Events in 1995
- Peggy Lee gave her final major public performance at the Hollywood Bowl.
- Take That scored their seventh UK No. 1 hit with “Never Forget.”
- Take That played the first of ten sold-out concerts at Nynex Arena in Manchester without Robbie Williams, who had left the group the previous month.
- LL Cool J and Simone Johnson were married.
- Jerry Garcia, guitarist, singer and co-founder of The Grateful Dead, died at the age of 53 from a heart attack caused by atherosclerosis at the Serenity Knolls rehabilitation facility in San Francisco. Four days after his death, more than 25,000 fans attended a public memorial service in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. Half of his ashes were later scattered in the Ganges River near the holy city of Rishikesh in India, with the remainder scattered in San Francisco Bay.
- The original members of KISS performed together for the first time since 1980 during the recording of the television special “MTV Unplugged”, when Peter Criss and Ace Frehley joined Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons. The overwhelmingly positive fan response paved the way for the band’s official reunion tour in 1996, which saw the return of their signature costumes and makeup. The special was later released as the album “Kiss Unplugged”.
- Jimmy Buffett hosted President Bill Clinton's birthday celebration at the White House and also performed during the event.
- The film Dangerous Minds, starring Michelle Pfeiffer, premiered in US theaters. Its soundtrack reached No. 1 on the Billboard albums chart, driven by Coolio's lead single “Gangsta's Paradise.”
- The members met and decided to disband following the recent tragic death of founder and leader Jerry Garcia.
- They released their debut album “Garbage”, which included hits such as “Queer” and “Only Happy When It Rains”.
- His estate acquired the domain jimihendrix.com, which had been registered since 1996 by a domain investor who used it to sell email addresses.
- The Clarence Hotel in Dublin, owned by members of U2, was damaged by a fire that took more than three hours to bring under control. The nightclub The Kitchen, located in the same building, was also affected and had to be evacuated.
- Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys performed live for the first time with his daughters Carnie and Wendy, known from the trio Wilson Phillips, at the SOB Club in New York. The event marked a significant public reconciliation within the family.
- Security staff carried Courtney Love off the stage during the final concert of the Lollapalooza tour in Mountain View, California, after she began arguing with fans of Hole because she felt they were not showing enough support.
- Dave Gahan of Depeche Mode attempted suicide in Los Angeles. He was hospitalized and recovered.
- Microsoft purchased the rights to The Rolling Stones' 1981 song “Start Me Up” to use it as the theme song for an advertising campaign marking the launch of Windows 95.
- The rock group Black Grape reached number one on the UK chart with their debut studio album “It’s Great When You’re Straight…Yeah”.
- After a long-running feud fueled by the press that culminated in the simultaneous release of their singles, “Country House” by Blur reached No. 1 on the British chart ahead of “Roll With It” by Oasis. Oasis subsequently achieved worldwide mainstream success, while Blur later moved away from the Britpop sound and developed a more artistic and experimental style, strongly influenced by Pavement.
- English singer and songwriter Dua Lipa was born in London to parents who had emigrated there from Kosovo. At the age of 11, she moved with her family to Kosovo, but at 15 she persuaded her parents to allow her to return to London alone, where she completed secondary school and began her music career. Her self-titled debut album was released in 2017 and produced seven singles, including the hits “Be the One” and “New Rules”, which reached No. 1. Her second album, “Future Nostalgia”, released in 2020, became her first UK No. 1 album and won the Brit Award for British Album of the Year and the Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album. During her career, she has received numerous awards, including seven Brit Awards and three Grammy Awards.
- Foo Fighters' debut album was released in the United Kingdom; it had already been released in the United States in July of the same year.
- Canadian electronic musician Dwayne Goettel of Skinny Puppy died in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, of a heroin overdose at the age of 31. He was best known for his work with the industrial group Skinny Puppy.
- Natalie Merchant, former singer of 10,000 Maniacs, became the first guest of a series of live chats on the Elektra Entertainment Group website.
- Microsoft introduced the Windows 95 operating system, whose startup music was composed by Brian Eno, a pioneer of ambient music who released the album „Ambient 1: Music for Airports“ in 1978, designed to calm travelers at airports.
- Dutch rock'n'roll singer Arnie Treffers of Long Tall Ernie & the Shakers died in Westeremden, Netherlands, at the age of 48 from lung cancer. In 1977 he had the international hit “Do You Remember”.
- American musician Douglas “Doug” Stegmeyer died by suicide at the age of 43. The New York bassist and singer worked during his career with, among others, Billy Joel, Hall & Oates and The Carpenters.
- At this year's British Reading Festival, performers included Smashing Pumpkins, Björk, Neil Young, Green Day, Hole, Paul Weller, Soundgarden, Beck, Foo Fighters, Ash, Deus and Gene.
- Blur reached No. 1 on the UK singles chart for the first time with “Country House”, winning the highly publicized battle with Oasis. Both groups released their singles on the same day; “Country House” sold 270,000 copies compared with 220,000 copies of Oasis's “Roll with It”, which entered the chart at No. 2.
- Hootie & the Blowfish returned to No. 1 on the US Billboard 200 for the fourth time that year with their debut studio album “Cracked Rear View”. The album returned to the top again in late September.
- American musician Ronald “Ronnie” White died at the age of 57 in Detroit, Michigan, after battling leukemia. He was best known as a co-founder of the vocal group The Miracles and as the only member to survive all of the group's lineup changes. His firstborn daughter also died of leukemia at the age of nine.
- Seal reached No. 1 on the US singles chart with “Kiss From A Rose” after it was used in the film “Batman Forever”. It reached No. 4 in the UK, and Seal won three Grammy Awards for it. Seal later said that he owed his career to the film's director Joel Schumacher.
- American singer and songwriter DiFosco T. Ervin Jr., known as Big Dee Irwin, died in Las Vegas, Nevada, at the age of 63 from heart failure. He was best known for his version of “Swinging on a Star”, which he recorded with Little Eva.
- Oasis released the single “Roll With It”.
- Oingo Boingo announced that they would break up after a series of Halloween concerts in California.
- The US Internal Revenue Service placed a lien on Aretha Franklin's home over $600,000 in unpaid taxes.
- Heart released the album "The Road Home", one of the albums commemorated as part of the musical anniversaries for August 29.
- A helicopter crashed in Sequoia National Forest, about 150 miles north of Los Angeles, while a music video for Meat Loaf's song "I'd Lie for You" was being filmed. The pilot and cameraman were killed in the accident.
- James Taylor and his former wife Carly Simon performed together for the first time since 1979 before 10,000 fans at the benefit concert “Livestock '95” on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. The couple separated in 1981 and their divorce was finalized in 1983. They first performed separate solo sets and then performed together to raise money for a local agricultural society.
- During the filming of the video for Meat Loaf’s song “I'd Lie for You”, a pilot and cameraman were killed in a helicopter crash in Sequoia National Forest approximately 150 miles north of Los Angeles, California.
- Sterling Morrison, founding member and guitarist of The Velvet Underground, died in Poughkeepsie, New York, from non-Hodgkin lymphoma, one day after his 53rd birthday. He left the group in August 1971 and rejoined it in 1992 for a European tour. In the 1980s, he became a tugboat captain in Houston. The Velvet Underground were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996.
- Louis Armstrong was honored with the issuance of a U.S. postage stamp.
- A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held in Cleveland, Ohio, to mark the opening of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. The museum officially opened the following day.
- The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame building opened in Cleveland, Ohio. Bob Dylan, Chuck Berry, Aretha Franklin, Al Green, Booker T. & the M.G.'s, Little Richard, The Allman Brothers, Boz Scaggs, James Brown and Martha Reeves were among those who performed at the opening ceremony.
- Jazz saxophonist Stan Getz died at the age of 68.
- Blur, Oasis, Radiohead, Paul Weller, Manic Street Preachers and The Stone Roses recorded tracks for the charity album War Child, which was released five days later. All proceeds went to children affected by the war in the former Yugoslavia.
- Jethro Tull released the album Roots to Branches.
- Bruce Hornsby and Branford Marsalis sang the U.S. national anthem at Camden Yards in Baltimore before Cal Ripken Jr. set the record for consecutive baseball games played.
- Joan Jett sang the U.S. national anthem before a game between the Baltimore Orioles and the California Angels. It was Cal Ripken Jr.'s 2,131st consecutive game, breaking Lou Gehrig's record. Jett, a major Orioles fan and Ripken's girlfriend, then watched the rest of the game with a number of baseball legends, including Willie Mays and Joe DiMaggio.
- Farm Aid 8 took place in Louisville, Kentucky. Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp, Hootie and the Blowfish, and The Dave Matthews Band performed; according to the source variants, the concert raised nearly one million dollars, or more than one million dollars, to support American farmers.
- Alanis Morissette's album Jagged Little Pill reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in its 15th week. For Maverick, the record label founded by Madonna, it was the first album to reach the top of the chart. According to the source, Morissette was the third female singer of the 1990s whose debut album reached No. 1.
- Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and Kylie Minogue released their joint duet “Where the Wild Roses Grow.” The song later won three ARIA Awards in 1996: Single of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Release.
- Oasis released their second album “(What's the Story?) Morning Glory,” which entered the British album chart at No. 1 and, according to the source, turned the British band into global stars. It sold more than 18 million copies worldwide and in 2010 received the award for Best British Album of the Last 30 Years at the BRIT Awards. The epic song “Champagne Supernova,” released as a single only in the United States, reached No. 1 on the Modern Rock chart.
- The home of Jesse Colin Young, frontman of The Youngbloods, was burned to the ground in the Mount Vision wildfires in Point Reyes, California. His song “Ridgetop” is about this very house.
- At the 29th annual Country Music Association Awards, Alan Jackson won Entertainer of the Year, Alison Krauss was named Female Vocalist of the Year, and Vince Gill won Male Vocalist of the Year. Alison Krauss was also the evening's most successful recipient, winning four awards.
- “Grind,” the first track from Alice in Chains' self-titled album, was released to radio stations via satellite uplink to prevent the recording from spreading uncontrollably. The song had previously leaked to radio stations in early October.
- Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson of ABBA attended the premiere of their new musical Kristina från Duvemåla at the Storan Theatre in Malmö, Sweden.
- Alanis Morissette's album Jagged Little Pill reached No. 1 on the US Billboard 200 in its 15th week, giving Maverick Records its first album to reach the top. She became the first Canadian female solo artist to reach No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and the fourth female artist of the 1990s whose debut album reached the top of the chart. The album produced six successful singles, including “You Oughta Know,” “Ironic,” “You Learn,” “Hand in My Pocket,” and “Head over Feet,” later received 17× platinum certification in the US, and sold more than 30 million copies worldwide.
- Mariah Carey's album Daydream reached No. 1 on the UK Albums Chart. At the time, the album was also at the top of the charts in Australia, the Netherlands, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, Switzerland, and the US.
- Peter Frampton began his tour in Boston, three days before the release of the album Frampton Comes Alive II. The album was released on October 10, 1995, and was a follow-up to his famous live album Frampton Comes Alive!
- Tone Loc was arrested in Los Angeles for taking $80 from a pizzeria. He later pleaded no contest.
- American rapper G Herbo, formerly known as Lil Herb, was born.
- A five-CD compilation album by Elvis Presley, Walk a Mile in My Shoes – The Essential '70s Masters, was released.
- No Doubt released their third studio album, Tragic Kingdom, featuring the hits “Just a Girl” and “Don't Speak.” The album reached number one in nine countries, including the U.S. and Canada, sold 10 million copies in America, and catapulted singer Gwen Stefani to fame.
- Peter Frampton released his second live album, Frampton Comes Alive! II, through IRS Records, 21 years after the enormous success of the 1975 album Frampton Comes Alive!, which sold more than 10 million copies worldwide. The new album featured live versions of songs from his solo albums of the 1980s and 1990s, but it was not commercially successful, reaching only number 121 in the UK and failing to enter the U.S. Billboard 200.
- Tupac Shakur was released from Clinton Correctional Prison on $1.4 million bail paid by Suge Knight. In return, Tupac signed a three-album deal with Knight's record label, Death Row Records.
- Tupac Shakur is released from prison on $1.4 million bail, paid by Death Row Records head Suge Knight. Tupac awaits an appeal hearing and then travels to Los Angeles to record the album All Eyez on Me.
- Tupac Shakur was released from prison after eight months, having served a sentence in connection with a case involving the sexual assault of a woman in a New York hotel room.