1996 in music

See also:

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 reunion 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.
• June 21 - The Sex Pistols start their reunion tour in Lahtis, Finland.
• 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.
• July 11 - Robert Simpson's second string quintet premiered at the Cheltenham International Festival (by the Maggini Quartet with Pal Banda, cellist. http://www.gprep.org/~gldaum/howells/britishconcerts.html).
• 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
• December 7 - The Sex Pistols finnish their reunion tour in Santiago, Chile.
• 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
• The Spice Girls form and their career skyrockets with their debut album Spice and its lead single "Wannabe". They immediately become a success in the U.K., but would have to wait until 1997 till they achieved fame in the U.S.
• Imperial Drag forms (from members of acclaimed alternative power-pop band Jellyfish)
• Sublime disbands (due to singer (Brad Nowell)'s death)
• 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.