Five Moments In Music History You Just Have To See

1965: Bob Dylan releases ‘Like A Rolling Stone’

Love or hate his drawl, Dylan’s groundbreaking song heralded the birth of the modern rock song and ended the dominance of the three-minute pop single.  ‘Like A Rolling Stone’ signified the beginning of Dylan’s most creative period, shocking fans in July 1965 when he debuted the six-minute song onstage with an electric guitar.  Met with boos and wailing, Dylan stuck to his electric guns and became pivotal in bridging folk music to mainstream rock.  Of the first time he heard it, Bruce Springsteen said ‘[it] sounded like somebody’d kicked open the door to your mind’.  ‘Like A Rolling Stone’ changed the acceptable song length for radio airplay, altered the methods of popular song writing and made Dylan an icon.

1969: Jimi Hendrix plays ‘The Star Spangled Banner’ at Woodstock

Some called it a political manifestation against the Vietnam War, while others derided it as disrespectful for its unorthodox interpretation.  Using a screeching electric guitar to simulate the sound of machine guns firing and bombs dropping, intertwined with the melody of the national anthem, Jimi Hendrix’s performance of the ‘The Star Spangled Banner’ at Woodstock is considered a definitive moment in 1960s America.  A reflection of the changing psyche of the time, Hendrix’s innovative approach was the precursor to all future musical experimentation.  Although he never explained the meaning behind the concert besides telling the crowd “You can leave if you want to. We’re just jammin’, that’s all,” many consider it to be the best rock performance of all time.

1981: The Launch of MTV

The moment when the music video became as important as the pop single, MTV was the first television channel devoted to music.  The video outlet for music popularised the concept of the VJ and elevated the music video to an art form, changing popular culture in its course.  A site for music news, events and promotion for artists and fans alike, MTV helped boost the careers of artists including Madonna, Michael Jackson and later, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera.  While the channel today includes more original programming, its impact remains undeniable.  Launched at a time when there weren’t many music videos to broadcast, the music video as a modern standard today highlights the prescience of MTV’s original approach. 

1982: Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ Is Released

The album that revolutionised everything about modern music.  Michael Jackson’s Thriller remains the highest-selling pop record of all time, and changed the way artists functioned as artistic personas and profitable entities.  The album collected eight Grammy Awards in 1984, still the most received by an individual in a single year.  At just over thirteen minutes, the video for the 1983 single ‘Thriller’ tied music videos to filmmaking and is considered the greatest music video of all time.  Earlier that same year, Jackson’s electrifying television performance of ‘Billie Jean’ and debut of the moonwalk confirmed his incredible musical talent.  The success of Thriller lead to the breakdown of racial barriers on radio and MTV, created staple hits on dance-floors worldwide and made Jackson the everlasting King of Pop. 

2000: The Birth of Napster

The arrival of Napster changed everything for music lovers and turned Gen Y babies into legit music sharers.  The rise of the peer-to-peer network and free music to over 100 million users transformed the music industry and questioned previously invincible copyright laws.  With the loom of downloads and boundless media-sharing sites, mp3s and iTunes, empowered consumers today dominate an era of arguably free content.  While many musicians have rejected the Internet download revolution as a threat to their profits, others have embraced it in creating their own music history – most infamously Radiohead’s decision to promote ‘pay what you want’ for their 2007 album In Rainbows.   

Written for Karamel Magazine, June 2012.