1971 in music
List of notable events in music that took place in the year 1971.
Specific locations
- 1971 in British music
- 1971 in Norwegian music
- 1971 in Scandinavian music
Specific genres
- 1971 in country music
- 1971 in heavy metal music
- 1971 in jazz
- 1971 in progressive rock
Events
- February 1 – After months of feuding in the press, Ginger Baker and Elvin Jones hold a "drum battle" at The Lyceum.
- February 3 – Davy Jones announces he is leaving the Monkees.
- February 8 – Bob Dylan's hour-long documentary film, Eat the Document, is premièred at New York's Academy of Music. The film includes footage from Dylan's 1966 UK tour.
- February 16 – Alan Passaro of the Hells Angels, who was acquitted on January 19 of the killing of Meredith Hunter at the Altamont Speedway in 1969, files a lawsuit against the Rolling Stones for invasion of privacy because the documentary film Gimme Shelter showed the stabbing.
- February 19 – Queen performs their first public concert in London.
- March 1 – The line-up for Queen is completed when bassist John Deacon joins the band.
- March 4 – The Rolling Stones open their UK tour in Newcastle upon Tyne, intended as a "farewell" to the UK prior to the band's relocation to France as "tax exiles".
- March 5 – Ulster Hall, Belfast, Northern Ireland, sees the first live performance of Led Zeppelin's iconic song "Stairway to Heaven".
- March 6 – The Soul to Soul concert takes place in Accra, Ghana, headlined by Wilson Pickett.
- March 12–13 – The Allman Brothers Band records its live album, At Fillmore East.
- March 16 – The 13th Grammy Awards, honoring musical accomplishments of 1970, are presented. The ceremonies are broadcast on live television for the first time. Simon & Garfunkel win Album of the Year, Record of the Year and Song of the Year for their final album Bridge over Troubled Water and its title track. The Carpenters win Best New Artist.
- April 3 – The 16th Eurovision Song Contest, held in the Gaiety Theatre, Dublin, is won by Monaco with the song "Un banc, un arbre, une rue" sung by Séverine.
- April 6 – The Rolling Stones hold a party in Cannes to officially announce their new contract with Atlantic and the launch of Rolling Stones Records.
- April 8 – A bomb explodes at a CBC band gig in Saigon killing 2.
- April 19 – Gil Scott Heron records the first rap song, The Revolution Will Not Be Televised in RCA Studioe in New York.
- May 1 – Bill Withers releases seminal first album Just As I Am.
- May 12 – Mick Jagger marries Bianca de Macías in Saint-Tropez, France, in a Roman Catholic ceremony. Among the wedding guests are the remaining Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton and Stephen Stills.
- June – Rafael Kubelík becomes music director of the Metropolitan Opera, New York, at the invitation of Göran Gentele, the new general manager.
- June 1 – Elvis Presley's birthplace, a two-room shack in Tupelo, Mississippi, is opened to the public as a tourist attraction.
- June 6 – John Lennon and Yoko Ono join Frank Zappa on stage at the Fillmore East for an encore jam. The performance would be released the following year on the Some Time in New York City album.
- June 8 – Carole King gives her first live concert, at Carnegie Hall.
- June 20-24 – The first Glastonbury Festival to take place at the summer solstice is held in South West England. Performers include David Bowie, Traffic, Fairport Convention, Quintessence and Hawkwind.
- June 21 – The Celebration of Life Festival finally gets underway- three and a half days late- at Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana. Pink Floyd, The Beach Boys, Miles Davis and B. B. King are among the performers.
- June 24 – The Celebration of Life Festival is closed down by authorities after promoters Stephen Kapelow and Ken Lind fail to provide enough supplies of food, medical and sanitary facilities. Only nine of twenty-seven advertised performers showed up, and about 150 festival-goers were arrested.
- June 27 – Promoter Bill Graham closes the Fillmore East in New York City with a final concert featuring The Allman Brothers Band, The Beach Boys and Mountain. Patrons are given commemorative posters at the door and find red roses on their seats.
- July 3 – Jim Morrison is found dead in a bath tub in Paris, France, aged 27. Alain Ronay would claim, years later, that he assisted Morrison's lover, Pamela Courson, in covering up the circumstances.
- July 4 – The Fillmore West is closed in San Francisco with a final show featuring Santana, Creedence Clearwater Revival and The Grateful Dead.
- July 9 – Grand Funk Railroad becomes only the second band to perform a sold-out concert at Shea Stadium breaking The Beatles record of selling out the venue.
- August 1
- *The Concert for Bangladesh at Madison Square Garden, New York, starring George Harrison, Ravi Shankar, Ringo Starr, Bob Dylan and Leon Russell; also featuring Billy Preston, Eric Clapton, Jesse Ed Davis and Badfinger.
- *The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour premieres on CBS.
- August 14 – The Who release their fifth studio album Who's Next, reaching Number One in both the UK and the US.
- August 31 – John Lennon leaves Britain for New York City and will never return.
- September 11 – The Jackson 5ive, a Saturday morning cartoon series based on the popular Motown group The Jackson 5, premieres on ABC.
- September 11-12 – The Avandaro rock festival takes place in Valle de Bravo with an estimated attendance of 300,000.
- October 5 – Black Sabbath perform the first set of their Whisky a Go Go performance in all-white tuxedos.
- October 29 – The Allman Brothers Band's guitarist Duane Allman dies in a motorcycle accident in Macon, Georgia after colliding with a truck.
- October 31 – Pink Floyd release their sixth studio album Meddle. The album is considered a turning point, moving away from their psychedelic sound to a more progressive tone. It peaked at No. 3 on the UK Albums Chart.
- November 6 – Cher earns her first solo number one hit in US staying atop for two consecutive weeks. Eventually the song was certified gold.
- November 8 – Led Zeppelin release officially untitled fourth studio album, which would become the biggest-selling album of the year, the band's biggest-selling album, and the fourth best-selling album of all time.
- December 1 – Belgian singing duo Nicole & Hugo are married at Wemmel.
- December 4 – The Montreux Casino in Montreux, Switzerland, catches fire and burns during a performance by Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention when a fan fires a flare gun into its rafters. Members of Deep Purple, who were due to begin recording at the casino the next day, watched the scene from their hotel across Lake Geneva, and later immortalized the events in their song, "Smoke on the Water".
- December 10 – Frank Zappa breaks his leg after being pushed off the stage by a deranged fan at The Rainbow in London.
- December 31 – Bob Dylan makes a surprise appearance for the encore of The Band's New Year's Eve concert at the Academy of Music, joining the group for four songs including "Like a Rolling Stone".
- Lancelot Layne's "Blown Away" is the beginning of rapso music.
- Ann Wilson joins Heart, which moves to Vancouver, British Columbia.
- Kenny Rogers and The First Edition issued their Greatest Hits album, which will sell over 4 million copies worldwide by the end of the decade. They also star in their own TV series Rollin' on the River which runs until 1974.
- Brad Whitford replaces Ray Tabano on rhythm guitar in Aerosmith
- Elton John has first international hit with "Your Song".
- Donna Summer begins her recording career under her real name of Donna Gaines.
- Rick Springfield leaves Zoot for a highly successful solo career.
- Rick Wakeman joins Yes.
- Conrad Schnitzler leaves Kluster, which dissolves.
- The Beach Boys musician Daryl Dragon and singer Toni Tennille meet and begin to perform together as Captain & Tennille.
- The American Musical Instrument Society is founded.
Bands formed
- ''See Musical groups established in 1971''
Bands reformed
- The Crystals
Bands disbanded
- Booker T. & the M.G.'s
- Derek and the Dominos
- The Haunted
- The Monkees
Albums released
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Release date unknown
Biggest hit singles
The following songs achieved the highestin the charts of 1971.
| # | Artist | Title | Year | Country | Chart entries |
| 1 | George Harrison | My Sweet Lord | 1970 | UK | UK 1 – Jan 1971, US BB 1 – Dec 1970, Canada 1 – Nov 1970, Netherlands 1 – Dec 1970, France 1 – Mar 1971, Switzerland 1 – Jan 1971, Norway 1 – Feb 1971, Germany 1 – Jan 1971, Éire 1 – Jan 1971, Australia 1 for 8 weeks Jul 1971, Australia Goset 1 – Jan 1971, Australia 2 of 1971, RYM 3 of 1970, Italy 4 of 1971, Virgin 5, Poland 7 – Feb 2002, DDD 11 of 1970, Global 33 – 1970, Germany 40 of the 1970s, US CashBox 70 of 1971, Europe 93 of the 1970s, OzNet 170, WXPN 339, Rolling Stone 454, TheQ 484, Acclaimed 604 |
| 2 | John Lennon | Imagine | 1971 | UK | UK 1 – Dec 1980, Éire 1 – Dec 1975, Australia 1 for 5 weeks Jul 1972, Australia Goset 1 – Dec 1971, Virgin 1, OzNet 1, Switzerland 2 – Nov 1971, DDD 2 of 1971, WXPN 2, US BB 3 – Oct 1971, Canada 3 – Sep 1971, Norway 3 – Feb 1972, Italy 3 of 1972, Rolling Stone 3, RYM 4 of 1971, Netherlands 5 – Nov 1971, France 5 – Nov 1971, South Africa 5 of 1972, POP 5 of 1971, Austria 6 – Mar 1981, Europe 8 of the 1970s, TheQ 9, US BB 10 of 1971, Belgium 11 of all time, Germany 12 – Jan 1981, TOTP 16, Poland 17 of all time, Sweden 19 – Dec 1975, Australia 19 of 1972, Acclaimed 21, RIAA 30, Scrobulate 33 of classic rock, 86 in 2FM list |
| 3 | Rod Stewart | Maggie May | 1971 | UK | UK 1 – Sep 1971, US BB 1 – Aug 1971, Canada 1 – Aug 1971, Australia 1 for 4 weeks May 1972, Australia Goset 1 – Oct 1971, Peel list 1 of 1970, Netherlands 3 – Oct 1971, RYM 3 of 1971, Switzerland 5 – Dec 1971, DDD 5 of 1971, US BB 6 of 1971, France 10 – Nov 1971, POP 10 of 1971, Australia 13 of 1971, Germany 17 – Jan 1972, US CashBox 23 of 1971, TheQ 37, Virgin 53, Acclaimed 80, Rolling Stone 130, OzNet 149, RIAA 194, WXPN 218 |
| 4 | Lynn Anderson | Rose Garden | 1970 | US | Canada 1 – Dec 1970, Switzerland 1 – Mar 1971, Norway 1 – Mar 1971, Germany 1 – Mar 1971, Éire 1 – Mar 1971, Australia 1 for 4 weeks Oct 1971, Netherlands 2 – Jan 1971, France 2 – Apr 1971, Australia Goset 2 – Feb 1971, UK 3 – Feb 1971, US BB 3 – Dec 1970, US CashBox 6 of 1971, Germany 50 of the 1970s, DDD 57 of 1970, RYM 75 of 1970, Acclaimed 1217 |
| 5 | The Rolling Stones | Brown Sugar | 1971 | UK | US BB 1 – May 1971, Canada 1 – May 1971, Netherlands 1 – May 1971, Switzerland 1 – May 1971, UK 2 – Apr 1971, US BB 3 of 1971, POP 3 of 1971, Norway 4 – May 1971, Germany 5 – May 1971, Australia Goset 5 – Jun 1971, DDD 8 of 1971, France 9 – Apr 1971, RYM 11 of 1971, Virgin 21, US CashBox 38 of 1971, TheQ 82, Scrobulate 89 of classic rock, Acclaimed 137, Germany 249 of the 1970s, WXPN 274, OzNet 412, Rolling Stone 490 |