On the American LP charts, the Eagles with the album Hotel California and Fleetwood Macwith Rumours do battle. Covers include: Roger Daltry, Elvis Presley, Led Zeppelin, the Clash, Emerson Lake and Palmer , Jethro Tull, Ritchie Blackmore and again the Beatles. Elvis Presley died in this year , he was 42 years old .

In a plane crash several members of Lynyrd Skynyrd died including singer Ronnie Van Zant and the group disbanded only to reform ten years later. In the U.S. a genre called A.O.R. ( adult oriented rock ) is depopulating with bands such as Foreigner, Kansas, Journey and Rush.

A new genre that basically has the connotations of an acceptable face of Punk, called New Wave, is appearing on the music scene, and this is where Elvis Costello makes his debut in March.