Top 30 Most Important Moments in Music History

Top 30 Most Important Moments in Music History

Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re looking at landmark music moments that made history. We won’t be including the deaths of prominent musicians on this list.

#30: The Invention of the Electric Guitar
Historians differ as to whom to officially attribute the invention of the electric guitar. What is certain, however, is how the instrument’s influence and relevance went on to shape popular music as we know it today. The electric guitar’s profile can be traced back to the 1930s, where it was used by jazz musicians playing in large, big band ensembles. The amplification used by these guitarists helped them stand out during solo sections, but it wouldn’t be long before electric guitars were being used by other jazz, blues and pop players around the world. The electric guitar’s power would also go on to be a major factor in heavier genres of rock ‘n roll and heavy metal throughout the 1960s, ‘70s and beyond.

#29: Monsters of Rock in Moscow
Change was clearly being felt in the air by those who attended the “Monsters of Rock” festival that was held in Moscow back in 1991. The days of the U.S.S.R. were numbered, and the former Soviet Union was poised to enter a new era of freedom. These freedoms were expressed musically within “Monsters of Rock” via a ticket price that was, you guessed it, free. This was despite efforts to postpone the show by the Soviet Army. Ultimately, the likes of AC/DC, Metallica, and Pantera provided fuel for the fire of societal upheaval that was taking place within the country. It was a momentous occasion not only for the bands and fans, but for Russia as a whole.

#28: “Livery Stable Blues” - The First Jazz Recording
It’s nearly impossible to put into words the cross-cultural and international influence of jazz. This uniquely American music has been adapted within nearly every conceivable subgenre, yet it was “Livery Stable Blues” by The Original Dixieland Jass Band that started it all back in 1917. This was the first jazz record to be released, a humble 12-bar blues number that belies the genre’s reputation for musical dexterity and complexity. Jazz has certainly come a long way since Dixieland, but “Livery Stable Blues” helped start a revolutionary fire that still burns bright today.

#27: Taylor Swift Releases “Fearless (Taylor’s Version)”
Taylor Swift wasn’t the first musician to become litigious or protective with regards to the publishing of her music. However, her dispute with former label Big Machine Records and owner Scooter Braun helped shine a light on the complexities of this issue. Swift released “Fearless (Taylor’s Version)” in 2021 under a new label and with a re-recording, in order to circumvent the fact that Braun held ownership of her original masters. The situation was similar to what happened to Paul McCartney back when Michael Jackon purchased The Beatles’ back catalogue, updated for a new (pardon the pun) “era.”

#26: Les Paul & Ampex Invent Multitrack Recording
The studio recording process can be a wonderfully creative and magical experience. However, it’s also hard work, particularly during the days prior to multitrack recording. It wouldn’t be until the Ampex electronics company’s collaboration with guitar legend Les Paul that the first eight-track recording system helped further progress the industry. Paul detailed the process in his 2008 biography, “Les Paul: In His Own Words,” where he explains how the innovation assisted in his recordings. Multitrack recording on magnetic tape would continue to progress during future decades, but Paul’s “Sel-Sync” system assisted in allowing musicians to better map out their takes in the studio, while also honing their instrumental skills.

#25: The First Coachella
It ultimately doesn’t matter how many hipsters lie about knowing which artists are playing Coachella every year. This influential music festival has been making waves since first debuting back in 1999, and Coachella continues to have its fingers upon the collective pulse of what’s considered to be “cool.” This collective of arts and music brings a wide variety of performances to the table, and it’s this cornucopia of styles that helps make Coachella an unmissable event for many young concertgoers. Coachella has certainly come a long way over the years, but that first festival helped set the standard for future installments to come.

#24: The Phonograph is Invented
Everyone consumes their favorite styles of music in a different way. Analogue cassette tapes and compact discs helped revolutionize how music lovers listen to their tunes on the go. But what about home audiophiles who simply can’t live without the most up-to-date hi-fi systems in town? Those folks probably worship at the altar of the mighty phonograph, or what’s known today as a turntable. This invention made it possible to enjoy music in the comfort of home, effectively bringing the concert experience to one’s living room or parlor. Additionally, the phonograph’s power of recording the human voice made it a perfect vessel with which to capture history for all time.

#23: We Are the World
1985’s “We Are the World” wasn’t the first charity single (that would be George Harrison’s “Bangla Desh” from 1971), but it’s arguably the most well-known. “We Are the World” was simply a moment in time where the charity group and organization, U.S.A. For Africa, made the pop culture zeitgeist. Even the most casual of music fans stood up and took notice of the charity’s cause of famine relief. This was thanks largely to the composition of “We Are the World,” which was expertly helmed by songwriters Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie. Elsewhere, the level of talent involved with singing the actual song made “We Are the World” not only a charity mega-hit, but the standard by which all other charity singles are measured.

#22: The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert for AIDS Awareness
Queen frontman Freddie Mercury is one of the most beloved performers in music history, and the concert held after his passing in 1991 is one of rock’s most fondly remembered spectacles. Paying tribute to Mercury, as well as raising awareness for AIDS, the concert featured a number of the world’s biggest bands at the time and had an attendance of over 70,000, with tickets selling out in just three hours. The event was also broadcast live, and over half a billion people watched at home. Footage from the concert is totally classic, as each of the artists honoring Mercury gave the performances of a lifetime, while proceeds from the concert were used to launch The Mercury Phoenix Trust.

#21: Elton John’s Double Header at Dodger Stadium

Billy Joel wasn’t the first musician to make history on a baseball field. On October 25 and 26, 1975, Elton John played two sold out shows at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, being the first musical act to perform there since The Beatles nine years earlier. While those are some pretty big shoes to fill, it’s safe to say that John more than rose to the occasion. The combined concerts were attended by over 100,000 fans, and at the time were the two largest single-artist concerts ever held. It wasn’t widely known at the time, but John had attempted to take his own life just days before the concert. Thankfully he survived, and the Rocketman went on to give two of the greatest performances of his career.

#20: “Like a Virgin” at the VMAs
Watching Madonna’s performance at the 1984 VMAs today, you likely wouldn’t bat an eye at the singer's suggestive antics. For audiences then however, it was an entirely different story. Descending from a giant cake, and dressed in a wedding gown, Madonna decided to improvise a little during her performance of “Like a Virgin.” Halfway through the song, Madonna started cutting loose, sensually writhing on the floor of the stage, at one point exposing her underwear. The future queen of pop was still making a name for herself when she performed at the VMAs, and her conduct outraged some more conservative audiences. However, the controversy also brought new attention to Madonna, and helped pave the way for women artists to talk about sex more openly in their music.


#19: Altamont Speedway Free Festival
The Rolling Stones’s concert at the Altamont Speedway in 1969 is infamous for bringing a somber end to “the summer of love.” Anticipated as a sort of spiritual sequel to Woodstock, the concert featured a number of popular bands, and was attended by 300,000 fans as well as a group of Hells Angels, who were unofficially hired to provide security. The event became increasingly violent throughout the day and when the Stones took to the stage, things came to a head as one concertgoer whipped out a gun and was fatally stabbed by one of the Hells Angels. Before the night was over, there would be two more deaths. Rolling Stone Magazine later said it was "rock and roll's all-time worst day.”


#18: The Jackson 5 Debut on “American Bandstand”
It was February 21st, 1970, when America was treated to its first taste of the music, style, and swagger of the Jackson family. Debuting their single “ABC” on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand, the Jackson 5, comprised of Jackie, Jermaine, Tito, Marlon and Michael, completely stole the show with their upbeat pop-funk sound, their choreographed dancing, and their youthful exuberance. It was Michael in particular of course, who stood out the most, and watching the performance today, it’s incredible seeing just how captivating MJ was even at the beginning of his career. The group’s appearance on the show made stars out of the family, and with it, the boyband formula was created.


#17: “Ebony & Ivory”
While the release of the song “Ebony and Ivory” was a huge deal, it was the coming together of Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder as musical partners that was in and of itself truly momentous. The Beatles are often considered the greatest pop group of all time, and Wonder the greatest R&B artist. Two of music's greatest minds coming together from different countries and backgrounds to work together on a song about peace and harmony was absolutely inspiring, and back in the ‘80s it made a powerful statement. It’s possible that we’ll never see as overpowered a collaboration in our lifetimes.


#16: Bob Marley Performs Two Days After Being Shot
There are certain musicians whose impact is just as significant socio-politically as it is musically. Bob Marley is a shining example of this, as the singer used his platform to spread his messages throughout Jamaica, and the rest of the world. Being such a powerful figure, Marley had enemies in high places, and on December 3rd 1976, he was shot by 7 gunmen who had alleged ties to a far-right political party. The shooting took place 2 days before a concert that Marley was scheduled to play. Remarkably, Marley decided that he was still going to play the concert, refusing to be intimidated, and the reggae star performed a powerful 90-minute set in front of 80,000 fans.


#15: The Who on “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour”
By 1967, the “British Invasion” was in full swing throughout the US. Most Americans were accustomed to the cheeky antics of The Beatles and the smarmy swagger of The Rolling Stones, but nobody was quite sure what to make of The Who when they appeared on The Smothers Brothers TV show, playing their — literally — smash hit “My Generation.” The band’s performance ended with smoke rising from their amplifiers, smashed instruments, and a bass drum explosion that went off with 3 times the fire power than was originally intended. The TV spot went down in infamy, and some of the roots of punk rock can be traced back to this legendary performance.


#14: The Release of Napster and Other P2P Networks
Viewers of a certain age will likely remember that naughty feeling you first felt, back in the early days of the internet. It was a Wild West where P2P networks such as Napster first hit, and we all went download-crazy with our music. This wasn’t the first time bootlegging shocked the record industry, since the phrase “home taping is killing music” took hold back when blank cassettes were first released to the market. However, the internet’s immediacy, as well as the frequency with which music was changing hands led many to decry Napster as a death knell for physical media. This didn’t happen, obviously, but many high-profile artists, including Metallica, cried foul back when Napster debuted.

#13: Nirvana on “MTV Unplugged”
The music industry owes a lot to MTV given the game changing impact of its arrival, but the channel should also be recognized for some incredible music moments. Perhaps the most powerful performance ever aired on the channel was Nirvana's 1993 appearance on “MTV Unplugged.” Recorded in November of that year and aired a month later, it was one of the last televised performances by Kurt Cobain, before his death in April of 1994. In the wake of his death, the performance inherited immense weight, where the funeral-like set dressings and melancholic song choices brought Cobain's declining mental state into focus.


#12: Johnny Cash Walks the Line
Johnny Cash was never one to play by the rules, and that’s why the public loved the Man in Black. An outlaw spirit who had his fair share of brushes with the law, Cash sympathized with prison inmates. He advocated for prison reform, and as early as the late ‘50s started to visit and perform in prisons. The real moment of magic came on February 24th, 1969, when Cash performed live at California’s San Quentin Prison. Fueled in part by his annoyance with the British film crew filming the concert, Cash led a rowdy crowd of inmates with a rebellious, energetic, and career defining set.


#11: The Launch of MTV
It may be hard to imagine nowadays, as it’s mostly known for trashy reality TV and award shows, but MTV was once at the center of the American music consciousness. When MTV first launched in 1981, it completely changed the musical landscape, single-handedly pushing music videos to the forefront of the music industry. Dedicated entirely to playing and premiering videos, as well as delivering music-related news, MTV quickly became a staple of ‘80s and ‘90s youth culture. Both bands and record executives became aware of the potential for success that could be garnered from music videos, and to this day, it’s pretty much a given that if an artist is going to drop a hot single, they’ll also drop an accompanying music video.


#10: “The Wall” Meets The Wall
Roger Waters, mastermind behind Pink Floyd’s groundbreaking album, “The Wall,” once said in an interview that, after leaving Pink Floyd in 1985, he was reluctant to play songs from “The Wall” on stage. He did say however that there were certain circumstances under which he would be open to playing the songs... say for example, if the Berlin Wall came down. Thus, it was decided that Waters would perform the album in Berlin’s former “No Man’s Land” 8 months after the fall of the Wall. Waters was joined by an impressive lineup of heavyweight artists, including Sinead O’Connor, Joni Mitchell, and Van Morrison. The concert was also released as an album, and is regarded as one of the greatest live albums ever.


#9: Michael Jackson’s Moonwalk
He didn’t create the move, but MJ sure as hell popularized it. The moonwalk has cropped up throughout pop culture since the 1930s, such as James Brown in The Blues Brothers for example, but there’s only one name synonymous with the move: Michael Jackson. He lit up the world when he first rocked the moonwalk at “Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, and Forever” in March 1983. Jackson added his signature flair and gravitas to the move by spinning and posing in his sequins, black jacket, and white glove, stopping the world for a moment, and then dropping the moonwalk bomb. In modern times it would have broken the internet but in the 1980s Jackson had to just settle for blowing minds.


#8: The Sugarhill Gang Reaches the Top 40
We’re sure you've jammed out to “Rapper’s Delight” once or twice, but did you know it was recorded in a single take? Didn’t think so. That single take, recorded by Englewood natives “Wonder Mike,” “Big Bank Hank,” and “Master Gee,” rocked the musical world when in January, 1980 it cracked the Billboard Top 40, landing the number 36 spot. It was the first time a hip-hop track had ever accomplished such a feat, as it legitimized the hip-hop genre as a force to be reckoned with. This moment paved the way for all future hip-hop acts, from Biggie to Kendrick Lamar, who can all thank The Sugarhill Gang.


#7: Bob Dylan Goes Electric at Newport
A fan favorite of the Newport Folk Festival thanks to his appearances in 1963 and 64, Bob Dylan rattled the cage a little too hard in 1965. By '65 Dylan had been labeled the “spokesman of a generation,” and had earned Newport’s headlining bill. Taking the stage with members from the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, and armed with a Fender Stratocaster electric guitar, Mr Zimmerman parted ways with his folk brethren. As boos and jeers erupted from the purists of the festival, including its organizers, Dylan let loose with electric guitars and the energy of rock and roll. It was a major turning point, signalling the decline of folk, and the rise of rock and roll.

#6: Apple Introduces iTunes
The evolution of music as a form of purchased media will always be fluid, just as the way we listen remains that way, depending on our personal tastes. The rise of digitalization, however, meant that we could safely rip and store permanent copies of our music to cloud based systems such as iTunes. Just as The Walkman pioneered taking music on the go, so too did Apple’s Ipod and iTunes make it easier for us to have our entire music libraries in our pockets. Ripping our CDs to services such as iTunes (or the Zune Music Library, for you Star-Lords out there) felt powerful, yet it was only a matter of time before cell phone technology would make this process feel even easier.

#5: Elvis on “The Milton Berle Show”
By the time he performed on the Milton Berle show on June 5th, 1956, Elvis had already appeared on television plenty of times, including a previous appearance on Berle's show. This time around, however, things were different. Guitar-less and free to move around the stage Presley became a quivering mass of windmilling arms and gyrating hips while performing an overcharged version of 'Hound Dog'. He may have been chastised by the press and conservative America, but Elvis won over America’s youth who very promptly crowned him the King of Rock and Roll.


#4: Jimi Hendrix Plays The Star-Spangled Banner at Woodstock
Woodstock – four days of peace and love – rocked the world with many incredible performances from groups as diverse as The Who to Jefferson Airplane. None, however, had the cultural impact of Jimi Hendrix. Due the festival being horribly off schedule, and following Sha-Na-Na, Hendrix finally took the stage early Monday morning, with a mere 30,000 of the 400,000 plus audience still in attendance. The remaining few were stunned when Hendrix broke out a passionate rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner with the full Jimi Hendrix treatment. It was a performance that both channeled counterculture rebellion and anger towards the Vietnam War, but also Hendrix's unbridled love for America.


#3: Queen at Live Aid
On July 13th, 1985 the biggest bands in the world of rock and roll came together for Live Aid to support relief efforts for the Ethiopian Famine. On a day featuring a reunited Led Zeppelin, The Who, Black Sabbath, and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, and U2's epic 14 minute rendition of “Bad,” it was Queen that stole the show. In a mere 21 minute set, they crammed in “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “Radio Ga Ga, ”Hammer to Fall,” “Crazy Little Thing Called Love,” and a finale of “We Will Rock You” and “We are the Champions.” The performance was incredible, as Freddie Mercury commanded the stage and the 72,000 person crowd in what proved to be one of his last major performances.


#2: The Beatles on “The Ed Sullivan Show”
“The Ed Sullivan Show” gave the world a collection of incredible and controversial music moments, like the censored hip swinging of Elvis Presley, but no moment compares to the debut performance of The Beatles. On February 9th, 1964, to an estimated U.S. television record of 73 million viewers, The Beatles took the stage and kicked off the British Invasion. On that night, John, Paul, George, and Ringo bridged the gap between British and American music, globalizing the industry with a forged bond that would forever link the two. The performance launched America into a craze unlike anything before it. Beatlemania had arrived (and would eventually figuratively end with the Beatles’ iconic rooftop concert in 1969), and music would never be the same again.


#1: Beethoven Premiers the 9th Symphony
Considered among his best works, Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 9” premiered on May 7th, 1824 at Vienna’s Theater am Kärntnertor to a packed audience. Matching the crowd, Beethoven packed the stage with the largest orchestra he had ever convened, including many of Vienna’s elite musicians. The premiere marked the first time Beethoven had taken the stage in 12 years. During that time he lost his hearing, and as a result wrote the symphony off musical intuition alone. All of this added to the crowd’s anticipation. Sharing the stage with the theater’s kapellmeister, Michael Umlauf, Beethoven’s symphony stunned the audience, earning five standing ovations. The 9th proved to be Beethoven’s last completed symphony, but it lives on as a masterpiece.



Can you recall any of these major musical events? Let us know in the comments!