August 26, 2017 The first annual LOVELOUD Festival goes down in Orem, Utah, with performances by Imagine Dragons, Neon Trees and Walk The Moon. Imagine Dragons frontman Dan Reynolds founded LOVELOUD to support the LGBTQ+ community.
May 30, 2017 Olivia Newton-John postpones her US and Canadian tour to fight a recurrence of breast cancer, which has spread to her back. The 68-year-old singer had been in remission since 1992.
May 20, 2017 At the Palladium in London, The Cranberries play their last show with lead singer Dolores O'Riordan, whose health issues for cancellation of the remaining dates. She dies on January 15, 2018.
April 5, 2017 At age 73, Barry Manilow comes out as gay.More
March 31, 2017 The coming-of-age drama 13 Reasons Why drops on Netflix with a song called "The Night We Met" captivating viewers in the fifth episode. The song, released two years earlier by a little-known band called Lord Huron, goes viral and reappears in season 2 as a remix with Phoebe Bridgers.
March 15, 2017 President Donald Trump tweets about Snoop Dogg's "Lavender" video, where the rapper points a toy gun at "Ronald Klump," the ruler of a world run by clowns.More
February 5, 2017 Lady Gaga opens the Super Bowl halftime show with a verse from "God Bless America," followed by the song Woody Guthrie wrote as a parody, "This Land Is Your Land."More
December 10, 2016 Bob Dylan accepts the Nobel Prize in Literature. He doesn't attend the ceremony, but sends an insightful speech that is read by the US ambassador to Sweden.More
November 29, 2016 Minneapolis-based musicians Lydia Liza and Josiah Lemanski flame a cultural debate about gender roles when they post a reinterpreted version of the Christmas song "Baby It's Cold Outside" with new lyrics: Instead of pressuring her to spend the night, the guy respects her decision to leave and helps her get home safely.More
November 7, 2016 Snoop Dogg and Martha Stewart star in the first episode of Martha & Snoop's Potluck Dinner Party, where they make fried chicken with Wiz Khalifa. The show lasts three seasons, and after it's over, Martha and Snoop remain friends. She helps him land an endorsement with Skechers and he brings her to the Olympics in 2024 to help commentate dressage.
October 24, 2016 Photographer, artist, and lyricist Jeremy Ayers passes away after having a seizure and falling into a short coma. He had been a pivotal part of the Athens, Georgia, art scene and penned the lyrics for "52 Girls" by the B-52s, and "Windout" and "Old Man Kensey" by R.E.M.
October 3, 2016 Nickelodeon premieres the animated series Kuu Kuu Harajuku, produced by Gwen Stefani, about a group of girls who make music and fight evil. Stefani introduced her "Harajuku Girls," inspired by the neighborhood in Tokyo, on her solo debut, Love. Angel. Music. Baby. and has integrated her love of the culture in her clothing and perfume lines.
September 30, 2016 Mary J. Blige debuts her Apple Music talk show, The 411, and welcomes Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton as her first guest. Halfway through the intimate conversation, Blige bursts into a rendition of Bruce Springsteen's protest anthem "American Skin (41 Shots)" in a bid to address the rash of police brutality against African Americans. The attempt falls flat with viewers, who heckle the singer on social media.More
August 5, 2016 There are spectacular fireworks, awe-inspiring acrobats, and sensational dancers at the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics in Rio, but supermodel Gisele Bundchen gets the biggest reaction when she takes a long walk across the stage to "The Girl From Ipanema," performed by the composer's grandson, Daniel Jobim.
August 4, 2016 Nationwide insurance announces a new ad campaign with Brad Paisley and Rachel Platten.More
May 7, 2016 After completing a tour with Guns N' Roses, Axl Rose takes over as lead singer for AC/DC, filling in for Brian Johnson at a show in Lisbon after Johnson is told that continuing the tour could result in permanent hearing loss. Rose fills in on the remaining dates as a guest vocalist.
May 4, 2016 After Donald Trump's campaign plays "Start Me Up" following his victory speech celebrating his path to the Republican nomination, The Rolling Stones ask him to stop, joining several other artists in decrying his use of their songs.More
April 29, 2016 Jimmy Fallon and Paul Rudd do a shot-for-shot remake of the Styx video for "Too Much Time On My Hands."More
April 8, 2016 Steve Miller, notoriously averse to awards ceremonies, goes on a backstage rant when he is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He says the Hall is like "a private boys club," and lets loose on the organizers. "It's a bunch of jackasses and jerks and f--king gangsters and crooks."More
April 6, 2016 Hello Billboard, my old friend. Simon & Garfunkel's 1966 chart-topper "The Sound of Silence" peaks at #6 on the Hot Rock Songs chart thanks to its appearance in a meme involving Ben Affleck and his botched blockbuster Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice.More
March 30, 2016 Hans Zimmer announces his retirement from the superhero business after composing the score for the 2016 movie Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice. The renowned film composer tells BBC News: "This one was very hard for me to do, to try to find new language." Zimmer has had a successful run in the genre, with The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014), Man Of Steel (2013), and Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight trilogy (2005-2012) to his credit.
March 6, 2016 Diplo and his electronic dancehall project Major Lazer land a historic Havana gig, becoming the first US musical act to perform in Cuba in the new era of diplomatic relations between the island and the US, precipitating a visit from President Obama later in the month.More
February 28, 2016 At the Oscars, Lady Gaga is introduced by Vice President Joe Biden and performs "Til It Happens To You" joined by a group of sexual assault survivors. A few minutes later, it loses the Best Song award to Sam Smith's "Writing's On The Wall."More
February 18, 2016 The #FreeKesha campaign heats up after pop singer Kesha loses a preliminary injunction during an 18-month legal battle with producer Dr. Luke (Lukasz Gottwald).More
February 15, 2016 In her Grammy acceptance speech for Album of the Year, Taylor Swift warns of "people along the way who will try to undercut your success or take credit for your accomplishments or your fame." This is in response to Kanye West, who rapped about Swift, "I made that bitch famous" in his song "Famous."More
February 6, 2016 Dan Hicks dies of liver cancer in his Mill Valley, California home. Best remembered for his work as leader of Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks, he also holds the distinction of having been drummer in seminal '60s psychedelic act The Charlatans during their historically important 1965 Red Dog Saloon residency, which was crucial in shaping the San Francisco psychedelic music scene.
January 20, 2016 Mamma Mia, here we go again! The Swedish pop quartet ABBA reunite for the first time in eight years to celebrate Mamma Mia! The Party, a restaurant inspired by the long-running musical.More
December 6, 2015 Carole King is celebrated at the Kennedy Center Honors, where 73-year-old Aretha Franklin brings the audience to its feet with her rendition of "You Make Me Feel Like A Natural Woman," one of many classic songs written by King.More
November 24, 2015 The only copy of Wu-Tang Clan's new double album Once Upon A Time In Shaolin is sold at auction. The buyer is not Wu-Tang obsessive Quentin Tarantino as many hoped, but Martin Shkreli, a 32-year-old pharmaceutical executive notorious for buying a drug company and raising the price of their AIDS drug Daraprim from $13.50 to $750 per pill.More
October 27, 2015 Twitter discontinues Vine, the short-form video hosting service that launched the music careers of Shawn Mendes and "Lost Boy" singer Ruth B.More
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