1996 in music

Events

• 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 28 - Chris Isaak makes a guest appearance on the television show Friends.
• 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 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 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 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 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.
• June - The Offspring records Ixnay On The Hombre, which will be a blockbuster album on February 4, 1997.
• July - The Smashing Pumpkins drummer, Jimmy Chaimberland[?], is arrested for possession of a controlled substance. The remaining members of the Smashing Pumpkins fire Chaimberland because they said his "insidious battle with drugs and alcohol" had nearly ruined everything for the band.
• 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".
• Dashboard Confessional[?] forms
• Linkin Park forms
• Orgy's forms
• 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.
• Amos's single "Caught a Lite Sneeze" becomes the first song offered as a free digital download by a major record label.

Albums Released

• Boys for Pele - Tori Amos
• 1977 - Ash
• The Gray Race[?] - Bad Religion
• Odelay - Beck
• The Beatles Anthology, volume 2 - The Beatles
• Three Snakes & One Charm - The Black Crowes
• The Great Escape - Blur
• Dance Into the Light[?] - Phil Collins
• Tha Doggfather[?] - Snoop Dogg
• Death Threatz[?] - MC Eith[?]
• Face to Face[?] - Face To Face
• Cat's Clause[?] - The Germs
• Afterlife[?] - The Godfathers[?]
• Jerky Boys 3[?] - Jerky Boys
• Life Is Peachy[?] - Korn
• High/Low - Nada Surf
• Curb[?] - Nickelback
• Hesher[?] - Nickelback
• Beacon Street Collection[?] - No Doubt
• Inxay on the Hombre[?] - The Offspring
• Off Parole[?] - Rappin 4-Tay[?]
• One Hot Minute[?] - Red Hot Chili Peppers
• Da Villain in Black[?] - MC Ren
• Test For Echo[?] - Rush
• One Chord to Another - Sloan
• Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness - The Smashing Pumpkins
• White Light, White Heat, White Trash - Social Distortion
• Emperor Tomato Ketchup[?] - Stereolab
• Sublime[?] - Sublime
• 311 - 311
• Ænima - Tool
• All Eyez on Me[?] - 2Pac
• Supercharged Straight to Hell[?] - The Turbo AC's[?]
• Running on Ice[?] - Vertical Horizon
• Bad Hair Day[?] - Weird Al Yankovic

Top Hits

• "Change the World" - Eric Clapton, written by Wayne Kirkpatrick, Gordon Kennedy[?] and Tommy Sims[?], won a Grammy award for song of the year in 1997
• "Ironic" - Alanis Morissette
• "Free As A Bird" - The Beatles
• "Wonderwall" - Oasis
• "California Love" - 2Pac
• "How Do U Want It" - 2Pac
• "6th Avenue Heartache" - The Wallflowers[?]
• "If It Makes You Happy" - Sheryl Crow
• "Aeroplane" - Red Hot Chili Peppers
• "Give Me One Reason" - Tracy Chapman
• "Macarena" - Los Del Rio[?]
• "Wash Away" - Vertical Horizon
• "All Mixed Up" - 311
• "Down" - 311
• "Can't Get You Off My Mind" - Lenny Kravitz
• "I Want To Come Over" - Melissa Etheridge
• "Professional Widow (Star Trunk Funkin' Mix)" - Tori Amos

Births

Deaths

• February 20 - Toru Takemitsu, composer
• March 4 - Minnie Pearl[?] (84)
• March 15 - Olga Rudge[?] (101), violinist
• March 22 - Don Murray[?], The Turtles
• April 18 - Bernard Edwards[?], Chic, pneumonia
• June 15 - Ella Fitzgerald, jazz singer
• July 17 - Marcel Dadi[?] 45, French country and western guitarist died in the crash of TWA flight 800
• July 29 - Jason Thirsk[?], bass member of Pennywise
• August 13 - David Tudor, pianist and composer
• September 13 - Tupac Shakur, rapper, poet, actor
• November 30 - Tiny Tim, musician

Awards

• The following artists are inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: David Bowie, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Jefferson Airplane, Little Willie John, Pink Floyd, The Shirelles and The Velvet Underground

Grammy Awards

• Grammy Awards of 1996

Country Music Association Awards

Eurovision Song Contest

• Eurovision Song Contest 1996