combination of Britrock and grunge music helps to end the twee pop and shoegazing trends in Britain.
    • House and other forms of techno music begin to make it into the mainstream, led by pioneers like Leftfield ("Release the Pressure") Spooky (Gargantuan[?]), and The Prodigy (Experience[?])
    • The compilation Artificial Intelligence[?] is released, marking the beginning of intelligent dance music
  • Music of the United States
    • Dr. Dre releases The Chronic, setting the tone and pace for gangsta rap in the rest of the decade, a slow, stoned West Coast rap called G Funk; Ice T's band Body Count loses their record deal with Warner Brothers after the song "Cop Killer" ignites controversy
    • The success of Arrested Development's 3 Years, 5 Months and Two Days in the Life of...[?] paves the way for the mainstream acceptance of southern rap, such as OutKast and Goodie Mob, and, eventually Master P and Juvenile
• 1993 in music
  • International trends
    • Radiohead (Pablo Honey), Stereolab (Transient Random Noisebursts with Announcements[?]) and Tool (Undertow) release critically acclaimed debuts showcasing a new sound in hard rock and heavy metal
  • Music of Brazil
    • The MD MC's[?] "Salvador Astral" is one of the earliest international hits by a Brazilian hip hop group; it kickstarts the scene in Rio De Janeiro, Sao Paulo and other cities
  • Music of the United Kingdom
    • Aphex Twin (Selected Ambient Works 85-92[?]), The Orb (Live 93[?]) and similar artists reach the height of their cult popularity; this is the golden age of ambient music.
• 1994 in music
  • Music of Jamaica
    • In Kingston, police begin shutting down stereo systems that play graphically violent dancehall and ragga lyrics; artists like Buju Banton (Voice of Jamaica[?]) and Yellowman (Prayer[?]) are already emerging with a more socially aware tone.
  • Music of the United Kingdom
    • Britpop's initial peak of popularity, with releases from Oasis (Definitely Maybe), Manic Street Preachers (The Holy Bible[?]), The Verve (A Storm in Heaven[?]), Elastica ("Connection"), Suede (Dog Man Star[?]) and Blur (Parklife) dominating the British scene
  • Music of the United States
    • Punk pop[?] breaks into the mainstream, with releases from The Offspring (Smash), Green Day (Dookie) and Rancid (Let's Go) achieving massive chart success
    • Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun" is often cited as the last major hit of the grunge-era
    • After several years of domination by the West Coast, East Coast hip hop returns to critical acclaim and popular success with Nas' Illmatic and the Notorious B.I.G.'s Ready to Die; Master P's underground hit The Ghetto Is Trying to Kill Me![?] marks the emergence of No Limit[?]'s stable of New Orleans-based hip hop artists; Da Brat's Funkdafied[?] is the first hip hop album by a woman to go platinum.
• 1995 in music
  • International trends
    • Power metal begins to break into the mainstream in continental Europe, with bands like Stratovarius (Fourth Dimension[?]) and Tad Morose (Sender of Thoughts[?]) being popular
    • Gabba (a form of techno music) emerges and is popular in Scotland and the Netherlands
    • Beck (Odelay), Tool (Aenima), Sepultura (Roots) and Korn (Life Is Peachy[?]) release metal-influenced albums that dominate the year's sound in popular music
  • Music of the United Kingdom
    • Goldie's Timeless[?] marks the commercial pinnacle of drum n bass (jungle techno).
  • Music of the United States
    • Punk-inflected ska becomes popular, especially by bands like No Doubt (Tragic Kingdom[?]), Rancid (And Out Come the Wolves), The Mighty, Mighty Bosstones (Question the Answers[?]), Reel Big Fish (Everything Sucks[?]) and Sublime (Robbin' the Hood[?])
    • Mafioso rap, a largely underground phenomenon, peaks with Raekwon's Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, Mobb Deep[?]'s The Infamous[?] and AZ's Do or Die[?].
• Music of Tanzania
  • Mr. II[?]'s "Ni mimi" establishes Tanzanian hip hop and launches the career of one of the nation's biggest future stars
  • Music of the United Kingdom
    • DJ Spooky's Songs of a Dead Dreamer marks the beginning of illbient electronic music; Single Cell Orchestra (Single Cell Orchestra[?]) and Spectre (The Illness[?]) also release important illbient albums; Plug (Plug 1[?]), Aphex Twin (Richard D. James Album[?]) and Squarepusher (Conumber[?]) emerge with drill n bass music.
  • Music of the United States
    • Industrial music achieves its greatest mainstream success with Marilyn Manson's Antichrist Superstar[?]
    • dc Talk's "Jesus Freak" is the first rock song to win the Dove Award for song of the year; this is the first time a non-traditional genre won the award for best Christian-themed song
    • The Fugees' The Score[?] is a massive hit; the album's blend of reggae and hip hop is the beginning of an upsurge in western popularity for island music, presaging the future rise of Beenie Man, Buju Banton and Bounty Killer, among others.
• 1997 in music
  • International trends
    • Groups like Hanson (Middle of Nowhere[?]) and The Spice Girls (Spiceworld[?]) signal a move towards dance-oriented pop influenced by Europop
  • Music of the United Kingdom
    • Bands like Stereolab (Dots and Loops[?]), Radiohead (OK Computer) and Portishead (Portishead[?]) reflect a new British rock sound
  • Music of the United States
    • The death of the Notorious B.I.G., months after the murder of Tupac Shakur, marks the beginning of the end of the East Coast vs. West Coast rivalry in hip hop as hip hop genres begin to splinter and diversify; Puff Daddy & the Family's No Way Out[?] and Mase's Harlem World[?] cement Bad Boy Records as the biggest label on the East Coast, while Death Row Records[?] disintegrates
• 1998 in music
  • Music of the United Kingdom
    • The mainstream success of trance music reaches its peak with artists like Paul Oakenfold (Tranceport[?], Global Underground: New York[?]) and Sasha + Digweed (Northern Exposure Vol. 2: West Coast Edition[?] and East Coast Edition[?]) releasing successful recordings.
  • Music of the United States
    • Lauryn Hill sweeps the Grammies for The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill; the album is a harbinger of the return of 1970s-style soul music
    • DMX's It's Dark and Hell Is Hot[?] revitalizes the critical viability of East Coast gangsta hip hop
• 1999 in music
  • Music of the United States
    • High sales from Kid Rock (Devil Without a Cause[?]), TLC (Fanmail[?]), the Backstreet Boys (Backstreet's Back[?], Millennium[?]) and Britney Spears (...Baby One More Time) show a popular emphasis in the US on pop- and hip hop-oriented acts.

2000s

• 2000 in music
  • International trends
    • Pop albums dominate the charts and set records for sales - 'N Sync (No Strings Attached), Britney Spears (Oops!... I Did It Again), Nelly (Country Grammar[?]), Backstreet Boys (Black & Blue[?]), Creed (Human Clay[?]), Destiny's Child (The Writing's on the Wall[?]), Faith Hill (Breathe), Bon Jovi (Crush) and No Doubt (Return of Saturn[?]) release top-selling albums
  • Music of Finland
    • Bomfunk MC's ("Freestyler"), HIM and Tik N' Tak succeed in bringing Finnish Suomi rock[?] to the fringes of the mainstream in Europe.
  • Music of the United States
    • O Brother Where Art Thou (soundtrack) is a surprise success, bringing bluegrass to the fringes of the mainstream
• 2001 in music
  • International trends
    • Napster's popularity peaks
  • Music of the United States
    • Important nu-metal releases from System of a Down (Toxicity) and Tool (Lateralus) define the burgeoning scene; Linkin Park's Hybrid Theory is the top-selling album of the year in the United States.
• 2002 in music
  • International trends
    • Several hyped garage rock and alternative country artists break into the mainstream, at least partially -- The Vines (Highly Evolved), The Strokes (Is This It), The White Stripes (White Blood Cells[?]), The Hives (Veni Vidi Vicious[?]), Wilco (Yankee Hotel Foxtrot[?]) and Ryan Adams (Gold[?], Demolition[?]) achieve sales unheard of for such bands in recent years.