Events in 2008
- Kid Rock reached No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart with "All Summer Long." The song was a massive worldwide smash, also peaking at No. 1 in Australia, Austria, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Switzerland.
- Erik Darling, a member of The Rooftop Singers and The Tarriers, died in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, at the age of 74 from Burkitt lymphoma.
- Rick Springfield received the key to the city of Crown Point, Indiana.
- American musician Robert Hazard, songwriter and composer of “Girls Just Want to Have Fun,” died at the age of 59 from pancreatic cancer.
- Singer Jewel married rodeo rider Ty Murray in the Bahamas after a ten-year relationship.
- The Police wrapped up their reunion tour with a concert at Madison Square Garden in New York City. It was their first tour since 1986, consisted of 151 shows and, according to the source, was the third-highest-grossing tour of all time.
- ABBA reached No. 1 on the UK Albums Chart with the second remastered edition of the compilation album “Gold: Greatest Hits.”
- In an interview with the Calgary Herald, Dave Coulier said that he was the man referred to in Alanis Morissette’s song “You Oughta Know.” Morissette neither confirmed nor denied his claim.
- Bo Diddley was posthumously awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Florida in Gainesville.
- Pioneering American singer, songwriter and musician Isaac Hayes was found dead at his home in Memphis, Tennessee, at the age of 65 after an apparent stroke. He won an Oscar and a Grammy for “Theme From Shaft,” was a major creative force at Stax Records, and co-wrote the iconic songs “Soul Man” and “Hold On, I'm Comin'.” He was also known as the voice of Chef on “South Park”.
- Katy Perry reached No. 1 on the UK singles chart with her debut single "I Kissed A Girl", starting a five-week run at the top. The song was a worldwide smash, topping charts in over 20 countries and spending seven weeks at No. 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100.
- Don Helms, the steel guitarist best known as a member of Hank Williams' Drifting Cowboys, died at the age of 81. He played on more than 100 Hank Williams recordings and also appeared on classic country recordings by Patsy Cline, Stonewall Jackson, the Louvin Brothers, Lefty Frizzell and Loretta Lynn.
- Feist appeared on Sesame Street, where she turned her song “1234” into a lesson in counting. The segment became very popular and surpassed the popularity of the original recording.
- Karl Wiosna of Graig near Pontypridd, Wales, had his stereo equipment and music collection confiscated and destroyed after violating a noise-abatement order. Authorities acted following a neighbor's complaints about loud records by Cher and U2. Two tape and record players, a radio and CDs were seized, and Wiosna was fined £265.
- Noah and the Whale released their debut album Peaceful, the World Lays Me Down on Mercury/Vertigo. Laura Marling, who was a member of the band at the time of recording, also sings on the album, as does Emmy the Great.
- Mark David Chapman was denied parole for the fifth time.
- The Jonas Brothers released the album “A Little Bit Longer,” which debuted at No. 1 on the U.S. album chart.
- She died in Liverpool, England. In 1953, she had a number-one hit with her version of Patti Page's “How Much Is That Doggie In The Window”. She was the first British female singer to reach number one on the UK singles chart.
- American music producer and journalist Jerry Wexler died at the age of 91 from heart failure. He significantly influenced the development of modern rhythm and blues and worked on Aretha Franklin's “Respect”, Wilson Pickett's “In the Midnight Hour” and Bob Dylan's album Slow Train Coming. He also worked with Ray Charles, Percy Sledge, Solomon Burke, Led Zeppelin and Dire Straits. As a Billboard journalist, he helped establish the term “rhythm and blues” in 1949 as a replacement for the then-used term “Race Records”.
- 5 Years Time, the first single from Noah and the Whale's debut album, reached No. 7 on the UK singles chart and became their most successful song.
- Spiral Starecase keyboardist Harvey Kaye, who can be heard on their 1969 hit “More Today Than Yesterday”, died of a heart attack five days before his 70th birthday.
- Jackson Browne sued US presidential candidate John McCain over the unauthorized use of the song “Running on Empty” in a campaign advertisement. Browne claimed that the use of the song violated copyright and could create the impression that McCain supported him.
- Katy Perry began a five-week run at No. 1 on the UK singles chart with her debut single “I Kissed a Girl”.
- Pervis Jackson, bassist and original member of the Motown group The Spinners, died at the age of 70 from brain cancer. The group had a number of hits in the 1970s, including “I'll Be Around,” “Could It Be I'm Falling in Love,” “Then Came You” and “Rubberband Man.”
- Gary Glitter was released from prison in Vietnam after serving three years for abusing two young children.
- Lady Gaga, a 22-year-old singer who had spent two years performing on the New York club scene, released her debut album “The Fame”. The album presented fame primarily as a matter of attitude. Thanks to the hits “Just Dance” and “Poker Face”, she became known around the world, not just in her own imagination.
- American saxophonist and arranger LeRoi Holloway Moore, a founding member of Dave Matthews Band, died at the age of 46. A month earlier, he had suffered serious injuries, including a punctured lung, in an accident involving an ATV/vehicle on his farm in Virginia. He died as a result of those injuries and subsequent pneumonia.
- The family of Manuela Gomez Ruiz formally requested the dismissal of their lawsuit against Marian Medical Center in Santa Monica. They claimed that 73-year-old Ruiz had been denied critical care after suffering a heart attack on the same day that Michael Jackson was brought to the hospital with flu-like symptoms during his 2005 trial on child abuse allegations. The family had originally sued Jackson, but a judge removed him from the lawsuit in April.
- Wayne Wadhams, keyboard player and lead vocalist of The Fifth Estate, who had the 1967 Billboard No. 11 hit “Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead”, died at the age of 61. In addition to his music career, he was a respected author and educator and spent many years as a professor at Berklee College of Music, where he helped create and develop the Music Production and Engineering (MP&E) programme.
- Roseanne Cash criticized the use of her late father Johnny Cash's name in connection with support for a U.S. presidential candidate. Country singer John Rich suggested that Cash would have supported Republican candidate John McCain. Roseanne Cash called such a claim presumptuous and said that even she would not presume to publicly state what her father actually felt or thought.
- Drummer Buddy Harman died of congestive heart failure at the age of 79. He worked with Elvis Presley (“Little Sister”), Patsy Cline (“Crazy”), Roy Orbison (“Pretty Woman”), Johnny Cash (“Ring Of Fire”) and Tammy Wynette (“Stand By Your Man”). He was the first studio drummer for the Grand Ole Opry and can be heard on more than 18,000 recordings.
- Gary Glitter returned to Thailand after being denied entry to Hong Kong. Chinese authorities informed the British Foreign Office that they had barred him from entering. He had previously been deported from Vietnam, where he spent almost three years in prison for sexually abusing two girls. From Bangkok, he refused to fly to the UK and requested medical treatment after stating that he had suffered a heart attack.
- Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale had their second child, a son named Zuma Nesta Rock.
- Disgraced pop singer Gary Glitter, whose real name was Paul Francis Gadd, returned to Britain after being deported from Vietnam, where he had served two years and three months for abusing two girls aged 10 and 11. In an attempt to avoid repatriation, he flew 2,661 miles from Vietnam to Bangkok, then to Hong Kong and back to Bangkok, with each country refusing him entry. He spent three days at Asian airports and was refused entry by at least 19 countries, forcing him to return to Britain. After his return, he had to register as a sex offender and his movements in Britain were restricted so that he could not approach children.
- Madonna launched her Sticky & Sweet Tour at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales, in support of the album “Hard Candy”. It was her first tour as part of her partnership with Live Nation and, after being extended into 2009, became the highest-grossing tour by a solo artist, with 85 concerts in 32 countries grossing approximately $408 million and attracting more than 3.5 million fans. The tour surpassed the previous record Madonna had set with her Confessions Tour in 2006.
- The cast of the film “Mamma Mia!” reached number one on the US Billboard 200 with the “Mamma Mia! The Movie Soundtrack”, which included performances by Pierce Brosnan, Meryl Streep, Amanda Seyfried and Colin Firth, among others.
- Irish pop-rock trio The Script reached number one on the UK album chart with their debut album “The Script”, just one week after its release.
- Barenaked Ladies frontman Ed Robertson escaped uninjured after crashing his Cessna 206 seaplane near Bancroft, Ontario. The other three passengers, including his wife Natalie, also miraculously escaped without injury. The Transportation Safety Board of Canada was unable to determine the cause of the accident but cleared Robertson of any wrongdoing.
- Leona Lewis and Jimmy Page performed at the closing ceremony of the Beijing Olympics at the National Stadium, where they performed the Led Zeppelin classic „Whole Lotta Love“ together.
- In Denver, political activity surrounding the 2008 Democratic National Convention began, and artists including Kanye West, Rage Against The Machine and John Legend came to the city to perform.
- Mackenzie Phillips, daughter of John Phillips of The Mamas And The Papas and former star of the television series “One Day At A Time”, was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport at the age of 48 on suspicion of drug possession. She later pleaded guilty to cocaine possession and was sentenced to an eighteen-month drug treatment and diversion program.
- Organizers of the French music festival Rock En Seine threatened legal action after Amy Winehouse cancelled her appearance. The singer did not attend the three-day festival in Paris, and according to the organizers, they received notification of the cancellation only two hours before her scheduled performance.
- American rapper DMX pleaded guilty to attempting to purchase cocaine and marijuana in Miami. The 37-year-old singer, whose real name was Earl Simmons, pleaded guilty in a Florida court and was sentenced to a term covering time already served. He remained in custody awaiting extradition to Arizona over further charges related to drugs and animal cruelty.
- Jonas Brothers began a two-week run at No. 1 on the US chart with their third studio album “A Little Bit Longer”.
- Singer, guitarist, songwriter and actor Jerry Reed died at the age of 71 from complications associated with emphysema. He became known for songs including “Guitar Man,” “Amos Moses,” “When You’re Hot, You’re Hot,” “A Thing Called Love” and “Alabama Wild Man.” His song “East Bound and Down” became closely associated with his role in the 1977 film Smokey and the Bandit. He appeared in a total of 23 films and reached the Billboard Country chart 52 times.
- At the GQ Men of the Year Awards, she became so drunk that she insulted her co-host Elton John and, at the end of the evening, revealed news of her brother’s recent engagement in London.
- Rage Against The Machine took part in protests against the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis, but police prevented them from performing. The band went into the crowd and played two songs through a megaphone, after which riots broke out.
- Slipknot earned their first No. 1 album in the United States with All Hope Is Gone. After sales were recalculated, the album surpassed rapper The Game’s release by 1,134 copies; according to Nielsen SoundScan, it sold 239,516 copies.
- The first guitar Jimi Hendrix famously set on fire on stage sold for £280,000 at a rock memorabilia auction. It was a 1965 Fender Stratocaster that Hendrix set alight at the end of his 1967 concert at the Astoria in Finsbury Park, London. At the same London auction, the Beatles' first management contract, signed in 1962 by all four members and manager Brian Epstein, sold for £240,000. One source states that the guitar was sold by British auction house The Fame Bureau for approximately $575,000.
- Oasis launched a campaign promoting the release of singles from their album Dig Out Your Soul, their final studio album.
- American rock band Great White, whose pyrotechnics caused the 2003 fire at The Station nightclub in Rhode Island, which killed 100 people and injured more than 200 others, agreed to pay $1 million to the victims' survivors and those who were injured. Guitarist Ty Longley also died in the fire. Tour manager Daniel Biechele pleaded guilty in 2006 to 100 counts of involuntary manslaughter.
- The Verve's fourth and final studio album, "Forth", reached No. 1 on the UK album chart.
- MTV made up for the previous year, when Britney Spears appeared tired during the opening of the Video Music Awards, by giving her three awards for “Piece Of Me”. Kanye West also premiered “Love Lockdown” at the ceremony.
- Noel Gallagher was attacked during Oasis's performance at the Virgin Festival in Toronto when a spectator ran onto the stage and knocked him to the ground. Gallagher suffered a broken rib and ligament damage, which led to the cancellation of several Oasis concerts.
- Pink reached No. 1 on the British album chart with Funhouse, her fourth studio album. The album's original working title was “Heartbreak is a Motherfucker.”
- Darius Rucker, former frontman of Hootie & the Blowfish, reached number one on the US country chart with his first country song, “Don't Think I Don't Think About It.” He became the first solo African American artist to reach the top of the country chart since Charley Pride in 1983. The song was his first solo Top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100.
- Kings of Leon's fourth studio album, Only by the Night, entered the UK albums chart at number one. It also reached the top in Australia, Ireland, and New Zealand.
- Ritchie Blackmore and Candice Night married after 17 years together. Blackmore was a member of Deep Purple and Rainbow. They were brought together by their shared love of Renaissance music and later founded the band Blackmore’s Night.
- Lisa Marie Presley and her fourth husband, Michael Lockwood, welcomed twins Harper and Finley.
- Spotify was launched. The most-streamed song for October was “Viva La Vida” by Coldplay, while the most-streamed song for the whole of 2008 was “Human” by The Killers. Ten years later, the company reported 180 million active users and more than 40 million tracks.
- Dave Grohl criticized Republican presidential candidate John McCain after his campaign used the Foo Fighters song “My Hero” without permission. Grohl said the song was written as a celebration of an ordinary person and his extraordinary potential.
- Madonna altered the lyrics of "I Love New York" during a concert at Madison Square Garden to make a confrontational reference to Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin. The incident received widespread media coverage, and Madonna later clarified that the wording was intended as a political metaphor rather than a literal threat.
- Paul McCartney, a vegetarian for 30 years, objected when a Liverpool McDonald's displayed his photograph, accusing the restaurant of using his image to attract customers. His spokesman Geoff Baker publicly condemned the chain, prompting the restaurant to remove the photographs.
- P!nk's single "So What" was No. 1 on the UK singles chart on October 11. It remained at the top for three consecutive weeks.
- Liverpool singer and songwriter Russ Hamilton died in North Wales at the age of 76. He made music history as the first Liverpool artist to break into the American market. His song "Rainbow" reached No. 4 on the US Billboard chart in 1957 after American distributors mistakenly promoted it instead of the intended A-side, "We Will Make Love."
- Oasis’s album Dig Out Your Soul reaches No. 1 on the UK albums chart. It is the band’s seventh and final studio album.
- Beyoncé released the double A-side single "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" / "If I Were a Boy", five months after marrying Jay-Z. Both songs became worldwide hits. "Single Ladies" spent four weeks at number one on the US chart and won three Grammy Awards, including Song of the Year.
- Ringo Starr posted a video message on his website announcing that he would no longer accept fan mail or sign items sent to him. He explained that he did not have the time and disliked seeing signed items subsequently sold online for thousands of dollars. Later, he signed memorabilia only for charitable purposes.