Werner Herzog released Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht.
Walter Hill released The Warriors.
Volker Schlöndorff released his adaptation of Die Blechtrommel (The Tin Drum).
William Friedkin was directing Cruising.
U2 recorded and released their first album, the EP Three.
Umberto Eco was preparing to publish his first novel, Il nome della rosa (1980). William Weaver’s English-language translation would be published in 1983.
V. S. Naipaul published A Bend in the River.
V.C. Andrews published Flowers in the Attic.
Van Halen released Van Halen II.
Van Morrison released Into the Music.
Vic Godard and the Subway Sect had a hit with their single “Ambition.”
W.S. Merwin won the Bollingen Prize.
Warren Adler was preparing to publish The War of the Roses (1980).
Waylon Jennings & Willie Nelson won a Granny for “Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys.”
Whitesnake released Lovehunter.
William Golding published Darkness Visible…
…and was preparing to publish Rites of Passage (1980), for which he would win the Booker Prize.
William Goldman published Tinsel.
William Lloyd Webber composed Missa Sanctae Mariae Magdalenae. (There aren’t any recordings available online.)
William Styron published Sophie’s Choice.
Willie Nelson won a Grammy for “Georgia on My Mind.”
Willy Russell was finishing his play Educating Rita, which would premiere in 1980, and be adapted to film in 1983.
Paul McCartney & Wings released Back to the Egg, which included the bonus track “Wonderful Christmastime.”
The following year, they would unofficially disband (until 1985) follwing Johhn Lennon’s murder.
Wire released their third album, 154.
Woody Allen was preparing to publish Side Effects (1980).
Meanwhile, he released Manhattan…
…and was working on Stardust Memories.
XTC released Drums and Wires.
Yuriy Tarnawsky had recently published his debut novel in English, Meningitis (Fiction Collective, 1978).
Yves Navarre published Le Temps voulu and Portrait de Julien devant sa fenêtre, and was preparing to publish Le Jardin d’acclimatation (1980), for which he would win the Prix Goncourt.
ZZ Top released Degüello.
