Wednesday 9pm ET: MaxMusic 21st Century – 2005 (Part 1)

January 1 – In most of Europe, copyright expired on a number of classic pop and rock’n’roll songs recorded in 1954 and earlier, including Bill Haley’s “Rock Around the Clock”, and “Only You” by The Platters.
January 7 – Welsh punk band Mclusky officially announce their disbanding via their website. Weeks later, Welsh noisecore/punk band Jarcrew disband due to their drummer becoming a Jehovah’s Witness – remnants of the two bands later went on to join forces and become Future of the Left.
January 13 – Duran Duran begins their Astronaut in London, England.
January 17 – Prior to missing 2 live shows, Mike Tempesta is officially no longer part of Powerman 5000 due to fighting with the band.
January 20 – Leonard Slatkin conducts the debut concert of Philip Glass’s Symphony No. 7 “Toltec”.
January 22 – The Tsunami Relief concert is held at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, Wales – the largest live music event in the UK since the Live Aid concert of 1985. Performers included Madonna, Eric Clapton, Jools Holland, Manic Street Preachers, Lulu, Aled Jones, Charlotte Church, Katherine Jenkins, Feeder, Snow Patrol, Liberty X.
January 29 – Avril Lavigne, Chantal Kreviazuk, the Barenaked Ladies, Raine Maida, and Sarah McLachlan conduct a concert in Vancouver, British Columbia, for tsunami relief.
January 31
Tiesto releases a new single from his album Just Be entitled Adagio for Strings.
Jon Levasseur leaves Cryptopsy, saying he has lost interest in Extreme Music.
February 7 – The BRIT Awards are held in London. Scissor Sisters, Keane, Franz Ferdinand, and Joss Stone are among the winners.
February 8 – Matchbox Twenty frontman Rob Thomas releases Lonely No More, his first solo hit. It peaked at #1 in Adult Contemporary.
February 13 – The 47th Grammy Awards are held in Staples Center, Los Angeles, California. Ray Charles become the big winner at the ceremony. Britney Spears earned her first Grammy in the category of Best Dance Recording for her hit single Toxic.
February 15 – Sonny Mayo replaces Clint Lowery in Sevendust.
February 22
After being silent since late 2004, Blink-182 announce that they will be taking an indefinite hiatus, the news comes as a big shock for fans. According to guitarist Tom DeLonge, the band will not come completely inactive.
Brian Welch, guitarist of KoЯn, leaves the band after converting to Christianity.
February 28 – Static-X fires Tripp Eisen because of his arrest for sex offenses involving a minor.
March 7 – Koichi Fukuda rejoins Static-X on guitar after 5 years away from the band. Fukuda replaces Tripp Eisen, who was arrested twice in February over two separate charges of sexual intercourse with underage girls.
March 26 – Australian drummer of Crowded House, Paul Hester, is found dead in a Melbourne Park.
March 29 – Mariah Carey releases her second single, “We Belong Together”, from her tenth studio album, The Emancipation of Mimi. The song would hold the number one position on the Billboard Hot 100 for 14 weeks, the highest record for the entire decade. Will Smith releases his fourth studio album (first under Interscope Records) Lost and Found.