The database currently contains 4349 historical events.
- Charlotte Aitchison, known professionally as Charli XCX, was born in Cambridge, England.
- The Beach Boys released their 27th studio album, “Summer in Paradise,” the band’s only studio album without any involvement from Brian Wilson.
- Body Count’s self-titled album was certified Gold in the United States for sales of more than 500,000 copies.
- Jeff Porcaro, a highly sought-after session drummer and member of Toto, died in Los Angeles at the age of 38.
- A joint Guns N' Roses and Metallica concert at Olympic Stadium in Montreal ended in violent riots. James Hetfield suffered severe second- and third-degree burns after being struck by pyrotechnics during the opening song “Fade to Black”, forcing Metallica to end its concert. Guns N' Roses then played for approximately 55 minutes, or about nine songs, before Axl Rose ended the performance because of sound and vocal problems. An enraged crowd of approximately 53,000 fans then vandalized the stadium and surrounding area, resulting in hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage and dozens of people injured and arrested.
- Madness reunited and played the first of two Madstock concerts at Finsbury Park in London. A total of 75,000 fans attended the two concerts, and the reunion led to the group resuming live performances.
- Madonna's “This Used to Be My Playground” became her tenth U.S. No. 1 hit. It reached No. 3 in the UK and was from the film “A League Of Their Own”. The song also reached No. 1 in Canada, Italy, Mexico and Sweden.
- TLC were at No. 1 on the U.S. R&B chart with “Baby-Baby-Baby”.
- Def Leppard began the North American leg of their 248-date world tour, Seven Day Weekend, at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
- Ray Charles performed at the opening of the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, singing his famous version of “America The Beautiful.”
- John Cage died in New York from complications following a stroke at the age of 79.
- RCA and the RIAA presented 110 gold and platinum records to the estate of Elvis Presley.
- Neil Diamond performed the first of six sold-out concerts at Madison Square Garden in New York. According to the source, he was expected to earn more than $40 million from his concert tour that year, the second-highest income in the music industry.
- The member of The Platters died in his sleep in Manhattan, New York, at the age of 64 from emphysema. He sang most of the group's hits until 1961, when he was replaced by Sonny Turner. His lead vocals contributed to the success of “Only You (And You Alone)”, “The Great Pretender”, “My Prayer” and “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes”. The Platters had the US and UK number-one single “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes” in 1959. In 1990, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of The Platters.
- With “End of the Road”, Boyz II Men began a thirteen-week run at No. 1 on the US singles chart and broke Elvis Presley's 36-year-old record. TLC's “Baby-Baby-Baby” simultaneously held the No. 2 position.
- Exodus released their fifth studio album, Force of Habit.
- Wayne Newton filed for bankruptcy, stating that he owed approximately $20 million. Much of the debt was related to his lawsuit against NBC for defamation. By 1999, he had recovered financially.
- Frances Bean Cobain was born to Courtney Love and Kurt Cobain of Nirvana.
- American pop singer, songwriter and actress Demi Lovato was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She became known, among other things, for her role as Mitchie Torres in the musical television film Camp Rock. In 2009, she had the No. 1 album in the U.S. with Here We Go Again.
- A U.S. doctor filed a $35 million lawsuit against Southwest Bell. He claimed that his wife died because he was unable to get through to the 911 emergency line, as all telephone lines were overloaded by demand for tickets to a Garth Brooks concert.
- During the controversy surrounding the song “Cop Killer”, Ice-T appeared in “Rolling Stone” magazine wearing a police uniform. Inside the magazine was an interview titled “You Gotta Problem With That?”. He had already removed the song from future editions of the “Body Count” album after employees of his record label Warner Bros. had received death threats.
- Boyz II Men reached No. 1 on the R&B chart with “End Of The Road”.
- Genesis returned to No. 1 on the British chart with their fourteenth studio album “We Can’t Dance”. The album also reached No. 1 in Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Norway and Switzerland and was the group's last album with Phil Collins.
- Madonna began filming the music video for “Erotica” at The Kitchen in New York City.
- Sting and Trudie Styler held a wedding reception and church blessing at St. Andrew's Church in Great Durnford, Wiltshire; they had already officially married in a civil ceremony in London on August 20. The Troggs performed at the celebration, and all three members of The Police subsequently came together on stage and played several songs.
- British boy band Take That released their debut album “Take That & Party”, which remained on the UK album chart for more than a year.
- The Wallflowers released their self-titled debut album.
- Alice in Chains' album “Dirt” was released.
- Eric Clapton released “Unplugged”, recorded for the MTV Unplugged television series in January of the same year. The album included “Tears in Heaven” and an acoustic version of “Layla”, helped revive his career and became his best-selling album. It reached number one in the US and number two in the UK and sold 26 million copies worldwide.
- Mary J. Blige released “Real Love”, her first hit to reach the Top 10 of the Hot 100.
- The handwritten lyrics to The Beatles' song “A Day in the Life” from the album “Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band”, written by John Lennon, were sold at auction at Sotheby's in London for $100,000. The double-sided manuscript contained spelling mistakes and crossed-out words. It was offered at auction again in 2006, and in 2010 an anonymous American buyer acquired it for $1.2 million.
- German singer and songwriter Kim Petras was born. Her collaboration with Sam Smith on the 2022 single “Unholy” reached No. 1 on both the UK singles chart and the Billboard Hot 100.
- The television drama series “The Heights”, about a group of young people from a working-class background trying to form a rock band, premiered on FOX. The short-lived series gave rise to the song “How Do You Talk To An Angel”, which reached No. 1 on the chart.
- Billy Joel's version of Elvis Presley's "All Shook Up" reached No. 92 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song came from the soundtrack to the film "Honeymoon in Vegas" and became the lowest-charting single of his career.
- The Smiths reached No. 1 on the UK album chart with the compilation album "Best…I".
- During their sold-out Zoo TV tour, U2 became only the second act to perform at Yankee Stadium in New York. The first was Billy Joel.
- Billy Joel’s version of Elvis’s song “All Shook Up” reached No. 92 on the US singles chart. The song came from the soundtrack to the film “Honeymoon in Vegas”.
- Elvis Presley’s “Don't Be Cruel” reached No. 42 on the UK singles chart.
- At that year’s Reading Festival in England, Suede, Ride, Pavement, Public Enemy and Manic Street Preachers performed. Nirvana headlined the festival and played their final UK concert, which became one of their most famous performances. Kurt Cobain came on stage in a wheelchair pushed by music journalist Everett True, parodying speculation about his mental state. Manic Street Preachers bassist Nicky Wire smashed a guitar into two pieces and threw it into the audience, hitting a security worker who required 16 stitches. L7 also appeared on the bill, and their singer Donita Sparks threw a used tampon into the audience.
- U2 became only the second act to perform at Yankee Stadium in New York during their sold-out Zoo TV Tour. The first was Billy Joel.
- Prince extended his contract with Warner Bros. in a deal reportedly worth $100 million, although the actual value was significantly lower.