1992 in music



This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1992.

January–February

 * January 11
 * Nirvana's Nevermind album goes to No. 1 in the US Billboard 200 chart, establishing the widespread popularity of the Grunge movement of the 1990s.
 * Paul Simon is the first major artist to tour South Africa after the end of the United Nations cultural boycott.
 * January 16 – Mick Jagger attends the Hollywood première of his new movie, Freejack, at Mann's Chinese Theatre.
 * February 5 - New Kids on the Block interrupt their tour to perform on the The Arsenio Hall Show in response to rumors that the group lip-synchs its concerts.
 * February 16 – Slavic music is featured at the Oulu Music Festival, with concerts and opera productions in Oulu, Finland, until February 26.
 * February 18 – Vince Neil leaves Mötley Crüe after 11 years as the band's lead singer, to spend more time on his career as a racing car driver.
 * February 24
 * Nirvana's Kurt Cobain marries Hole's Courtney Love.
 * The U.S. Postal Service unveils two potential designs for its proposed Elvis Presley postage stamp for fans to vote on. One design is of a young, 1950s Elvis, and the other is of a much older, 1970s Elvis. The young Elvis wins the vote, and the stamp is issued the following January.
 * February 25 - Six major record companies reach an agreement to phase out the longbox form of compact disc packaging by April 1993, due to complaints that the packaging is environmentally wasteful.

March–April

 * March 10 – At the 1992 Soul Train Music Awards, Prince wins the "Heritage" award for lifetime achievement.
 * March 14 – Farm Aid Five takes place in Irving, Texas, USA, hosted by Willie Nelson. Artists performing at the event include John Mellencamp, Neil Young and Paul Simon. Approximately 40,000 people attend the event.
 * March 16 – Mariah Carey performs at MTV Unplugged, shows critics her 5-octave range, and gets rave reviews.
 * March 24 – A judge in Chicago, Illinois, USA, approves cash rebates of up to US$3 to anyone proving they bought Milli-Vanilli recordings prior to the beginning of the lip synching scandal on November 27, 1990.
 * April 1 – Billy Idol, on trial for punching a woman in the face, pleads no contest. Idol is fined and ordered to make public service announcements against alcohol and drug abuse.
 * April 20 – The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert takes place at Wembley Stadium in London, England. All proceeds go to AIDS research.
 * April 24 – David Bowie marries fashion model Iman.
 * April 30 – In Los Angeles, California, USA, Madonna's bustier is stolen from a display in Frederick's of Hollywood. A US$1,000 reward is offered for its return.

May–June

 * May 6
 * The first Europäisches Jugendchorfestival,(EJCF) (European Festival of Youth Choirs) is held in Basel, Switzerland. It is decided to make it a triennial event.
 * Rob Halford announces he is leaving Judas Priest.
 * Selena releases her album Entre A Mi Mundo which contains her first No. 1 hit, "Como La Flor".
 * May 7 – John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers leaves the band prior to the publication of a Rolling Stone magazine cover featuring them; he has to be digitally edited out of the photo. Frusciante returned to the Red Hot Chili Peppers in 1998.
 * May 11 – A. R. Rahman's debut film Roja is released. The soundtrack is regarded as a milestone that changed the face of Tamil film music and subsequently contemporary Indian music. Time magazine's film critic, Richard Corliss, stated in 2005 that the "astonishing debut work parades Rahman's gift for alchemizing outside influences until they are totally Tamil, totally Rahman," naming it one of the magazine's "10 Best Soundtracks" of all time.
 * June 5 – The Sata Häme Accordion Festival takes place until June 14 in Ikaalinen, Finland.
 * June 27
 * Michael Jackson starts the Dangerous World tour, supporting his Dangerous album in Munich, Germany.
 * Guitarist Stefanie Sargent of up-and-coming punk rock band 7 Year Bitch dies of asphyxiation after returning home from a party in which she had drunk alcohol and taken a small amount of heroin. She was 24.
 * June 29 – The Northern Accordion Festival takes place in Tornio-Haaparanta, Finland, until July 5.

July–August

 * July 4
 * The BudaFest Summer Opera and Ballet Festival is launched in Budapest, Hungary.
 * Mark Heard suffers a heart attack while performing at the Cornerstone Festival in Illinois, USA. Heard goes to hospital immediately after finishing his set, but dies two weeks after being discharged in August.
 * July 10 – Seinäjoki (Finland) Tango Festival (to July 12).
 * July 11 – "November Rain" by Guns N' Roses enters the world record books when it becomes the longest single, at 8 minutes, 57 seconds, to reach the US Top 20. The single's video has a budget of over US$1.5 million, becoming the most expensive at the time.
 * July 12 – Opening of the Chamber-Music Festival of Kuhmo, Finland (until July 26).
 * July 18 – Whitney Houston marries Bobby Brown.
 * July 28 - Ice-T announces that the controversial track "Cop Killer" is being pulled from Body Count's self-titled album.
 * August 2
 * Rozalla becomes the first artist from Zimbabwe to chart on the US Billboard magazine chart.
 * Former Beatle, George Harrison, tells Billboard magazine that he recently discovered that he was born on February 24, and not February 25 as he had thought for most of his life.
 * Haitian military authorities ban the playing of RAM's single "Fèy"; first performed at the Port-au-Prince Carnival in February, the song was widely interpreted as an anthem of support for exiled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
 * American pop-punk band Blink-182 form in the suburbs of San Diego but known as Blink until 1995.
 * August 3 – Lahti Organ Festival (Finland) (until August 9).
 * August 5 - Jeff Porcaro, arguably the most highly regarded studio drummer in rock from the mid-'70s to the early '90s, dies aged 38.
 * August 8 - During the Guns N' Roses/Metallica Stadium Tour, Metallica frontman James Hetfield is burned by a pyrotechnics blast during a concert at Montreal's Olympic Stadium, forcing the group to cancel the second hour of the show. Co-headliners Guns N' Roses take the stage, but walk off early with Axl Rose complaining of throat problems. The abbreviated show causes angry fans to riot in the streets of Montreal. The tour resumed on August 25, but with a guitar technician replacing Hetfield on guitar for the remainder of the tour.
 * August 14 – Opening of the Sibelius-Festival in Loviisa, Finland.
 * August 18 - Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love become parents of a daughter, Frances Bean Cobain.
 * August 20 – Opening of the Helsinki Festival, with the theme: Music of the Baltics (orchestral and chamber-music concerts, opera productions, song recitals, ballet, theater, jazz, pop, and rock concerts) until September 6.

September–October

 * September 17 - Frank Zappa, in his final professional public appearance, conducts the Ensemble Modern at the Frankfurt Festival in Germany. Zappa, who is seriously ill with prostate cancer, receives a 20-minute ovation.
 * October 3 – Sinéad O'Connor stirs up controversy when she rips up a picture of the Pope on the US television show, Saturday Night Live.
 * October 16 - A massive Bob Dylan tribute concert is held at Madison Square Garden in New York. John Cougar Mellencamp, Neil Young, Eric Clapton, June Carter Cash, Johnny Cash and Tracy Chapman are among the many performers, but much attention becomes focused on Sinéad O'Connor, who is loudly booed by much of the audience in response to the Saturday Night Live incident two weeks earlier.
 * October 20 - Singer-songwriter Madonna releases her fifth studio album, Erotica, which became one of her most controversial albums to date due to overtly sexual content. Along was released at same time, her infamous and highly controversial coffee table Sex book. Witch explore and expose Madonna's sexual fantasies in 128 pages with high sexual pictures featuring the singer with famous celebrities.
 * October 31
 * "End of the Road" by Boyz II Men posts a 12th consecutive week at No. 1 in the US charts, ending a 36-year record previously held by Elvis Presley. Boyz II Men's record was broken on March 6, 1993, by Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You".
 * McTeague, an opera based on the Progressive Era-novel by Frank Norris, premieres at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

November–December

 * November 9 – Australian-born singer Kylie Minogue ends her working relationship with UK songwriters and record producers Stock Aitken Waterman and the record label PWL.
 * November 15
 * Megan Jasper of Sub Pop creates the grunge speak hoax, tricking The New York Times into printing an article on supposed slang used in the grunge scene in Seattle, USA.
 * Ozzy Osbourne plays the final concert of his "retirement" tour at the Pacific Amphitheatre in Costa Mesa, California. He is joined on stage by his three former Black Sabbath bandmates for a reunion performance. Black Sabbath opened the show with Rob Halford as lead vocalist, filling in for Ronnie James Dio who had left the band days earlier.
 * The Jacksons: An American Dream, a two-part miniseries based on the Jackson family, premieres on ABC.
 * November 17 – The soundtrack to Whitney Houston's debut film, The Bodyguard: Original Soundtrack Album is released. The album went on to be certified 17x platinum by the RIAA and sell 45 million copies worldwide. To date the album is still the best selling soundtrack of all time and also one of the best selling albums of all time.
 * December 3 - Bill Wyman announces he is quitting The Rolling Stones.
 * December 31
 * Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau announces his retirement from the stage to an audience at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich.
 * The twenty-first annual New Year's Rockin' Eve special airs on ABC, with appearances by TLC, Bell Biv DeVoe, Slaughter, Jon Secada, Village People and Barry Manilow.

Also in 1992

 * David Isberg quits Opeth from his vocalist position. Current gutiarist Mikael Åkerfeldt fills his position.
 * Vibe, a new magazine focusing on R&B and hip-hop music, launches with a special Fall preview issue.
 * The MP3 file format is developed as part of a video compression standard.

Bands formed

 * See Musical groups established in 1992

Bands disbanded

 * See Musical groups disestablished in 1992

Bands reformed

 * The Tubes
 * April Wine
 * Madness

Biggest hit singles
The following songs achieved the highest chart positions in the charts of 1992.

Top hit singles

 * 1) Set Up 707 Edge of Motion

Births

 * January 2 – Alden Richards, Filipino actor, model and singer
 * January 19 – Mac Miller, American rapper
 * February 3 – Milo, American rapper and producer
 * February 9 - Avan Jogia, Canadian actor and singer
 * March 10 – Emily Osment, American actress and singer
 * March 14 – Jasmine Murray, American singer
 * April 3 – Young M.A., American rapper
 * April 27 - Allison Iraheta, singer
 * May 10 – Charice Pempengco, Filipino singer
 * May 23 – Jinny Ng, Hong Kong Cantopop singer
 * June 20 – Sage the Gemini, American rapper (The HBK Gang)
 * June 21 - Max Schneider, American singer-songwriter and actor
 * June 26
 * Melanie Amaro, American singer
 * Jennette McCurdy, American actress and singer
 * June 30 – Lynx and Lamb Gaede
 * July 3
 * Maasa Sudo, Japanese singer
 * Nathalia Ramos, Spanish actress and singer
 * July 8 - Sky Ferreira, American singer, songwriter, model, and actress
 * July 22 – Selena Gomez, actress and singer-songwriter
 * August 18 – Frances Bean Cobain, daughter of Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love
 * August 20 – Demi Lovato, actress and singer-songwriter
 * August 29 – Mallu Magalhães, Brazilian singer, songwriter and musician
 * September 11 - Desireé Bassett, American guitarist and recording artist
 * September 16 – Nick Jonas (Jonas Brothers)
 * October 10 – Gabrielle Aplin, English singer and songwriter
 * November 12 - Giulietta, Australian singer-songwriter and dancer
 * November 21 - Conor Maynard, British singer
 * November 23 – Miley Cyrus, actress and singer, also known as Hannah Montana
 * December 14 - Tori Kelly, American singer and songwriter
 * December 18 – Bridgit Mendler, actress and singer

Deaths

 * January 14 - Jerry Nolan, drummer for The New York Dolls, 45
 * January 15 – Dee Murray, bassist for Elton John, 45 (cancer)
 * January 17 – Charlie Ventura, tenor saxophonist and bandleader, 75
 * January 27 – Allan Jones, singer and actor, 84
 * January 29 – Willie Dixon, blues singer-songwriter & musician, 76
 * February 12 – Stella Roman, operatic soprano, 87
 * February 21 – Jane Pickens Langley of the Pickens Sisters
 * March 4 – Mary Osborne, jazz guitarist, 70 (liver cancer)
 * March 10 – Giorgos Zampetas, Greek composer, 67
 * March 20 – Georges Delerue, composer, 66
 * March 21 – Shaik Dawood Khan, tabla virtuoso, 75
 * March 27 – Harald Sæverud, composer
 * April 4 – Arthur Russell, cellist and disco musician, 40 (AIDS)
 * April 20 – Johnny Shines, guitarist
 * April 25 – Yutaka Ozaki, Japanese singer, 26 (pulmonary edema)
 * April 27 – Olivier Messiaen, composer, 83
 * April 30 – Toivo Kärki, composer, arranger and producer, 76
 * May 7 – Tiny Timbrell, guitarist
 * May 12 – Sylvia Syms, American singer, 74
 * May 17 – Lawrence Welk, accordion player and bandleader, 89
 * May 23 – Joyce Barker, operatic soprano, 60
 * June 3 – Ettore Campogalliani, music teacher and composer, 89
 * June 8 – Alfred Uhl, composer, 83
 * June 18 – Peter Allen, Australian songwriter, 48 (AIDS)
 * June 20 – Sir Charles Groves, conductor, 77
 * July 4 – Ástor Piazzolla, tango musician and composer
 * July 21 – Aloys Fleischmann, composer and musicologist
 * July 25 – Alfred Drake, US singer and actor, 77
 * July 26 – Mary Wells, Motown singer, 49 (laryngeal cancer)
 * July 29 – William Mathias, composer, 57
 * August 2 – Michel Berger, French composer and songwriter, 44 (heart attack)
 * August 5 – Jeff Porcaro, drummer, Toto, 38 (heart attack)
 * August 12 – John Cage, U.S. composer
 * August 16 – Mark Heard, U.S. singer, 40 (heart attack)
 * September 19 – Sir Geraint Evans, operatic baritone, 70
 * October 3 – Peter Klein, lyric tenor, 85
 * October 5 – Eddie Kendricks, singer, (The Temptations) 52 (lung cancer)
 * October 7 – Harold Truscott, composer, pianist, broadcaster and writer on music, 78
 * October 25 – Roger Miller, singer, 56 (lung cancer)
 * November 10 – Hilda Hölzl, operatic soprano, 65
 * November 13 – Ronnie Bond (The Troggs), 52
 * November 14 – Teddy Riley, New Orleans jazz trumpeter and bandleader
 * November 21 – Severino Gazzelloni, flautist
 * November 23 – Roy Acuff, "King of Country Music", fiddler, 89
 * November 27 – Daniel Santos, singer and composer of bolero
 * November 29 – Paul Ryan, singer, songwriter and record producer, 44 (cancer)
 * December 9 – Cesar Gonzmart, violinist, 72
 * December 10 - Kate Buchdahl, violinist, 28 (Hodgkin's lymphoma)
 * December 15 – Otto Lington, composer, orchestra leader and violinist, 89
 * December 21
 * Philip Farkas, horn player, 78
 * Albert King, blues guitarist and singer, 69
 * Nathan Milstein, violinist, 88
 * December 26 - Nikita Magaloff, pianist, 80

Awards

 *  Country Music Hall of Fame Inductees: George Jones and Frances Preston
 * Eurovision Song Contest: Main article: Eurovision Song Contest 1992
 * Filmfare Best Male Playback Award: Awarded to Kumar Sanu
 * Grammy Awards: Main article: Grammy Awards of 1992
 * Japan Record Awards: Main article: 34th Japan Record Awards
 * Mercury Music Prize: Awarded to Primal Scream for Screamadelica
 * Ramon Magsaysay Award: Awarded to Ravi Shankar
 * 1992 RTHK Top 10 Gold Songs Awards: First prize awarded to "暗戀你" sung by Jacky Cheung
 * Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: The following artists were inducted: Bobby Blue Bland, Booker T. and the M.G.s, Johnny Cash, The Isley Brothers, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Sam & Dave, and The Yardbirds