1996 in music

Events

January 8 - Madonna's stalker, Robert Hoskins is found guilty and convicted on 5 charges of assault, stalking, and threatening to kill her.
January 16 - Jamaican authorities open fire on Jimmy Buffett's seaplane, mistaking it for a drug trafficker's plane. U2 singer Bono was also on the plane, but neither singer was injured.
January 18 - Lisa Marie Presley files for divorce from Michael Jackson.
January 25 - Madonna receives death threats from Argentine conservatives who are enraged and insulted that she is playing Eva Peron in Evita. After she arrives in Argentina, over 50 walls throughout the city have been spray-painted with the words: Viva Evita! Fuera Madonna! (Long Live Evita! Get Out, Madonna!).
January 28 - Chris Isaak makes a guest appearance on the television show Friends.
January 29 - KISS reveals to the world that they are reunited with original members Ace Frehley and Peter Criss with a surprise appearance on the American Music Awards. KISS steals the show when they take to the stage in full makeup and costume for the first time since 1980. The band takes to the road and becomes the highest grossing tour of 1996, selling out their first show at Tiger Stadium in 43 minutes.
January 29 - Garth Brooks refuses to accept his American Music Award for "Favorite Overall Artist". Brooks says that Hootie and the Blowfish had done more for music that year than he did.
February 4 - Former Milli-Vanilli member Rob Pilatus is hospitalized when a man hits him over the head with a baseball bat in Hollywood, California. Pilatus was attempting to steal the man's car.
February 14 - The Artist Formerly Known As Prince marries backup singer Mayte Garcia.
February 20 - Snoop Doggy Dogg and his bodyguard are acquitted of first degree murder. The jury deadlocks on voluntary manslaughter charges and a mistrial is declared.
March 4 - The Beatles' second reunion song is released, as part of their first reunion since the band's breakup 26 years earlier. The song is simply a finished version of a John Lennon demo from 1980; a song called Real Love.
March 13 - Ramones fans riot in Buenos Aires, Argentina after waiting all night for concert tickets only to find out that the show had been sold out.
March 16 - Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men ends its 16th consecutive week at No. 1 with "One Sweet Day". It is the longest consecutive week stay at No. 1 in Billboard Hot 100 history.
March 18 - The Sex Pistols announce that they are reuniting for a 20th anniversary tour.
March 28 - Phil Collins announces that he is leaving Genesis to focus on his solo career.
April 3 - M.C. Hammer files for bankruptcy.
April 4 - The Grateful Dead's Bob Weir and Jerry Garcia's widow, Deborah, scatter part of Garcia's ashes in the Ganges River in India.
April 15 - The remaining part of Jerry Garcia's ashes are scattered near the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California.
April 16 - Madonna announces that she is 4-months pregnant by Carlos Leon, her boyfriend and trainer.
April 24 - This Train, Rick Elias, Jimmy A, Phil Keaggy, Carolyn Arends, Third Day & Ashley Cleveland perform a tribute concert for Rich Mullins at Nashville's Cafe Milano. Speakers included Reunion Records executive Terry Hemmings, record producer Reed Arvin, disc jockey Jon Rivers, & author Brennan Manning.
May - The Galway Early Music Festival is launched in Ireland.
May 8 - In Los Angeles, California, a judge rules against Tommy Lee and wife actress Pamela Anderson Lee in their attempt to keep Penthouse magazine from publishing still photos taken from an X-rated home movie which was stolen from their home.
May 25 - Brad Nowell lead singer of the band Sublime is found dead of a heroin overdose in his San Francisco motel room.
June 21 - The Sex Pistols start their reunion tour in Lahtis, Finland.
July - The Smashing Pumpkins drummer, Jimmy Chamberlin, is arrested for possession of a controlled substance. The other band members fire him because they said his "insidious battle with drugs and alcohol" had nearly ruined everything for the band.
July 11 - Robert Simpson's second string quintet premiered at the Cheltenham International Festival (by the Maggini Quartet with Pal Banda, cellist. ^*).
August 1 - MTV2 makes its original launch.
August 6 - The Ramones play their last ever show at Lollapalooza.
Launch of the Proms in the Park event in London.
September 7 - Rapper Tupac Shakur is shot 4 times in Las Vegas, Nevada while leaving the MGM Grand hotel, after seeing the Mike Tyson vs. Bruce Seldon boxing match, in what is apparently a drive-by shooting.
September 12 - Controversy follows The Eagles when the band dedicates "Peaceful Easy Feeling" to Saddam Hussein at a United States Democratic Party fundraiser held in Los Angeles.
September 13 - Tupac Shakur died in hospital after his wounds from the Las Vegas, Nevada MGM Grand shooting.
November 8 - After having first premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January, the film Hype!, a documentary on the Seattle grunge scene, opens to general audiences
November 24 - Crowded House plays its final concert on the steps of the Sydney Opera House in front of an audience of almost 100,000. Proceeds from this concert support the Sydney Children's Hospital.
December 7 - The Sex Pistols finish their reunion tour in Santiago, Chile.
Sheryl Crow's self titled album is banned from Wal-Mart stores because of the lyric "Watch out sister, watch out brother/watch our children while they kill each other/with a gun they bought at Wal-Mart Discount Stores".
Slash leaves Guns N' Roses, citing musical differences with singer Axl Rose, leaving Axl as the sole remaining original member of the band.
The Monkees embark on their 30th Anniversary Reunion Tour
Sum 41 forms, 41 days into the summer.
All Systems Go! forms
Chevelle forms
Dashboard Confessional forms
Linkin Park forms
Me First and the Gimme Gimmes forms
Orgy forms
The Spice Girls form and their career skyrockets with their debut album Spice and its lead single "Wannabe". They immediately become a success in the UK, but would have to wait until 1997 till they achieved fame in the U.S.
Imperial Drag forms (from members of acclaimed alternative power-pop band Jellyfish)
Sublime disbands (due to lead singer Brad Nowell's death)
Coal Chamber's career begins
Jay-Z's musical career begins
Poison reunites
Singer Tori Amos is sued when a man crashes his car after being distracted by a billboard advertising her album; the billboard featured a photo of Amos breastfeeding a piglet.
David Bowie's single "Telling Lies" becomes the first song offered as a free digital download by a major record label (Virgin Records).
The Dutch symphonic metal band Within Temptation forms.
Arrested Development disband
Take That disband
Jawbreaker split.
Ned's Atomic Dustbin split.
The Pogues disband.
Belly split.
Heavenly disband after the suicide of drummer/songwriter Matthew Fletcher.
Lush disband after the suicide of drummer Chris Acland.
The Stone Roses split.