Top 20 Most Important Moments in Music History

[Applause] [Music] welcome to watch mojo and today we're counting down our picks for the top 20 most important moments in music history [Music] for this list we're looking at the most memorable and electrifying moments that impacted both music as an art form and the music loving public we're not counting the deaths of any musicians as they're all equally sad we're also not including any infamous moments like kanye west's interruption of taylor swift's vma acceptance speech or any musical inventions or releases as all of these deserve lists of their own do you have any personal connections to these moments let us know in the comment section number 20 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 [Applause] 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 [Music] 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 number 19. elton john's double header at dodger stadium on october 25th 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 [Music] while those are some pretty big shoes to fill it's safe to say that jon 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 end his life just days before the concert my stomach was pumped and here i was on dodger stadium two days later because you know i have a very strong constitution and the show must go on thankfully he survived and the rocket man went on to give two of the greatest performances of his career number 18 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 [Music] halfway through the song madonna started cutting loose essentially writhing on the floor of the stage at one point exposing her underwear [Music] 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 [Music] 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 i had no idea that it was going to cause the well the ruckus that it caused number 17 altamonte speedway free festival the rolling stones concert at the altamonte 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 hell's 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 concert goer whipped out a gun and was fatally stabbed by one of the hell's angels before the night was over there would be two more deaths rolling stone magazine later said it was quote rock and roll's all-time worst day number 16 the jackson 5 debut on american bandstand ladies and gentlemen would you agree the jackson 5. it was february 21st 1970 when america was treated to its first taste of the music style and swagger of the jackson family [Music] debuting their single abc on dick clark's american band stand 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 [Music] it was michael in particular of course who stood up 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 boy band formula was created number 15 ebony and ivory we said in our criteria that we weren't going to cover releases and we meant it 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 [Music] momentous the beatles are often considered the greatest pop group of all time and wonder the greatest r b artist with stevie it just arrived out the blue you know because that's how steve is and he's amazing 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 number 14 bob marley performs at the smile jamaica concert 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 bob is a musician who wants to play for the people but these guys try to see if they can get their thing going and they're not worried about how dangerous that is going to be for bob being such a powerful figure marley had enemies in high places and on december 3rd 1976 he was shot by seven gunmen who had alleged ties to a far-right political party the shooting took place two 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 number 13. the who on the smothers brothers comedy hour what's your so what's your name pete townsend yeah pete and where are you from peter london by 1967 the british invasion was in full swing throughout the u.s [Music] 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 [Music] [Applause] the band's performance ended with smoke rising from their amplifiers smashed instruments and a bass drum explosion that went off with three times the firepower 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 as the back of my hair caught fire and in those days i had a good hair and and i was pretty keen on having good hair because it you know it kind of it was what we did in those days number 12 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 [Music] 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 [Music] [Applause] number 11 johnny cash walks the line johnny cash was never one to play by the rules and that's why the public loved the men in black [Music] [Applause] [Music] 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 san quentin you've been living hell to me 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 i want to remind you we're recording live here today so you can't say hell or [ __ ] or anything like that number 10 the launch of mtv t-minus one minute mark and counting 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 [Music] when mtv first launched in 1981 it completely changed the musical landscape single-handedly pushing music videos to the forefront of the music industry announcing the latest achievement in home entertainment the power [Music] 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 we are all very excited here at mtv to be bringing you the best music all day every day 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 [Music] number nine 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 the atmosphere here with the you know with the east german border guards and the people that are involved with this site have been keeping everybody off it for the last 40 years is very i don't know if you've felt it but they're they're so glad that this is happening thus it was decided that waters would perform the album in berlin's former no man's land eight 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 [Music] number eight 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 and the blues brothers for example but there's only one name synonymous with the move michael jackson [Music] 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 number seven the sugar hill gang reaches the top 40. [Music] 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 mic big bank hank and master g rocked the musical world when in january 1980 it cracked the billboard top 40. landing the number 36 spot [Music] 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 sugar hill gang said one two three four tell me what are you waiting for number six 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 who killed david moore why and what's the reason for 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 booze and jeers erupted from the pursuits of the festival including its organizers [Music] dylan let loose with electric guitars and the energy of rock and roll it was a major turning point signaling the decline of folk and the rise of rock and roll [Music] [Music] 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 burl's show this time around however things were different guitarless and free to move around the stage pressly 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 [Music] number four 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 to the festival being horribly off schedule and following shananna hendricks finally took the stage early monday morning with a mere 30 000 of the 400 000 plus audience still in attendance [Music] 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 counter culture rebellion and anger towards the vietnam war but also hendricks's unbridled love for america [Music] number three 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 youtube's epic 14 minute rendition of bad it was queen that stole the show [Music] [Applause] [Music] in a mere 21 minute set they crammed in bohemian rhapsody radio gaga 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 number two 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 9 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 bridge 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 beetlemania had arrived and would eventually figuratively end with the beatles iconic rooftop concert in 1969 and music would never be the same again [Music] want more mojo sound mojo brings you music from new and emerging artists in all genres from across the globe from interviews to live shows and deep dives into music culture sound mojo has you covered be sure to check out sound mojo to find your new favorite artists [Music] number one beethoven premieres the 9th symphony considered among his best works beethoven's symphony number 9 premiered on may 7 1824 at vienna's theater m kantner tour 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 [Music] sharing the stage with the theater's kapelmeister michael umlauf beethoven's symphony stunned the audience earning five standing ovations the ninth proved to be beethoven's last completed symphony but it lives on as a masterpiece [Music] do you agree with our picks check out this other recent clip from watchmojo and be sure to subscribe and ring the bell to be notified about our latest [Music] videos [Music] you

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Keywords: most important moments in music history, most important music moments, music history, moments in music history, important music moments, music moments, rock history, pop history, rap history, queen live aid, beatles ed sullivan, elvis presley, nirvana mtv unplugged, jimi hendrix woodstock, jackson 5 american bandstand, beethoven 9th symphony, bob dylan newport, michael jackson moonwalk, Music, Rock, watchmojo, watch mojo, top 10, list, mojo

Id: JC7xO7j16lc

Length: 23min 0sec (1380 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 07 2020