Disco reigned supreme in 1979, with several #1 hits from The Bee Gees and Donna Summer that year. Several artists who were not regarded as dance/disco acts, scored major successes by releasing disco singles, including New Wave band Blondie with their first US number one single "Heart Of Glass" and Rod Stewart with "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy".
However, the backlash against disco among rock loyalists was also peaking. An anti-disco event in Chicago ultimately forced the cancellation of a major league baseball game. When The Knack's song "My Sharona" hit Billboard's #1 for six weeks, many rock critics gushed that the band was "the next Beatles" and celebrated the beginning of the end for disco music. While 1979 may have marked the climax of disco, it was also the beginning of the end for The Knack, who quickly faded into obscurity.
One event of 1979 which would have later significance was the success of the single "Rapper's Delight" by The Sugarhill Gang, which marked the commercial emergence of hip hop.
Chuck Brown & the Soul Searchers ' Bustin' Loose was released; this is the first go go record.
January 13 - Singer Donny Hathaway dies after falling 15 stories from his hotel room in New York City. According to Hathaway's record company, Atlantic, the singer had been having some psychological problems.
February 3 - Dead Man's Curve, a made-for-TV-movie about surf-rock singers Jan & Dean, airs on US television
February 7 - The Clash kick off their first concert on their first American tour at the Berkeley Community Theatre outside San Francisco, California. Bo Diddley opens the show and the Clash open their set with the song "I'm so bored with the U.S.A.".
July 12 - "Disco Demolition Night", an anti-disco promotional event for a Chicago rock station involving exploding disco records with a bomb, causes a near-riot between games during a baseball major league doubleheader, forcing the cancellation of the second game.
July 14 - Donna Summer's "Bad Girls" hits #1 on the Billboard charts, and stays there for 5 weeks
August 4-11British rock band Led Zeppelin played what were to be their last British concerts at Knebworth in Hertfordshire. Total attendance's for the two concerts approached 400,000
August 25 - "My Sharona" by The Knack hits #1 on the Billboard charts. This is the first time in over a year that a song hits #1 that isn't either a disco song or a ballad. It remains at #1 for 8 weeks.
September 2 - U2 enters the studio for the first time to record a locally released single.
December 3 - In Cincinnati, Ohio, a stampede for seats at Riverfront Coliseum during a Who concert kills eleven fans (band members were not made aware of the deaths until after the show).
My Old Friends (Music, Lyrics and Book: Mel Mandel and Norman Sachs ). Off-Broadway production opened at the Orpheum Theatre on January 12 and transferred to the 22 Steps Theatre on Broadway on April 12 for a total run of 154 performances.
The Venetian Twins (Music: Terence Clarke Lyrics and Book: Nick Enright ). Opened at the Sydney Opera House Drama Theatre on October 26.
Whoopee(Music: Walter Donaldson Lyrics: Gus Kahn Book: William Anthony McGuire ). Broadway revival opened at the ANTA Theatre on February 14 and ran for 212 performances.
