Events in 1996
- The Bayside Boys remix of Los del Río’s “Macarena” reached No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, where it remained for a total of 14 weeks.
- Oasis played two sold-out concerts at Balloch Castle Country Park in Scotland, drawing more than 80,000 fans. During preparations for the concerts, roadie James Hunter was killed after being crushed between a forklift and a lorry; the accident occurred the day before the first show.
- Bruce Springsteen sued two London criminals who were illegally distributing an album they claimed had been recorded by Springsteen.
- Wilson Pickett entered a drug rehabilitation program after a New Jersey judge offered him treatment for cocaine addiction instead of prison.
- Ramones played their final concert at The Palace in Hollywood, Los Angeles. It was their 2,263rd performance, and the setlist contained 32 songs. The final song was “Anyway You Want It” by The Dave Clark Five, performed with Eddie Vedder. Other guests during the concert included Dee Dee Ramone, Lemmy Kilmister, Chris Cornell, Ben Shepherd, Lars Frederiksen and Tim Armstrong. The entire concert was recorded and released in 1997 as the live album “We're Outta Here!”
- Tom Petty released the album “She's the One,” which also served as the soundtrack to the film of the same name, written and directed by Edward Burns.
- Vince Neil attempted to perform a concert at a club in Indiana. The show began more than four hours late and ended after three songs.
- Federální odvolací soud zrušil rozhodnutí, podle něhož původní členové Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers Jimmy Merchant a Herman Santiago spoluautorsky napsali hit „Why Do Fools Fall in Love?“. Soud rozhodl, že nároky na autorská práva musí být podány do tří let od zveřejnění skladby.
- Album „Eliminator“ od ZZ Top získalo diamantovou certifikaci RIAA za prodej 10 milionů kopií ve Spojených státech. Z alba pocházely také singly „Gimme All Your Lovin'“, „Sharp Dressed Man“ a „Legs“.
- KISS performed at Riverfront Coliseum in Cincinnati, Ohio, during their Alive World Tour. During the concert, a fan threw his artificial leg onto the stage, and all the members signed it and returned it to him.
- Oasis played the first of two concerts at Knebworth in Hertfordshire, England. Each night drew 125,000 people, and approximately one in every twenty people in the UK applied for tickets. The concerts became the biggest performances of their era and the high point of Britpop.
- Mel Taylor, drummer for The Ventures, died in Los Angeles at the age of 62 from lung cancer. The Ventures had six Billboard Top 40 songs between 1962 and 1969. In 2008 Taylor was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of The Ventures.
- Radiohead began a series of 13 concerts at Darien Center in New York as the opening act for Alanis Morissette. During the tour, they tested new songs including “No Surprises” and “Paranoid Android,” which later appeared on the album OK Computer.
- Performed at the Darien Lake Performing Arts Center in Buffalo, New York, with Radiohead as the opening act.
- A women's shelter on Long Island rejected a $10,000 donation from a James Brown benefit concert because of domestic violence allegations involving the singer. Brown denied the allegations, which were later dropped.
- Phish held their first weekend festival, The Clifford Ball, in Plattsburgh, New York. The event marked the beginning of the band's tradition of large-scale festivals.
- Hip-hop group A Tribe Called Quest reached No. 1 on the US album chart with their fourth studio album, Beats, Rhymes and Life.
- On the US album chart, Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill was at No. 2, Celine Dion's Falling Into You was at No. 2, Metallica's Load was at No. 8, and No Doubt's Tragic Kingdom was at No. 9.
- The ENIT festival, organized by Perry Farrell after his split from Lollapalooza, began in Holmdel, New Jersey, with Porno For Pyros as the headliners. The festival was among the first events to sell tickets online, but only four concerts took place because of poor organization.
- James Brown performed in Montauk, New York, as part of his Back at the Ranch tour. Brown, who had previously had problems with violence toward his wife, offered money raised at the event to The Retreat, an organization dedicated to preventing and combating domestic violence. The organization declined the offer.
- Snoop Doggy Dogg reached an out-of-court settlement with the Woldemariam family in a wrongful-death case the family had filed against the rapper three years earlier. Their 20-year-old son Phillip Woldemariam had been shot by Snoop Doggy Dogg's bodyguard from the back of a moving car that the rapper himself was driving. Snoop Doggy Dogg and his bodyguard claimed the incident occurred in self-defense.
- Former Talking Heads singer David Byrne sued the other members of the group in an attempt to prevent them from performing under the name “The Heads”. The dispute was settled out of court.
- Rick James was released from Folsom Prison after serving two years of a five-year sentence for holding a woman hostage while under the influence of drugs and for assault.
- The film “She's The One”, featuring a soundtrack by Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, was released in cinemas. Jennifer Aniston and Edward Burns, who appeared in the film, also appeared in the video for the song “Walls”.
- Nearly four months after its first No. 1 finish, Alanis Morissette returned to No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard 200 with the same album, „Jagged Little Pill“, and began another three-week run at the top.
- The six-disc DVD collection Elvis Presley – The Signature Collection was released, containing the films „It Happened at the World's Fair“, „Speedway“, „Spinout“, „Harum Scarum“, „Jailhouse Rock“ and „Viva Las Vegas“.
- „Missing“ by the British duo Everything But The Girl surpassed the record held by The Four Seasons with „December, 1963 (Oh What A Night)“ when it appeared on the Billboard Hot 100 for its 55th week, its final week on the chart.
- Liam Gallagher failed to show up for Oasis's MTV Unplugged recording at the Royal Festival Hall in London before an audience of 400. He later watched the concert from the audience while his brother Noel took over the vocals.
- Delegates at the Democratic National Convention took a break to dance to “Macarena”, including First Lady Hillary Clinton, who imitated the dance moves from the crowd.
- Pearl Jam released their fourth studio album “No Code” through Epic Records. The album debuted at No. 1 on the US album chart, but was not as commercially successful as their previous three albums and quickly fell down the chart.
- Isaac Hayes, co-writer of Sam & Dave’s classic song “Soul Man”, protested against its use in the campaign of Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole. Dole supporters altered the lyrics to “I'm A Dole Man”. Hayes demanded that Dole stop using the song, and publisher Rondor Music subsequently issued a formal legal warning threatening a $10,000 fine for each further unauthorized use.
- Isaac Hayes, co-writer of the classic song "Soul Man" released by Stax Records, sent a letter to presidential candidate Bob Dole asking him to stop using his song, which his supporters had adapted as "I'm A Dole Man".
- Liam Gallagher rejoined the rest of Oasis in Chicago after a week of speculation about the band's future. He had left the group several days earlier.
- Liam Gallagher flew to America to rejoin his Oasis bandmates on the tour for the album “(What's the Story) Morning Glory?”. The band played their first four concerts with his brother Noel as the singer after the singer watched their MTV Unplugged performance from backstage and claimed to be suffering from a throat infection.