In the immortal words of the Queen of Pop herself, “Music makes the people come together.”
Music is such a universal language that brings us all together regardless of race, gender
or creed.
In a lot of ways, it has even shaped the world as we know it.
Let’s press play on these 10 Most Important Moments in Music History.
What’s up, fact-natics!
This is Discovery Amuse, serving up your daily dose of the most outrageous, outlandish, and
out-of-this-world fun facts!
Stick around ‘til number one if you wanna know how the Beatlemania actually started
in America!
Man: The Beatles.
Woman: The what?
Man: John, Paul, George and Ringo.
The Beatles.
Man 2: Is this the insect beatles or the car beatles?
#10: Woodstock Before Coachella, Lollapalooza, and South
by Southwest, there was the iconic Woodstock Music Festival of 1969, that became the ultimate
symbol of the counterculture movement of the 60s.
The 3-day epic event attended by half a million people that made an indelible mark in pop
culture history was such a smashing success, but the OG music festival wasn’t as glamorous
and smooth-sailing as its modern-day counterparts.
For one, the staff was severely underprepared for the massive turnout.
Just how bad was it?
Well, there was only 1 porta potty for every 800 people.
By the second day, the only food stall was running out of hotdogs, so they quadrupled
the price.
And because of the unexpected influx of crowds and shortage of ticket stubs, the supposed
paid event became free-of-charge.
The roads leading to the venue also became a virtual parking lot for 3 days, that some
drivers abandoned their cars and traveled on foot instead.
And a lot of unsuspecting festival goers drank psychedelic-laced Kool-Aid handed out for
free by some of the attendees.
So basically it was an organizer’s nightmare!
But despite all the setback, not to mention the sporadic rain, muddy grounds, and delayed
performances, it was a momentous event that helped spread the message of unity, diversity
and peace.
Keep watching because our number one entry will surely have you twistin’ and shoutin’!
#9: Elvis’ Pelvic Thrusts Watching this clip today, it’s hard to see
anything particularly scandalous with The King’s gyrating on national TV.
But believe it or not, back in the day, this move was deemed too inappropriate for public
viewers.
Much like how eyebrows raised when Miley Cyrus twerked in front of Robin Thicke at the 2013
MTV VMA’s.
In June 1956, when 21-year-old Elvis appeared on The Milton Berle Show, in the middle of
performing his hit song Hound Dog, the tempo switched to a slower tune.
The budding music legend started thrusting his pelvis while performing—which eventually
earned him the nicknames Elvis Pelvis and The King of Hip Swings.
However, critics were not amused at the pelvis-swinging, calling it vulgar and animalistic.
So when Elvis appeared in Steve Allen’s show a month later, he spoofed his image and
performed his song… in front of a basset hound!
And that’s why fans just can’t help falling in love with The King.
#8: The Birth of the Billboard Charts Did you know that Lil Nas X’s “Old Town
Road” holds the most number of weeks in the top spot of the Hot 100 charts; Arianna
Grande has the most number-one debuts; and that Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen only
ever peaked at number 2?
For more than half a century, the Billboard Charts remain to be America’s premier hit
barometer for music success.
But before it started covering the music scene, Billboard Magazine initially focused on the
advertising industry when it hit the newsstands in November 1894.
It wasn’t until July 1940 when they published their first Music Popularity Chart, and in
1958, the Hot 100 was officially launched.
Fun fact: Ricky Nelson’s “Poor Little Fool” made history as the first ever number
1 song in the Billboard Hot 100!
Throughout its history, to keep up with the ever-changing times, Billboard has added new
data streams and even changed ground rules.
For instance, in 2005, they started including digital sales, and in 2012, Billboard added
digital streaming to their musical bible.
#7: Bob Dylan Changes His Tune Deemed as one of the greatest singer-songwriters
of all time, Bob Dylan has been a significant pop culture figure for over 5 decades.
Interviewer: When they talk about Bob Dylan as a legend and a folk hero, do you really
think that anybody, let alone yourself, deserves that sort of description?
Bob: I don’t know anybody who calls themselves that, you know.
Known for his hit folk songs like “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright” and “Mr.
Tambourine Man” that have become anthems for anti-war and civil rights movements in
the 1960s, Dylan stirred the musical pot when he eventually ditched the acoustic guitar
he has become known for, and dabbled with the edgier electric guitar.
His performance at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965 became one of the most pivotal moments
in rock music history, when Dylan was reportedly heckled for shedding his folk artist persona.
But despite his controversial move, he released three of the most influential rock albums
of the decade between 1965 and 1966.
One of Dylan’s most enduring hits was “Like a Rolling Stone,” a 6-minute tune released
in 1965 that didn’t just separate itself from the usual 3-minute length of popular
songs, it also arguably signaled the birth of modern rock.
#6: Sugarhill Gang Enters Top 40 youtube.com/watch?v=ctA3gy5Nckw 2.48
Master Gee: They put the 3 of us in the studio, they press record, and we just kept going.
And we were so naïve, we just kept on rapping that’s why the song was so long.
And that’s the brief history of how Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight,” which made
music history as the first ever rap single to ever break into the Top 40 of the Billboard
Hot 100, came to be.
The hip-hop trio composed of Wonder Mike, Big Bank Hank and Master Gee, was assembled
by record exec Sylvia Robinson, and their group was named after the Sugar Hill neighborhood
in Harlem.
“Rapper’s Delight,” which was recorded in just one take for 15 minutes straight,
was Sugarhill Gang’s first and only hit in the US.
And if the baseline sounds awfully familiar, that’s because they blatantly imitated the
melody of the song “Good Times” by Chic.
Nevertheless, The milestone achieved by Sugarhill Gang’s track was enough to help push hip-hop
and rap music into the mainstream.
#5: MJ Does the Moonwalk Even though it’s been years since Michael
Jackson passed away, the King of Pop’s legacy still lives on through his songs and his equally
iconic dance moves… take for instance his signature Moonwalk!
But did you know that this move wasn’t originally his?
A lot of performers have already done the moonwalk pre-MJ, but one of the most memorable
versions was when Shalamar’s Jeffrey Daniel did it on the UK show Top of the Pops in 1982.
Jeffrey: The impact that it had was that, they didn’t know if something was pulling
me backwards, if I had oil on the floor, if I had wheels on my shoes.
Jackson, being a fan of Jeffrey Daniel’s, sought him out to teach him the dance move,
and the King of Pop debuted his version of the moonwalk on live TV during a performance
of Billie Jean in May of 1983.
And the rest, as they say, is music history.
#4: Napster Disrupts the Music Industry Ask any Gen Z what P2P is, and they’ll probably
scratch their heads at you.
But back in the late 90’s to early 2000s, P2P or peer-to-peer file sharing was all the
rage, because it essentially made music available to people for free!
Prior to that, music lovers had to get their CD’s from a record store, and they had to
buy the whole album even though they only liked one track.
I’m looking at you, Chumbawamba.
Tenagers Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker changed all that in the fall of 1999, when they founded
the P2P platform called Napster.
Vivien: I recall my impression having 2 different elements.
One being, this is incredible, it’s revolutionary, things will never be the same again in the
music industry.
And the other being, this is going to destroy the recording industry.
This internet service made it easy for users to share and download MP3 files, which is
essentially piracy.
So as expected, a legal battle ensued when the Recording Industry Association of America
filed a lawsuit in December 1999, which eventually led to Napster having to shut down its entire
network in June of 2001.
However, instead of P2P dying down, other downloading services popped up which led to
plummeting CD sales.
So Steve Jobs came up with the idea of embracing the digital platform instead of going against
it, and building an online music store to rival the prevalent piracy.
Thus, iTunes was born.
#3: MTV Airs its First Music Video Before MTV launched, having a music channel
on TV was a laughable concept.
TV broadcast stations doubted whether anyone would actually want to “watch” music.
But this didn’t stop MTV from introducing a 24-hour music channel on August 1st, 1981.
VO: Ladies and gentlemen, rock and roll.
It was undeniably the dawn of a new era.
On their first ever broadcast, the signature MTV logo was immediately followed by the music
video for The Buggles’ “Video Killed The Radio Star,” an anthem that couldn’t have
been more appropriate for MTV’s maiden on-air voyage.
The music videos were introduced by young personalities known as video jockeys or VJs,
and eventually, the network produced more and more shows that helped music lovers connect
with their favorite songs and artists on a whole new level.
#3: Freddie Mercury Steals the Show On July 13, 1985, history was made when music’s
biggest names joined forces for a benefit concert called Live Aid, which aimed to help
raise funds for Ethiopian famine relief.
An estimated 1.9 billion viewers tuned in worldwide, across 150 countries, to see the
likes of David Bowie, Elton John, Madonna, U2 and Duran Duran perform on the world’s
biggest stage.
It’s not an easy feat to outshine all that star power, but that’s exactly what Freddie
Mercury did when Queen finally took the stage.
Mercury’s top-notch vocals, outrageous energy and phenomenal stage presence electrified
the crowds during the entire 21 minutes of their set.
Man: And you hear the audience going completely nuts, and you see on the monitor Freddie doing
this impromptu duet with a BBC cameraman.
And his legendary improvised a cappella duet with the audience at the end of Radio Ga Ga
became known as “The Note Heard Round the World.”
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#1: America Meets The Beatles Ed: Ladies and gentlemen, once again…
On February 9, 1964, an estimated 73 million Americans tuned in on the Ed Sullivan Show
for one thing and one thing alone…the US television debut of The Beatles.
About two years after the band started in 1962, they already gained a following in the
UK and have been topping the British music charts.
However, they didn’t expect that they would cause mania on American soil when they flew
to the country in 1964.
But when the band kicked into the first song “All My Lovin” in front of 700 screaming
teenagers, it was official—Beatlemania has commenced in America.
So, which of these moments do you think was the most iconic?
Tell us about it in the comments section below!
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Awesome, right!
And speaking of groundbreaking, you should definitely check out our list of 10 Craziest
World Records Ever!
‘Til then, keep rockin’, fact-natics!
And see you in the next video!