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1983 in music

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List of years in music (table)
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See also:

Important Releases

Michael Jackson's Thriller, the most successful album not only of 1983, but of all time, was released in 1982 and began its epic domination of the music charts the following year, 1983. The album spawned seven hit singles and stayed on the US and UK charts for over three years. Michael was nominated for ten Grammy Awards, of which he won eight: seven for the awe-inspiring album Thriller, and the other for the song "Someone in the Dark" featured in the movie E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Thriller paved the way for countless other African-American artists' music to be aired on radio and MTV. Thriller has sold over 104 million copies, making it the greatest selling album of all time by an extremely large margin. Michael's domination of the 1980s was fueled by his follow-up hit album Bad (released in 1987), which held the title of the second greatest album of all time for several years.

Head over Heels by the Cocteau Twins sold poorly upon its initial release but is considered one of the most influential albums of 1983. In the ensuing years, the album's eclectic assortment of alternative rock, New Wave and synth pop influences became a cornerstone of later alternative rock groups, most especially in the United Kingdom, where the Cocteau Twins' mix of airy textures and breathless vocals (dream pop) mutated into genres like twee pop, space rock and shoegazing, and eventually hit mainstream success with a psychedelic-influenced form, Britpop.

Quiet Riot's Metal Health was enormously popular in 1983, and was the first heavy metal album to go to #1 on the pop charts. The lead single, "Cum on Feel the Noize" (cover of Slade) was also a huge hit, #5 Billboard, and set the stage for the mainstream crossover of later hair metal bands like Guns N' Roses and Def Leppard. Other landmark rock/metal albums released in this year include Iron Maiden's "Piece of Mind", Metallica's "Kill 'em all", Def Leppard's "Pyromania" and Mötley Crüe's "Shout at the Devil".

The country music legend Kenny Rogers records his 23rd studio album "We've Got Tonight," which was his last album for Liberty Records. He signed to RCA for a guaranteed sum of no less than $20 million for 6 albums, the biggest record deal of all-time up to that point. His earnings for those recordings amounted to even more, but no details have been made public. Rogers' RCA debut included his duet with Dolly Parton, "Islands in the Stream", which would become one of the biggest records of the year.

Some other releases from 1983 deserve special mention:

Events

Bands formed

Bands disbanded

Bands reformed

Albums released

  • "Country (music group) Atlanta releases 'Atlanta Burned Again Last Night'on independednt MDJ Records. Song breaks into the top ten in Billboard's Country Charts.

Top hits on record


See also: Hot 100 No. 1 Hits of 1983

Classical music

Opera

Musical theater

Musical films

Musical television

Births

Deaths

Awards

Grammy Awards

Country Music Association Awards

Eurovision Song Contest

Charts

List of No. 1 Hits

KROQ

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