page_title: 1970s in music
section_title: Australia and New Zealand
hierarchical_section_title: 1970s in music / Australia and New Zealand
caption_attribution_description: English: The Bee Gees in Dutch television show Twien (1968). From left to right: Barry, Robin, &amp; Maurice Gibb Français&#160;: Les Bee Gees à la télévision hollandaise (1968). De gauche à droite&#160;: Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb &amp; Maurice Gibb. Nederlands: The Bee Gees in het Nederlandse televisieprogramma Twien (1968)
context_page_description: In North America, Europe, and Oceania, the decade saw the rise of disco, which became one of the biggest genres of the decade, especially in the mid-to-late 1970s. In Europe, a variant known as Euro disco rose in popularity towards the end of the 1970s. Aside from disco, funk, smooth jazz, jazz fusion, and soul remained popular throughout the decade. It is this influx of popular music that soon transformed into rock and roll during the Early 1970s. Rock music played an important part in the Western musical scene, with punk rock thriving throughout the mid to late 1970s.
  Other subgenres of rock, particularly glam rock, hard rock, progressive, art rock and heavy metal achieved various amounts of success. Other genres such as reggae were innovative throughout the decade and grew a significant following. Hip hop emerged during this decade, but was slow to start and did not become significant until the late 1980s. Classical began losing a little momentum; however, through invention and theoretical development, this particular genre gave rise to experimental classical and minimalist music by classical composers. A subgenre of classical, film scores, remained popular with movie-goers.
context_section_description: The mid-to-late 1970s Australian band AC/DC became one of the most popular and successful acts in Australia, scoring a string of hits, albums and singles. They made their international debut in 1976 with High Voltage. The band quickly became successful outside their home country; the Highway to Hell album from 1979 peaked at number 13 on the Kent Music Report Albums Chart and they would continue as one of the most popular rock groups in the world through the following decade.
  The Bee Gees were an English-Australian group which consisted of brothers Barry, Maurice, and Robin Gibb — was a successful harmonic act as the 1970s dawned. Aside from the chart-topping How Can You Mend a Broken Heart in 1971, the brothers did not make much impact in the US during the first half of the decade and most of their record sales were in Europe, especially on the continent. With the failure of their 1973 album Life in a Tin Can, the Bee Gees appeared washed up. But in 1975, they rebounded with Main Course which added more of a beat to their songs and they began embracing the new disco sound in their next album Children of the World (1976). The musical movie Saturday Night Fever (1977) finally propelled the Bee Gees to global superstar status with Stayin' Alive, More Than a Woman and Night Fever (from the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack). The Gibbs' youngest brother, Andy, was a sensation with his own solo career. He made occasional appearances with his brothers and hit the jackpot with his songs I Just Want to Be Your Everything and Shadow Dancing.
  The most successful Australian female artist of the decade, Olivia Newton-John, became a leading singer in the 1970s in both the popular and country genres and realized several number one hits, including the songs, Let Me Be There and I Honestly Love You for which she received three Grammys.
  Additional top music acts in Australia and New Zealand included: Little River Band, Sherbet, Skyhooks, John Paul Young, Marcia Hines, Jon English, Richard Clapton, Dragon, Hush and the Ted Mulry Gang.
caption: Bee Gees, 1968
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