1982 in music

See also:

Events

• January 15 - K.C. and the Sunshine Band's Harry Wayne Casey is seriously injured in an automobile accident in Miami, Florida.
• January 17 - Tommy Tucker, writer of "Hi Heel Sneakers", dies of carbon tetrachloride poisoning sustained while he was finishing floors in his home
• January 20 - Ozzy Osbourne bites the head off of a live bat thrown at him during a performance. Osbourne is hospitalized with rabies.
• January 21 - B.B. King donates his personal record collection, which includes nearly 7,000 rare blues records, to the University of Mississippi's Center for the Study of Southern Culture.
• February 13 - A 300 pound (136 kg) gravestone from the grave of Lynyrd Skynyrd singer Ronnie Van Zant is stolen from an Orange Park, Florida cemetery. Police found the gravestone 2 weeks later in a dry river bed.
• February 20 - Pat Benatar marries her guitarist, Neil Giraldo on the Hawaiian island of Maui
• March 4 - Frank Zappa's son Dweezil and daughter Moon Unit form Fred Zeppelin
• March 5 - Comedian and Blues Brother John Belushi is found dead of an apparent drug overdose in the Chateau Marmont Hotel in Los Angeles, California
• March 18 - Teddy Pendergrass is severely injured in a car accident in Philadelphia. Pendergrass' injuries result in him being paralyzed from the waist down
• March 19 - Ozzy Osbourne's lead guitarist, Randy Rhoads is killed in a freak accident in Leesburg, Florida when the plane he's riding in buzzes Osbourne's tour bus and crashes into a house. The plane's pilot and a female passenger are also killed.
• March 28 - In Los Angeles, California, David Crosby is arrested for possession of Quaaludes and drug paraphernalia, driving under the influence of cocaine and carrying a concealed weapon
• March 29 - Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney release their single "Ebony and Ivory", which will remain at #1 for 7 weeks
• March 31 - The Doobie Brothers announce that they are breaking up
• April 15 - Billy Joel is seriously injured in a motorcycle accident in Long Island, New York. Joel spends over a month in the hospital undergoing physical therapy for his hand.
• April - Amy Grant marries Gary Chapman
• April 26 - Rod Stewart is mugged in Los Angeles, California. Stewart loses his $50,000 Porsche to the mugger, but was not hurt.
• August 17 - In Langenhagen near Hanover, Germany began the first mass production of the compact disc.
• September 7 - The musical Cats begins its 18 year run on Broadway
• November 5 - First broadcast of The Tube was shown on Channel 4 in the UK.
• The first compact discs appear in music stores.
• A benefit concert takes place in Downey, California to replace the guitars belonging to Daniel Amos which were stolen early in the year. Performers included Tom Howard, Mark Heard and Randy Stonehill.
• Janet Jackson releases first recording
• Caution and Plee Fresh begin recording; this is the birth of a distinctively Chicago sound in hip hop
• Lee Aaron's solo career begins
• Madonna's career begins
• Metallica's career begins
• Ronnie James Dio leaves Black Sabbath for solo career
• The Smiths form
• Pantera forms
• Faith No More forms
• Guadalcanal Diary forms
• Slayer forms
• Violent Femmes forms
• Blondie disbands
• The Eagles break up
• Wendy O. Williams leaves the Plasmatics for a solo career