June 29, 1999 Slipknot release their self-titled major-label debut album. Metal Hammer magazine calls it the "best debut of the last 25 years."More
June 27, 1999 Coldplay, Muse and David Gray all play the New Bands Tent at the Glastonbury Festival. Main stage acts include Blondie, R.E.M., and Manic Street Preachers.
June 26, 1999 Pearl Jam score their biggest Hot 100 hit when "Last Kiss," a cover of a song from the '60s, reaches #2, held off the top spot by Jennifer Lopez' first single, "If You Had My Love."More
June 22, 1999 Limp Bizkit release the nu metal landmark Significant Other, their second album. Lead by the single "Nookie," it debuts at #1 in America, unseating Millennium by Backstreet Boys.
June 19, 1999 In an interview published in Melody Maker, Britney Spears says, "I would have to be totally happy in every aspect before I would get married. I believe marriage is for life." She ends up getting married twice... in 2004.
June 18, 1999 A judge dismisses a case brought against Prince in 1994 claiming he stole the idea for his symbol-shaped guitar. In the opinion, the judge writes: "Defendant may as well have had this protracted litigation in mind when he lyrically asked: 'Why do we scream at each other. This is what it sounds like. When doves cry.'"
June 15, 1999 After a seven-year recording hiatus, Santana release the album Supernatural, which goes to #1 thanks to hit singles like "Smooth," "Maria Maria," and "Put Your Lights On." It's their first chart-topping album in 28 years.More
June 2, 1999 Junior Braithwaite (of Bob Marley's Wailers) is gunned down in front of a fellow musician's home in Kingston, Jamaica. Junior, age 47, is the third Wailer to be murdered, following Peter Tosh and Carlton Barrett's 1987 deaths.
June 1, 1999 Ja Rule releases his debut album, Venni Vetti Vecci, featuring the hit single "Holla Holla."More
June 1, 1999 Brad Paisley releases his debut album, Who Needs Pictures, which features his first pair of #1 country hits: "He Didn't Have To Be" and "We Danced."More
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 29, 1999 Photographers taking shots of old cars wrecked at the bottom of Malibu's Decker Canyon discover the body of Iron Butterfly bassist Philip Kramer, who had gone missing on February 12, 1995. His death is ruled a suicide.
May 19, 1999 Moby releases Play, a downtempo collection of electronic tunes built on samples of field recordings and old blues numbers. Thanks to music licensing, the songs reach lots of ears and the album becomes a global hit.More
May 18, 1999 Backstreet Boys release their third album (second in America), Millennium, with the hits "I Want It That Way" and "Larger than Life." Primarily produced by Max Martin, it sells over 13 million in America and many more worldwide.
May 10, 1999 Shel Silverstein, the prolific author of beloved children's books who was also a top songwriter, dies of a massive heart attack at age 68. He wrote "A Boy Named Sue" for Johnny Cash.More
May 5, 1999 At the 34th annual Academy of Country Music Awards, Garth Brooks is named Artist of the Decade.
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
May 1, 1999 The Lyz Art Forum in Siegen, Germany, presents an exhibition of 70 paintings by Paul McCartney, including "Bowie Spewing," which is indeed a portrait of a young David Bowie.
April 27, 1999 Songs From Dawson's Creek is released after the teen drama airs its first season on The WB. The soundtrack peaks at #7 on the US albums chart.More
April 25, 1999 Funk percussionist Larry Troutman (of Zapp), age 54, fatally shoots his brother and bandmate Roger Troutman, age 47, outside a recording studio in Dayton, Ohio, before turning the gun on himself. With no known witnesses, the motive for the murder-suicide is unclear, but family members suggest conflict over finances.
April 25, 1999 It's Joe DiMaggio Day at Yankee Stadium, where Paul Simon performs "Mrs. Robinson," which contains the classic line, "Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio?"
April 20, 1999 At his concert at the Meadowlands in New Jersey, Billy Joel announces his retirement from touring and recording pop music, as he wants to focus on classical music. His retirement doesn't last long; he returns to the stage in December. After sitting out most of 2000, he embarks on the Face to Face tour with Elton John in 2001.
April 14, 1999 Anthony Newley - British actor and singer-songwriter - dies at age 67 of renal cancer. In addition to his numerous Top 40 hits on the UK chart in the early-'60s, Newley, along with his songwriting partner Leslie Bricusse, earned an Academy Award nomination for the film score to Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971).
April 13, 1999 Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers release their 10th album Echo. The album, which includes the singles "Free Girl Now," "Room at the Top" and "Swingin'," is co-produced by Petty, guitarist Mike Campbell and Rick Rubin.
April 12, 1999 Billy Joel's Greatest Hits Volume I & Volume II becomes just the fourth album certified by the RIAA as Double Diamond for sales of over 20 million in the US, following Thriller, Eagles - Their Greatest Hits 1971 - 1975 and The Wall.
April 10, 1999 The all-star tribute concert Here There and Everywhere: A Concert For Linda is held at London's Royal Albert Hall, where Paul McCartney, George Michael, Chrissie Hynde (of The Pretenders), Elvis Costello and Sinead O'Connor raise money for animal charities while remembering Paul's wife Linda, who has recently succumbed to breast cancer.
March 15, 1999 Curtis Mayfield, Del Shannon, Dusty Springfield, Paul McCartney, The Staple Singers, Billy Joel, and Bruce Springsteen are inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Springsteen reunites with the E Street Band to perform at the ceremony.
March 13, 1999 Using the pitch correction software Auto-Tune to distort her vocals, Cher goes to #1 in America with "Believe," opening the floodgates for many more Auto-Tuned hits.More
February 28, 1999 Hole and Marilyn Manson kick off their joint Beautiful Monsters tour with a show in Spokane, Washington, but cancel it after nine dates when Hole pulls out and Manson injures his ankle on stage.
February 27, 1999 Vince Gill plays "How Great Thou Art" on the dobro at the Grand Ole Opry in honor of dobro legend Brother Oswald.
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