July 17, 2014 The short-lived reality show LeAnn & Eddie debuts on VH1. It stars celebrity couple LeAnn Rimes and Eddie Cibrian, who made tabloid headlines after they had an affair while married to other people.
July 16, 2014 Acclaimed blues-rock guitarist and singer Johnny Winter dies at age 70, two days after playing a festival in France. Known for his blazing slide guitar, Winter produced three Grammy-winning albums for blues legend Muddy Waters in the late 1970s.
July 4, 2014 Sia, the hit songwriter behind Rihanna's "Diamonds" and David Guetta's "Titanium," releases her album 1000 Forms Of Fear, which goes to #1 in America. For a "layer of protection," she wears a wig that covers her face while promoting the album and doesn't appear in the videos for the singles "Chandelier" and "Elastic Heart," which instead feature interpretive dancing by Maddie Ziegler.
July 2, 2014 In Grand Rapids, Michigan, a new group called The Raskins play their first show on the Mötley Crüe Final Tour, which also includes Alice Cooper. They later süe the Crüe, claiming they paid $1 million for the privilege, but received heaps of abuse in return.More
June 27, 2014 Girl Meets World debuts on Disney Channel, starring 15-year-old Sabrina Carpenter, who also sings the theme song. Carpenter releases her first two albums during the show's three-year run and develops her skills as a songwriter. In 2022 she breaks through musically with her fifth album, Emails I Can't Send, which earns her a spot opening for Taylor Swift on the Eras Tour.
June 25, 2014 Beyoncé and Jay-Z kick off their On The Run tour with a show in Miami, with the couple co-headlining. The tour is one of the most profitable ever on a per-show basis, averaging over $5 million per concert.
June 24, 2014 A copy of Caustic Window, an album by Richard James (aka Aphex Twin) that was abandoned after test-pressing allegedly only five copies, sells for $46,300 on eBay. The winner is Markus Persson, creator of video game Minecraft.
June 3, 2014 Jade Castrinos, the female vocalist in Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, updates her Instagram bio to read: "For seven years i sang and wrote music with edward sharpe. they voted me off of tour a week before they left, via email. lol."More
May 31, 2014 The trustee for Randy California, leader of the band Spirit who died in 1997, sues Led Zeppelin, claiming a song California wrote called "Taurus" was stolen for the intro to "Stairway To Heaven." After a legal odyssey that includes testimony from Jimmy Page, Led Zeppelin prevails in 2020.
May 27, 2014 50 Cent throws out the first pitch at the Mets game, missing the catcher by about 20 feet. Topps later produces a baseball card commemorating the moment.More
May 14, 2014 On American Idol, The Chainsmokers perform their hit "#Selfie" in a bit where they take selfies with the judges. After the performance, EDM notables trash them.More
May 6, 2014 Sia releases the video for "Chandelier." Being very fame-averse, she isn't in it. Instead, 11-year-old Maddie Ziegler of the reality series Dance Moms does a dance routine while wearing Sia's signature wig. It becomes one of the most popular videos on YouTube, amassing over 2 billion views and pushing Sia's album 1000 Forms Of Fear to #1.
May 5, 2014 Beyoncé's sister Solange Knowles attacks Jay-Z in an elevator they are all riding after attending the Met Gala at The Standard hotel in New York. The footage, which is leaked on TMZ, shows Jay taking his whooping before a security guard restrains Solange. Beyoncé later mentions the incident in her song "Flawless" when she sings, "sometime s--t go down when there's a billion dollars on an elevator."More
May 3, 2014 Drummer Bobby Gregg, who played on Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone" and Simon and Garfunkel's hit rock version of "The Sound of Silence," dies at age 78 from reasons unknown.
April 15, 2014 Years of alcohol abuse take their toll on Sum 41 frontman Deryck Whibley, who collapses in his kitchen and is placed in an induced coma. He makes a slow and painful recovery in which he has to relearn guitar.
April 4, 2014 Richard Marx and Cynthia Rhodes announce the end of their 25-year marriage that included the birth of three sons. The pair met in 1983 when both were working on the film Staying Alive (Marx on the soundtrack, Rhodes as a dancer).
April 3, 2014 Arthur Smith, one of postwar country music's finest guitar pickers, dies at age 93 of natural causes. His 1949 instrumental "Guitar Boogie" was one of the first to showcase the electric guitar and as such had a major influence on the development of rockabilly and rock in general.
March 13, 2014 During her performance of "Swine" at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, Lady Gaga has a performance artist vomit green liquid on her repeatedly. It's a statement on processing rage and rejecting the norms of pop music, but fans are more repelled than intrigued.
March 10, 2014 TV show host Bill O'Reilly gets fired up over Beyoncé's "Partition" video, which contains graphic scenes implying sex in a limousine. O'Reilly engages his guest Russell Simmons on the topic, saying it "harms impressionable children."
March 8, 2014 Jerry Corbitt of The Youngbloods dies of lung cancer at age 71.
March 7, 2014 After completing treatment for an eating disorder, Ke$ha drops the $ from her stage name and changes her Twitter handle from @Ke$haSuxx to @KeshaRose ("Rose" is her middle name).More
February 14, 2014 With their music in legal limbo, De La Soul give away free downloads of their first six albums to anyone who signed up on their website. Their catalog isn't available digitally because of rights issues with the samples. "We're in the Library of Congress, but we're not on iTunes," group member Posdnuos says, referring to their debut album 3 Feet High And Rising.
February 9, 2014 The Beatles: The Night That Changed America airs on CBS exactly 50 years after the group first appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show. The show features performances by Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr and also covers of Beatles songs by Stevie Wonder, Dave Grohl and a reunited Eurythmics.
February 2, 2014 28-year-old Bruno Mars becomes the youngest solo headliner in Super Bowl halftime show history, delivering a hit-packed performance with a lot more excitement than the game, which is a 43-8 rout of the Denver Broncos by the Seattle Seahawks. The Red Hot Chili Peppers pop in as special guests, joining Bruno on "Give It Away." It's the most-watched halftime show in history to this point, with 115 million viewers.
January 27, 2014 The day after winning the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album for The Heist, Macklemore takes to Instagram, where he posts a screenshot of his text to Kendrick Lamar, whose good kid, m.A.A.d city was one of the nominees. The Seattle rapper texted: "I wanted you to win. You should have. It's weird and sucks that I robbed you." Macklemore takes some flak for the post, which many feel is disingenuous (Drake calls it "wack"). Lamar is more charitable. "Macklemore is a genuine dude," he says. "However it panned out, I wish him much success." On his 2016 track "Light Tunnels," Mac recounts these events.
January 27, 2014 Billy Joel begins his residency at Madison Square Garden, where he plays once a month as long as there is demand.More
January 26, 2014 Justin Timberlake is a big winner at the Grammy Awards, winning three of his seven nominations: Best R&B Song for "Pusher Love Girl," Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for "Holy Grail," and Best Music Video for "Suit & Tie" (the latter two with Jay Z).
January 21, 2014 Against Me! release the album Transgender Dysphoria Blues, their first since lead singer Laura Jane Grace came out as transgender. The album began as a concept piece about a transexual prostitute back when Grace was still presenting as a man (Tom Gabel). The personal implications became clear when she came out and her bandmates figured out what was going on. Two of the four members of the band - drummer Jay Weinberg and bass player Andrew Seward - quit before it is completed, but the album earns strong reviews and Grace becomes a leader in the fight for transgender rights.
January 14, 2014 Bruce Springsteen appears on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, where he performs a reworked version of "Born To Run" titled "Gov. Christie Traffic Jam." In the song, Springsteen mocks a scandal where New Jersey governor Chris Christie's staff shut down parts of a road to retaliate against a mayor who didn't endorse him. "You're killing the working man who's stuck in the Governor Chris Christie Fort Lee, New Jersey, traffic jam," Springsteen sings.
December 16, 2013 Brantley Gilbert releases his country chart-topper "Bottoms Up," a song about dropping the tailgate, finding the keg and filling your cup. It quickly becomes one of his live favorites.
©2026 Songfacts®, LLC