1983 in music
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1983.
Specific locations
Specific genres
- 1983 in country music
- 1983 in heavy metal music
- 1983 in hip-hop
- 1983 in jazz
- 1983 in progressive rock
Trends
- CDs become popular among classical music listeners.
Events
January–April
- January 1
- *ZTT Records is founded.
- *The Merchant Ivory film Heat and Dust is released. On the soundtrack, composed by Zakir Hussain, Ivory is featured on tanpura with Hussain on tabla.
- January 8 – The UK singles chart is tabulated from this week forward by The Gallup Organization. In 1984 electronic terminals will be used in selected stores to gather sales information, and the old "sales diary" method will be gradually phased out over the next few years.
- January – Surtitles are first used in a live opera performance at a Canadian Opera Company production of Elektra.
- February 2 – "Menudomania" comes to New York as 3,500 screaming girls crowd Kennedy Airport to catch a glimpse of Puerto Rican boy band Menudo, who are playing six sold-out shows at the Felt Forum.
- February 11 – The Rolling Stones concert film Let's Spend the Night Together opens in New York.
- February 13 – Marvin Gaye performs "The Star-Spangled Banner" before the NBA All-Star Game.
- February 23 – The 25th Annual Grammy Awards are presented in Los Angeles, hosted by John Denver. Toto win both Album of the Year and Record of the Year, while Willie Nelson's cover of "Always on My Mind" wins Song of the Year. Men at Work win Best New Artist.
- February 26 – Michael Jackson's Thriller album hits #1 on the US charts, the first of thirty-seven weeks it would spend there on its way to becoming the biggest-selling album of all time.
- February 28 – U2 release their 3rd album War which debuts at #1 in the UK and produces the band's first international hit single.
- March 2 – Compact discs go on sale in the United States. They had first been released in Japan the previous October.
- March 4 – Neil Young cancels the remainder of his tour after collapsing backstage in Louisville, Kentucky, United States, after playing for seventy-five minutes.
- March 5 – Thompson Twins have their first chart success as "Love on Your Side" enters the Top 10 in the UK.
- March 26
- *Duran Duran enter the UK Singles Chart at number 1 with their first UK number 1 single "Is There Something I Should Know?".
- *Tears for Fears debut album The Hurting reaches number 1 on the UK Albums Chart.
- April 5
- *A Generative Theory of Tonal Music by Fred Lerdahl and Ray Jackendoff is published.
- *US Interior Secretary James G. Watt causes controversy when he effectively bans the Beach Boys from a return performance at the Fourth of July festivities in Washington, announcing that Wayne Newton would perform instead. Watt claims that rock bands attract "the wrong element". That same week President Reagan, himself an avowed Beach Boys fan, presents Watt with a plaster foot with a hole in it.
- April 9 – David Bowie achieves his fourth UK number 1 single with "Let's Dance".
- April 11 – Dave Mustaine is dismissed from Metallica just as the band is set to begin recording its début album, to be replaced by Kirk Hammett.
- April 14 – David Bowie releases Let's Dance, his first album since parting ways with RCA Records and his fifteenth studio album overall. With its deliberate shift to mainstream dance-rock, it would become Bowie's biggest commercial success, at 10.7 million copies sold worldwide.
- April 18 – Ellen Taaffe Zwilich becomes the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music.
- April 23 – French singer Corinne Hermès, representing Luxembourg, wins the 28th annual Eurovision Song Contest, held at Rudi-Sedlmayer-Halle in Munich, with the song "Si la vie est cadeau".
May–August
- May 16
- *Singer Anna Vissi marries composer Nikos Karvelas.
- *The Motown 25 Special airs on NBC, celebrating a quarter century of Motown Records. Michael Jackson unveils his moonwalk dance move during a performance of "Billie Jean".
- May 28 – June 4 – The second US Festival is held at Glen Helen Park in California.
- June 3 – American rock drummer Jim Gordon commits matricide during a schizophrenic episode.
- June 18–19 – Menudo make their second visit to New York. The band plays four shows at Madison Square Garden and all 80,000 tickets sell out within three days of going on sale.
- June 20 – Catalunya Ràdio begins broadcasting.
- July 1 – Chilean Band Los Prisioneros debut at the Miguel Leon Prado High School Song festival. They will come to personify the rebellion of young Chileans leading to protests against Augusto Pinochet.
- July 6 – As a statement of protest against music piracy in the form of home taping, Jean-Michel Jarre releases only one pressing of his latest album "Music for Supermarkets", which is sold at an auction to a French real estate dealer for 69,000 francs. The auction is broadcast live on Radio Luxembourg which also plays the album in full for the first and only time.
- July 19 – Simon and Garfunkel begin their North American summer tour in Akron, Ohio.
- July 21 – Diana Ross performs a filmed concert in Central Park in heavy rain; eventually the storm forces her to postpone the rest of the concert until next day.
- July 29 – Friday Night Videos is broadcast for the first time on NBC.
- August 16
- *Johnny Ramone suffers a near-fatal head injury during a fight over a girl in front of his East Village apartment.
- *Singer Paul Simon marries actress Carrie Fisher.
- August 20 – The Rolling Stones sign a new $28 million contract with CBS Records, the largest recording contract in history up to this time.
September–December
- September 1 – Joe Strummer and Paul Simonon of The Clash issue a press statement announcing Mick Jones has been dismissed from the group.
- September 4 – Phil Lynott performs his final show with Thin Lizzy in Nuremberg, Germany.
- September 18 – The members of Kiss show their faces without their makeup for the first time on MTV, simultaneously with the release of their album Lick It Up.
- September 20 – The first ARMS Charity Concert is held at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
- October 29 – The 12th OTI Festival, held at the DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., United States, is won by the song "Estrela de papel", written by Jessé and Elifas Andreato, and performed by Jessé himself representing Brazil.
- November 12 – Duran Duran start their SING BLUE SILVER World Tour. The tour begins with sold-out shows in Australia
- November 26 – Quiet Riot's Metal Health album tops the US album charts, the first heavy metal album to hit #1 in America.
- December 2
- *The Uday-Ustav Festival, a tribute to Uday Shankar, is staged at the instigation of Uday's younger brother, Ravi Shankar.
- *Michael Jackson's 14-minute music video for Thriller is premiered on MTV.
- *Phish play their first show.
- December 25 – Marvin Gaye gives his father, as a Christmas present, an unlicensed Smith & Wesson .38 special caliber pistol so that Gaye could protect himself from intruders. A few months later, Gaye Sr would use it to shoot his son dead.
- December 31 – The twelfth annual New Year's Rockin' Eve special airs on ABC, with appearances by Culture Club, Rick James, Laura Branigan, Barry Manilow, Mary Jane Girls and David Frizzell.
Bands formed
- ''See Musical groups established in 1983''
Bands disbanded
- ''See Musical groups disestablished in 1983''
Bands reformed
Albums released
August
Release date unknown
- 21 Years On – The Dubliners
- Ageless Medley EP – Amy Grant
- Ain't It Good to Be Free – Bo Diddley
- All Alone with Friends – Hank Marvin
- Andrew Cyrille Meets Brötzmann in Berlin – Andrew Cyrille and Peter Brötzmann
- Bad Influence – Robert Cray
- Bay of Kings – Steve Hackett
- Behind the Scenes – Reba McEntire
- The Brightest Smile in Town – Dr. John
- Burnin' the Ice - Die Haut
- A Call to Us All – Teri Desario
- Chazablanca – Chaz Jankel
- A Child's Adventure – Marianne Faithfull
- A Christmas Album – Amy Grant
- Come Away with ESG – ESG
- Crystal Logic – Manilla Road
- Dagger and Guitar – Sort Sol
- Dancing for Mental Health – Will Powers
- David Grisman's Acoustic Christmas – David Grisman
- Dawg Jazz/Dawg Grass – David Grisman
- Desperate – Divinyls
- Dressed for the Occasion – Cliff Richard and The London Philharmonic Orchestra
- Doot-Doot – Freur
- Emergency Third Rail Power Trip – Rain Parade
- Even the Strong Get Lonely – Tammy Wynette
- Everywhere at Once – The Plimsouls
- Fall in a Hole – The Fall
- Feeding the Flame – Sad Lovers and Giants
- The First Four Years – Black Flag
- The Fittest of the Fittest – Burning Spear
- The Fugitive – Tony Banks
- Fortune 410 – Donnie Iris
- Friends of Hell – Witchfinder General
- Good as Gold – Red Rockers
- Good Love & Heartbreak – Tammy Wynette
- Gravity Talks – Green on Red
- Heart to Heart – Merle Haggard
- Ich halt zu Dir – Die Flippers
- Imagination – Helen Reddy
- Introducing The Style Council – The Style Council
- Jonathan Sings! – Jonathan Richman
- Killer Dwarfs – Killer Dwarfs
- The Kitchen Tapes – The Raincoats
- Klass – Bad Manners
- Lesson Well Learned EP – Armored Saint
- Let's Go – Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
- Let's Start a War – The Exploited
- Love Is the Law – Toyah
- Merry Twistmas – Conway Twitty
- Music for the Hard of Thinking – Doug and the Slugs
- Naked – Kissing the Pink
- Night Dubbing – Imagination
- Not of this World – Petra
- One Night with a Stranger – Martin Briley
- Over the Edge – Wipers
- Party Tonight – Modern Romance
- Passionfruit – Michael Franks
- Platinum Blonde – Platinum Blonde
- Playback – SSQ
- Privilege – Ivor Cutler
- Prodigal Sons – The Dubliners
- Neruda – Red Rider
- Railroad – John Fahey
- Riding with the King – John Hiatt
- Secretos – José José
- Shine On – George Jones
- Shock Troops – Cock Sparrer
- Sleep in Safety – 45 Grave
- Song and Legend – Sex Gang Children
- The Southern Death Cult – Southern Death Cult
- The Spell – Syreeta Wright
- Stages – Elaine Paige
- Star People – Miles Davis
- Steeler – Steeler
- Struggle for Pleasure – Wim Mertens
- Syncro System – King Sunny Ade and his African Beats
- Tales from the Lush Attic – IQ
- Thank You for the Music – ABBA – compilation
- That's the Way Love Goes – Merle Haggard
- Third Generation – Hiroshima
- A Todo Rock – Menudo
- Tougher Than Leather – Willie Nelson
- Travels – The Pat Metheny Group
- Trick of the Light – Modern Romance
- Urban Dancefloor Guerillas – P-Funk All-Stars
- Visions (Gladys Knight & the Pips album) – Gladys Knight & the Pips
- Water Sign – Chris Rea
- We Are One – Maze featuring Frankie Beverly
- Weeds & Water – Riders in the Sky
- We've Got Tonight – Kenny Rogers
- When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going – Bow Wow Wow
- Words and Music – Tavares
- XXV – The Shadows
- Yes Sir, I Will – Crass
- Yokan – Miyuki Nakajima
- You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet – Bachman–Turner Overdrive – compilation
- Zeichnungen des Patienten O. T. – Einstürzende NeubautenZungguzungguguzungguzeng! - Yellowman
Biggest hit singles
The following songs achieved the highestin the charts of 1983.
| # | Artist | Title | Year | Country | Chart Entries | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1 | Irene Cara | "Flashdance... What a Feeling" | 1983 |  Top 40 Chart hit singles
Published popular music
Classical musicCompositions
Opera
Musical theaterLa Cage aux Folles – Broadway production opened at the Palace Theatre and ran for 1781 performancesDoonesbury – Broadway production opened at the Biltmore Theatre and ran for 104 performancesMame – Broadway revivalMerlin – Broadway production opened at the Mark Hellinger Theatre and ran for 199 performancesOliver! – London revivalOn Your Toes – Broadway revivalMy One and Only – Broadway production opened at the St. James Theatre and ran for 767 performancesSingin' in the Rain – London productionThe Tap Dance Kid – Broadway production opened at the Broadhurst Theatre and ran for 699 performancesZorba – Broadway revivalMusical filmsCarmenEddie and the CruisersFlashdanceLe BalMangammagari ManavaduNarcissusNeti BharatamThe Pirates of PenzanceRock & RuleStaying Alive
Musical television
BirthsJanuary–AprilJanuary
February
March
April
May–AugustMay
June
July
August
September–DecemberSeptember
October
November
December
Birth date unknown
DeathsJanuary–April deathsJanuary
February
March
April
May–August deathsMay
June
July
August
September–December
Death date unknown
AwardsGrammy AwardsCountry Music Association AwardsEurovision Song ContestCharts
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