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August 4, 1990 Mariah Carey lands her first #1 Hot 100 hit when her debut single, "Vision Of Love," goes to the top. It's the first of her 14 chart-toppers... in the '90s!
July 21, 1990 With a bevy of special guests, Roger Waters performs The Wall at the former site of the Berlin Wall, which came down eight months earlier.More
July 16, 1990 Trial begins for Judas Priest after they are accused of implanting subliminal messages in their song "Better By You, Better Than Me." The suit alleges that the messages caused two teenage boys to enter a suicide pact (one of the boys killed himself instantly; the other died three years later from complications related to the suicide attempt). The case is dismissed August 24 after the judge determines that the supposed subliminal message is just an accidental recording oddity.
July 11, 1990 Steven Adler is fired from Guns N' Roses because of his drug use. He is replaced by Matt Sorum, who was previously with The Cult.
July 2, 1990 Tesla records their album Five Man Acoustical Jam live at the Trocadero Theatre in Philadelphia. Their cover of "Signs" becomes a surprise hit and catalyzes an acoustic rock trend, with MTV's Unplugged series delving into more rock acts soon after.
June 26, 1990 Sonic Youth release Goo. With songs like "Kool Thing," the album is a seminal landmark in alternative rock.
June 26, 1990 Nelson release their debut album After the Rain, which sells over 2 million copies thanks to the #1 single "(Can't Live Without Your) Love and Affection." Nelson is the duo of Gunnar and Matthew, the twin sons of Rick Nelson.More
June 23, 1990 During their headlining set at the Glastonbury Festival, The Cure pause during a performance of "Fascination Street" so a police helicopter can rescue a woman who's nearly been crushed to death by the overzealous crowd.
June 23, 1990 Actor Gary Busey, best-known for his lead role in the controversial 1978 biopic The Buddy Holly Story, purchases one of Buddy's guitars, complete with tooled leather case made by the rocker, in auction for approximately $240,000.
June 16, 1990 The Swedish pop duo Roxette earn their third chart-topper when their breakup ballad "It Must Have Been Love" from the Pretty Woman soundtrack hits #1.
June 14, 1990 Four days after being arrested for performing obscene songs at a Florida nightclub, the rap group 2 Live Crew performs at the Ozone Club outside of Atlanta. Authorities had warned the group that they would be arrested if they performed their dirty songs, so the rappers encourage the crowd to sing the obscene lyrics for them, resulting in about 500 people singing lines like "that's the way we like to f--k" as police officers look on. No arrests are made, and the group gets even more publicity and a bump in sales for the album they released a year earlier.
June 12, 1990 Mariah Carey releases her self-titled debut album. It sells 9 million copies in America, where all four of its singles ("Vision Of Love," "Love Takes Time," "Someday," "I Don't Wanna Cry") hit #1.
June 11, 1990 The United Nations appoints Olivia Newton-John its first Goodwill Ambassador to the environment. At first, she uses her position to encourage recycling and avoid chemicals harmful to animals, but later takes a more forceful and controversial stand in opposing fracking, which puts her at odds with the Australian mining industry.
June 10, 1990 Members of the rap group 2 Live Crew are arrested on charges of public obscenity after performing songs from their album As Nasty As They Wanna Be in a Hollywood, Florida, nightclub. A few days earlier, a federal court ruled the album obscene, and therefore performing it is against the law. It gets even more ridiculous when a cover band performs the songs for the purpose of getting arrested, which they do. Eventually, the ruling is overturned and charges against the rappers (and cover band) are dropped.
June 9, 1990 MC Hammer's Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em becomes just the second rap album to reach #1 in America (Licensed to Ill by Beastie Boys was the first).More
June 9, 1990 Wilson Phillips hit #1 on the Hot 100 with "Hold On," a feat accomplished by their famous parents in the '60s - Wendy and Carnie Wilson are the daughters of Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys; Chynna Phillips was born to John and Michelle Phillips of The Mamas & the Papas.
June 7, 1990 Rapper Iggy Azalea is born Amethyst Kelly in Sydney, Australia. She studies American rappers like Tupac Shakur and Missy Elliott to develop a kind of Southern drawl she uses on "Fancy," a #1 hit in 2014.
June 6, 1990 The 2 Live Crew album As Nasty As They Wanna Be becomes the first album declared legally obscene when Federal District Judge Jose Gonzalez rules that the album violates community obscenity standards in three south Florida counties: Broward, Dade, and Palm Beach.More
June 3, 1990 The Big Day free festival takes place in Glasgow, Scotland, with Wet Wet Wet, Deacon Blue, Hothouse Flowers, Sheena Easton, Texas, Hue and Cry, John Martyn, Eddi Reader, The Average White Band and others. Channel 4 TV runs a six-hour live broadcast from the event.
June 2, 1990 Mariah Carey makes the Hot 100 for the first time when her debut single, "Vision Of Love," enters at #73. In August, the song goes to #1, as do her next four singles.
June 1, 1990 Mariah Carey makes her national TV debut, performing "Vision Of Love" on The Arsenio Hall Show. The song enters the Hot 100 the next day and goes to #1 eight weeks later.
May 30, 1990 Australian rockers Midnight Oil make headlines when they stage a protest concert outside of the Exxon building in New York City in response to the Exxon Valdez oil spill that devastated Prince William Sound in Alaska the year before. Vocalist Peter Garrett says: "We can't treat the world like a garbage dump, and there's more to life than profit and loss."More
May 25, 1990 ZZ Top appear in Back to the Future Part III, playing an Old West-themed rendition of their #1 rock hit "Doubleback" when Marty McFly travels to 1885 to rescue Doc Brown. The regular version plays over the closing credits. Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers also reprises his role as Marty's nemesis Needles.
May 16, 1990 Sammy Davis Jr. dies of complications from throat cancer at age 64. He was one of the most popular entertainers of the 1960s and 1970s, appearing in many movies and TV shows, and landing a #1 hit with "The Candy Man."
May 16, 1990 Muppets creator Jim Henson dies of streptococcal toxic shock syndrome at 53. Henson made music a key component of The Muppet Show, which featured a gnarly house band (The Electric Mayhem) and welcomed many superstars eager to interact with his creatures. Elton John, Julie Andrews, John Denver and Loretta Lynn all appeared on the show.
May 8, 1990 A jury orders Frito-Lay to pay the famously anti-advertising Tom Waits $2.6 million for imitating his voice in a Doritos radio commercial that transforms his song "Step Right Up" into an ad for their SalsaRio flavor chips. In 1992, the verdict is upheld on appeal.
May 5, 1990 Lou Reed, Al Green, Terence Trent D'Arby, Kylie Minogue and Randy Travis are among the performers at a John Lennon tribute concert in his hometown of Liverpool, England.More
April 28, 1990 Axl Rose of Guns N' Roses marries Erin Everly (daughter of Don Everly of The Everly Brothers) at Cupid's Inn Chapel in Las Vegas. The rocky union lasts just nine months.
April 25, 1990 A London auction house sells the Fender Stratocaster on which Jimi Hendrix played the US national anthem at Woodstock for $295,000.
April 21, 1990 Sinead O'Connor's cover of the Prince song "Nothing Compares 2 U" goes to #1 in America, where it stays for four weeks. It thrusts O'Connor into the spotlight, which she quickly rejects, finding the rituals of fame vapid and materialistic. Two years later, she makes news for tearing up a picture of the Pope on live TV.
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