1996 in music

See also: 1995 in music,
other events of 1996,
1997 in music, 1990s in music and the list of 'years 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 4 - The Beatles' second reunion song is released, as part of their first reuinion since the band's breakup 26 years earlier. The song is simply a finished version of a John Lennon demo from 1980; a song called Real Love.

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 ends its 16th consecutive week at No. 1 with "One Sweet Day". It is the longest consecutive week stay at No. 1 in Billboard Hot 100 history.

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 - The Galway Early Music Festival is launched in Ireland.

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.

July - The Smashing Pumpkins drummer, Jimmy Chamberlin, is arrested for possession of a controlled substance. The other band members fire him because they said his "insidious battle with drugs and alcohol" had nearly ruined everything for the band.

August 6 - The Ramones play their last ever show at Lollapalooza.

Launch of the Proms in the Park event in London.

September 7 - Rapper Tupac Shakur is shot 4 times in Las Vegas, Nevada while leaving the MGM Grand hotel, after seeing the Mike Tyson vs. Bruce Seldon boxing match, in what is apparently a drive-by shooting.

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 - Tupac Shakur died in hospital after his wounds from the Las Vegas, Nevada MGM Grand shooting.

November 8 - After having first premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January, the film Hype, a documentary on the Seattle grunge scene, opens to general audiences

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".

The Monkees embark on their 30th Anniversary Reunion Tour

All Systems Go forms

Chevelle forms

Dashboard Confessional forms

Linkin Park forms

Me First and the Gimme Gimmes forms

Orgy 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.

David Bowie's single "Telling Lies" becomes the first song offered as a free digital download by a major record label (Virgin Records).

The Dutch goth metal band Within Temptation was formed.

Albums released

Actual Fantasy - Ayreon

Elegy - Amorphis

Boys for Pele - Tori Amos

Richard D. James Album - Aphex Twin

1977 - Ash

The Gray Race - Bad Religion

Odelay - Beck

The Beatles Anthology, volume 2 - The Beatles

Friction, Baby - Better Than Ezra

Three Snakes & One Charm - The Black Crowes

Nico - Blind Melon

One Fierce Beer Coaster - The Bloodhound Gang

The Great Escape - Blur

Fashion Nugget - Cake

Vile - Cannibal Corpse

Swansong - Carcass

First Band on the Moon - The Cardigans

Justus - The Monkees

Dance Into the Light - Phil Collins

Gangsta's Paradise - Coolio

Dusk and Her Embrace - Cradle of Filth

None So Vile - Cryptopsy

Wild Mood Swings - The Cure

Homework - Daft Punk

� ma mani�re - Dalida (remix album)

Slang - Def Leppard

Skunkworks - Bruce Dickinson

Endtroducing - DJ Shadow

Death Threatz - MC Eith

Face to Face - Face to Face (punk band)

Fountains of Wayne - Fountains of Wayne

Cat's Clause - The Germs

Frozen - Gridlock

Afterlife - The Godfathers

Teri Yakimoto - Guttermouth

The Dark Saga - Iced Earth

Jerky Boys 3 - Jerky Boys

Paradise in Me - K's Choice

Life Is Peachy - Korn

KRS-One - KRS-One

Victor - Alex Lifeson

As Good as Dead - Local H

Fever In Fever Out - Luscious Jackson

Louder Than Hell - Manowar

Load - Metallica

Breathe - Midnight Oil

Irreligious - Moonspell

High/Low - Nada Surf

Nerf Herder - Nerf Herder (debut)

Murder Ballads - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

Curb - Nickelback

Hesher - Nickelback

Beacon Street Collection - No Doubt

Tragic Kingdom - No Doubt

Dynamite - Stina Nordenstam

All We Got Iz Us - Onyx

The Great Southern Trendkill - Pantera

Rocket - Primitive Radio Gods

Off Parole - Rappin' 4-Tay

One Hot Minute - Red Hot Chili Peppers

Republica - Republica

Greatest Hits - Poison

Evil Empire - Rage Against the Machine

...And Out Come the Wolves - Rancid

Da Villain in Black - MC Ren

Test for Echo - Rush

Roots - Sepultura

Pies Descalzos - Shakira

Sheryl Crow - Sheryl Crow

Call the Doctor - Sleater-Kinney

One Chord to Another - Sloan

Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness - The Smashing Pumpkins

Becoming X - Sneaker Pimps (debut)

Tha Doggfather - Snoop Dogg

White Light, White Heat, White Trash - Social Distortion

Irresistible Bliss - Soul Coughing

Down on the Upside - Soundgarden (final album before disbanding)

Resident Alien - Spacehog

Wax Ecstatic - Sponge

Emperor Tomato Ketchup - Stereolab

Tiny Music... Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop - Stone Temple Pilots

Episode - Stratovarius

Sublime - Sublime (final album, released in just 2 months after frontman Brad Nowell's death)

Live Drug - Sun Dial

Regretfully Yours - Superdrag

Factory Showroom - They Might Be Giants

311 - 311

�nima - Tool

All Eyez on Me - 2Pac

Supercharged Straight to Hell - The Turbo AC's

Best of, Volume 1 - Van Halen

Running on Ice - Vertical Horizon

A Northern Soul - The Verve

Rock!!!!! - Violent Femmes

Pinkerton - Weezer

Bad Hair Day - Weird Al Yankovic

Antichrist Superstar - Marilyn Manson

The Final Tic - Crucial Conflict

Top hits

"The Beautiful People" - Marilyn Manson"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"Angry Johnny" - Poe"Free As A Bird" - The Beatles"La Mamma" - Dalida (in�dit)"L�-bas dans le noir" - Dalida (remix)"Darla Dirladada" - Dalida (remix)"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"Head Over Feet" - Alanis Morissette"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"You Learn" - Alanis Morissette