January
- January 8 – Jamaican authorities open fire on Jimmy Buffett‘s seaplane, Hemisphere Dancer, mistaking it for a drug trafficker’s plane. U2 singer Bono and Island Records executive, Chris Blackwell, are also on the plane; no-one is injured.
- January 18 – Lisa Marie Presley files for divorce from Michael Jackson.
- January 25 – Madonna receives death threats from Argentine Peronists 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 26 – The controversial musical Rent is given its first public performance at the New York Theatre Workshop, a day after the death of its creator, Jonathan Larson.
February
- February 4 – Former Milli-Vanilli band member Rob Pilatus is hospitalized when a man hits him over the head with a baseball bat in Hollywood, while Pilatus is attempting to steal the man’s car.
- February 13
- Tupac Shakur releases the first ever rap double album, All Eyez on Me, one of the most influential albums in hip hop history. All Eyez on Me achieves platinum sales in just four hours and reaches No. 1 on the Billboard 200 charts.
- February 19 – Jarvis Cocker disrupts a performance by Michael Jackson at the BRIT Awards. During an elaborate staging of “Earth Song” Cocker crashed the stage, lifted his shirt and pointed his bottom in Jackson’s direction before getting into a scuffle with security. Cocker later stated that his actions were “a form of protest at the way Michael Jackson sees himself as some kind of Christ-like figure with the power of healing”.
- February 20
- Snoop Dogg and his bodyguard are acquitted of first degree murder. The jury deadlocks on voluntary manslaughter charges and a mistrial is declared.
- Storytellers premieres on VH1. The first episodes features Ray Davies.
- February 22 – MCA Records buys half of Interscope Records. Time Warner had owned half of Interscope until September 1995 when it sold off its share due to political pressure for the explicit lyrics of the label’s gangsta rap artists.
March
- March 16 – Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men‘s 16th consecutive week stay at No. 1 in the American charts with “One Sweet Day” ends when Celine Dion‘s “Because You Loved Me” reaches #1. “One Sweet Day” enjoyed the longest consecutive stay at No. 1 in the Billboard Hot 100‘s history.
- March 28 – Phil Collins announces that he is leaving Genesis to focus on his solo career.
April
- April 3 – M.C. Hammer files for bankruptcy.
- April 16 – Madonna announces that she is four months pregnant by Carlos Leon, her then boyfriend and trainer..
May
- May 8
- In Los Angeles, a judge rules against Tommy Lee and wife, actress Pamela Anderson Lee, in their attempt to keep Penthouse from publishing still photos taken from an X-rated home movie that was stolen from their home.
- May 30 – Depeche Mode leader Dave Gahan is arrested upon his release from hospital, having overdosed on a heroin and cocaine ‘speedball’ in a Los Angeles hotel room and been pronounced clinically dead for two minutes in an ambulance. Gahan is ordered by the court to complete a nine-month rehabilitation.
June
- June 25 – Jay-Z released his Classic Debut LP “Reasonable Doubt”.
- June 26 – Sammy Hagar leaves Van Halen.
July
- July 8 – The Spice Girls release their debut single “Wannabe” in the United Kingdom. The song proves to be a global hit, hitting number 1 in 31 countries and becoming not only the biggest can a female buy viagra selling debut single by an all-female group but also the biggest-selling single by an all-female group of all time.
August
- August 1 – MTV2 is launched. The first video played is “Where It’s At” by Beck.
September
- September 4 – At the MTV Video Music Awards, Van Halen makes a surprise appearance with original singer David Lee Roth.
- September 7
- Rapper Tupac Shakur is shot one time whilst being driven from the MGM Grand Hotel along Sunset Strip in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, after seeing the allegedly fixed Mike Tyson versus Bruce Seldon boxing match, in what is apparently a drive-by shooting.
- Michael Jackson starts the HIStory World Tour.
- September 10 – Wal-Mart announces it will not be carrying Sheryl Crow‘s upcoming self titled album 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.”
- September 11 – David Bowie‘s single “Telling Lies” becomes the first song offered as a digital single by a major record label (Virgin Records). Bowie launches the single by hosting an online chat in which he and two other people pretending to be him answer questions from the audience; Bowie tells the truth, while the other two are “telling lies”.
- 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 – Seven months after the release of the epic ‘All Eyez on Me‘, Tupac Shakur was pronounced dead at 4:03 pm as a result of injuries sustained 6 days earlier in a second Murder attempt on his life.
October
- October 27 – Pop-Up Video premieres on VH1.
- October 28 – MTV India is launched.
- October 29
- Slash announces in a faxed statement that he is officially leaving Guns N’ Roses.
November
- November 12 – Eminem releases his debut studio album “Infinite”
December
- December 31 – The twenty-fifth annual New Year’s Rockin’ Eve special airs on ABC, with appearances by Shawn Colvin, KC & the Sunshine Band, Spice Girls, Squirrel Nut Zippers and Usher.
Grammy Winners
- Record of the Year
- Babyface (producer) & Eric Clapton for “Change the World“
- Album of the Year
- Roy Bittan, Jeff Bova, David Foster, Humberto Gatica, Jean-Jacques Goldman, Rick Hahn, Dan Hill, John Jones, Aldo Nova, Rick Nowels, Steven Rinkoff, Billy Steinberg, Jim Steinman, Ric Wake (producers) & Celine Dion for Falling Into You
- Song of the Year
- Gordon Kennedy, Wayne Kirkpatrick & Tommy Sims (songwriters) for “Change the World” performed by Eric Clapton & Babyface / Wynonna
- Best New Artist
- Best Female R&B Vocal Performance
- Best Male R&B Vocal Performance
- Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal
- Fugees for “Killing Me Softly“
- Best R&B Song
- Babyface for “Exhale (Shoop Shoop)” performed by Whitney Houston
- Best R&B Album
American Music Awards
| Subcategory | Winner | Nominees |
|---|---|---|
| Favorite Pop/Rock Male Artist | Eric Clapton | Bryan Adams Seal |
| Favorite Pop/Rock Female Artist | Alanis Morissette | Mariah Carey Celine Dion |
| Favorite Pop/Rock Band/Duo/Group | Hootie & The Blowfish | Fugees Dave Matthews Band |
| Favorite Pop/Rock Album | Jagged Little Pill – Alanis Morissette | Anthology – The Beatles Daydream – Mariah Carey |
| Favorite Pop/Rock New Artist | Jewel | Donna Lewis No Doubt |
AMAs Soul/R&B Category
| Subcategory | Winner | Nominees |
|---|---|---|
| Favorite Soul/R&B Male Artist | Keith Sweat | D’Angelo R. Kelly |
| Favorite Soul/R&B Female Artist | Toni Braxton | Brandy Mariah Carey |
| Favorite Soul/R&B Band, Duo, or Group | New Edition | Fugees |
| Favorite Soul/R&B Album | Secrets – Toni Braxton | Daydream – Mariah Carey Keith Sweat – Keith Sweat |
| Favorite Soul/R&B New Artist | D’Angelo | Deborah Cox Tony Rich Project |