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The most long-term influential release of 1983 is probably Head over Heels by the Cocteau Twins, which sold poorly upon its initial release. In the ensuing years, the album's eclectic assortment of alternative rock, New Wave and synth pop influences became a cornerstone of later alternative rock groups, most especially in the United Kingdom, where the Cocteau Twins' mix of airy textures and breathless vocals ( dream pop) mutated into genres like twee pop, space rock and shoegazing, and eventually hit mainstream success with a psychedelicPsychedelic music draws its inspiration from the experience of mind-altering drugs such as cannabis, psilocybin, mescaline, ecstasy and especially LSD. Characteristic features of the style include modal melodies, lengthy instrumental solos, esoteric lyric-influenced form, BritpopBritpop is the common term used for a variety of popular British bands from the mid to late 90s. Britpop followed the "indie" scene of the eighties, characterised by bands such as The Smiths, and its successors: "baggy", typified by Manchester's (or shoul.

Another album that eventually became enormously influential is Kill 'Em AllKill 'Em All is a seminal heavy metal album by thrash band Metallica, released in 1983. Often said to be the first example of thrash music, Kill 'Em All fuses heavy metal and hardcore punk, resulting in a symphonic and rhythmically diverse sound. When Dav by MetallicaMetallica is an American heavy metal band active from the 1980s to the 2000s. After building a loyal following through its role in the development of thrash metal in the 1980s, Metallica successfully broadened its audience in the early 1990s. Accordingly,. This, their debut, is often considered the first purely thrash metalThrash metal is a subgenre of heavy metal music. Speed metal and Power metal are distinct but related subgenres). The origins of Thrash metal are generally traced to the late 1970s and early 1980s, when a number of metal bands began incorporating hardcore album, and helped lead the way for the diversification of heavy metalHeavy metal is a form of rock music characterized by aggressive, driving rhythms and highly amplified and distorted guitars, and the themes explored in heavy metal lyrics are often dark or sexually explicit. Heavy metal is a development of blues, blues ro genres in the later part of the decade. Kill 'Em All 's popular success was quite limited, though it received rave reviews from metal critics and fans for its then-unique blend of earlier heavy metal pioneers, especially the New Wave of British heavy metal like Judas PriestJudas Priest is a hugely influential heavy metal band formed in 1969 in Birmingham, England. Often called just Priest or the Priest the band's classic line-up consists of legendary vocalist Rob Halford, the groundbreaking guitar duet of K. Downing and Gle, and hardcore punk, such as The Ramones.

Some releases from 1983 deserve special mention:

• The Police's Synchronicity was their final release together before breaking up, and was enormously popular, including one of their more popular songs, " Every Breath You Take"
• Culture Club's Kissing to Be Clever was their popular breakthrough, and included one of their most well-known songs, the hit single "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me"
• Eurythmics' Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) was also their breakthrough success, and included their signature tune, the title track
• Mötley Crüe's Shout at the Devil was their breakthrough, and included "Looks That Kill", though they would go on to greater popular and critical success in the later part of the decade after recovering from the shock of member Vince Neil's near-fatal car accident
• Tom Waits' Swordfishtrombones was his first album for Island Records, and the first in a series of three thematically and stylistically linked albums that established him as a critical darling and cult favorite
• New Order's Power, Corruption & Lies released. In some countries, it included the best-selling 12" record of all time, "Blue Monday"; the album was the second since forming from the ashes of Joy Division (after the suicide of Ian Curtis) and the first to achieve critical or popular success, as it was a stylistically innovative mix of synth vocals and dance-heavy beats
• Duran Duran scored hits from three separate albums in this year ( Rio, the reissue of Duran Duran, and Seven and the Ragged Tiger)
• Merle Haggard began a run of chart success in this year, which continued for about two years. His duet album with Willie Nelson, Pancho & Lefty, was an enormous critical and popular success and did much to revitalize the careers of both entertainers, especially the hit title track
• Stevie Ray Vaughan's Texas Flood was more popular than any blues album since the late 1960s, and did much to establish country-blues as a commercially viable genre
• George Strait's Right or Wrong sold extremely well, and is a pivotal album in the development of the honky tonk revival during the rest of the decade.

• Publication of A Generative Theory of Tonal Music by Fred Lerdahl and Ray Jackendoff.
• February 11 - The Rolling Stones concert film Let's Spend the Night Together opens in New York
• November - first Now That's What I Call Music! compilation released in the UK.
• Diana Ross performs in Central Park in the pouring rain
• The Police breakup
• Highest point of the 1981- 1985 Menuditis and Menudomania all over Latin America.
• Run DMC releases their debut single, "It's Like That"/"Sucker M.C.'s"
• The Dust Brothers form
• The Misfits break up; Glenn Danzig forms Samhain
• A-Ha forms in Norway
• Death forms
• Dinosaur Jr. forms
• Megadeth form
• Phish forms
• Red Hot Chili Peppers form
• Youth Choir forms (later called The Choir)
• Budgie breaks up
• The UK singles chart starts to use electronic terminals in selected stores to gather sales information. The old "sales diary" method will be gradually phased out over the next few years.