December 2, 1991 Charlie Puth is born in Rumson, New Jersey. After building a following on YouTube and graduating from the Berklee College of Music, he releases two huge hits in 2015: "Marvin Gaye" and "See You Again."
November 11, 1991 Per Michael Jackson's wishes, one week before his controversial "Black Or White" music video airs, a memo circulates at MTV instructing the network's on-air personnel to refer to Jackson as the King of Pop at least twice a week during the next two weeks.More
November 3, 1991 A crowd estimated at 300,000 turns out for a concert honoring promoter Bill Graham, a San Francisco legend who died a week earlier.More
October 5, 1991 Guns N' Roses' Use Your Illusion II debuts at #1, followed by Use Your Illusion I on Billboard's albums chart.
September 28, 1991 Thanks to a proliferation of "New Country" radio stations and more accurate reporting, country music goes mainstream as Garth Brooks' Ropin' the Wind becomes the first country album to debut at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart.More
August 17, 1991 Nirvana shoot their video for "Smells Like Teen Spirit." It is set to look like a deranged pep rally at "Anarchy High School," and features fans recruited at a concert two days earlier. The video is a huge hit on MTV and helps propel Nirvana into the mainstream.More
August 16, 1991 Wilfrid Thomas, broadcaster and radio commentator, dies in London, England, at age 87. Wrote the English lyrics to "Rose, Rose, I Love You," recorded by Frankie Laine in 1951.
July 2, 1991 At a Guns N' Roses show in St. Louis, Axl Rose grows irate when he sees someone in the crowd taking pictures, and he leaves the stage, announcing, "Thanks to the lame-ass security, I'm going home." A riot follows, and the band's equipment is destroyed.More
November 19, 1990 The National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences strips the 1989 Best New Artist Grammy from Milli Vanilli because Rob Pilatus and Fabrice Morvan didn't actually sing on their debut album, "Girl You Know It's True." It is the first time a Grammy has ever been revoked.More
November 10, 1990 Ronnie Dyson dies of heart failure at age 40. The stage actor, known for his lead vocal on the Hair theme "Aquarius," launched his recording career with the Top 10 hit "(If You Let Me Make Love to You Then) Why Can't I Touch You?" in 1970.
November 6, 1990 Madonna releases "Justify My Love," which stirs controversy when MTV bans the saucy video. The brouhaha piques interest in the song, which becomes her ninth #1 hit in the US.More
September 10, 1990 Starring a young rapper named Will Smith, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air debuts on NBC. Smith hones his acting skills during his six seasons on the show, which features guest appearances by his musical partner, DJ Jazzy Jeff.More
September 9, 1990 Following Freedom, his much-lauded return to form, Neil Young releases Ragged Glory. His 18th studio album, the garage rock classic is also one of his most balls-out productions to date, and not what one would generally expect from a 45-year-old man late into a long musical career.
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 16, 1990 The Nelson Mandela: An International Tribute for a Free South Africa concert is held in Wembley Stadium, London, to celebrate the release of Mandela, who had been imprisoned since 1962. Neil Young, Peter Gabriel, Lou Reed, Tracy Chapman, Jackson Browne and Bonnie Raitt all perform.More
April 14, 1990 Tommy Page's "I'll Be Your Everything" hits #1 in America.
April 7, 1990 Bonnie Raitt emerges from a career slump with her first #1 album, Nick Of Time, unseating Paula Abdul's Forever Your Girl.More
March 23, 1990 The romantic comedy Pretty Woman, starring Richard Gere and Julia Roberts, debuts in US theaters. Named for Roy Orbison's classic tune, it also boasts an impressive soundtrack, including the #1 hit "It Must Have Been Love" by Roxette.More
March 19, 1990 Andrew Wood, lead singer of Mother Love Bone, dies of a heroin overdose at age 24. Members of the band go on to form Pearl Jam.More
February 22, 1990 A jury rules that Stevie Wonder didn't not infringe on a song written in 1976 called "I Just Called To Say" on his hit "I Just Called To Say I Love You." The lawsuit was filed in 1985 by "I Just Called To Say" writers Lee Garrett and Lloyd Chiate, but in 1986, Garrett, a childhood friend of Wonder's, pulls out of the case.
December 13, 1989 Taylor Swift is born in Reading, Pennsylvania. She is raised in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, and moves to Nashville at age 14, where she discovers her knack for turning heartache into hit singles.More
November 26, 1989 MTV's acoustic showcase Unplugged premieres with an episode featuring Squeeze. Jules Shear hosts the first season.More
November 4, 1989 "Listen To Your Heart" by the Swedish pop-rock duo Roxette is a #1 hit on the Hot 100.
October 7, 1989 Paula Abdul's first album, Forever Your Girl, hits #1 in America. The album was released on June 13, 1988 and first appeared on the chart July 23 that year. It took 64 more weeks to hit the top spot, a record for the longest climb to the top.
October 2, 1989 After years of poorly received output, Neil Young returns to form with Freedom, his 17th studio album. Having ditched Geffen Records after years of problems, Young records Freedom with his original label, Reprise. The album features three songs ("Don't Cry," "Eldorado" and "On Broadway") first released on the EP Eldorado earlier in the year.
September 30, 1989 Bette Midler is awarded $400,000 in her lawsuit against the Ford Motor Company, which had her former backing singer Ula Hedwig sing Midler's hit "Do You Want To Dance" in a 1985 commercial for the Mercury Sable. The verdict means that companies can't purposely imitate the vocals of a famous singer in advertisements without consent.
September 19, 1989 Janet Jackson releases her groundbreaking album Rhythm Nation 1814. It contains seven Top 5 hits and a message imploring young people to come together and stand up for education and equality.More
September 6, 1989 Just as mainstream pop is about to welcome grunge music with its murky guitars and bleak outlook on society, newcomer Lenny Kravitz challenges the negativity with a simple, funk-styled message: Let Love Rule.More
September 1, 1989 Newly sober Mötley Crüe release their fifth album, Dr. Feelgood, which goes to #1 and becomes their best seller. The debaucherous bunch draw on their exploits for subject matter: the title track is about their drug dealers; "Kickstart My Heart" tells the story of bass player Nikki Sixx' near-fatal overdose.More
July 21, 1989 Performing on the Club MTV tour at a stop in Bristol, Connecticut, Milli Vanilli's tracks go screwy when they try to lip-synch to the song "Girl You Know It's True." As the line "girl you know it's..." repeats over and over, the duo panic and scurry off stage. It is later revealed that they didn't sing on their album.More
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