ON ROTATION:
Groundbreaking musicAL “Firsts”
Our Team Picks Playlist
by Art Muse LA
What better way to celebrate an issue of “Breaking With Tradition” than with a playlist of groundbreaking music? This list focuses on musical firsts, from the “first rap song to hit the Top 40” to the “first rapper to win the 2018 Pulitzer Prize in Music,” this list will surely inspire and surprise you!
The Sugarhill Gang
“Rapper’s Delight”
1979
Musical Firsts: While it wasn’t the first rap song to be released, “Rapper’s Delight” made a musical first by becoming the first rap song on the radio to hit the Billboard Hot 100’s Top 40.
Bill Haley & His Comets
“Rock Around the Clock”
1955
Musical Firsts: “Rock Around the Clock” was the first rock and roll song to hit the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100.
The Buggles
“Video Killed the Radio Star”
1979
Musical Firsts: In 1981, the song “Video Killed the Radio Star” was the first music video on a new 1980s network, Music Television (aka MTV).
Connie Francis
“Everybody's Somebody’s Fool”
1960
Musical Firsts: Connie Francis’s song “Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool” was the first song by a female artist to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100.
Johnny Cash
“Folsom Prison Blues” (live)
1968
Musical Firsts: Now an infamous and highly-celebrated album, Johnny Cash’s At Folsom Prison was the first live album recorded inside a prison.
Elvis Presley
“Suspicious Minds” (live)
1973 (live in Honolulu version; the song was first released in 1969)
Musical Firsts: Elvis Presley’s special “Aloha from Hawaii via Satellite” was the first time a live concert by a single performer was recorded and broadcast via satellite around the globe.
Rod Stewart & Jeff Beck
“People Get Ready” (live)
1994 (the song was released on Jeff Beck’s album Flash [1985])
Musical Firsts: Rod Stewart’s concert in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, was so big (4.2 million attendees) he still holds the Guinness World Record.
Mort Garson
“Taurus – The Voluptuary”
1967
Musical Firsts: Mort Garson’s album The Zodiac: Cosmic Sounds was the first LP using a Moog synthesizer recorded on the West Coast. What’s a Moog synthesizer? Check out this video to learn more.
Herbie Hancock
“Rockit”
1983
Musical Firsts: While record scratching originated in the 1970s, “Rockit” was the first song featuring scratching to hit mainstream radio airwaves. By the way, if you’d like to learn about how Grand Wizzard Theodore created the first scratch, click on this link.
Harry Belafonte
“Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)”
1956
Musical Firsts: Belafonte’s Calypso featuring "Day-O," a version of a Jamaican folk song, became the first album to sell over one million copies in a year. The song returned to the mainstream when featured in a scene from Tim Burton’s 1988 film Beetlejuice.
Black Sabbath
“Black Sabbath”
1970
Musical Firsts: Credited for creating a new genre of music, Black Sabbath is considered the first “true” heavy metal band. The band’s sound was the right combination of loud, unpredictable music infused with social justice issues of extreme economic depression in 1970s England.
Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five
“The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel”
1982
Musical Firsts: Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five were the first hip-hop group to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2007.
Madonna
“Like a Virgin”
1984
Musical Firsts: “Like a Virgin” was Madonna’s first number-one single, the start of her career as “Queen of Pop.”
James Brown & The Famous Flames
“I Don’t Mind”
1962
Musical Firsts: James Brown’s album Live at the Apollo was the first R&B album to sell over a million copies.
Toots & The Maytals
“Do the Reggay”
1968
Musical Firsts: Toots and The Maytals were not only credited with promoting reggae but also credited with the first use of the term.
Kendrick Lamar
“Humble”
2017
Musical Firsts: Kendrick Lamar, an incredible voice of his generation in music and songwriting, won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize in Music for his work on the album DAMN. It was the first time that the award had been given to a musician that wasn’t in the genres of classical or jazz.