December 9, 2003 After the runaway success of the bluegrass soundtrack for O Brother Where Art Thou?, producer T Bone Burnett helms another Appalachian-inspired album for the Civil War movie Cold Mountain. Alison Krauss sings the Sting-written "You Will Be My Ain True Love" and "The Scarlet Tide," both of which are nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song.
September 16, 2003 Joss Stone, 16, releases her debut album, a covers collection called The Soul Sessions. The first single is "Fell In Love With A Boy," her take on "Fell In Love With A Girl" by The White Stripes.
July 30, 2003 When the disease SARS spreads to Toronto, it scares a lot of people away. To get visitors back, the city puts on a huge open-air concert featuring The Rolling Stones, The Guess Who, Rush, The Isley Brothers, The Flaming Lips and Justin Timberlake (who is jeered and has muffins thrown at him). About 450,000 people attend.More
January 12, 2003 While awaiting emergency surgery for a strangulated intestine, Maurice Gibb of the Bee Gees dies unexpectedly of a heart attack at age 53.More
January 9, 2003 MC Hammer and Vince Neil star in the first season of The Surreal Life on the WB network.More
July 23, 2002 New Jersey-based alt rockers My Chemical Romance release their vampire-themed debut album, I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love. Released through the independent punk label Eyeball Records, it was produced by Thursday frontman Geoff Rickly.More
July 16, 2002 After unfinished tracks from their shelved project The Lillywhite Sessions are leaked on the internet, Dave Matthews Band reworks the songs and release them as Busted Stuff.More
May 15, 2002 The Wu-Tang Name Generator goes online. The app turns your real name into one suited for the rap collective; the Songfacts Calendar Wu name is Drunken Desperado. Donald Glover gets his stage name from the generator, becoming Childish Gambino.
March 23, 2002 The O Brother Where Art Thou? soundtrack, featuring a popular revival of the mountain ballad "Man of Constant Sorrow," takes bluegrass to #1 in America.More
November 29, 2001 George Harrison succumbs to lung cancer at age 58. His final hours are spent with his wife, son, and musician Ravi Shankar at his side.More
November 13, 2001 With the help of Gloria Estefan, Colombian-born songstress Shakira releases her first English-language album, Laundry Service. It features the Top 10 hit "Whenever, Wherever."More
September 11, 2001 Most radio stations simulcast news after terrorists attacks in America bring down the World Trade Center. Music proves vital when the healing begins.More
July 19, 2001 Mariah Carey makes a surprise appearance on MTV's Total Request Live where she comes off as rather unhinged, rambling aimlessly and doing a striptease for the host, Carson Daly.More
March 7, 2001 The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) reveal their list of the top 365 "Songs Of The Century" (some of which are not songs, but albums). "Over The Rainbow" is #1, followed by "White Christmas" and "This Land Is Your Land."More
February 21, 2001 Johnny Cash gets out of the hospital, where he is treated for pneumonia, and makes it to the Grammy Awards that night, where he wins for Best Male Vocal Country Performance for "Solitary Man" - his 10th Grammy.More
October 5, 2000 Gilmore Girls debuts on The WB with an updated version of Carole King's "Where You Lead" as its theme song. Reflecting the show's mother-daughter theme, King sings the song with her daughter Louise Goffin.More
May 30, 2000 Eminem's second major-label album, The Marshall Mathers LP, becomes the fastest-selling rap album ever when it sells 1.76 million copies in its debut week.More
March 4, 2000 "Amazed" by Lonestar hits #1 in America, knocking off another first-dance wedding favorite, "I Knew I Loved You" by Savage Garden.
June 1, 1999 Blink-182 spin immaturity into gold (or should we say, Platinum) with their third album, Enema Of The State, which catapults the pop-punk trio to stardom with hit singles like "What's My Age Again?" and "All The Small Things."More
May 4, 1999 Former In Living Color Fly Girl Jennifer Lopez issues her first single, "If You Had My Love." The song lands at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, making Lopez the first artist to top the chart with a debut single since Britney Spears did the same with "...Baby One More Time" four months earlier.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 George Michael is arrested for disorderly conduct at a park restroom in Beverly Hills, California, after an undercover officer observes him performing a "lewd act." He comes out as gay soon after.More
February 24, 1998 Elton John is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II during a ceremony at Buckingham Palace.More
June 16, 1997 In the UK, The Verve release "Bitter Sweet Symphony," which lives up to it's title: the song is a huge hit, but Mick Jagger and Keith Richards end up getting credits and royalties.More
August 6, 1996 At a show in Hollywood, the Ramones play their final concert.More
April 9, 1996 Bluegrass duo Gillian Welch and David Rawlings release their debut album, Revival.More
June 14, 1995 Diane Sawyer conducts a live interview with Michael Jackson and his wife Lisa Marie Presley on the ABC news program Primetime Live. Topics include the validity of their marriage, Jackson's surgeries, and if he's a Scientologist.More
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
August 23, 1994 Jeff Buckley's first and only album, Grace, is released to critical acclaim.More
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
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