1995 in music
| Years in music: | 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 |
| Centuries: | 19th century · 20th century · 21st century |
| Decades: | 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s |
| Years: | 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 |
See also: 1994 in music, other events of 1995, 1996 in music, 1990s in music and the list of 'years in music'
Events
- January 18 - Jerry Garcia wrecks his rented BMW into a guard rail near Mill Valley, California. Garcia is not injured in the accident.
- February 1 - Welsh rock band Manic Street Preachers band member Richey James Edwards goes missing after leaving the London Embassy Hotel at 7AM.
- February 6 - Rapper Tupac Shakur is sentenced to one-and-a-half to four-and-a-half years in prison on a sexual abuse charge.
- February 12 - Iron Butterfly bassist Philip Taylor Kramer disappears from Highway 101 as he tries to get back home from the Los Angeles International Airport. He tries calling his family and 911 for help, but receives none.
- February 14 - Welsh rock band Manic Street Preachers band member Richey James Edwards' Vauxhall (Opel outside UK) Cavalier is found in a service station on the Bristol side of the Severn bridge, with evidence that he had been living in it. Although he was near a notorious suicide spot, no evidence would suggest this.
- February 19 - Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee marries Bay Watch actress Pamela Anderson on a beach in Cancún.
- February 25 - Lyle Lovett has an accident while riding his motorcycle in Mexico, breaking his collarbone. The accident prevented Lovett from attending the Grammy Awards. (He ended up winning two awards.)
- March 1 - R.E.M. drummer Bill Berry leaves the stage during a Switzerland concert after suffering a brain aneurysm.
- March 3 - R.E.M. drummer Bill Berry undergoes successful brain surgery, following a brain aneurysm two days earlier in Switzerland.
- March 8 - Ingo Schwichtenberg commits suicide by jumping under a subway train.
- March 17 - Madonna holds a premiere for her new "Bedtime Story" video. The party is called the "world's biggest pajama party" due to the fact that the 1500 guests wear pajamas and teddy bears.
- March 25 - In New Zealand, Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder is rescued after being carried 250 feet offshore by a riptide.
- March 28 - Lyle Lovett and actress Julia Roberts announce that they are separating after 21 months of marriage
- March 31 - Selena is shot and killed by her former personal assistant and former fan club president, who had been fired for embezzlement.
- March 31 - During a performance in Auburn Hills, Michigan, Jimmy Page narrowly escapes being stabbed by a man who rushed the stage with a knife. The man was tackled by security guards who were injured in the brawl.
- April 29 - Tupac Shakur marries Keisha Morris inside the Clinton Correctional Facility. Shakur is serving a four-and-a-half year jail term on sexual assault charges
- May 5 - Guns N' Roses drummer Steven Adler is arraigned on a felony count of possession of heroin, in addition to two misdemeanor drug charges.
- May 2 - EJCF was held in Basel. Next time was in 1998.
- June 1 - Alan Wilder leaves the band Depeche Mode.
- Alanis Morissette releases her massive breakthrough album Jagged Little Pill, which sells over 20 million copies
- August - The First Tibetan Freedom Concert is organized by Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys in Los Angeles. The proceeds from the ticket event go to the Millareppa Foundation, which exposes human rights violations in Tibet by the Chinese government. Artists appearing included The Beastie Boys, Foo Fighters, Smashing Pumpkins, Red Hot Chili Peppers and A Tribe Called Quest.
- August 9 - Jerry Garcia dies of a heart attack while in drug rehab at Serenity Knolls in Marin County, California. The remaining members of the Grateful Dead choose to disband it due to this event.
- August 28 - Oingo Boingo announces that the band will break up following a series of Halloween shows in L.A. Lead singer Danny Elfman goes on to a career scoring major motion pictures, including nearly every film directed by Tim Burton.
- August 28 - The official end of Sarah Records is marked with a "farewell party" featuring live sets by many of the label's acts. It is the last live appearance by The Orchids before they split up.
- September 2 - The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame opens in Cleveland, Ohio.
- October - The first International Guitar Festival is held in Buenos Aires.
- November 19 - Part One of The Beatles Anthology television mini-series airs on ABC. The first installment ends with the music video for "Free As A Bird", the first new Beatles recording since their break up in 1970.
- November 20 - Part Two of The Beatles Anthology television mini-series airs on ABC. (Volume One of The Beatles Anthology CD series is also released on this day.)
- November 21 - Part Three of The Beatles Anthology television mini-series airs on ABC.
- December 21 - Madonna is subpoenaed to testify at the Criminal Courts Building in Los Angeles, CA on January 3, 1996 against her stalker, Robert Hoskins. Hoskins was shot by a security guard outside her estate in Los Angeles, CA, in May of 1995 for trespassing on her property and threatening to marry or kill her. Madonna was not at home during the incident. If she ignores the order, a $5 million warrant will be issued for her arrest.
- Sam Phillips makes her motion picture debut in the Bruce Willis action film, Die Hard With a Vengeance. Phillips plays one of the main terrorists in the film.
- Garth Brooks will release his 6th studio album, "Fresh Horses", which will debut at #2 on the pop charts and remain at #1 on the country charts for several weeks.
- 3 members R.E.M., Bill Berry, Mike Mills and Michael Stipe, fall ill to various illnesses while on the "Monster Tour". Berry suffered an aneurism which required immediate surgery, Stipe suffered a hiatal hernia and Mills underwent an appendectomy.
- Nada Surf's career begins
- Nada Surf recorded High/Low, which will be a blockbuster album in 1996
- Phil Collins recorded Dance Into the Light, which will be a blockbuster album in 1996
- Tool recorded Ænima, which will be a blockbuster album in 1996
- MxPx releases Teenage Politics
- The Offspring re-issues The Offspring (the 1989 album)
- Ritmi i Rrugës form - the pioneering and most successful Albanian rap group.
- System of a Down forms
- The Ataris form
- Days of the New form
- Eve 6 forms
- Godsmack forms
- Nickelback forms
- Coal Chamber forms
- Big Drill Car disbands
- Dire Straits disbands
- Living Colour disbands
- Oingo Boingo disbands
- Skinny Puppy disbands
- Kyuss disbands in October
- MP3 files start flourishing on the Internet
- Idlewild forms
- A watershed year for death metal, across the whole spectrum: legendary melodic death metal albums Slaughter of the Soul, The Gallery, and The Jester Race released by At the Gates, Dark Tranquillity, and In Flames, respectively; Death's Symbolic Morbid Angel's Domination and Vader's De Profundis; on the more brutal side of death metal, landmark albums Pierced From Within, None So Vile are released by Suffocation.
Albums released
- Thank You For The Music - ABBA (4-CD box set)
- Head Over Heels - Paula Abdul
- The Bridge - Ace of Base
- Ballbreaker - AC/DC (their first album in five years)
- Kupu-Kupu Kertas and Cinta Sebening Embun:Puisi-Puisi Cinta - Ebiet G. Ade
- Jagged Little Pill - Alanis Morissette (her American debut album)
- Alice in Chains - Alice in Chains (final album)
- Stomp 442 - Anthrax
- Die for the Government - Anti-Flag
- Coming Home - Art Ensemble of Chicago
- Delete Yourself - Atari Teenage Riot
- Slaughter of the Soul - At the Gates
- The Final Experiment - Ayreon
- Nemisisters - Babes In Toyland
- All Ages - Bad Religion
- The Beatles Anthology, volume 1 - The Beatles
- Maria Bethânia Ao Vivo - Maria Bethânia
- Deluxe - Better Than Ezra
- Post - Björk
- It's Great When You're Straight... Yeah - Black Grape
- Imaginations From the Other Side - Blind Guardian
- Soup - Blind Melon (final album)
- Cheshire Cat - Blink-182
- Kiss Your Ass Goodbye - Blue Meanies
- The Great Escape - Blur
- These Days - Bon Jovi
- E 1999 Eternal - Bone Thugs-N-Harmony
- Jou a Rive - Boukan Ginen
- Libete (Pran Pou'l!) - Boukman Eksperyans
- Outside - David Bowie
- Methodrone - Brian Jonestown Massacre
- Fresh Horses - Garth Brooks
- Daydream - Mariah Carey
- A Man Called Destruction - Alex Chilton
- Exit Planet Dust - The Chemical Brothers
- Set Your Goals - CIV
- Ragged Ass Road - Tom Cochrane
- Sephardic Tinge - Anthony Coleman Trio
- Tone Dialing - Ornette Coleman and Prime Time
- Mina D'Agua do Meu Canto - Gal Costa
- Landcruising - Carl Craig
- Two Bugs (ep) - Cranky (band)
- III (Temples of Boom) - Cypress Hill
- Comme si j'étais là... - Dalida (remix album)
- Dandy's Rule OK? - The Dandy Warhols
- Symbolic - Death
- Alive in Studio A - Bruce Dickinson
- Once Upon the Cross - Deicide
- D'Eux - Céline Dion
- In Debt - Disco Inferno
- Pet Your Friends - Dishwalla
- NOLA - Down
- A Change of Seasons - Dream Theater
- E-40 - In A Major Way
- Savage Poetry - Edguy
- Elastica - Elastica (debut)
- Close Your Eyes - Kurt Elling
- Cha Cha Cha - EMF (final album before disbanding)
- Erasure - Erasure
- Sparkle and Fade - Everclear
- Flood - Everon
- King for a Day... Fool for a Lifetime - Faith No More
- Jealous One's Envy - Fat Joe
- Demanufacture - Fear Factory
- Big Choice - Face to Face
- Short Bus - Filter
- Foo Fighters - Foo Fighters (debut)
- Nice Ass - Free Kitten
- Land of the Free - Gamma Ray
- Garbage - Garbage (their debut album)
- Mandylion - The Gathering
- Up - Great Big Sea
- Liquid Swords - GZA
- Insomniac - Green Day
- Sickness - Gridlock
- Palm 掌心 (zhǎng xin) - Guang Liang Pin Guan (光良品冠)
- RagNaRok - GWAR
- It Matters to Me - Faith Hill
- Cracked Rear View - Hootie & the Blowfish
- Burnt Offerings - Iced Earth
- The Jester Race - In Flames
- The Riddle Box - Insane Clown Posse
- Otro Mundo - Intocable
- HIStory - Michael Jackson
- Bad Habits - Colin James
- Junaid - Junaid Jamshed
- Pieces of You- Jewel (debut)
- Roots to Branches - Jethro Tull
- Made in England - Elton John
- Karnak - Karnak
- Now That I've Found You: A Collection - Alison Krauss
- ...And the Circus Leaves Town - Kyuss (final album)
- Leftism - Leftfield
- Ask The Fish - Leftover Salmon
- Circus - Lenny Kravitz
- Five Smokin' Tracks From Lit - Lit
- Gush - Lowlife (final album)
- Above - Mad Season
- Something to Remember - Madonna
- No Protection - Mad Professor and Massive Attack
- Sittin' On Chrome - Masta Ace Incorporated
- Hidden Treasures - Megadeth
- Bolo Ta Ra Ra - Daler Mehndi
- Destroy Erase Improve - Meshuggah
- Question the Answers - The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
- The Infamous - Mobb Deep
- Dopes to Infinity - Monster Magnet
- Wolfheart - Moonspell
- Domination - Morbid Angel
- Jagged Little Pill - Alanis Morissette
- Southpaw Grammar - Morrissey
- World of Morrissey - Morrissey
- Sacrifice - Motörhead
- Teenage Politics - MxPx
- Diaspora - Natacha Atlas
- Brainbloodvolume - Ned's Atomic Dustbin (final album)
- Revolutions of Time...the journey 1975-1993 (3-CD box set) - Sony Music - Willie Nelson
- Further Down the Spiral - Nine Inch Nails
- Tragic Kingdom - No Doubt
- (What's the Story) Morning Glory - Oasis
- The Offspring - The Offspring (a re-issue)
- Return to the 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version - Ol' Dirty Bastard (solo debut)
- Orchid - Opeth (debut)
- Naveed - Our Lady Peace
- Ozzmosis - Ozzy Osbourne
- Wowee Zowee - Pavement
- Draconian Times - Paradise Lost
- Original Soundtracks No. 1 - Passengers
- About Time - Pennywise
- Goofyfoot - Phranc
- P-U-L-S-E - Pink Floyd (live)
- To Bring You My Love - PJ Harvey
- Hello - Poe (debut)
- The Presidents of the United States of America - The Presidents of the United States of America (debut)
- Different Class - Pulp
- The Bends - Radiohead
- Herzeleid - Rammstein (debut)
- Adios Amigos - The Ramones (Last studio album released)
- Only Built 4 Cuban Linx - Raekwon
- ...And Out Come the Wolves - Rancid
- One Hot Minute - Red Hot Chili Peppers
- Return Of (The Rentals) - The Rentals (debut)
- Do You Want More?!!!??! - The Roots
- The Individualist - Todd Rundgren
- Promise - Sade
- Dead Winter Dead - Savatage
- Dreaming of You - Selena
- Q-funk - Shaan
- Me Against the World - 2Pac
- Mengapa Tiada Maaf - Yuni Shara
- Ledbetter Heights - Kenny Wayne Shepherd (debut)
- Frogstomp - Silverchair
- Vodou Beat - Simbi
- Clouds In My Coffee - Carly Simon (three-disc career retrospective box set)
- Subhuman Race - Skid Row
- Paranoid and Sunburnt - Skunk Anansie
- Sleater-Kinney - Sleater-Kinney
- It's Five O' Clock Somewhere - Slash's Snakepit (debut)
- Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness - The Smashing Pumpkins (double CD set)
- Mainliner: Wreckage From the Past - Social Distortion (a re-issue)
- Washing Machine - Sonic Youth
- Let Your Dim Light Shine - Soul Asylum
- Two Headed - Spirit of the West
- The Ghost of Tom Joad - Bruce Springsteen
- Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing - Strapping Young Lad (debut)
- Fourth Dimension - Stratovarius
- Acid Yantra - Sun Dial
- Incidental Music 1991-95 - Superchunk
- Here's Where the Strings Come In - Superchunk
- I Should Coco - Supergrass (debut)
- Jerky Boys: The Movie - Soundtrack
- Raoul and the Kings of Spain - Tears for Fears
- Hanky Panky - The The
- Infernal Love - Therapy?
- 311 - 311
- Machiavelli and the Four Seasons - TISM
- Disco 2001 - Tokyo Ghetto Pussy
- Tambu - Toto
- Maxinquaye - Tricky
- I Am an Elastic Firecracker - Tripping Daisy
- Balance - Van Halen
- Peel Slowly and See - The Velvet Underground
- Running on Ice - Vertical Horizon
- A Northern Soul - The Verve
- Still Not Black Enough - W.A.S.P.
- Stanley Road - Paul Weller
- Astro Creep: 2000 - Songs of Love, Destruction and Other Synthetic Delusions of the Electric Head - White Zombie
Top hits
- "All Over You" - Live
- "Alright" - Supergrass
- "As I Lay Me Down" - Sophie B. Hawkins
- "Baby" - Brandy
- "Beautiful Life" - Ace of Base
- "Breakfast At Tiffany's" - Deep Blue Something
- "Buddy Holly" - Weezer
- "Bullet With Butterfly Wings" - Smashing Pumpkins
- "Bulls On Parade" - Rage Against The Machine
- "Can't Stop Lovin' You" - Van Halen
- "Carnival" - Natalie Merchant
- "Connection" - Elastica
- "Creep" - TLC
- "Don't Take It Personal" - Monica
- "Dreaming of you" - Selena
- "Exhale (Shoop, Shoop)" - Whitney Houston
- "Fantasy" - Mariah Carey
- "1st Of Tha Month" - Bone Thugs-N-Harmony
- "Freak Like Me" - Adina Howard
- "Good" - Better Than Ezra
- "Hand In My Pocket" - Alanis Morissette
- "Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman?" - Bryan Adams
- "Hey Man, Nice Shot" - Filter
- "Hook" - Blues Traveler
- "I Alone" - Live
- "I Know" - Dionne Farris
- "I'll Stick Around" - Foo Fighters
- "I Want You"- Madonna
- "If You Love Me" - Brownstone
- "In the House of Stone and Light" - Martin Page
- "It's Midnight Cinderella" - Garth Brooks
- "J.A.R." - Green Day
- "Kiss From A Rose" - Seal
- "Life's a Bitch" - Nas
- "Lightning Crashes" - Live
- "Lump" - The Presidents of the United States of America
- "Misery" - Soul Asylum
- "Missing" - Everything But The Girl
- "1979" - Smashing Pumpkins
- "Only Wanna Be With You" - Hootie & the Blowfish
- "Rock And Roll Is Dead" - Lenny Kravitz
- "Roll To Me" - Del Amitri
- "Run-Around" - Blues Traveler
- "Runaway" - Janet Jackson
- "Scream" - Michael Jackson & Janet Jackson
- "She's Every Woman" - Garth Brooks
- "Stutter" - Elastica
- "Take a Bow" - Madonna
- "The Sweetest Taboo" - Sade
- "This Ain't a Love Song" - Bon Jovi
- "This Is How We Do It" - Montell Jordan
- "Tomorrow" - Silverchair
- "Water Runs Dry" - Boyz II Men
- "When I Come Around" - Green Day
- "Waterfalls" - TLC
- "Wonderwall" - Oasis
- "You Are Not Alone" - Michael Jackson
- "You Oughta Know" - Alanis Morissette
- "You'll See" - Madonna
See also: Hot 100 No. 1 Hits of 1995
Classical music
- Osvaldas Balakauskas - Requiem
- Sally Beamish - Viola Concerto
- Harrison Birtwistle - Panic (premiered at Last Night of the Proms)
- Elliott Carter - String Quartet No.5
- Mario Davidovsky - Violin Concertino
- Mario Davidovsky - Flashbacks for flute/piccolo/alto flute, clarinet/bass clarinet, violin, violoncello, piano, and percussion
- Ludovico Einaudi - Chatrang Overture
- Ulrich Leyendecker - Violin Concerto
- Theo Loevendie - Piano Concerto
- Krzysztof Penderecki - Violin Concerto No. 2 Metamorphosen
- Stanislaw Skrowaczewski - Passacaglia Immaginaria
- Michael Tippett - The Rose Lake
- Malcolm Williamson - A Year of Birds
- Roger Ames - Hearts on Fire
- Michael Easton - The Selfish Giant (for children)
- Stewart Wallace - Harvey Milk
- Hello Dolly Broadway revival
- How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying Broadway revival
- Victor/Victoria Broadway production
- Arabian Knight animated feature
- Pocahontas animated feature
Deaths
- January 31 - George Abbott, US librettist and director
- February 10 - Tony Secunda, Marc Bolan manager in 1971, heart attack
- February 18 - Bob Stinson, The Replacements, complications caused by drug and alcohol abuse
- February 23 - Melvin Franklin, The Temptations, brain seizure
- March 5 - Vivian Stanshall, eccentric British musician
- March 9 - Ingo Schwichtenberg, Helloween, suicide
- March 26 - Eazy-E , Complications from AIDS
- March 29 - Baltimora, singer
- March 31 - Selena, singer, Murder
- April 4 - Priscilla Lane, US singer and actress, lung cancer
- April 14 - Burl Ives, singer, actor
- April 25 - Ginger Rogers, US actress, dancer and singer
- May 8 - Teresa Teng, singer
- May 16 - Lola Flores, singer and dancer
- June 4 - Ernest Borneman, jazz musician and critic
- June 12 - Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, pianist
- June 14 - Rory Gallagher, Irish blues/rock guitarist
- July 23 - Miklós Rózsa, film score composer
- August 9 - Jerry Garcia, The Grateful Dead
- August 18 - Alan Dell, BBC Radio 2 DJ
- August 19 - Pierre Schaeffer, composer and pioneer of Musique concrète
- August 23 - Dwayne Goettel, Skinny Puppy, drug overdose
- August 26 - Ronnie White (57),the Miracles, cowriter of the Temptations hit "My Girl" (with Smokey Robinson), leukemia.
- August 30 - Sterling Morrison (53), The Velvet Underground guitarist, Non-Hodgkin lymphoma
- October 19 - Don Cherry, jazz trumpeter
- October 21 - Maxene Andrews, singer, member of The Andrews Sisters
- October 21 - Shannon Hoon, lead singer of group Blind Melon
- October 21 - Hans Helfritz, composer
- October 26 - Gorni Kramer, Italian bandleader and songwriter
- November 17 - Alan Hull, formerly of Lindisfarne
- November 21 - Peter Grant, manager of The Yardbirds, Led Zeppelin, Bad Company, myocardial infarction
- November 23 - Junior Walker, musician
- December 25 - Dean Martin, singer,actor
- December 25 - Nicolas Slonimsky, conductor and composer
- December 27 - Shura Cherkassky, pianist
Awards
- The following artists are inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: The Allman Brothers Band, Al Green, Janis Joplin, Led Zeppelin, Martha and the Vandellas, Neil Young and Frank Zappa
- Inductees of the GMA Gospel Music Hall of Fame include Charles Wesley (writer of "Hark The Herald Angels Sing")
- Udit Narayan wins the Filmfare Best Male Playback Award
Grammy Awards
Country Music Association Awards
- Dummy - Portishead wins.