Taj Mahal releases Happy to Be Just Like I Am, a pioneering fusion of blues and African music, setting the stage for the development of rock-based world music
Tango-rockéro, mixing tango with rock music, rises in Buenos Aires due to the influence of artists like Litto Nébbia, alongside groups like Siglo XX who add jazz influences
Colonel Moussa Traoré begins to encourage a roots revival of Mande traditional music; one of the future stars of Malian pop, Tidiane Koné forms Rail Band du Buffet Hôtel de la Gare, launching the careers of Salif Keita and Mory Kanté
Fanta Sacko's Fanta Sacko is the first album of bajourou music
The beginning of the success of a group of Afrocentric poets and musicians, including The Last Poets (The Last Poets) and Gil Scott-Heron (Small Talk at 125th and Lennox); this is an early forerunner of hip hop
The Soul to Soul festival is held in Accra, featuring Wilson Picket, Ike and Tina Turner and Carlos Santana; the concert is seen as a validation of Ghanaian music by the African American (and Mexican-American) superstars
Les Ambassadeurs du Motel forms in Bamako, playing mainly French and Cuban pop in spite of official encouragement of traditional music; Les Ambassadeurs and Rail Band, a state-supported band, soon become major rivals on the Malian scene
Martin Carthy plugs in on stage, leading to intense controversy as some accused him of mainstreaming the rough sounds of English folk music, just as Steeleye Span's pioneering fusion Please to See the King is released
Maranatha and Love Song release The Everlastin' Livin' Jesus Concert and Love Song; this is the beginning of the popularization of Christian Contemporary Music (CCM)
Ernesto Dabó records "M'Ba Bolama", considered the beginning of gumbe music as well as the first expression of a distinctive culture in the entire country, which will become independent the following year; the producer was Zé Carlos, whose recently-formed band, Cobiana Djazz, was becoming extremely popular throughout the country
Jimmy Cliff's soundtrack to The Harder They Come is the first commercially successful reggae music in western markets -- meanwhile, Bob Marley & the Wailers most well-reviewed works are released, though sales are limited outside of Jamaica
Early dub artists like Lee Scratch Perry (Cloak & Dagger), Bunny Lee, U-Roy (Version Galore), Clive Chin and King Tubby reach the peak of their popularity in Jamaica, as they revolutionize mixing techniques and toasting; Perry and Tubby's Blackboard Jungle is particularly notable
"Hiki haisee ja haitari soi" is popular among Finnish-Swedish dancehalls; the song is distinctively Finnish-Swedish tango, unlike Swedish or Finnish works
Boys of the Lough, a pioneering Scottish roots revival band incuding Aly Bain, release their debut, The Boys of the Lough, which proves enormously influential
Mose Fan Fan of OK Jazz and Somo Somo move to East Africa, bringing with them Congolese rumba, which becomes popular in Kenya and elsewhere in the area
Ras Shorty I's Sweet Music and Lord Shorty's Endless Vibrations and Soul of Calypso are released, thus beginning the international popularization of soca
Peter Bellamy receives a type from his old history teacher; it contains recordings of folk singer Walter Pardon. Both soon become stars of a folk revival.
Patti Smith's "Hey Joe" is released; it is commonly considered the first punk single
Outlaw country's domination of the country music scene is exemplified by the chart success of Waylon Jennings (The Rambling Man, This Time), David Allan Coe (Once Upon a Rhyme, Mysterious Rhinestone Cowboy), Merle Haggard ("Things Aren't Funny Anymore", "Old Man from the Mountain"), Kris Kristofferson (Spooky Lady's Sideshow) and Willie Nelson (Phases and Stages) this year
Lambada develops in Belém, Brazil and Bolivia, arising from sayas, carimbó, maxixe and forre, as DJs, especially in Belém, where DJs added merengue, salsa and reggae to electrified carimbó
Musicians like Gunnar Þórðarson, Megas, Stuðmenn and Magnús Eiríksson (then of Mannakorn), songwriters like Þorsteinn Eggertsson, begin using Icelandic language lyrics and begin to develop a distinctively Icelandic rock sound inspired by Bob Dylan and similar folk- and country-influenced artists
Congolese bands like Zaiko Langa Langa and Orchestra Shama Shama popularize the cavacha rhythm; Congolese bands dominate Kenyan pop, especially Baba Gaston, Boma Liwanza, Super Mazembe and Boma Liwanza
Kamba pop enters the Kenyan mainstream with the rise of Les Kilimambogo Brothers Band, Kalambya Boys & Kalambya Sisters and Peter Mwambi & His Kyanganga Boys
Kasse Mady Diabaté and Boncana Maiga, part of the band National Badema, begin incorporated traditional Maninka music into the Cuban-style popular music
Fanta Damba, a jelimusolu, becomes the first such to tour Europe as bajourou music continues its rise in Mali
Wassoulou music begins to develop in the region of Wassoulou
While the mainstream popularity of the Dutch roots revival declines, Friesland manages to produce groups like Irolt, who continue exploring the roots of Frisian folk music
After the previos year's revolution, a new form of socially aware, folk-based fado arises, with Brigada Victor Jara, which formed this year, beign especially influential; this is the birth of canto livre
Country-oriented songs are popular, including releases from Linda Ronstadt (Prisoner in Disguise), John Denver ("Calypso", "Thank God I'm a Country Boy", "I'm Sorry", "Sweet Surrender", "Sunshine on My Shoulders"), The Eagles (One of These Nights), Lynyrd Skynyrd (Nuthin' Fancy), Glen Campbell ("Rhinestone Cowboy") and B.J. Thomas ("(Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song")
Fusion jazz's golden age ends and contemporary jazz emerges
The State Conservatoire's foundation in Istanbul signals an end to five decades of repressing Turkish classical music as "too Arab"; the Conservatoire provides education and support for classical musicians
A court case rules that The Holy Koran contains the words of God, who recited it in a manner who do not comprehend. Koran recitation is an act of compliance and does not involve innovation, thus ruling valid laws against musical performance and recording in religious ceremonies, because doing so adds the performers' interpretation to God's words
Les Ambassadeurs move to Abidjan and record Mandjou, which features the hti "Mandjou"; the song is phenomenonally popular across Mali, and launches singer Salif Keita into a solo career
Brian EnoproducesNo New York, which cements the avant-garde sound of No Wave and includes material from bands like Teenage Jesus & the Jerks, DNA, Mars and Chance & the Contortions
The movie Wrong Side of the Road, featuring the bands No Fixed Address and Us Mob, depict the bands' struggle for recognition as reggae musicians and link their struggle with Aboriginal land rights issues
Chuck Brown & the Soul Searchers' Bustin' Loose is released; this is the first go go record.
Casper's "Groovy Ghost Show" is the first recorded hip hop from Chicago, while Jocko Henderson's "Rhythm Talk" is the first recorded hip hop from Philadelphia