Apple's GarageBand app celebrates 15 years of music creation for the rest of us

John Mayer and Steve Jobs demo an earlier version of GarageBand

Apple is celebrating 15 years of Garageband, the app included in macOS which enables anyone to put together various loops and samples as well as integrate live voice or musical instrumentation. Garageband was an ambitious and successful application that was part of iLife, the suite of apps included with every Mac sold.

GarageBand brought drag and drop simplicity to music creation and added myriad options for instruments, loops, and beats which were mostly royalty free. For budding musicians or composers, it gave them the ability to put together music even without having to read notes or having access to various instruments.

The app, originally introduced onstage at Macworld '04 by Steve Jobs and John Mayer, has grown to be the most widely used music app in the world — and is now on over 1 billion iPhones, iPads and Macs globally. 

Apple created the app with the bigger vision to help democratize music making for everyone, and since its release the app has done just that—helping novices and professional musicians alike bring their passion for music making to life. Educators around the world are also using GarageBand in their classrooms to inspire and empower young people to create music for the first time. 

There are even many examples out there of popular songs that were created with loops and sounds right from GarageBand. Below is a timeline with a few, fun GarageBand milestones over the years around this anniversary. 

Check out highlights from GarageBand's storied history

GarageBand Milestones: 

• January 2004:  GarageBand debuted at Macworld by Steve Jobs with John Mayer
• April 2005:  NIN release “The Hand That Feeds” as GarageBand project file that fans can remix
• December 2005:  T-Pain creates his first album, "Rappa Ternt Sanga" in GarageBand for Mac
• March 2007:  Rihanna “Umbrella” built with GarageBand bundled drum loop “Vintage Funk Kit 03”
• March 2007:  Fall Out Boy records “Thnks fr th Mmrs” in GarageBand for Mac
• November 2007:  Duran Duran releases GarageBand version of “Nite-Runner” that fans can remix
• February 2008:  Usher “Love in This Club” built with GarageBand bundled synth loop “Euro Hero Synth 02”
• February 2008:  Ting Tings record “Great DJ” on GarageBand for Mac
• April 2008:  Radiohead release “Nude” as GarageBand project file that fans can remix
• 2008:  It Might Get Loud documentary shows Edge from U2 using GarageBand on his laptop
• 2009: Learn to Play and Artist Lessons announced on GarageBand for Mac
• May 2009:  St. Vincent creates “Actor” album in GarageBand
• March 2011:  GarageBand for iPad announced 
• November 2011:  GarageBand for iPhone announced
• October 2013”. GarageBand 10 for Mac with new design announced 
• August 2014:  Haim records "My Song 5" in GarageBand
• June 2015:  Marc Maron interviews President Obama in a podcast recorded in his garage using GarageBand for Mac
• January 2016:  Live Loops feature added to GarageBand for iOS
• May 2016:  GarageBand for Greater China announced with traditional Chinese instruments
• April 2017:  Steve Lacey produces the Kendrick Lamar song “PRIDE" using GarageBand for iOS