Monday 6pm: MaxMusic 20th Century – 1996 (Part 1)

Robert Hoskins

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 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.
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, briefly explaining his belief that all music is “made up of a lot of people”.
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 dancer Mayte Garcia who is fifteen years his junior.
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 1
Roberto Alagna marries Angela Gheorghiu backstage at the New York Metropolitan Opera.
John Squire announces his departure from The Stone Roses.
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 New York City 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 17 – Carlo Bergonzi gives his American farewell concert at Carnegie Hall.
April 24 – This Train, Rick Elias, Jimmy A, Phil Keaggy, Carolyn Arends, Third Day and 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”.

Friday 1pm: MaxMusic 20th Century – 1995 (Part 3)

We continue our spot light on the music of 1995.

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 he dies one month later of a heart attack at the age of 53.
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.
July 18 – Selena becomes the first Hispanic singer to have an album debut and peak at number-one on the US Billboard 200 chart. She also becomes the first and only female singer to place five albums simultaneously on the Billboard 200 chart.
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. 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.[citation needed]
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 Luminiş Villa, 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.
September 15 – Alternative-country magazine No Depression publishes its first issue, with Son Volt on the cover.
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
The first International Guitar Festival is held in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
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 10 – Mariah Carey performed at Madison Square Garden to promote her album Daydream.
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, British Columbia, Canada.
October 24 – The Smashing Pumpkins released their album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
October 30 – Oasis released their single Wonderwall

Wednesday 6pm: MaxMusic 20th Century – 1995 (Part 2)

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. 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 13 – Radiohead album The Bends is released.
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 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. The event was called “Black Friday” by Hispanics worldwide.
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.

Monday 6pm: MaxMusic 20th Century – 1994 (Part 1)

January 19 – Bryan Adams becomes the first major Western music star to perform in Vietnam since the end of the Vietnam War.
January 25 – Alice in Chains release their Jar of Flies album which makes its US chart début at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, becoming the first ever EP to do so.
January 29 – The Supremes’ Mary Wilson is injured when her Jeep hits a freeway median and flips over just outside Los Angeles, USA. Wilson’s 14-year-old son is killed in the accident.
February 1 – Green Day release their breakthrough album Dookie, ushering in the mid-1990s punk revival. Dookie eventually achieves diamond certification.
February 7 – Blind Melon’s lead singer Shannon Hoon is forced to leave the American Music Awards ceremony because of his loud and disruptive behavior. Hoon is later charged with battery, assault, resisting arrest, and destroying a police station phone.
February 11 – The three surviving members of The Beatles secretly reunite to begin recording additional music for a few of John Lennon’s old unfinished demos, presented to Paul McCartney by Yoko Ono, with Jeff Lynne producing. The track, “Free As A Bird”, is released as a single in late 1995 as part of the exhaustive Beatles Anthology project, reaching #2 in the UK and #6 in the United States.
February 14 – The Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia marries Deborah Koons.
February 23 – Eddie Van Halen, Chris Isaak, and B.B. King attend the ground breaking ceremony for the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino takes place in Paradise, Nevada, USA.
February 26 – The Sanremo Music Festival ends with victory for Aleandro Baldi in the “Big Artists” category, for the song “Passerà”
March 1
Selena becomes the first Tejano music singer to win a Grammy Award.
Nirvana play their final concert, in Munich.
Frank Sinatra receives the Grammy Legend Award. Sinatra’s acceptance speech is cut short. Other artists criticize the producer’s decision during the show, and Billy Joel takes extra time to perform his song, The River of Dreams, noting that he is wasting valuable air time.
March 3 – In Rome, Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain lapses into a coma after overdosing on Rohypnol and champagne.
March 5 – Grace Slick is arrested for pointing a shotgun at police in her Tiburon, California, home.
March 7 – The United States Supreme Court decision Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc. rules that parody can qualify as fair use. The case was spurred by 2 Live Crew releasing a parody of the Roy Orbison hit “Oh, Pretty Woman” without a license from the publishing firm Acuff-Rose Music.
March 8 – Nine Inch Nails release their second studio album The Downward Spiral. It would go on to sell over 3 million copies and be credited with helping bring industrial rock music into the mainstream.
March 13 – Selena releases her final Spanish album Amor Prohibido. Its production had been delayed because of the launch of Selena’s fashion clothing line and boutiques, and her “Selena Live!” tour in support of Live!.
March 18
Courtney Love calls the police, fearing that her husband, Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain, is suicidal. Police confiscate four guns and twenty-five boxes of ammo from Cobain’s home.
Bassist Darryl Jones replaces Bill Wyman in The Rolling Stones,
March 30 – Pink Floyd embark on what would be their last world tour before their breakup. The record-breaking tour supports their Division Bell album, with the band playing to 5,500,000 people in 68 cities and grossing over £150,000,000 (US$186,952,500).
March 31 – Madonna on Late Show with David Letterman: Madonna appears on the Late Show with David Letterman, making headlines with her foul-mouthed, profanity-laced interview. Robin Williams later describes the segment as a “battle of wits with an unarmed woman.”
April 8 – The body of Kurt Cobain, lead singer of Nirvana, is found. Cobain’s death, three days before, is legally declared to be suicide from a self-inflicted gunshot.
April 11 – The Offspring release Smash, which goes on to become the best selling independent album of all time and one of the most influential albums of the 90s.
April 25
Blur releases Parklife, its first album reaching #1 in UK, where it was certified “quadruple platinum”.
Adam Horovitz of the Beastie Boys is sentenced to 200 hours of community service for attacking a television cameraman during funeral services for actor River Phoenix in November 1993.
April 26 – Grace Slick pleads guilty to having pointed a shotgun at police officers on March 5.
April 27 – The legendary Fillmore club reopens in San Francisco with a concert headlined by The Smashing Pumpkins.
April 30 The 39th Eurovision Song Contest takes place in Dublin, Ireland, which becomes the first-ever country to win three consecutive contests. Its winners are Paul Harrington and Charlie McGettigan with “Rock ‘N’ Roll Kids”, written by Brendan Graham. The interval features the first-ever public performance of Riverdance, featuring Michael Flatley and Jean Butler, which developed into the world-famous stage show.

Wednesday 6pm: MaxMusic 20th Century – 1993 (Part 2)

July 7 – Singer Mia Zapata of punk band The Gits is found dead after being beaten, sexually assaulted and strangled in the Capitol Hill district of Seattle. Her murder goes unsolved for a decade until DNA evidence leads to an arrest and conviction.
July 17 – Guns N’ Roses play the final gig on their Use Your Illusion Tour. This will be the last time the original band plays together on stage until 2016.
July 18 – At a Lollapalooza concert in Philadelphia, Rage Against the Machine uses their entire 14-minute performance time to protest their single “Killing in the Name” being banned from radio. With only guitar feedback for sound, the group appears on stage naked with the letters “PMRC” painted on their chests and electrical duct tape over their mouths.
July 21 – Ilaiyaraaja becomes the first Asian composer to have a symphony performed by a major UK orchestra (Royal Philharmonic Orchestra).
August 3 – Aharon Gorev’s Klezmer Symphony, the first of its kind, is featured on the opening concert of the sixth annual International Klezmer Festival in Safed, Israel.
August 5 – Singer Natalie Merchant announces on MTV that she is leaving 10,000 Maniacs after 12 years in the band.
August 10 – Mayhem guitarist Euronymous is stabbed to death by fellow band member Varg Vikernes in Oslo, Norway, causing the temporary end of Mayhem.
August 24 – News breaks to the public that Michael Jackson is being investigated on allegations of child molestation.
August 28 – Bruce Dickinson plays his final show with Iron Maiden (until his return in 1999) in London. The show is broadcast on British television, and later released on VHS and DVD.
September 2 – Snoop Dogg and his bodyguard are charged with the August 25 murder of a 20-year-old gang member in a drive-by shooting. They are cleared of the charges in 1996.
September 14 – A civil lawsuit is filed against Michael Jackson by thirteen-year-old Jordan Chandler and his parents, accusing the singer of sexually abusing the boy over the course of their friendship.
September 20 – Depeche Mode becomes among the earliest bands to go on the Internet to interact with fans, as the group holds a question-and-answer session on AOL. The event is marred by technical difficulties as many participants, including the band members themselves, have trouble logging on to the chat.
September 25 – Madonna starts The Girlie Show World Tour in London, England. And visit some countries for the very first time like Brazil, Argentina, Israel, Turkey, Puerto Rico, Mexico and Australia.
September 30 – October 2 – The Abu Ghosh Vocal Music Festival is held, featuring music of Jewish, Christian, and Moslem cultural traditions, and a performance of Handel’s Messiah by the Ave Sol Choir from Riga and the Rehovot Camerata Orchestra directed by Avner Biron.
October 1 – MTV Latin America is launched.
October 1–3 – Annual Australian Bush Music Festival takes place in Glen Innes.
October 17 – Savatage guitarist and co-founder Christopher Michael “Criss” Oliva killed in a car accident by a seven-time drunk driver.[citation needed]
October 31 – Tupac Shakur is arrested and charged with shooting two off-duty police officers in Atlanta. The charges are later dropped.
November 6–7 – The second annual Tooheys Sydney Country Music Festival, is held at Clarendon (Hawkesbury) Racecourse, in Sydney.
November 11 – Michael Jackson ends his Dangerous World Tour in Mexico City, Mexico.
November 12 – Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, responding to an announcement by the Arts Council that they would fund only two of London’s four orchestras starting in 1994, confirms he plans to hand back his knighthood and consider leaving the country if this support were to be withdrawn.
November 18 – Nirvana play their unplugged concert in New York for MTV.
November 19 – Pearl Jam singer Eddie Vedder is arrested in New Orleans, USA on charges of public drunkenness after a bar room brawl.
November 19 – Madonna ends her tour in Tokyo, Japan.
November 30 – A new opera house opens in Töölö, Helsinki, Finland.
December 22 – Michael Jackson makes his first public statement regarding the child molestation allegations leveled against him. In a videotaped address, Jackson calls the accusations “totally false” and asks the public to “wait to hear the truth before you label or condemn me.”
December 31 – The 22nd annual New Year’s Rockin’ Eve special airs on ABC, with appearances by Brooks & Dunn, Daryl Hall, Kiss, Joey Lawrence, SWV, and Barry Manilow.

Also in 1993
Anders Fridén quits Dark Tranquillity from his lead vocalist position. Then guitarist/vocalist, Mikael Stanne fills in Fridén’s position while abandoning his guitarist position. The band hires Fredrik Johansson to fill the vacant guitar position.
Rick Astley retires from the music industry at the age of 27 after selling 40 million records in a five-year period.
Jesper Strömblad leaves Ceremonial Oath while Anders Fridén joins the band.
New Order break up whilst on the tour for their album Republic, and apparently do not speak to each other for another 5 years.
Christian rock label Tooth & Nail Records is formed.
Keiko Abe becomes the first woman to be inducted into the Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame.

Saturday 3pm: MaxMusic 20th Century – 1992 (Part 4)

May 6
The first Europäisches Jugendchorfestival,(EJCF) (European Festival of Youth Choirs) is held in Basel, Switzerland. It is decided to make it a triennial event.
Rob Halford announces he is leaving Judas Priest.
Selena releases her album Entre A Mi Mundo which contains her first No. 1 hit, “Como La Flor”.
May 7 – John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers leaves the band prior to the publication of a Rolling Stone magazine cover featuring them; he has to be digitally edited out of the photo. Frusciante returned to the Red Hot Chili Peppers in 1998.
May 11 – A. R. Rahman’s debut film Roja is released. The soundtrack is regarded as a milestone that changed the face of Tamil film music and subsequently contemporary Indian music. Time magazine’s film critic, Richard Corliss, stated in 2005 that the “astonishing debut work parades Rahman’s gift for alchemizing outside influences until they are totally Tamil, totally Rahman,” naming it one of the magazine’s “10 Best Soundtracks” of all time.
June 5 – The Sata Häme Accordion Festival takes place until June 14 in Ikaalinen, Finland.
June 27
Michael Jackson starts the Dangerous World tour, supporting his Dangerous album in Munich, Germany.
Guitarist Stefanie Sargent of up-and-coming punk rock band 7 Year Bitch dies of asphyxiation after returning home from a party in which she had drunk alcohol and taken a small amount of heroin. She was 24.
June 29 – The Northern Accordion Festival takes place in Tornio-Haaparanta, Finland, until July 5.
July–August
July 4
The BudaFest Summer Opera and Ballet Festival is launched in Budapest, Hungary.
Mark Heard suffers a heart attack while performing at the Cornerstone Festival in Illinois, USA. Heard goes to hospital immediately after finishing his set, but dies two weeks after being discharged in August.
July 10 – Seinäjoki (Finland) Tango Festival (to July 12).
July 11 – “November Rain” by Guns N’ Roses enters the world record books when it becomes the longest single, at 8 minutes, 57 seconds, to reach the US Top 20. The single’s video has a budget of over US$1.5 million, becoming the most expensive at the time.
July 12 – Opening of the Chamber-Music Festival of Kuhmo, Finland (until July 26).
July 18 – Whitney Houston marries Bobby Brown.
July 28 – Ice-T announces that the controversial track “Cop Killer” is being pulled from Body Count’s self-titled album.
August 2
Rozalla becomes the first artist from Zimbabwe to chart on the US Billboard magazine chart.
Former Beatle George Harrison tells Billboard magazine that he recently discovered that he was born on February 24, and not February 25 as he had thought for most of his life.
Haitian military authorities ban the playing of RAM’s single “Fèy”; first performed at the Port-au-Prince Carnival in February, the song was widely interpreted as an anthem of support for exiled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
American pop-punk band Blink-182 form in the suburbs of San Diego but known as Blink until 1995.
August 3 – Lahti Organ Festival (Finland) (until August 9).
August 5 – Jeff Porcaro, arguably the most highly regarded studio drummer in rock from the mid-’70s to the early ’90s, dies aged 38.
August 8 – During the Guns N’ Roses/Metallica Stadium Tour, Metallica frontman James Hetfield is burned by a pyrotechnics blast during a concert at Montreal’s Olympic Stadium, forcing the group to cancel the second hour of the show. Co-headliners Guns N’ Roses take the stage, but walk off early with Axl Rose complaining of throat problems. The abbreviated show causes angry fans to riot in the streets of Montreal. The tour resumed on August 25, but with a guitar technician replacing Hetfield on guitar for the remainder of the tour.
August 14 – Opening of the Sibelius-Festival in Loviisa, Finland.
August 18 – Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love become parents of a daughter, Frances Bean Cobain.
August 20 – Opening of the Helsinki Festival, with the theme: Music of the Baltics (orchestral and chamber-music concerts, opera productions, song recitals, ballet, theater, jazz, pop, and rock concerts) until September 6.
September 17 – Frank Zappa, in his final professional public appearance, conducts the Ensemble Modern at the Frankfurt Festival in Germany. Zappa, who is seriously ill with prostate cancer, receives a 20-minute ovation.
October 3 – Sinéad O’Connor stirs up controversy when she rips up a picture of the Pope on the US television show, Saturday Night Live.
October 16 – A massive Bob Dylan tribute concert is held at Madison Square Garden in New York. John Cougar Mellencamp, Neil Young, Eric Clapton, June Carter Cash, Johnny Cash and Tracy Chapman are among the many performers, but much attention becomes focused on Sinéad O’Connor, who is loudly booed by much of the audience in response to the Saturday Night Live incident two weeks earlier.
October 20 – Singer-songwriter Madonna releases her fifth studio album, Erotica, which became one of her most controversial albums to date due to overtly sexual content.
October 31
“End of the Road” by Boyz II Men posts a 12th consecutive week at No. 1 in the US charts, ending a 36-year record previously held by Elvis Presley. Boyz II Men’s record was broken on March 6, 1993, by Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You”.
McTeague, an opera based on the Progressive Era-novel by Frank Norris, premieres at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.
November–December
November 9 – Australian-born singer Kylie Minogue ends her working relationship with UK songwriters and record producers Stock Aitken Waterman and the record label PWL.
November 15
Megan Jasper of Sub Pop creates the grunge speak hoax, tricking The New York Times into printing an article on supposed slang used in the grunge scene in Seattle, USA.
Ozzy Osbourne plays the final concert of his “retirement” tour at the Pacific Amphitheatre in Costa Mesa, California. He is joined on stage by his three former Black Sabbath bandmates for a reunion performance. Black Sabbath opened the show with Rob Halford as lead vocalist, filling in for Ronnie James Dio who had left the band days earlier.
The Jacksons: An American Dream, a two-part miniseries based on the Jackson family, premieres on ABC.
November 17 – The soundtrack album of “The Bodyguard”, Whitney Houston’s debut film, is released. The album went on to be certified 17 times platinum by the RIAA and sell 45 million copies worldwide. To date the album is still the best selling soundtrack of all time and also one of the best selling albums of all time.
November 22 – Manchester-based post-punk & electronic music label Factory Records declares bankruptcy. The label had been placed in dire financial straits following the spending of most of their funds by Happy Mondays during the recording of their album Yes Please!, which would end up a commercial failure. Additionally, plans for a buyout from London Records folded when it was discovered that none of Factory’s artists were actually signed onto the label; most of these artists, most notably New Order, would end up signing onto London Records anyways following Factory’s foreclosure.
December 3 – Bill Wyman announces he is quitting The Rolling Stones.
December 31
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau announces his retirement from the stage to an audience at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich.
The twenty-first annual New Year’s Rockin’ Eve special airs on ABC, with appearances by TLC, Bell Biv DeVoe, Slaughter, Jon Secada, Village People and Barry Manilow.

Also in 1992
David Isberg quits Opeth from his vocalist position. Current guitarist Mikael Åkerfeldt fills his position.
Vibe, a new magazine focusing on R&B and hip-hop music, launches with a special Fall preview issue.
The MP3 file format is developed as part of a video compression standard.