1994 in music
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See also: 1993 in music, other events of 1994, 1995 in music, 1990s in music and the list of 'years in music'
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Events
- January 29 - The Supremes' Mary Wilson is injured when her jeep hit a freeway median and flipped over just outside of Los Angeles, California. Wilson's 14-year old son was killed in the accident.
- February 7 - Blind Melon's lead singer Shannon Hoon is forced to leave the American Music Awards ceremony for his loud and disruptive behavior. Hoon is later charged with battery, assault, resisting arrest, and destroying a police station phone
- February 14 - The Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia marries Deborah Koons
- February 23 - The ground breaking ceremony for the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino takes place in Las Vegas, Nevada. Eddie Van Halen, Chris Isaak, and B.B. King attend the event.
- March 3 - In Italy, Nirvana's Kurt Cobain lapses into a coma after taking a combination of valium and champagne. Cobain would die on April 5.
- March 5 - Grace Slick is arrested for pointing a shotgun at police in her Tiberon, California home.
- March 18 - Courtney Love calls the police fearing that her husband, Nirvana's Kurt Cobain, was suicidal. Police confiscate 4 guns and 25 boxes of ammo from Cobain's home. Cobain would kill himself on April 5.
- March 18 - Bassist Darryl Jones replaces Bill Wyman in The Rolling Stones
- March 31 - Madonna appears on The Late Show with David Letterman, making headlines for her foul mouthed, profanity laced interview. Robin Williams later described the segment as a "battle of wits with an unarmed woman."
- April 5 - Kurt Cobain, lead singer of Nirvana, commits suicide. His body is found three days later on 8 April.
- April 25 - Adam Horovitz of the Beastie Boys is sentenced to 200 hours of community service for attacking a television cameraman during funeral services for actor River Phoenix in November of 1993
- April 26 - The legendary Fillmore club reopens in San Francisco, California.
- April 26 - Grace Slick pleads guilty to pointing a shotgun at police officers on March 5.
- May 6 - Pearl Jam files a complaint against Ticketmaster with the U.S. Justice Department charging that the company has a monopoly on the concert ticket business
- May 10 - Weezer releases their debut album. The self-titled "blue" album goes multiplatinum. Tupac Shakur begins serving 15-days in a county jail for attacking director Allen Hughes on the set of a video shoot.
- June 7 - Grace Slick is sentenced to 200 hours of community service and three month's worth of Alcoholics Anonymous meetings after a March 5 incident with police officers.
- July - The Verbier Festival is launched.
- August - Rich Mullins and "Leave a Legacy" contest winner, 76 year old Miguel Garcia Massiate, travel to Bogotá, Colombia with Compassion International. The two men visit the Ciuda Sucre Center where Mullins presented them with over $40,000 that was raised on his summer '94 Ragamuffin Band tour.
- Frank Sinatra receives the Grammy Awards Lifetime Achievement award. Sinatra's acceptance speech is cut short and other artists, upset by this action, criticize the producer's decision during the show, including Billy Joel who takes extra time to perform his song, The River of Dreams, noting that he is wasting valuable air time.
- Woodstock '94
- The three surviving members of The Beatles secretly reunite to record additional music for a few of John Lennon's old unfinished demos, with Jeff Lynne producing.
Albums released
- The Sign - Ace of Base
- Big Ones - Aerosmith
- Jar of Flies - Alice In Chains
- Tales From the Thousand Lakes - Amorphis
- Selected Ambient Works Volume II - Aphex Twin
- Zingalamaduni - Arrested Development (final album before disbanding)
- Russel's Shorts - Arrogant Worms
- Incunabula - Autechre
- Stranger Than Fiction - Bad Religion
- Maybe You Should Drive - Barenaked Ladies
- Ill Communication - Beastie Boys
- Mellow Gold - Beck
- Stereopathetic Soul Manure - Beck
- One Foot in the Grave - Beck
- Pussy Whipped - Bikini Kill
- Amorica - The Black Crowes
- Four - Blues Traveler
- Crossroad - Bon Jovi
- Chocolate Synthesizer - The Boredoms
- Walk On - Boston
- The Hits - Garth Brooks
- Motorcade of Generosity - Cake
- The Bleeding - Cannibal Corpse
- Heartwork - Carcass
- Both Sides - Phil Collins
- Resurrection - Common Sense
- No Need to Argue - The Cranberries
- Balls to Picasso - Bruce Dickinson
- Out Of Range - Ani DiFranco
- Awake - Dream Theater
- Hell Freezes Over - The Eagles
- The Hot Seat - Emerson, Lake & Palmer
- In the Nightside Eclipse - Emperor
- I Say, I Say, I Say - Erasure
- From the Cradle - Eric Clapton
- House Of Love - Amy Grant
- Dookie - Green Day
- Friendly People - Guttermouth
- Live Through This - Hole
- Cracked Rear View - Hootie & the Blowfish (debut)
- Laid - James
- 2 - Jerky Boys
- Grace - Jeff Buckley
- Diary of A Mad Band - Jodeci
- The Great Subconscious Club - K's Choice
- Kerbdog - Kerbdog
- Dogman - King's X
- (Welcome to) Sky Valley - Kyuss
- Hungry for Stink - L7
- Throwing Copper - Live
- Burn My Eyes - Machine Head
- Portrait of an American Family - Marilyn Manson
- Too High to Die - Meat Puppets
- Youthanasia - Megadeth
- Athos - Stephan Micus
- Vauxhall and I - Morrissey
- Illmatic - Nas
- Let Love In - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
- The Downward Spiral - Nine Inch Nails
- MTV Unplugged in New York - Nirvana
- World Demise - Obituary
- Definitely Maybe - Oasis
- Smash - The Offspring
- Orthodox Celts - Orthodox Celts
- W.F.O. - Overkill
- No Quarter - Page & Plant
- Far Beyond Driven - Pantera
- Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain - Pavement
- Vitalogy - Pearl Jam
- Wildflowers - Tom Petty
- The Division Bell - Pink Floyd
- Dummy - Portishead (debut)
- Muse Sick-n-Hour Mess Age - Public Enemy
- Monster - R.E.M.
- Weight - Rollins Band
- Black Hand Inn - Running Wild
- Martinis and Bikinis - Sam Phillips
- Divine Intervention - Slayer
- Spiderland - Slint
- Twice Removed - Sloan
- Souvlaki - Slowdive
- Ruby Vroom - Soul Coughing
- Superunknown - Soundgarden
- Turn It Upside Down - Spin Doctors
- Mars Audiac Quintet - Stereolab
- Purple - Stone Temple Pilots
- Dreamspace - Stratovarius
- Get Up On It - Keith Sweat
- Bust a Nut - Tesla
- Low - Testament
- Live!! New York City 10/14/94 - They Might Be Giants
- Grassroots - 311
- Wildhoney - Tiamat
- CrazySexyCool - TLC
- Dulcinea - Toad the Wet Sprocket
- American Thighs - Veruca Salt
- New Times - Violent Femmes
- Chocolate and Cheese - Ween
- Weezer (Blue Album) - Weezer
Top hits
- "90's Girl" - BlackGirl
- "All For Love" - Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart & Sting
- "All I Wanna Do" - Sheryl Crow
- "All That She Wants" - Ace of Base
- "Always" - Erasure
- "Another Night" - Real McCoy
- "Any Time, Any Place" - Janet Jackson
- "Backwater" - Meat Puppets
- "Big Empty" - Stone Temple Pilots
- "Black Hole Sun" - Soundgarden
- "Come Out And Play" - The Offspring
- "Closer" - Nine Inch Nails
- "Cut Your Hair" - Pavement
- "Don't Turn Around" - Ace of Base
- "Everyday" - Phil Collins
- "Found Out About You" - Gin Blossoms
- "Gin & Juice" - Snoop Doggy Dogg
- "I Alone" - Live
- "I Stay Away" - Alice in Chains
- "Longview" - Green Day
- "Loser" - Beck
- "Love is Strong" - Rolling Stones
- "Mary Jane's Last Dance" - Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
- "Mr. Jones" - Counting Crows
- "Sabatoge" - Beastie Boys
- "Seether" - Veruca Salt
- "She Don't Use Jelly" - The Flaming Lips
- "The Sign" - Ace of Base
- "Until I Fall Away" - Gin Blossoms
- "Waterfalls" - TLC
- "Without You" - Mariah Carey
- "You Want This" - Janet Jackson
See also: Hot 100 No. 1 Hits of 1994
Classical music
- Thomas Beveridge - Yizkor Requiem
- Richard Danielpour - Concerto for Cello and Orchestra
- Mario Davidovsky - Festino for guitar, viola, violoncello, contrabass
- Karl Jenkins - Adiemus: Songs of Sanctuary
- Oliver Knussen - Horn Concerto
- György Kurtág - Stele
- Boris Tishchenko - Symphony No. 7
Opera
- Giovanni Bertolani (orchestrated by Francesco Germini - Matilde
Musical theater
- Beauty and the Beast Broadway production
- Carousel (Rodgers & Hammerstein) - Broadway revival
- Damn Yankees (Richard Adler and Jerry Ross) - Broadway revival
- Grease Broadway revival
- Show Boat (Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II) - Broadway revival
- Sunset Boulevard (Andrew Lloyd Webber) - Broadway production
Musical films
- The Lion King animated feature film with songs by Elton John and Tim Rice
- That's Entertainment! III
Births
Deaths
- January 6 - Harold Sumberg, violinist
- January 15 - Harry Nilsson
- January 17 - Georges Cziffra, pianist
- February 7 - Witold Lutoslawski, composer
- February 24 - Dinah Shore
- March 16 - Nicolas Flagello, composer
- March 22 - Dan Hartman
- March 23 - Donald Swann, pianist and entertainer
- April 5 - Kurt Cobain
- June 14 - Henry Mancini
- June 29 - Kurt Eichhorn, conductor
- July 31 - Anne Shelton, British singer
- September 2 - Roy Castle, musician and all-round entertainer
- September 13 - John Stevens, jazz musician
- September 20 - Jule Styne
- October 19 - Martha Raye
- October 22 - Shlomo Carlebach, Jewish songwriter
- November 11 - Elizabeth Maconchy, composer
Awards
- The following artists are inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: Ruth Brown, Cream, Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Doors, Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, Etta James, Van Morrison, and Sly and the Family Stone
- Inductees of the GMA Gospel Music Hall of Fame include Tennessee Ernie Ford
Grammy Awards
Country Music Association Awards
Eurovision Song Contest
Mercury Music Prize
- Elegant Slumming - M People wins.