50 Moments That Shaped Pop Music History . . .

[OneBlueSky]

okay, this is for you, NightTrain . . . what'd they miss? . . .:)

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,6903,1207579,00.html

The 50s

1954
Elvis Presley records 'That's All Right Mama' at Sun Studios, Memphis

Rock'n'roll's big bang. A 19-year-old truck driver fulfils producer Sam Phillips's dream of finding 'a white guy who sings like a negro'. There were rock'n'roll records before this one, nearly all of them by black artists, but this is the moment when the embryonic form found its perfect embodiment.

1955
Chuck Berry's 'Maybellene' is released

'Maybellene' was Berry's first paean to cars and girls, two of the constants of American rock'n'roll. His guitar and songwriting style permeated the music of the Beatles, Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, the Beach Boys and Bruce Springsteen.

1958
Elvis joins the army

When he was drafted at 23, Elvis's blatant sexual energy was still the cause of mass moral pandemonium. When he emerged from the army two years later, he sounded old-fashioned and emasculated. 1960's inflated tearjerker 'It's Now or Never' was the moment the first rock rebel turned MOR entertainer.

much more . . . specifically, the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, and 00s . . .

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,6903,1207579,00.html

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

1. decent list

though a tad too european. as great as the smiths and new order are (2 of my all time favs), i doubt they would qualify as defining pop culture moments here. sadly a list in the usa would be filled with the likes of 'hotel california'

and where the hell is the all-time coolest thing in music history, u2's zoo tv tour?

[asthmaticeog]

2. Something they forgot:

Hawkwind ditch Lemmy Kilmister in Canada (he had amphetamines on him when the band was crossing the border, so rather than mess up the tour, the band left him behind to face the music on his own); Lemmy forms Motorhead (a/k/a "fuckin' MOTORHEAD, MAAAN!"), making the world a little safer for punk, and midwifing a good dozen or so new developments in metal. Go Lemmy.

[Whitacre D_WI]

4. Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner!

[Fenris]

7. He was in Hawkwind?

That's a surprise.

[asthmaticeog]

8. Oh yeah.

There are plenty who don't consider post-Lemmy Hawkwind to be worth even a cursory listen. They have a point, his messed up trippy, roaming bass lines are screamingly missing from their later stuff.

[AmandaRuth]

3. it is a UK list, but they left out

REM the first college band to go truly big, the whole independent scene in the 80's in general and up to Nirvana/Seattle grunge.

[Quahog]

5. Only three from the 90's...

... and one of the three involves the Spice Girls? You look at 50 years of popular music history and you come up with the freakin' SPICE GIRLS?

Hey, where's Elvis Costello's appearance on SNL in 1977, with the imfamous abort of "Less Than Zero," and subsequent train-wreck launch into "Radio Radio?"

[FunBobbyMucha]

6. ...which was the result of Ackroyd and Belushi pretending to be janitors

when the band arrived that day and fucking with them. EC is God.