Editing 1983 in music (section)

==Events==
===January–April===
*[[January 1]]
**[[ZTT Records]] is founded.
**The [[Merchant Ivory Productions|Merchant Ivory]] film ''[[Heat and Dust (film)|Heat and Dust]]'' is released. On the soundtrack, composed by [[Zakir Hussain (musician)|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 [[Gallup, Inc.|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 (opera)|Elektra]]''.<ref>{{cite news|last=Reich|first=Howard|date=1986-10-19|title=Queen of captions|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/chicago-tribune-queen-of-captions-by-how/159615760/|work=[[Chicago Tribune]]|pages=[https://www.newspapers.com/article/chicago-tribune-queen-of-captions-by-how/159616094/ 12-13]|access-date=2024-11-23|via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref>
*[[February 2]] – "Menudomania" comes to New York as 3,500 screaming girls crowd [[Kennedy Airport]] to catch a glimpse of [[Puerto Rico|Puerto Rican]] boy band [[Menudo (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 (film)|Let's Spend the Night Together]]'' opens in New York.
*[[February 13]] – [[Marvin Gaye]] performs "[[The Star-Spangled Banner]]" before the [[1983 NBA All-Star Game|NBA All-Star Game]].
*[[February 23]] – The [[25th Annual Grammy Awards]] are presented in [[Los Angeles]], hosted by [[John Denver]]. [[Toto (band)|Toto]] win both [[Grammy Award for Album of the Year|Album of the Year]] (for ''[[Toto IV]]'') and [[Record of the Year]] (for "[[Rosanna (song)|Rosanna]]"), while [[Willie Nelson]]'s cover of "[[Always on My Mind#Willie Nelson version|Always on My Mind]]" wins [[Grammy Award for Song of the Year|Song of the Year]]. [[Men at Work]] win [[Best New Artist]].
*[[February 26]] – [[Michael Jackson]]'s ''[[Thriller (Michael Jackson album)|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 (U2 album)|War]] which debuts at #1 in the UK and produces the band's first international [[New Year's Day (U2 song)|hit single]].
*[[March 2]] – [[Compact disc]]s 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.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/19863/thompson-twins/ |title=Thompson Twins |publisher=Official Charts }}</ref>
*[[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?]]".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.officialcharts.com/charts/singles-chart/19830320/7501/ |title=Official Singles Chart Top 100 20 March 1983 – 26 March 1983 |publisher=Official Charts }}</ref>
**[[Tears for Fears]] debut album ''[[The Hurting]]'' reaches number 1 on the UK Albums Chart.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.officialcharts.com/charts/albums-chart/19830320/7502/ |title=Official Albums Chart Top 100 20 March 1983 – 26 March 1983 |publisher=Official Charts }}</ref> 
*[[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.<ref name="Clines, 1983">{{cite news|last1=Clines|first1=Francis X.|title=Watt Reverses Ban on Rock Music at Concert|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/04/08/us/watt-reverses-ban-on-rock-music-at-concert.html|access-date=10 July 2017|work=The New York Times|date=8 April 1983}}</ref>
*[[April 9]] – [[David Bowie]] achieves his fourth UK number 1 single with "[[Let's Dance (David Bowie song)|Let's Dance]]".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/19138/david-bowie/ |title=David Bowie |publisher=Official Charts }}</ref> 
*[[April 11]] – [[Dave Mustaine]] is fired 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 (David Bowie album)|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.{{citation needed|date=December 2024}}
*[[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 1983|Eurovision Song Contest]], held at [[Rudi-Sedlmayer-Halle]] in [[Munich]], with the song "[[Si la vie est cadeau]]".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://eurovision.tv/event/munich-1983/final|title=Official Eurovision Song Contest 1983 scoreboard|website=[[Eurovision Song Contest]]}}</ref>

===May–August===
*[[May 16]]
**Singer [[Anna Vissi]] marries composer [[Nikos Karvelas]].
**The ''[[Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever|Motown 25 Special]]'' airs on NBC, celebrating a quarter century of Motown Records. Michael Jackson unveils his [[moonwalk (dance)|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 (musician)|Jim Gordon]] commits [[matricide]] during a [[schizophrenic]] episode.
*[[June 18]]–19 – [[Menudo (band)|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]].<ref name="Beyond 'Protest Song': Popular Music in Pinochet's Chile (1973-1990) By Daniel Party Ph.D.">{{cite book|editor1-last=Illiano|editor1-first=Roberto|editor2-last=Sala|editor2-first=Massimiliano|title=Music and dictatorship in Europe and Latin America|publisher=Brepols|location=Turnhout|isbn=978-2-503-52779-6|pages=671–684|url=https://sites.google.com/site/dparty/publications-1/beyondprotest|access-date=11 October 2014|year=2009}}</ref>
*[[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]]
**<!--August 16-->[[Johnny Ramone]] suffers a near-fatal head injury during a fight over a girl in front of his East Village apartment.
**<!--August 16-->Singer [[Paul Simon]] marries actress [[Carrie Fisher]].
*[[August 20]] – The Rolling Stones sign a new $28 million contract with [[Sony Music Entertainment|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 (The Clash)|Mick Jones]] has been fired from the group.
*[[September 4]] – [[Phil Lynott]] performs his final show with [[Thin Lizzy]] in [[Nuremberg]], Germany.
*[[September 18]] – The members of [[Kiss (band)|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 music|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 ''[[Michael Jackson's Thriller (music video)|Thriller]]'' is premiered on [[MTV]].
**[[Phish]] play their first show.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://phish.net/setlists/?d=1983-12-02|title=Dec 02, 1983 Setlist|website=phish.net}}</ref>
*[[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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/celebrity/marvin_gaye/13.html |title=The Domestic Dispute that ended the life of Marvin Gaye |work=trutv.com |access-date=June 18, 2012}}</ref> 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]].