Test Your Knowledge of 70s Music Trends and Events

Major Music Trends and Events in the 1970s

• Disco, funk, soul, R&B, smooth jazz, jazz fusion, rock, punk rock, glam rock, hard rock, progressive rock, art rock, blues rock, heavy metal, reggae, hip hop, classical music, experimental classical, minimalist music, film scores, electronic music, and synthpop all emerged and grew in popularity.

• Afrobeat gained a following in Africa, while Nueva canción music peaked in popularity in Latin America and the Iberian Peninsula.

• In North America, hard rock, arena rock, and heavy metal bands such as Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, and Black Sabbath were at the height of their international fame, while punk rock emerged in the mid-1970s.

• Soft rock and pop musicians such as the Carpenters, the Jackson 5, and the Bee Gees were prominent, while male and female soloists such as Barry Manilow, Linda Ronstadt, and Carly Simon also had success.

• Disco and funk were popular genres, with the Bee Gees leading the movement and spearheading the cultural and revolutionary music soundtrack to Saturday Night Fever.

• R&B and soul became the predominant music styles among black artists and audiences, with Stevie Wonder and the Jackson 5 becoming some of the biggest pop-music phenomena of the decade.

• Psychedelic rock declined in popularity after the deaths of Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Jim Morrison, while new wave emerged in the late 1970s.

• Soft rock often used acoustic instruments and placed emphasis on melody and harmonies, with major artists including Carole King and Fleetwood Mac.

• The decade saw greater fragmentation along stylistic lines because of the rise of semipopular music.

• Some of the most successful singers and songwriters were Jackson Browne, James Taylor, Neil Diamond, Elton John, and Paul Simon.

• The 1970s marked the departure of Diana Ross from the Supremes and the break-up of Simon & Garfunkel and the Beatles, who all continued hugely successful recording careers throughout the decade.

• Blues rock remained popular, with Eric Clapton, ZZ Top, and George Thorogood seeing the greatest success.Music in the 1970s: A Summary

• The 1970s saw the rise of disco music, with artists such as Donna Summer, Bee Gees, and Chic becoming popular.

• The Jackson 5 and other Motown groups continued to produce hits in the 70s, with Michael Jackson eventually leaving to become a solo artist.

• Other successful groups of the decade included Earth, Wind & Fire, Kool & the Gang, and The Commodores.

• Country music in the 1970s saw the emergence of outlaw country, a fusion of traditional country with rock and blues music, popularized by artists such as Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson.

• The countrypolitan sound, featuring string sections and crooning lead vocalists, was also popularized by artists such as Lynn Anderson and Glen Campbell.

• Female country artists such as Dolly Parton and Crystal Gayle achieved crossover success with pop audiences.

• The 1970s also saw the rise of southern rock, with bands such as Lynyrd Skynyrd and The Allman Brothers Band becoming popular.

• Hank Williams Jr. resurrected his career in the 70s with a Southern rock-heavy album and became one of country music's top superstars of the 1980s.

• The decade saw the deaths of several country music performers, including Bob Wills, George Morgan, and Lefty Frizzell.

• Blue-eyed soul artists such as David Bowie achieved commercial success in the 1970s.

• The 1950s nostalgia movement prompted the Rockabilly Revival fad in the latter half of the decade, led by The Stray Cats and Queen's hit "Crazy Little Thing Called Love".

• The movie Grease also symbolized the 1950s nostalgia trend.Music of the 1970s

• Several stars of the late 1950s and early 1960s revived their careers during the early to mid-1970s after several years of inactivity.

• Elvis Presley, the best-selling singer of all time, died on August 16, 1977, and Bing Crosby, who sold about half a billion records, died October 14, 1977.

• Elton John became the decade's biggest solo pop star, releasing diverse styles of music that ranged from ballads to arena rock.

• One of the biggest bands of the 1970s was the Bee Gees, who dominated the 1970s music scene having a string of number one hits and albums in the U.K., the U.S., and Europe.

• One of the most successful European groups of the decade was the quartet ABBA, selling 380 million records worldwide to date.

• In the late 1970s, many bands in the United Kingdom began experimenting with synthesizers, forming the new wave style known as synthpop.

• Heavy metal music gained a cult following in the 1970s, led by Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and Deep Purple.

• Progressive or prog rock developed out of late 1960s blues-rock and psychedelic rock, with King Crimson and The Moody Blues being seen as the bands who established the concept of "progressive rock."

• Glam or glitter rock developed in the UK in the post-hippie early 1970s, characterized by outrageous clothes, makeup, hairstyles, and platform-soled boots.

• Soft rock was often derived from folk rock, using acoustic instruments and putting more emphasis on melody and harmonies.

• The mid-1970s saw the rise of punk music from its protopunk-garage band roots in the 1960s and early 1970s.

• AC/DC became one of the most popular and successful acts in Australia, scoring a string of hits, albums, and singles.

• In Latin America, rock en Español began to emerge, and as imitation bands became fewer, rock music started to develop more independently from the outside, although many rock bands still preferred to sing in English.Music Genres and Pioneers of the 1970s

• Bob Marley & The Wailers became popular in the Caribbean, Europe, and Africa after they started playing reggae music in the early 1970s.

• Marley continued recording music under the name Bob Marley & The Wailers even after the band broke up in 1974.

• Marley had his international breakthrough with his first hit outside Jamaica, "No Woman, No Cry", in 1975.

• The success of the album Exodus (1977) propelled Marley to international stardom.

• Other significant pioneers of the 1970s include Prince Buster, Desmond Dekker, Jackie Mittoo, and several others.

• Fela Anikulapo Kuti, a Nigerian human rights activist, political maverick, multi-instrumentalist, musician, and pioneer of the Afrobeat music genre, was one of Africa's most "challenging and charismatic music performers."

• Cumbia music became widely popular outside Colombia in the 1970s, with several bands bringing it to Mexico, Peru, Argentina, and Chile.

• Salsa music developed in the 1960s and 1970s by Puerto Rican and Cuban immigrants to the New York City area, but did not enter into mainstream popularity in Latin America until the late 1980s.

• The merengue music experienced a golden age of productivity characterized by the rise of a new generation of musicians in the late 1970s.

• Commercial cinemas around the world tended to imitate nuances of disco beats in their movies to present their movies as western and upbeat.

• Kung-fu movies in far East Asia and Bollywood movies from India were increasingly popular and imitated disco beats in the 1970s.

• Commercial cinemas were a beneficial investment for the community during the 1970s.

How well do you know the music trends and events of the 1970s? Take our quiz to test your knowledge of the decade's iconic genres, artists, and pioneers. From disco to punk rock, reggae to synthpop, and everything in between, this quiz covers the major music trends and events that defined the 1970s. Whether you lived through the era or just appreciate the music, challenge yourself to see how much you really know about the sounds of the 70s.