November 19, 1994 Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers play "You Don't Know How It Feels" and "Honeybee" on Saturday Night Live with Dave Grohl on drums, who considers joining the band full time.More
November 15, 1994 TLC release their second album, CrazySexyCool, featuring the hits "Creep" and "Waterfalls." The group's most successful album, it sells over 10 million copies in the US.More
November 8, 1994 A&M Records releases Woodstock 1994, an album documenting the Woodstock '94 festival that took place in Saugerties, New York, three months earlier. The two-disc set includes live performances from 27 artists, including Joe Cocker ("Feelin' Alright"), The Cranberries ("Dreams"), Green Day ("When I Come Around") and Bob Dylan ("Highway 61 Revisited").
October 5, 1994 Jamie Walters, who sang the #1 hit theme song "How Do You Talk To An Angel?" for the short-lived Aaron Spelling series The Heights, joins Beverly Hills 90210 as Ray Pruit, an aspiring musician. Unfortunately for Walters, his character takes a dark turn and starts abusing fan fave Donna Martin, causing his real-life music career to suffer.More
October 2, 1994 Following their Bridge School benefit performance in Mountain View, California, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers part ways with their original drummer, Stan Lynch. "Stan had lost all allegiance to us and was auditioning with other bands," Petty explains. "I had the feeling he was only staying around for the money." He is replaced by Average White Band drummer Steve Ferrone.
October 1, 1994 Megadeth become the first artist to launch an official website, staking a claim on the newly public World Wide Web. The site includes a chat room, photo gallery and song snippets.More
September 27, 1994 Egyptian-Canadian singer-songwriter Raffi releases Bananaphone, an album of children's music. Nothing very notable at the time seems apparent; however, the title song becomes a viral Internet craze in 2004 when a Flash animation featuring the song is posted on the website Newgrounds. After this, Raffi becomes internationally famous, and "Bananaphone" makes it onto the radio and later radio and TV shows including The Opie & Anthony Show, The Colbert Report, and Countdown with Keith Olbermann.
September 22, 1994 Friends debuts on NBC, accompanied by a catchy theme song by The Rembrandts that becomes an unexpected hit.More
September 20, 1994 Liz Phair releases her sophomore album, Whip-Smart, featuring the Grammy-nominated hit "Supernova."
September 9, 1994 Green Day play a free concert at the Hatch Shell in Boston. A few songs into their set, many in the crowd cross the line from moshing to rioting, and police order an end to the show. With their album Dookie climbing the charts, the band has been playing to exuberant crowds, which causes problems when casual fans find themselves engulfed in mosh pits.
September 8, 1994 Nearly four months after tying the knot in a secret ceremony in the Dominican Republic, Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley make their first public appearance as a married couple at the MTV Video Music Awards, where Jackson infamously plants a sloppy smooch on his bride.More
August 29, 1994 Oasis release their debut album, Definitely Maybe. The record goes on to sell over a million copies in the US, spearheading a second British Invasion, but for now the band remain unknown outside of the UK.More
August 23, 1994 Jeff Buckley's first and only album, Grace, is released to critical acclaim.More
August 14, 1994 Bob Dylan, who refused an invitation to the original 1969 festival, performs on the last day of Woodstock '94, singing "It Ain't Me Babe," "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue," "Masters Of War," "Just Like A Woman," and "Highway 61 Revisited" on the main North Stage. Over on the South Stage, Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong wallops fistfuls of mud at fans and incites an all-out mudfight. Bassist Mike Dirnt gets his front teeth knocked out by a security guard in the chaos.
August 14, 1994 Clifton Clowers, the real-life Tennessee mountain man who was the subject of Claude King's 1964 country smash "Wolverton Mountain," dies at the ripe old age of 101, still on the mountain (which is actually spelled "Woolverton"). Clowers apparently couldn't keep suitors away from his daughters as well as the legend suggested, as he leaves behind 15 grandchildren, 27 great-grandchildren and five great-great-grandchildren.
August 12, 1994 Woodstock 2 - officially "Woodstock '94" - begins in Saugerties, New York, with Sheryl Crow, Todd Rundgren and Violent Femmes performing. The festival is a success, drawing a crowd of about 350,000.More
July 6, 1994 The light-hearted drama Forrest Gump hits theaters. Aside from becoming the top-grossing film of the year in North America and winning multiple Academy Awards, the movie spawns a hit soundtrack with songs from Elvis Presley, Three Dog Night, The Doors, The Byrds, The Mamas & the Papas, Buffalo Springfield, and more.More
July 5, 1994 Hootie & the Blowfish release their debut album Cracked Rear View. It takes off at the beginning of 1995, eventually selling a staggering 21 million copies.More
June 30, 1994 Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard of Pearl Jam testify before congress to make their case against Ticketmaster - the band couldn't keep ticket prices for a planned tour under $20 because of Ticketmaster's fees, so they decided to cancel it. The hearing draws attention to the issue but nothing comes of it.
June 21, 1994 A judge rules against George Michael in his lawsuit against his record label, Sony, derailing his music career for two years.More
June 15, 1994 The Disney film The Lion King hits theaters. A runaway hit, the movie takes in over $300 million in 1994, second only to Forrest Gump. The soundtrack goes Diamond, meaning over 10 million copies sold - a record for the soundtrack to an animated film.More
May 27, 1994 After a 14-year hiatus, the Eagles reunite for a show in Burbank, California, closing the show with "Desperado." They soon launch their "Hell Freezes Over" tour, which becomes the first tour to charge more than $100 for a substantial number of tickets.More
May 26, 1994 Michael Jackson marries Lisa Marie Presley, the child of Elvis, in a secret ceremony held in the Dominican Republic. The couple divorce 20 months later, citing irreconcilable differences.More
May 21, 1994 R&B vocal group All-4-One hits #1 on the Hot 100 with "I Swear," a cover of a country song by John Michael Montgomery. The group is playing gigs at Disneyland when the song tops the chart; it stays at #1 for 11 weeks.More
May 6, 1994 Pearl Jam cancel their summer tour when they can't find enough venues that won't use Ticketmaster, leading to a battle between the band and the ticketing behemoth.More
April 26, 1994 Johnny Cash releases American Recordings, the first of a series of albums produced by Rick Rubin that revitalize his career.More
April 19, 1994 Nas releases his landmark debut album Illmatic at the age of 20, helping revive the flagging New York City rap scene and birth the era of lyricism. It goes on to be widely accepted as one of the greatest rap albums of all time.More
April 8, 1994 Kurt Cobain's body is found in his Seattle home by an electrician sent to install a burglar alarm. He is believed to have died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound three days earlier. The Nirvana song "Come As You Are" takes on new meaning with the line, "I swear that I don't have a gun."More
April 3, 1994 About 300 radio stations accept Pearl Jam's offer to broadcast their concert at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta for free. It goes over so well, the band does a series of similar broadcasts over the next few years, bringing a steady stream of live music to their fans.
March 29, 1994 The Crow soundtrack is released. Featuring "Burn" by The Cure, it reaches number one on the charts.
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