Feature Year: 1996 (Part 1 – 9a) (Part 2 – 9p) ET @RadioMax #1996

January 8 – Robert Hoskins is found guilty and convicted on five charges of assault, stalking, and threatening to kill Madonna.
January 16 – At the trial of two American teenagers, Nicholaus McDonald and Brian Bassett, for the murder of Bassett’s parents and young brother, defense lawyers attempt to lay the blame for the murders on the fact the pair had been listening to “Israel’s Son” by Silverchair prior to the crimes, which are dubbed the “Israel’s Son Murders”. Murmur Records released an official response, stating that Silverchair do not condone violence of any kind and that the song “seeks to criticize violence and war by portraying them in all their horror.” 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 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 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.
January 28 – Chris Isaak makes a guest appearance on the television show Friends.
January 29 – La Fenice opera house in Venice, Italy, is destroyed by fire. Kiss reveals that they have reunited with original members Ace Frehley and Peter Criss, with a surprise appearance on the American Music Awards. The band took to the podium in full makeup and costume for the first time since 1983. 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 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. Take That formally announce that they are splitting up.
February 14 – The Artist Formerly Known As Prince marries backup singer Mayte Garcia.
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 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 a finished version of “Real Love”, a John Lennon demo from 1980.
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’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 18 – The Sex Pistols announce that they will be reuniting for a 20th anniversary tour.
March 28 – Phil Collins announces that he is leaving Genesis to focus on his solo career.
April – Roberto Alagna marries Angela Gheorghiu backstage at the New York Metropolitan Opera.
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 10 – Alice in Chains plays at Majestic Theatre in NYC for a MTV unplugged record and video to be released in July.
April 15 – The remaining part of Jerry Garcia’s ashes are scattered near the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.
April 16 – Madonna announces that she is four months pregnant by Carlos Leon, her then 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, and author Brennan Manning.
April 28 – Oasis play the second of two gigs in Maine Road, home of Manchester City F.C., featured on the video “…There and Then”. The Galway Early Music Festival is launched in Ireland.
May 8 – In Los Angeles, 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 that was stolen from their home.
May 11 – A 17-year old fan is crushed in the festival seating section at a concert by The Smashing Pumpkins in Dublin, Ireland, despite the presence of 110 security guards and repeated admonishments from the band telling the crowd to stop surging towards the stage. The fan dies of her injuries the next day and the band cancels that night’s show in Belfast as a result.
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 9-month rehabilitation.
June 2 – Alice Cooper performs at Sammy Hagar’s club, Cabo Wabo, in Mexico. It was recorded and released the next year as a live album.
June 12 – The final of the Eurovision Young Musicians 1996 competition is held in Lisbon, Portugal. The winner is German violinist and pianist Julia Fischer.
June 15 and 16 – The first Tibetan Freedom Concerts are held in San Francisco.
June 19 – Japanese duo Chage and Aska become the first Asian group to participate in MTV Unplugged.
June 21 – The Sex Pistols start their reunion tour in Lahti, Finland.
June 26 – Sammy Hagar leaves Van Halen.
June 28 – Kiss kicks off the Alive/Worldwide reunion tour at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. It’s the first tour by the original lineup of the band since 1979.
July 3 – Alice in Chains performs their last concert with lead singer Layne Staley in Kansas City, Missouri while touring with Kiss (band).
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 selling debut single by an all-female group but also the biggest-selling single by an all-female group of all time.
July 11 – Robert Simpson’s second string quintet receives its première at the Cheltenham International Festival by the Maggini Quartet with Pal Banda, cellist.
July 13 – Phil Anselmo of Pantera overdoses on heroin after a Texas homecoming gig.
July 19 – The Proms in the Park event is launched in London, UK.
July 27 – Adrian Erlandsson & Patrik Jensen form The Haunted.
August 1 – MTV2 is launched. The first video played is “Where It’s At” by Beck.
August 6 – Influential punk rock group The Ramones play their final show at The Palace in Hollywood.
August 10 & 11 – Oasis play the largest free-standing gigs in British history at Knebworth House, Stevenage.
August 27 – Aaliyah released her album One in a Million
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 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.”
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.
September 21 – Meg White marries John Anthony Gillis, who took Meg’s name and changed his name to Jack White. They would form The White Stripes one year later.
September 24 – Weezer releases its second record, “Pinkerton”. Due to its darker vibe and its departure from their earlier style, it sold less well and was critically panned. However, it has since become arguably the biggest cult record of the decade, topping “best of” lists by different critics.
September 27 – Sasha and Digweed release Northern Exposure, which has gone on to be considered one of the greatest dance albums of all time.
October 4 – Eddie and Alex Van Halen announce that David Lee Roth will not be continuing as lead singer of Van Halen and that Gary Cherone will be the band’s next vocalist.
October 4 – C-Block releases the single “So Strung Out”, which reaches fourth chart position in Germany.
October 6 – Country singers Faith Hill and Tim McGraw get married.
October 14 – Madonna gives birth to daughter Lourdes Maria Ciccone Leon.
October 15 – Korn’s second studio album, Life is Peachy, debuts at number 3 on the Billboard 200 and goes on to sell 6 million copies worldwide.
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 8 – After having been premièred 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 farewell concert on the steps of the Sydney Opera House in Australia, in front of an audience of almost 200,000. Proceeds from this concert support the Sydney Children’s Hospital.
December 7 – The Sex Pistols finish their reunion tour in Santiago, Chile.
December 16 – Max Cavalera leaves Sepultura because of Sepultura not renewing his wife Gloria’s contract as manager as well as being overwhelmed by the death of his stepson.
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.

Also in 1996
Jesper Strömblad leaves Hammerfall.
House of Pain breaks up which leads to DJ Lethal joining Limp Bizkit.
The Monkees embark on their 30th Anniversary Reunion Tour.
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.
Coal Chamber signs with Roadrunner Records and Mikey “Bug” Cox replaces John Tor.
The Telecommunications Act of 1996 is passed in the United States, deregulating the number of radio and TV stations that any one broadcaster can own.

Source: Wikipedia / Edited by Ron Kovacs

Feature Year: 1995 (Part 1 – 9a) (Part 2 – 9p) ET @RadioMax #1995

January 1 – Mo Ostin steps down as chairman and CEO of Warner Music Group.
January 8 – Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder hosts “Self-Pollution Radio”, a four-and-a-half hour radio broadcast with live performances by Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Mudhoney, and others. Any station with a satellite receiver could pick up and carry the program.
January 14 – Perry Farrell is arrested for cocaine possession, being under the influence and possession of a syringe at a Los Angeles hotel.
January 18 – Jerry Garcia crashes his rented BMW into a guard rail near Mill Valley, California, USA, but is not injured in the accident.
January 27 – Live from the House of Blues premieres on TBS.
February 1 – Welsh rock band Manic Street Preachers band member Richey James Edwards goes missing after leaving the London Embassy Hotel, UK at 7 am.
February 7 – Rapper Tupac Shakur is sentenced to one-and-a-half to four-and-a-half years in prison on a sexual abuse charge.[5] He was later released on appeal.
February 12 – Iron Butterfly bassist Philip Taylor Kramer disappeared from Highway 101, USA as he tried to get back home from the Los Angeles International Airport. He tried calling his family and 911 for help, but received none.
February 14 – Richey Edwards’ Vauxhall Cavalier is found abandoned in a service station on the Bristol side of the Severn Bridge in the UK, with evidence that he had been living in it. Although he was near a notorious suicide spot, there is still no evidence to suggest he committed suicide.
February 19 – Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee marries Baywatch actress Pamela Anderson on a beach in Cancún, Mexico.
February 25 – Lyle Lovett suffers a broken collarbone in an accident while riding his motorcycle in Mexico. The accident prevented Lovett from attending the Grammy Awards (he ended up winning two awards).
March 1 – R.E.M. drummer Bill Berry leaves the stage during a concert in Switzerland after suffering a brain aneurysm. He undergoes successful brain surgery two days later in Switzerland.
March 8 – Former Helloween drummer, Ingo Schwichtenberg, commits suicide by jumping under a subway train.
March 14 – With the release of Me Against the World, Tupac Shakur became the first male solo artist to have a number one album on the American Billboard 200 chart while in prison. The album remained at the top of the charts for four weeks.
March 26 – Rapper Eric Lynn Wright, better known as Eazy-E, dies of complications from AIDS.
March 28 – Lyle Lovett and actress Julia Roberts announce their separation after 21 months of marriage
March 31 – Tejano singer Selena Quintanilla Perez is shot and killed by Yolanda Saldivar, her former personal assistant and former fan club president, who had recently been fired for embezzling money from the fan club. During a performance in Auburn Hills, Michigan, USA, Jimmy Page narrowly escapes being stabbed by a man who rushes the stage with a knife. The man was tackled by security guards who were injured in the brawl.
April 17 – Ed Rosenblatt replaces David Geffen as chairman and CEO of Geffen Records.
April 29 – Tupac Shakur marries Keisha Morris inside the Clinton Correctional Facility, New York, USA. Shakur was serving a four-and-a-half year jail term on sexual assault charges. They would later divorce.
May 5 – Former Guns N’ Roses drummer Steven Adler is arraigned on a felony count of possession of heroin, in addition to two misdemeanor drug charges.
May 15 – Stone Temple Pilots singer Scott Weiland is arrested outside a motel in Pasadena, California for possession of heroin and cocaine.
May 19 – Sam Phillips makes her motion picture debut in the Bruce Willis action film, Die Hard with a Vengeance. Phillips played one of the main terrorists in the film.
June 1 – Alan Wilder leaves Depeche Mode.
June 13 – Icelandic singer Bjork releases Post, her critically acclaimed sophomore effort as a solo artist. The musically diverse album contained some of her most popular work to date, including Army of Me, Hyperballad, It’s Oh So Quiet, and I Miss You.
June 16 – Michael Jackson released his first double-album HIStory, which became the best-selling multiple-album of all-time, with 35 millions copies (70 million copies) sold worldwide.
July 3 – The members of TLC file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, declaring debts of over $3.5 million.
July 9 – The Grateful Dead performs its final show with Jerry Garcia at Soldier Field in Chicago.
July 14 – George Michael and Sony Music complete their acrimonious split. In 1994 Michael lost a lawsuit seeking to be released from his Sony contract, but he vowed to never sing for the company again. Michael will now record for the new label DreamWorks Records.
July 17 – Robbie Williams announces he is quitting Take That.
August 9 – Jerry Garcia of The Grateful Dead passes away of a heart attack at age 53. In cities all over the United States, deadheads spontaneously gather to mourn his death and celebrate his life. Kiss performs on MTV Unplugged. The band’s current lineup is joined by original members Peter Criss and Ace Frehley, setting the stage for the band’s reunion tour the following year.
August 12 – The Offspring’s Dexter Holland marries hairstylist Kristine Luna, who co-wrote one of the band’s songs “Session”.
August 22 – Rancid release their third studio album …And Out Come the Wolves. Along with Green Day’s Dookie and The Offspring’s Smash (both released a year before), this album helped revive mainstream popular interest in punk rock in the mid-1990s, and becomes one of the best-selling independent records of all time. …And Out Come the Wolves eventually goes platinum.
August 28 – Oingo Boingo announce that they will break up following a series of Halloween shows in Los Angeles, California, USA.[citation needed] Lead singer Danny Elfman has established a career scoring motion pictures. The official end of Sarah Records is marked with a farewell party featuring live sets by many of the label’s acts. It was the last live appearance by The Orchids before they split up.
August 29 – Al Jourgensen and Mike Scaccia of Ministry are arrested for heroin possession in two separate incidents in Texas.
September 1 – The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame opens in Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
September 5 – The LuminişVilla, George Enescu Memorial House, becomes an official memorial to the composer.
September 8 – For Squirrels vocalist Jack Vigliatura, bassist Bill White and manager Tim Bender are all killed in a van accident near Savannah, Georgia.
October – The first International Guitar Festival is held in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
September 27 – Time Warner agrees to sell back its 50 percent share of Interscope Records. The media giant had come under intense fire for the explicit lyrics of rap artists on the label.
October 2 – Oasis release their second album, (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?. The album spawns several number one singles around the world and eventually becomes the third best-selling album in the UK ever.
October 11 – Tupac Shakur is released from Clinton Correctional Facility, New York, USA, on US$1.4 million bail which was posted by Suge Knight. In return Tupac signed a three-album deal with Knight’s Death Row Records.
October 21 – Blind Melon singer Shannon Hoon is found dead of a cocaine overdose at the age of 28.
October 23 – Def Leppard enters the Guinness Book of World Records by performing three shows in three continents in the same day, playing Tangier, Morocco, London, England and Vancouver, Canada.
November 6 – Cher releases her first album in four years, It’s A Man’s World, her first original recording for Warner Music. The album would get its U.S. debut in June 1996. Queen releases their final studio album that includes contributions from all original members. It goes on to be a huge success, selling 20 million copies worldwide.
November 21 – The Offspring release their self-titled debut album (which originally six years earlier) on CD for the first time. This proves to be the band’s final release on Epitaph Records, as they left Epitaph and signed with Columbia Records the next year. Enrique Iglesias releases his debut album recorded in Spanish. The record tops the Latin album charts and would go on to win a Grammy and produce five No. 1 singles on Billboard’s Hot Latin Tracks chart.
December 4 – The Beatles release “Free As A Bird” as their first new single in over 20 years.
December 21 – Madonna is subpoenaed to testify on January 3, 1996 against her stalker, Robert Hoskins, at the Criminal Courts Building in Los Angeles, California, USA. Hoskins was shot by a security guard outside her estate in Los Angeles in May 1995 for trespassing on her property and threatening to marry or kill her.
December 31 – The twenty-fourth annual New Year’s Rockin’ Eve special airs on ABC, with appearances by Brandy, Goo Goo Dolls, Kool & The Gang, Martin Page and The Rembrandts.

Also in 1995
In Flames hires Björn Gelotte & Anders Fridén.
Sam Phillips makes her motion picture debut in the Bruce Willis action film, Die Hard with a Vengeance. Phillips played one of the main terrorists in the film.
Three members of R.E.M., Bill Berry, Mike Mills and Michael Stipe, fall ill while on the band’s “Monster Tour”. Berry suffers an aneurysm which required immediate surgery, Stipe suffers a hiatus hernia and Mills undergoes an appendectomy.
Paul D’Amour leaves Tool.
John Denver – The Wildlife Concert (US single: “For You”)