1994 in music

Events

January 29 - The Supremes' Mary Wilson is injured when her jeep hits a freeway median and flips over just outside of Los Angeles, California. Wilson's 14-year old son is killed in the accident.
February 1 Dookie Green Day's first major label studio album debuts.
February 7 - Blind Melon's lead singer Shannon Hoon is forced to leave the American Music Awards ceremony for his loud and disruptive behavior. Hoon is later charged with battery, assault, resisting arrest, and destroying a police station phone
February 14 - The Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia marries Deborah Koons
February 23 - The ground breaking ceremony for the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino takes place in Las Vegas, Nevada. Eddie Van Halen, Chris Isaak, and B.B. King attend the event.
March 1 - Nirvana plays the band's final concert in Munich
March 3 - In Rome, Nirvana's Kurt Cobain lapses into a coma after having an overdose of Rohypnol and champagne.
March 5 - Grace Slick is arrested for pointing a shotgun at police in her Tiberon, California home.
March 18 - Courtney Love calls the police fearing that her husband, Nirvana's Kurt Cobain, was suicidal. Police confiscate 4 guns and 25 boxes of ammo from Cobain's home.
March 18 - Bassist Darryl Jones replaces Bill Wyman in The Rolling Stones
March 31 - Madonna appears on The Late Show with David Letterman, making headlines for her foul mouthed, profanity laced interview. Robin Williams later described the segment as a "battle of wits with an unarmed woman."
April 8 - The dead body of Kurt Cobain, lead singer of Nirvana, is found. Cobain's death, which happened three days before, is legally declared a suicide.
April 25 - Adam Horovitz of the Beastie Boys is sentenced to 200 hours of community service for attacking a television cameraman during funeral services for actor River Phoenix in November of 1993
April 26 - The legendary Fillmore club reopens in San Francisco, California.
April 26 - Grace Slick pleads guilty to pointing a shotgun at police officers on March 5.
May 6 - Pearl Jam files a complaint against Ticketmaster with the U.S. Justice Department charging that the company has a monopoly on the concert ticket business
May 10 - Weezer releases their debut album. The self-titled "blue" album goes multiplatinum. Tupac Shakur begins serving 15-days in a county jail for attacking director Allen Hughes on the set of a video shoot.
June 7 - Grace Slick is sentenced to 200 hours of community service and three month's worth of Alcoholics Anonymous meetings after a March 5 incident with police officers.
July - The Verbier Festival is launched.
August - Rich Mullins and "Leave a Legacy" contest winner, 76 year old Miguel Garcia Massiate, travel to Bogotá, Colombia with Compassion International. The two men visit the Ciudad Sucre Center where Mullins presented them with over $40,000 that was raised on his summer '94 Ragamuffin Band tour.
August 12 to August 14 - Woodstock '94
September 8 - Richard A. Morse, lead male vocalist of RAM, narrowly escapes a kidnapping by armed men during the band's live performance at the Hotel Oloffson in Port-au-Prince, Haiti; the attempted kidnapping was provoked by the performance of "Fèy", a RAM single banned nationwide by the military authorities.
Frank Sinatra receives the Grammy Awards Lifetime Achievement award. Sinatra's acceptance speech is cut short and other artists, upset by this action, criticize the producer's decision during the show, including Billy Joel who takes extra time to perform his song, The River of Dreams, noting that he is wasting valuable air time.
The three surviving members of The Beatles secretly reunite to record additional music for a few of John Lennon's old unfinished demos, presented to Paul McCartney by Yoko Ono, with Jeff Lynne producing. The track, Free As A Bird, is released as a single, reaching #2 in the UK, and evolves into the exhaustive Beatles Anthology project.

Albums released

Age Ain't Nothing But A Number - Aaliyah
The Sign - Ace of Base
75 Minutes - Acen
Big Ones - Aerosmith (compilation)
Box of Fire - Aerosmith (box set)
Jar of Flies - Alice In Chains
Soul Fixin' Man - Luther Allison
Tales From the Thousand Lakes - Amorphis
Selected Ambient Works Volume II - Aphex Twin
Zingalamaduni - Arrested Development (final album before disbanding)
Russel's Shorts - Arrogant Worms
Terminal Spirit Disease - At The Gates
Incunabula - Autechre
Stranger Than Fiction - Bad Religion
Rappin & Tappin - Derek Bailey
Dupatta Tera Sat Rang Da - Surjit Bindrakhia
Maybe You Should Drive - Barenaked Ladies
Ill Communication - Beastie Boys
Mellow Gold - Beck
Stereopathetic Soulmanure - Beck
One Foot in the Grave - Beck
Pussy Whipped - Bikini Kill
Amorica - The Black Crowes
My Life - Mary J. Blige
Four - Blues Traveler
...For Victory - Bolt Thrower
Crossroad - Bon Jovi
Chocolate Synthesizer - The Boredoms
Walk On - Boston
II - Boyz II Men
Brandy - Brandy
The Hits - Garth Brooks
Sixteen Stone - Bush
Motorcade of Generosity - Cake
The Bleeding - Cannibal Corpse
Heartwork - Carcass
Clasicos de la Provincia - Carlos Vives
From the Cradle - Eric Clapton
Both Sides - Phil Collins
Resurrection - Common Sense
O Sorriso do Gato de Alice - Gal Costa
No Need to Argue - The Cranberries
Worst Case Scenario - dEUS
Balls to Picasso - Bruce Dickinson
Out Of Range - Ani DiFranco
Without a Sound - Dinosaur Jr.
D.I. Go Pop - Disco Inferno
Awake - Dream Theater
Hell Freezes Over - The Eagles
The Hot Seat - Emerson, Lake & Palmer
In the Nightside Eclipse - Emperor
The Cross of Changes - Enigma
I Say, I Say, I Say - Erasure
Just Glü It - Glue Gun (as Glü Gun) (debut)
House Of Love - Amy Grant
Dookie - Green Day
Friendly People - Guttermouth
Live Through This - Hole
Cracked Rear View - Hootie & the Blowfish (debut)
Knysna Blue - Abdullah Ibrahim
Laid - James
2 - Jerky Boys
Grace - Jeff Buckley
Diary of A Mad Band - Jodeci
The Ringmaster - Insane Clown Posse
The Great Subconscious Club - K's Choice
Kerbdog - Kerbdog
Gringo Honeymoon - Robert Earl Keen
Dogman - King's X
KoRn - KoRn
(Welcome to) Sky Valley - Kyuss
Hungry for Stink - L7
Throwing Copper - Live
Whip-Smart - Liz Phair
Burn My Eyes - Machine Head
Bedtime Stories - Madonna
The Holy Bible - Manic Street Preachers
Portrait of an American Family - Marilyn Manson
Under the Table and Dreaming-Dave Matthews Band
Too High to Die - Meat Puppets
Youthanasia - Megadeth
Speak Squeak Creak - Melt-Banana
Stoner Witch - Melvins
Houdini - Melvins
Musica de Rua - Daniela Mercury
Athos - Stephan Micus
Vauxhall and I - Morrissey
13 Above the Night - My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult
Love Or Nothing - Miyuki Nakajima
Illmatic - Nas
Let Love In - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
The Downward Spiral - Nine Inch Nails
MTV Unplugged in New York - Nirvana (the first release after Kurt Cobain's death)
Screaming Dolorous - Nitocris
Punk in Drublic - NOFX
World Demise - Obituary
Definitely Maybe - Oasis
Smash - The Offspring
Orthodox Celts - Orthodox Celts
W.F.O. - Overkill
No Quarter - Page & Plant
Far Beyond Driven - Pantera
Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain - Pavement
Vitalogy - Pearl Jam
Wildflowers - Tom Petty
The Division Bell - Pink Floyd
Dummy - Portishead (debut)
Music for the Jilted Generation - The Prodigy
Muse Sick-n-Hour Mess Age - Public Enemy
Pulp Fiction - Soundtrack
Monster - R.E.M.
Rivermaya - Rivermaya
Voodoo Lounge - Rolling Stones
Weight - Rollins Band
Black Hand Inn - Running Wild
Martinis and Bikinis - Sam Phillips
Scratch the Surface - Sick Of It All
Letters Never Sent - Carly Simon
Divine Intervention - Slayer
Twice Removed - Sloan
Souvlaki - Slowdive
Pisces Iscariot - Smashing Pumpkins
Ruby Vroom - Soul Coughing
Superunknown - Soundgarden
Turn It Upside Down - Spin Doctors
Foolish - Superchunk
Mars Audiac Quintet - Stereolab
Purple - Stone Temple Pilots
Dreamspace - Stratovarius
Get Up On It - Keith Sweat
How To Make Friends And Influence People - Terrorvision
Bust a Nut - Tesla
Low - Testament
Troublegum - Therapy?
John Henry - They Might Be Giants
Live!! New York City 10/14/94 - They Might Be Giants
Grassroots - 311
Wildhoney - Tiamat
CrazySexyCool - TLC
Dulcinea - Toad the Wet Sprocket
American Thighs - Veruca Salt
New Times - Violent Femmes
Chocolate and Cheese - Ween
Weezer (Blue Album) - Weezer
A Finest Fusion Of Black Tempo - Yellow Productions ( later Bob Sinclar )
Creepin On Ah Come Up - Bone Thugs-N-Harmony

Top hits

"90's Girl" - BlackGirl
"All For Love" - Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart & Sting
"All I Wanna Do" - Sheryl Crow
"All That She Wants" - Ace of Base
"Always" - Bon Jovi
"Always" - Erasure
"Amazing" - Aerosmith
"Another Night" - M.C. Sar & the Real McCoy
"Any Time, Any Place" - Janet Jackson
"Backwater" - Meat Puppets
"Big Empty" - Stone Temple Pilots
"Better Man" - Pearl Jam
"Black Hole Sun" - Soundgarden
"Born To Roll" - Masta Ace
"Come Out And Play" - The Offspring
"Corduroy" - Pearl Jam
"Closer" - Nine Inch Nails
"Crazy" - Aerosmith
"Cut Your Hair" - Pavement
"Don't Turn Around" - Ace of Base
"Everyday" - Phil Collins
"Found Out About You" - Gin Blossoms
"Gin & Juice" - Snoop Doggy Dogg
"I Alone" - Live
"I Stay Away" - Alice in Chains
"It Ain't Hard to Tell" - Nas
"Let The Dream Come True" - DJ Bobo
"Longview" - Green Day
"Loser" - Beck
"Love is Strong" - Rolling Stones
"Mary Jane's Last Dance" - Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
"Mr. Jones" - Counting Crows
"No Rain" - Blind Melon
"Sabatoge" - Beastie Boys
"Seether" - Veruca Salt
"She Don't Use Jelly" - The Flaming Lips
"The Sign" - Ace of Base
"Spoonman" - Soundgarden
"The Man Who Sold The World" - Nirvana
"The Red Strokes" - Garth Brooks
"Thuggish Ruggish Bone" - Bone Thugs-N-Harmony
"Trouble" - Shampoo
"Until I Fall Away" - Gin Blossoms
"Without You" - Mariah Carey
"You Want This" - Janet Jackson

See also: Hot 100 No. 1 Hits of 1994

Classical music

Thomas Beveridge - Yizkor Requiem
George Crumb - Quest for guitar, soprano saxophone, harp, double bass, and percussion (two players)
Richard Danielpour - Cello Concerto
Mario Davidovsky - Festino for guitar, viola, violoncello, contrabass
Karl Jenkins - Adiemus: Songs of Sanctuary
Oliver Knussen - Horn Concerto
György Kurtág - Stele
Tristan Murail - L'esprit des dunes
Einojuhani Rautavaara - Symphony No. 7 Angel of Light
Boris Tishchenko - Symphony No. 7