1983 in Music
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 (who also appears in the film) 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 (for Toto IV) and Record of the Year (for “Rosanna”), 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 (non-consecutive) 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. He is 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 (about US$8960). 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.
- 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.
Tracks in the 1983 playlist:
| ABBA – One of Us |
| Air Supply – Making Love (Out Of Nothing At All) |
| Al Jarreau – Mornin’ |
| Al Jarreau – Trouble In Paradise |
| Alabama – The Closer You Get |
| America – The Border |
| Anne Murray – A Little Good News |
| B J Thomas – Whatever Happened To Old Fashioned Love |
| Barbra Streisand – The Way He Makes Me Feel |
| Barry Manilow – Read ‘Em And Weep |
| Barry Manilow – Some Kind Of Friend |
| Bee Gees – Someone Belonging To Someone |
| Bee Gees – The Woman In You |
| Bertie Higgins – When You Fall in Love |
| Bette Midler – All I Need To Know |
| Billy Joel – Allentown |
| Billy Joel – An Innocent Man |
| Billy Joel – Tell Her About It |
| Billy Joel – Uptown Girl |
| Bonnie Tyler – Total Eclipse Of The Heart |
| Bryan Adams – Straight From The Heart |
| Carl Wilson – What You Do to Me |
| Carly Simon – You Know What To Do |
| Carpenters – Make Believe It’s Your First Time |
| Champaign – Try Again |
| Christopher Cross – All Right |
| Christopher Cross – No Time For Talk |
| Christopher Cross – Think Of Laura |
| Cliff Richard – Never Say Die (Give A Little Bit More) |
| Crystal Gayle – Baby What About You |
| Crystal Gayle – Our Love Is on the Faultline |
| Crystal Gayle – The Sound of Goodbye |
| Culture Club – I’ll Tumble 4 Ya |
| Culture Club – Karma Chameleon |
| Culture Club – Time (Clock Of The Heart) |
| Dan Fogelberg – Make Love Stay |
| Daryl Hall & John Oates – Family Man |
| Daryl Hall & John Oates – One On One |
| Daryl Hall & John Oates – Say It Isn’t So |
| DeBarge – All This Love |
| DeBarge – Time Will Reveal (Long Version) |
| Deborah Allen – Baby I Lied |
| Dexy’s Midnight Runners – Come on Eileen |
| Diana Ross – So Close |
| Dionne Warwick – All The Love In The World |
| Dionne Warwick – Take The Short Way Home |
| Dionne Warwick & Luther Vandross – How Many Times Can We Say Goodbye |
| Donald Fagen – New Frontier |
| Donna Summer – The Woman In Me |
| Eddie Rabbitt – You Can’t Run From Love |
| Eddie Rabbitt – You Put The Beat In My Heart |
| Electric Light Orchestra – Rock n Roll Is King (Album Version) |
| Electric Light Orchestra – Stranger |
| Elton John – I’m Still Standing |
| Emmylou Harris – Wild Montana Skies |
| Engelbert Humperdinck – Til You and Your Lover Are Lovers Again |
| Eric Clapton – I’ve Got A Rock n Roll Heart |
| Eurythmics – Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This) (Full Length Version) |
| F.R. David – Words |
| Firefall – Always |
| Fleetwood Mac – Oh Diane |
| Four Tops – I Just Can’t Walk Away |
| Genesis – That’s All |
| George Benson – In Your Eyes |
| George Benson – Inside Love (So Personal) |
| George Benson – Lady Love Me (One More Time) |
| Gladys Knight & The Pips – Hero [Wind Beneath My Wings] |
| Glen Campbell – I Love How You Love Me |
| Glenn Frey – All Those Lies |
| Herb Albert – Garden Party |
| Irene Cara – Flashdance… What A Feeling |
| Jackson Browne – Lawyers |
| Jackson Browne – Tender Is The Night |
| James Ingram & Patti Austin – How Do You Keep The Music Playing |
| Jeffrey osborne – Don’t you get so mad |
| Jeffrey Osborne – Eenie meenie |
| Jennifer Warnes – Nights Are Forever |
| Jim Capaldi – That’s Love |
| Jimmy Buffet – One Particular Harbour |
| Joe Jackson – Breaking Us In Two |
| Journey – Faithfully |
| Julio Iglesias – Amor |
| Jump ‘N the Saddle – The Curly Shuffle |
| KC & The Sunshine Band – Don’t Run |
| Kenny Loggins – Welcome To Heartlight |
| Kenny Rogers – All My Life |
| Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton – Islands In The Stream |
| Kool & The Gang – Joanna (Album Version) |
| Lani Hall – Never Say Never Again |
| Laura Branigan – How Am I Supposed To Live Without You |
| Laura Branigan – Solitaire |
| Lee Greenwood – I.O.U. |
| Lee Greenwood – Somebody’s Gonna Love You |
| Linda Ronstadt – Easy For You To Say |
| Linda Ronstadt – I Knew You When |
| Linda Ronstadt – What’s New |
| Lionel Richie – All Night Long |
| Lionel Richie – My Love |
| Lionel Richie – Running with the Night |
| Lionel Richie – You Are |
| Little River Band – We Two |
| Lou Rawls – Wind Beneath My Wings |
| Louise Tucker – Midnight Blue |
| Mac McAnally – Minimum Love |
| Marty Balin – Do It For Love |
| Melissa Manchester – My Boyfriend’s Back |
| Melissa Manchester – Nice Girls |
| Men At Work – Overkill |
| Michael Jackson – Human Nature |
| Michael Jackson – P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing) |
| Michael Jackson & Paul Mccartney – Say Say Say |
| Michael Martin Murphey – Don’t Count The Rainy Days |
| Michael Sembello – Maniac |
| Michel Berger with Rosanne Cash – Innocent Eyes |
| Naked Eyes – Always Something There To Remind Me |
| Naked Eyes – Promises Promises (US 7” Remix) |
| Neil Diamond – Front Page Story |
| Nick Heyward – Whistle Down The Wind |
| Olivia Newton & John & John Travolta – Take A Chance |
| Patsy – Just A Little Imagination |
| Patti Austin – Every Home Should Have One |
| Paul Simon – Allergies |
| Peabo Bryson & Roberta Flack – Tonight I Celebrate My Love |
| Perry Como – As My Love For You |
| Peter Allen – Once Before I Go |
| Peter Allen – You Haven’t Heard the Last of Me |
| Pointer Sisters – I Need You |
| Quarterflash – Take Me To Heart |
| Randy Newman & Paul Simon – The Blues |
| Ray Parker Jr. – I Still Can’t Get Over Loving You |
| Rita Coolidge – All Time High |
| Rita Coolidge – Only You |
| Robbie Patton & Stevie Nicks – Smiling Islands |
| Ronnie Milsap – Don’t You Know How Much I Love You |
| Ronnie Milsap – Show her |
| Ronnie Milsap – Stranger In My House |
| Sergio Mendes – Rainbow’s End |
| Sergio Mendes & Joe Pizzulo & Leza Miller – Never Gonna Let You Go |
| Sheena Easton – Almost Over You |
| Sheena Easton – Telefone (Long Distance Love Affair) |
| Sheena Easton & Kenny Rogers – We’ve Got Tonight |
| Smokey Robinson – Don’t Play Another Love Song |
| Smokey Robinson & Barbara Mitchell – Blame It On Love |
| Spandau Ballet – True |
| Stephen Bishop – It Might Be You |
| Styx – Don’t Let It End |
| Supertramp – My Kind Of Lady |
| Taco – Puttin’ On The Ritz |
| The Alan Parsons Project – Old And Wise |
| The Commodores – Only You |
| The Hollies – Stop In The Name Of Love |
| The Kinks – Come Dancing |
| The Kinks – Don’t Forget To Dance |
| The Manhattan Transfer – Spice of Life |
| The Police – Every Breath You Take |
| The Police – King Of Pain |
| Toto – I Won’t Hold You Back |
| Toto – Waiting For Your Love |
| Willie Nelson & Merle Haggard – Poncho And Lefty |
| Willie Nelson & Waylon Jennings – Take It To The Limit |
| Yazoo – Only You |