September 14, 1998 MTV debuts Total Request Live, a countdown of the Top 10 fan-requested music videos, hosted by Carson Daly. By the end of its 10-year run, the show is a cultural phenomenon.More
August 28, 1998 Pearl Jam's video for "Do The Evolution," their first since "Jeremy" in 1992, debuts on MTV. The band does not appear in the video, which is animated by Todd McFarlane.More
August 14, 1998 The "A Day in the Garden" festival (which lasts three days) kicks off in Bethel, New York, where the original Woodstock took place 29 years earlier. A mix of rock legends (Pete Townshend, Stevie Nicks) and new bands (Third Eye Blind, The Goo Goo Dolls) play the event.More
August 6, 1998 Jazz performer Nat Gonella, founder of the big band The Georgians, dies in Gosport, Hampshire, England at age 90.
July 18, 1998 'N Sync get a big boost in America when their "In Concert" special airs on the Disney Channel. They got the gig when their boy band rivals Backstreet Boys backed out.
July 7, 1998 Barenaked Ladies release their fourth studio album, Stunt. It's the Canadian band's breakthrough record in the US, where it lands at #3 on the Billboard 200 albums chart.
June 30, 1998 System Of A Down release their frantic self-titled debut album. The singles "Sugar" and "Spiders" earn airplay on rock radio and MTV, and as the band builds a following through touring, it goes on to sell over a million copies in America.
June 13, 1998 During the Dave Matthews Band set at the Tibetan Freedom Concert in Washington, DC's RFK Stadium, concert-goer Lysa Selfon is struck by lightning. With help from an off duty paramedic, she is revived and eventually makes a full recovery.
June 9, 1998 At a show in San Rafael, California, Steve Augeri debuts as lead singer of Journey, who have parted ways with Steve Perry because he's unable to tour. He's later replaced by Arnel Pineda as the band soldiers on into the 2020s. Perry never returns to the band, which is anchored by their founding member, guitarist Neal Schon.
June 4, 1998 Ray Charles reunites with his legendary touring band to perform in celebration of his 50th year in show business at the 15th annual Chicago Blues Festival in Grant Park.
May 23, 1998 Steve Lacy is born in Compton, California. The neo-soul singer begins his music career as a guitarist in the alternative R&B band the Internet before going solo with his debut EP, Steve Lacy's Demo, in 2017.More
May 16, 1998 The Dave Matthews Band go to #1 on the albums chart for the first time when Before These Crowded Streets debuts at the top spot, ending the Titanic soundtrack's 16-week berth at the top. Remarkably, their next six albums also debut at #1, a testament to their very loyal fans.
May 16, 1998 Five years after it was first released (in Danish), "Torn" goes to #1 on the US Airplay chart with a version by the Australian actress Natalie Imbruglia.More
May 7, 1998 Steve Perry officially leaves Journey, honoring an agreement made with Neal Schon and Jonathan Cain that they would reform the band without him if he was not able to tour. He is replaced with the similar-sounding Steve Augeri.
April 29, 1998 While performing "Mama Kin" at a show in Anchorage, Alaska, Steven Tyler of Aerosmith loses control of his microphone stand, which hits him in the leg. He falls, tearing his ACL. This forces the band to postpone the rest of their tour while Tyler recovers from surgery.
April 28, 1998 The Dave Matthews Band release their fourth album (third on a major label), Before These Crowded Streets. Fans get a glimpse of the band's darker side with the moody lead single, "Don't Drink The Water." It debuts at #1 to sink the Titanic soundtrack.More
April 17, 1998 Linda McCartney, Paul McCartney's wife and Wings bandmate, dies at age 56 after a three-year battle with breast cancer.More
April 7, 1998 Drummer Carlos Vega (James Taylor's band) dies at age 41 from a self-inflicted gunshot wound the day before he is scheduled to appear on The Oprah Winfrey Show alongside James Taylor.
April 7, 1998 Mary Bono, who was married to Sonny Bono when he died in a skiing accident four months earlier, wins a special election to claim her husband's seat in California's 44th Congressional District. Mary, who has no previous political experience, holds office until 2013.
April 6, 1998 On the TV show Murphy Brown, Candice Bergen's lead character turns 50, and her coworkers celebrate by recreating an episode of American Bandstand. Dick Clark, Chubby Checker, Fabian and Lesley Gore all make appearances.
April 3, 1998 With the big "alternative" acts now squarely in the mainstream, the Lollapalooza festival is officially canceled, with Green Day, Radiohead and Foo Fighters among the bands turning down offers to headline. The festival launched in 1991 with Jane's Addiction, Nine Inch Nails and Siouxsie and the Banshees at the top of the bill.
March 17, 1998 Van Halen release Van Halen III, their only album with their third lead singer, Gary Cherone. Pushing against the legacies of their lineups led by David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar, it sells poorly and disappoints fans. The band goes on hiatus a year later and returns with Roth in 2007.
March 12, 1998 Lawyers for Korn send a cease-and-desist demand to a Michigan assistant principal who suspended a student for wearing a Korn T-shirt and told a reporter the band was "indecent, vulgar, obscene." The band also arranges for shirts to be given away outside the school.
March 4, 1998 Bad Religion's breakthrough album, Stranger Than Fiction, released almost four years earlier, is certified gold by the RIAA, becoming the band's only album to achieve this certification in the United States.
February 28, 1998 Columbia Records releases Train's self-titled debut album, which the band issued independently in 1996 after the label passed on it. It includes their first hit, "Meet Virginia."
February 24, 1998 Pamela Anderson Lee calls 911 after getting in a heated altercation with her husband, Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee, at their Malibu home. Tommy is arrested and spends three months in jail for spousal abuse.
February 15, 1998 Backstreet Boys appear on the TV show Sabrina the Teenage Witch in "The Band Episode."
February 15, 1998 Fans of Japanese rock act Glay cause the Tokyo area phone system to break down as they try to reserve tickets for an upcoming concert by the band. Chaos ensues at the Nagano Winter Olympics main pressroom as long distance lines go down during the ski-jumping event.
January 31, 1998 The Bruce Springsteen "Come Together" benefit concert, organized for the family of a New Jersey police officer killed in the line of duty, turns into an impromptu E Street Band reunion that also features Southside Johnny and other Jersey musicians.
January 27, 1998 The Dixie Chicks release their major-label debut, Wide Open Spaces. It's the country trio's first album with lead singer Natalie Maines.
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