BIGGEST MOMENTS IN MUSIC

We’re cranking up the nostalgia and counting down the BIGGEST moments in music history — the gigs, the breakups, the albums, the legends who changed the game and the songs that defined a generation…

Triple M is reliving it all. But we want to know what YOU think the biggest moment in music is.

Have your say — and you could win yourself tickets to see AC/DC on their massive 2025 Australian tour!

AC/DC’s Power Up Tour is coming this November and December with their biggest, loudest show ever! Tickets & tour info at tegvanegmond.com

Full List Below:

1	Live Aid. Two continents, 60 of the world’s biggest bands, over a billion viewers, and the power of music united for a cause. Live Aid was more than a concert; it was a global phenomenon that showed music’s ability to change the world.
2	The Beatles. The biggest selling artist in this universe and beyond. Over 520 million albums. The best of the best.
3	The greatest comeback of all time. AC/DC lose a legend in Bon Scott and then in his honour, release Back In Black, which becomes the biggest selling rock album in the world.
4	John Lennon is assassinated. On Dec 8 1980, Lennon was murdered outside of his New York apartment building by deranged fan, Mark Chapman. Chapman has been denied for parole 13 times.
5	Nirvana arrives. Grunge is here. Nevermind knocks Michael Jackson from the top of the chart (1992).
6	Michael Hutchence Death. 22 Nov 1997 the lead singer of one of Australia’s most successful bands of all time, died in a plush Hotel Room at The Ritz Carlton in Sydney. He was 37.
7	Countdown. From 1974 to 1987, Countdown was a cultural phenomenon for Australian music. Every Sunday night at 6, we’d tune in to see the new songs and the Top 10.
8	Gudinski: The Godfather. Michael Gudinski launches Mushroom Records. A trailblazer who revolutionized the local scene.
9	Dark Side of the Moon. Spent 950 weeks on the Billboard chart. Over 45 million copies sold.
10	Streaming changes the way to consume music forever. Spotify now has over 300 million premium subscribers worldwide.
11	Bon Scott’s High Voltage Life Ends. Found dead in London, 1980. Officially, acute alcohol poisoning.
12	Freddie Mercury dies of AIDS, aged 45, the day after announcing his illness to the public.
13	Woodstock. 3 days of peace, love, and music in 1969. 400,000 people attended.
14	The Biggest Selling Debut Rock Album of All Time. Guns N’ Roses’ Appetite for Destruction. 30 million and counting.
15	Big Day Out. Australia’s greatest music festival. A rite of passage for a generation.
16	The World’s Greatest Charity Singles: Band Aid and USA for Africa raised millions for famine relief.
17	Crowded House’s Farewell To The World concert at the Sydney Opera House. Powderfinger supported.
18	The King is Dead. Elvis Presley dies at Graceland on Aug 16. Over 500 million records sold.
19	Men At Work’s Down Under becomes an unofficial anthem after Australia II wins the America’s Cup.
20	The Beatles’ one and only tour of Australia, 1964.
21	Cold Chisel’s Big 5-0 Anniversary Tour.
22	1000 Songs In Your Pocket. Apple launches iPod & iTunes in 2001, changing music forever.
23	Guns N’ Roses’ Use Your Illusion I & II debut at #1 and #2 on the charts.
24	John Farnham’s Whispering Jack becomes the highest-selling Australian album of all time.
25	Kurt Cobain’s death in 1994 marked the end of an era. A tragic loss for a generation.
26	INXS conquer America. Need You Tonight hits #1, Kick sells over 20 million copies.
27	U2 is the only band with a #1 album in 5 consecutive decades (1980s–2020s).
28	AC/DC perform “Long Way To The Top” on a flatbed truck down Swanston St in 1976. Iconic moment.
29	The Compact Disc launches in 1982. Dire Straits’ Brothers in Arms becomes the first to sell 1 million CDs.
30	Beatles Rooftop Performance. On 30 January 1969, The Beatles performed an impromptu 42-minute gig from the rooftop of their Apple Corps headquarters at 3 Savile Row. The rooftop concert was the Beatles’ final live performance together as a group. The band officially split up just over a year later.
31	Bruce Springsteen’s *Born In The USA* had a record-equalling seven Top 10 singles. The album debuted at #1 and was the first CD manufactured in the US for commercial release.
32	The 27 Club… Rock’s most tragic coincidence: Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain—all died at 27.
33	The Seattle Sound: Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden redefine rock and kill off hair metal.
34	Jimmy Barnes sets the record with 22 #1 albums (16 solo, 6 with Cold Chisel). Aussie legend.
35	Meat Loaf’s *Bat Out of Hell* becomes the best-selling international album ever in Australia—over 1.6 million copies sold.
36	Rage launches in 1987 and becomes the longest-running music TV show in Australia. Still going strong.
37	YouTube revolutionises music discovery. First rock song to hit 1 billion views? *November Rain* by Guns N’ Roses.
38	Michael Jackson dies of cardiac arrest from propofol in 2009. Dr. Conrad Murray later convicted of manslaughter.
39	The Rolling Stones become the highest-grossing live act of all time.
40	The Sony Walkman launches in 1979 and changes music forever. The first true portable music device.
41	Powderfinger say goodbye with their *Sunsets* tour, closing it out with a hometown show on the Riverstage in the pouring rain.
42	Queen’s *Bohemian Rhapsody* hits #1 twice—once in 1975 and again after Freddie Mercury’s death in 1991.
43	Guns N’ Roses *Use Your Illusion* tour hits Australia: Eastern Creek (Sydney) & Calder Park (Melbourne), 1993.
44	David Bowie dies aged 69 after battling cancer. His legacy? Eternal.
45	Elton John’s *Candle In The Wind 1997*, a tribute to Princess Diana, becomes the best-selling single of all time.
46	AC/DC’s *Black Ice* and *Rock Or Bust* tours go massive. Fans await the *Power Up* tour.
47	The golden age of music videos: *Thriller*, *Take On Me*, *Money For Nothing*, *Sledgehammer* set the standard.
48	Springsteen’s first Aussie tour (Born In The USA) was so big, Brissy fans queued 5km long to get in.
49	Chrissie Amphlett dies in 2013. The Divinyls frontwoman was iconic—raw, bold, unforgettable.
50	Pink Floyd’s *The Wall* becomes the best-selling double album of all time with over 30 million sold.
51	The rise of hair metal: Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, Guns N’ Roses dominate the decade and MTV airwaves.
52	7 weeks in 1991 changed everything: Metallica, Pearl Jam, GNR, RHCP, Soundgarden & Nirvana all drop landmark albums.
53	The Lynyrd Skynyrd plane crash (1977) kills key band members and halts their meteoric rise.
54	The Australian Made Tour (1986–87) unites INXS, Barnesy, Models, Divinyls, and more for a travelling rock fest.
55	The Day The Music Died: Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens perish in a 1959 plane crash.
56	Midnight Oil’s *Sorry Suits* at the 2000 Olympics make a bold political statement for First Nations people.
57	“Paul is dead.” The Beatles conspiracy that McCartney died in 1966 and was replaced. Spoiler: he’s still alive.
58	James Hetfield catches fire during a 1992 show. Axl Rose ends the gig early. Crowd riots. Chaos.
59	Sound Relief (2009): Massive concerts at MCG & SCG raise over $8M for bushfire and flood victims. Coldplay x Farnham? Iconic.
60	Bob Marley survives an assassination attempt on Dec 3, 1976—and plays a show just two days later.
61	Rap Meets Rock. The genre-bending moment that broke down barriers and launched a new era of collaboration.
62	Led Zeppelin’s only Australian tour (1972) broke records for volume and scale, with massive crowds and a huge PA setup.
63	The Travelling Wilburys: The greatest supergroup ever. Dylan, Harrison, Orbison, Petty, and Lynne—’nuff said.
64	Prince dies. The world loses one of the most prolific and creative minds in music history.
65	John & Yoko’s Bed-In For Peace (1969). A peaceful protest and global media moment from their honeymoon suite.
66	INXS rocks Wembley. 72,000 fans. The biggest gig of their career, captured on film forever.
67	Ozzy bites the head off a bat (1982). Thought it was fake. It wasn’t. Metal history made in one horrible crunch.
68	Alanis Morissette’s *Jagged Little Pill* becomes the best-selling debut album by a female artist—30+ million sold.
69	Dire Straits’ 1986 Brothers In Arms Tour becomes the biggest Aussie tour at the time—50 shows across the country.
70	The 80s movie soundtrack era: When songs like *Eye of the Tiger*, *Danger Zone* and *Don’t You (Forget About Me)* became pop culture staples.
71	Pearl Jam’s *Vs* smashes first-week sales records—nearly a million copies in week one.
72	The invention of the electric guitar and the rise of Eddie Van Halen—rock was never the same again.
73	The Taylor Swift Eras Tour breaks box office records and defines a new generation of pop.
74	The Beatles break up. The world mourns as The Fab Four go their separate ways.
75	Midnight Oil protest Exxon in NYC with a guerrilla gig on a flatbed truck. The banner? “Midnight Oil Makes You Dance. Exxon Oil Makes Us Sick.”
76	Roger Waters performs *The Wall* in Berlin (1990), months after the fall of the Berlin Wall. 350,000 attend. Huge.
77	Silverchair release *Frogstomp* aged 15. They become the youngest Aussie band to hit #1—and win 21 ARIA Awards.
78	Men At Work’s debut *Business As Usual* rules the US charts for 15 weeks and sells over 15 million worldwide.
79	The Ultimate Reunions. From The Eagles to Guns N’ Roses—big bands bury the hatchet and hit the stage again.
80	Prince’s *Purple Rain* era. A #1 movie, album, and single all at once in 1984. Groundbreaking.
81	Jimi Hendrix sets his guitar on fire at Monterey Pop (1967), forever changing the way we see rock guitarists.
82	Taylor Hawkins dies. A devastating loss for Foo Fighters and the rock world.
83	U2’s “iPod gate”: Apple auto-downloads *Songs of Innocence* into iTunes libraries. Backlash ensues.
84	Metallica plays all 7 continents in 1 year (2013), including a gig in Antarctica. Metal milestone.
85	George Michael busted in Beverly Hills (1998). A tabloid frenzy follows—but so does a new era of honesty in pop.
86	Woodstock ’99 collapses into chaos. Fires, riots, and disaster. The day the ‘90s died.
87	Tina Turner dies. The Queen of Rock and Roll leaves behind a legacy of power, resilience, and electrifying performances.
88	MTV Unplugged becomes a career-defining moment for bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Alice In Chains.
89	The Easybeats become the first Aussie band to break internationally. From *Friday On My Mind* to the Vanda & Young legacy.
90	Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen loses his arm in a car crash—then redefines drumming with a custom kit. *Hysteria* follows.
91	We lose another Beatle. George Harrison—the quiet one—passes away and the world mourns.
92	Cold Chisel’s Last Stand: A legendary run at the Sydney Entertainment Centre that became rock history.
93	Elton John’s *Farewell Yellow Brick Road* tour becomes the longest-running and highest-attended farewell tour ever.
94	Yothu Yindi blaze trails for First Nations music. *Treaty* breaks through and changes everything.
95	The Super Bowl Halftime Show: Prince’s rain-soaked brilliance & U2’s emotional 9/11 tribute define the format.
96	AFL Grand Final performances—from The Killers’ glory to Meat Loaf’s infamous meltdown.
97	Concert tragedies that rocked the world: Roskilde (2000), Altamont (1969), and Paris’ Bataclan (2015).
98	*Stop Making Sense* becomes the greatest concert film ever—Talking Heads redefine live performance.
99	Aussies clean up at the Grammys: Gotye, Men At Work, The Bee Gees all take home gold.
100	*One Night Lonely*: Powderfinger reunites online during COVID, raising nearly half a million for charity.
101	Bob Dylan wins the 2016 Nobel Prize for Literature. Icon status = confirmed.
102	The Synthesizer revolution begins. From Kraftwerk to New Order, it reshapes the sound of a generation.
103	Graham “Shirley” Strachan dies in a helicopter crash. Skyhooks lose a frontman; Australia loses a legend.
104	Michael Jackson moonwalks into history. *Thriller* becomes the biggest-selling album ever.
105	Green Day’s Billie Joe melts down on live TV—then checks into rehab. Punk drama on full display.
106	Stevie Nicks & Lindsey Buckingham join Fleetwood Mac and the band rockets to global superstardom.
107	AC/DC’s *Power Up* Tour sets the all-time Ticketek sales record—1,200 tickets a minute.
108	Prince logs 21 years straight with Top 40 hits (1979–1999). A purple reign of pop dominance.
109	Metallica vs. Napster (2000): A battle that defined the future of digital music and copyright law.
110	Kate Bush takes 36 years to hit #1 with *Running Up That Hill*—thanks to *Stranger Things*.
111	Rock’s wildest bad boys: Keith Richards snorts his dad’s ashes. Keith Moon drives a Rolls into a pool.
112	Marvin Gaye shot by his father on April 1, 1984. A tragic and shocking end to a brilliant life.
113	Led Zeppelin’s *Celebration Day* reunion in 2007. 20 million apply for tickets—only 20,000 get in.
114	The New Romantic movement brings glam, synths, and style to the ‘80s charts. Think Duran Duran & Culture Club.
115	Australian Idol debuts. It’s Guy vs. Nollsy and the whole nation tunes in.
116	KISS take off the makeup on MTV—and quickly put it back on. Merch, mayhem, and rock branding done right.
117	The Beatles’ *All You Need Is Love* becomes the first live global satellite broadcast—seen by 400 million.
118	U2’s Sphere shows in Vegas redefine what a concert looks and feels like in the 21st century.
119	*Hot August Night* becomes one of Australia’s best-selling albums. Neil Diamond fever lasts 29 weeks at #1.
120	Dave Grohl breaks his leg on stage in Sweden, goes to hospital… then comes back and finishes the show.

Open to: NSW, VIC, SA, NT, WA, QLD, TAS, ACT. Entrants must be 18yrs or older. Starts Tuesday 8th July 2025 from 6AM AEST, ends Thursday 17th July 2025 at 4pm AEST. All valid entries will be judged. Number of winners: ONE. Prize Details: 2 x B res tickets to see AC/DC in winners nearest capital city. See Terms and Conditions for full details. Promoter: Southern Cross Austereo Pty Ltd (ABN 78 109 243 110).

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