2004 in music

See also:

• 2004 in music (UK)
• other events of 2004
• list of 'years in music'
• 2000s in music

Events

• January 1
  • Vienna New Year's Concert by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in Vienna, conducted by Riccardo Muti
  • Kurt Nilsen wins World Idol
• January 3 - Britney Spears marries Jason Allen Alexander, a childhood friend, in Las Vegas. The marriage was annulled two days later.
• February 1 - Daron Hagen is appointed President of the Lotte Lehmann Foundation in New York City.
• February 17
  • Brit Awards held in London. The Darkness, Dido, Busted, Justin Timberlake, and KRS-One are among the winners.
  • Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan posts a bitter message on his personal blog calling D'Arcy Wretzky a "mean spirited drug addict" and blaming James Iha for the breakup of that band.
• March 10 - George Michael announces that Patience will be his last commercially released record, telling Jo Whiley of BBC Radio 1 "this album nearly killed me". Future releases will be available from his web site in return for donations to his favourite charities.
• March 13 - Luciano Pavarotti gives his last performance in an opera, in Tosca at the New York Metropolitan Opera.
• March 23 - Usher releases his " Confessions " album selling 1.1 million copies its first week , making him the first R&B artist to ever accomplish that. The album would be the top seller of the year with four number one singles.
• April 6
  • A previously unreleased Johnny Cash album called My Mother's Hymn Book is released less than a year after his death on September 12, 2003.
  • Modest Mouse, an American indie rock band releases Good News For People Who Love Bad News.
• April 20 - Fear Factory returns after their 2002 breakup with the new album Archetype.
• April 26
  • Deborah Voigt, sacked by Covent Garden for being too fat for an opera role, makes her recital debut to a rapturous reception at Carnegie Hall.
  • Dream Theater performs at the Nippon Budokan Hall in Tokyo, Japan.
• May - Blender magazine's May issue includes a "50 Worst Songs Ever!" list. "We Built This City," by Starship, is rated worst.
• May 10 - Keane release Hopes and Fears which converted into the 16th best selling album of the millennium in the UK. It went 8x platinum and was nominated for the Mercury Prize and the Brit award for best album.
• May 18 to May 23 - European Festival of Youth Choirs (EJCF) in Basel.
• May 24 - Madonna starts The Re-Invention Tour in 20 cities with a total of 56 shows and making it the most successful concert tour of the year with a gross of $124.5 million.
• May 25
  • Jam band Phish announces that after 21 years they will break up following the Summer 2004 Tour.
  • Skinny Puppy releases their first studio album since disbanding in 1996, called The Greater Wrong of the Right.
• May 26 - Fantasia Barrino wins the third season of American Idol, defeating Diana DeGarmo.
• June
  • Staind start recording their fourth album, produced by David Bottrill.
  • Velvet Revolver's first album Contraband debuts in the top slot on the Billboard album charts, selling over 250,000 copies its first week out.
• June - The Ramones guitarist Johnny Ramone is hospitalized in Los Angeles with prostate cancer and diagnosed.
• June 4
  • Karl Jenkins signs a 10-year recording deal with EMI.
• Creed dissolved because guitarist Mark Tremonti is working in a side project Alter Bridge and their first album is One Day Remains, which is scheduled to be released on August 10th.
• June 10 - Ray Charles dies of liver disease at the age of 73.
• June 12 - The Los Angeles, California radio station KROQ airs the 12th Annual KROQ Weenie Roast show with Bad Religion, Beastie Boys, Cypress Hill, The Hives, Hoobastank, The Killers, Modest Mouse, New Found Glory, Story of the Year, The Strokes, The Velvet Revolver, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Yellowcard.
• June 22 - 14th annual Lollapalooza festival, scheduled for July 17, is cancelled. Organizers cite "poor ticket sales". (See: Lollapalooza 2004 lineup.)
• June 23 - UK DJ Tony Blackburn is suspended by radio station Classic Gold Digital for playing songs by Cliff Richard, against station policy.
• July 10 Ex- S Club star Rachel Stevens sets a world record for completing the fastest promotional circuit in just 24 hours- including a run for the charity Sport Relief. American Idol winner Fantasia becomes the first artist in history to debut at number-one on the Hot 100 with a first record.
• July 11 McFly debut at #1 on the UK album charts with Room On The 3rd Floor. They break the record set by The Beatles as the youngest group ever to debut at #1 on the album charts.
• New classic rock and New Wave-influenced bands such as the Killers begin to oust numetal bands.
• July 20 - Van Halen releases The Best of Both Worlds, a 36-song compilation album featuring three new recordings with Sammy Hagar on vocals.
• July 24 - The Robert Smith organized Curiosa Festival kicks off with a concert in West Palm Beach, Florida. Performing along with The Cure are Interpol, The Rapture, Mogwai, Cursive, Muse, Head Automatica, Thursday, Scarling., The Cooper Temple Clause, and Melissa Auf Der Maur.
• July 31 - Dispatch performs their last live show at the DCR Hatchshell in Boston, MA.
• August 8 - Dave Matthews Band's tour bus dumps 800 lb (360 kg) of human feces from a Chicago bridge, intending to unload it in the river, but it lands on an architecture tour boat. The bus driver and the band are sued by the state of Illinois.
• August 15 - Phish performs their final concert at a two-day festival in Coventry, Vermont.
• September 14
  • Megadeth is scheduled to release their new studio album The System Has Failed.
  • Nelly released doubled albums.
• September 21 - Green Day releases American Idiot, their 9th studio album. It goes 6x platinum and gains a cult following.
• September 28
  • Hilary Duff releases her self-titled second **Brian Wilson completes SMiLE, 37 years after its original planned release
• October 11 - The original lineup of Duran Duran release their new album Astronaut, which was preceded by the single "(Reach Up For The) Sunrise".
• October 23 - Ashlee Simpson is accused of lip-synching after an abortive live performance on the television show Saturday Night Live.
• October 26 - Legendary DJ John Peel dies, after 40 years of massive influence upon popular music.
• November 4 - Three members of the band RAM, who all lived in a neighborhood known for its support of the then-recently deposed former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, are detained by Haitian police during a concert performance in Port-au-Prince; no charges are ever filed or official explanation for the detentions given.
• November 15 - "Breathe" single by Fabolous was released.
• December - Ned's Atomic Dustbin begins touring with 5 upcoming shows.
• December 11-12 - The Los Angeles, California radio station KROQ airs the 15th Annual of the Acoustic Christmas with Chevelle, Franz Ferdinand, Good Charlotte, Green Day, Hoobastank, Incubus, Interpol, Jimmy Eat World, Keane, The Killers, Modest Mouse, Muse, The Music, My Chemical Romance, Papa Roach, Snow Patrol, Social Distortion, Sum 41, Taking Back Sunday, The Shins, The Used and the Velvet Revolver.

Bands formed

• Paramore
• Test Icicles

Bands disbanded

• B2K
• The Beta Band
• Beulah
• Creed
• Damageplan
• Eve 6
• Gene
• Give Up the Ghost
• God Lives Underwater
• The Libertines
• Phish
• Small Brown Bike
• The Unicorns
• The Watchmen

Albums released

Top hits

• "American Idiot" - Green Day
• "Bedshaped" - Keane
• "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" - Green Day
• "Burn" - Usher
• "Can't Stand Me Now" - The Libertines
• "Chocolate" - Snow Patrol
• "Confessions Part II" - Usher
• "Do They Know It's Christmas?" - Band Aid 20
• "Dry Your Eyes" - The Streets
• "Eight Easy Steps" - Alanis Morissette
• "Everybody's Changing - Keane
• "Everytime" - Britney Spears
• "Everything" - Alanis Morissette
• "Figured You Out" - Nickelback
• "First of the Gang to Die" - Morrissey
• "Fit But You Know It" - The Streets
• "Freakin' Out" - Graham Coxon
• "Goodies" - Ciara
• "Gravity" - Embrace
• "Harder to Breathe" - Maroon 5
• "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" - The Darkness
• "Feeling This" - blink-182
• "Leaving New York" - R.E.M.
• "Left Outside Alone" - Anastacia
• "Long Time Coming" - The Delays
• "Look What You've Done" - Jet
• "Mary" - Scissor Sisters
• "Megalomaniac" - Incubus
• "I Miss You" - blink-182
• "My Band" - D12
• "My Happy Ending" - Avril Lavigne
• "My Immortal" - Evanescence
• "Naughty Girl" - Beyonce
• "Old Habits Die Hard" - Mick Jagger and Dave Stewart
• "Open Road" - Bryan Adams
• "Over and Over" - Nelly & Tim McGraw
• "Pieces of Me" - Ashlee Simpson
• "Radio" - Robbie Williams
• "Real to Me" - Brian McFadden
• "Rumors" - Lindsay Lohan
• "Satellite of Love '04" - Lou Reed
• "She Will Be Loved" - Maroon 5
• "Since U Been Gone" - Kelly Clarkson
• "Slither" - Velvet Revolver
• "Somewhere Only We Know" - Keane
• "(Reach Up for the) Sunrise" - Duran Duran
• "Take Me Out" - Franz Ferdinand
• "They - Jem
• "This Is The Last Time" - Keane
• "This Love" - Maroon 5
• "Tipsy" - J-Kwon
• "Toxic" - Britney Spears
• "Walking in the Sun" - Travis
• "Whatever Happened to Corey Haim?" - The Thrills
• "Wishing on a Star" - Paul Weller
• "Vertigo" - U2
• "Yeah!" - Usher
• "You Had Me" - Joss Stone

Top 10 selling albums of the year in the US

1. Usher - Confessions
2. Norah Jones - Feels like Home
3. Eminem - Encore
4. Kenny Chesney - When the Sun Goes Down
5. Gretchen Wilson - Here for the Party
6. Tim McGraw - Live Like You Were Dying
7. Maroon 5 - Songs about Jane
8. Evanescence - Fallen
9. Ashlee Simpson - Autobiography
10. Various Artists - NOW! That's What I Call Music 16

Classical music

• Michel van der Aa - Second self
• Louis Andriessen - Racconto dall'Inferno
• Caroline Ansink - Sub Finem
• Vykintas Baltakas - Ouroboros
• Gerard Beljon - Morgen
• Valton Beqiri - Echos,os,os....
• Caroline Berkenbosch - Monument 35
• Cornelis de Bondt - Madame Daufine
• Anke Brouwer - Hammerfest
• Elliott Carter - Réflexions
• George Crumb - Winds of Destiny for soprano, percussion quartet and piano
• Mario Davidovsky - Sefarad: Four Spanish-Ladino Folkscenes, baritone voice, flute (piccolo, alto flute), clarinet (bass clarinet), percussion, violin and cello
• Jorrit Dijkstra - Veeg
• Wim Dirriwachter - Blanco
• David Dramm - Bitter Green Lullabies
• Joël-François Durand - Ombre/Miroir for flute and 14 instruments
• Benjamin Dwyer - Afterjoyce
• Mohammed Fairouz - Elegiac Verses
• Ivan Fedele - Odos
• Ron Ford - Ratrace
• Steven R. Gerber - Chaconne and Fugue for Viola and Cello
• Philip Glass - Symphony No. 7 Toltec
• Georg Friedrich Haas - Haiku
• Jeff Hamburg - Songs from Joshe Kalb
• Jörg Herchet - Sich Verräumlichend. Komposition 4 für Orchester
• Rozalie Hirs - Platonic ID
• Alun Hoddinott - Trombone Concerto
• York Höller - Ex Tempore
• Guus Janssen
  • Memory Protect Extended
  • Wankeling
• Bart de Kemp - Ankers
• Jan Klusák - Axis Temporum
• Hans Kox - Twelve Monographies
• Rolands Kronlaks - Paion
• Hanna Kulenty - Run
• Theo Loevendie - De 5 Driften
• Roderik de Man - Mensa Sa
• Peter Maxwell Davies
  • Naxos Quartet No. 4 Children's Games
  • Naxos Quartet No. 5
• Mayke Nas - Musique qui sent la table et la pantoufle
• Willem Wander van Nieuwkerk - Dido's klacht
• Seung-Ah Oh - Circle
• Christina Viola Oorebeek - Traces of Anthem
• Martijn Padding - And Trees Would Sing
• Gao Ping - Twelve-Hour Bridge

Opera

• William Bolcom - A Wedding

Musical theater

• Assassins Broadway production
• Bombay Dreams Broadway production
• Fiddler On The Roof Broadway revival
• Jerry Springer - The Opera by Richard Thomas & Stewart Lee
• The Woman in White - music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, lyrics by David Zippel and book by Charlotte Jones, freely adapted from the novel by Wilkie Collins. Opened on September 15 at the Palace Theatre, London.
• People Are Wrong! Off-Broadway production

Musical films

• Beyond the Sea, starring Kevin Spacey as Bobby Darin
• De-Lovely released June 13 starring Kevin Kline as Cole Porter and Ashley Judd
• Home on the Range animated feature
• Ray, starring Jamie Foxx as Ray Charles
• Pixel Perfect, a Disney Channel Original Movie that is also a musical.

Births

Deaths

• January 13 - Philip Crosby, 69, member of Crosby Boys band, son of crooner Bing Crosby
• January 17
  • Czeslaw Niemen (65) - Polish rock singer
  • Tom Rowe, musician
• January 22
  • Billy May (87) - US big band & pop music arranger
  • Ann Miller, actress, singer and dancer
• February 1 - Rocco Clein, 35, journalist, musician
• February 3 - Cornelius Bumpus, 58, musician (The Doobie Brothers, Steely Dan)
• February 8 - Cem Karaca, 58, Turkish singer and composer
• February 16 - Doris Troy, 67, R&B singer
• February 21 - Bart Howard, 88, composer and pianist
• February 23
  • Don Cornell, 84, US singer
  • Alvino Rey, 95, US bandleader and guitarist
• March 4 - John McGeoch, 48, British guitarist with Magazine, Siouxsie and the Banshees and PiL
• March 6 - Peggy DeCastro, 82, US singer born in the Dominican Republic, eldest of the DeCastro Sisters
• March 16 - Vilém Tauský, 93, Czech conductor and composer
• March 18 - Vytas Brenner, 57,musician, keyboardist and composer
• March 26 - Jan Berry, US singer of Jan and Dean
• March 28 - Sylvia Froos, 89, US singer
• April 3 - Gabriella Ferri, 62, Italian Singer
• April 9 - Harry Babbitt, 90, US singer with Kay Kyser & his Orchestra
• April 10 - Jacek Kaczmarski, 47, Polish poet and singer, the bard of Solidarity
• April 15
  • Hans Gmür, 77, Swiss theatre author, director, composer and producer
  • Ray Condo, Canadian rockabilly musician (b. 1950)
• May 1 - Felix Haug, 52, Swiss pop musician (Double)
• May 12
  • John LaPorta, 84, Jazz clarinetist, composer and educator
  • John Whitehead, 55, R&B artist, shot dead
• May 17 - Elvin Jones, 76, Jazz Drummer, notably with the John Coltrane Quartet of the 1960s.
• May 19 - Arnold Moore, 90, blues artist
• May 23 - Gundars Mauševics, 29, Latvian guitarist of Brainstorm
• June 4 - Irene Manning, 91, US actress, singer and dancer
• June 6 - Iona Brown, 63, conductor and violinist
• June 10 - Ray Charles, 73, US singer and pianist
• June 15 - James F. Arnold, 72, first tenor with the Four Lads
• June 17 - Jackie Paris, US jazz singer
• July 13 - Carlos Kleiber, conductor
• July 21 - Jerry Goldsmith, 75, US composer, Academy Award winner
• July 22
  • Illinois Jacquet, 81, US jazz saxophonist
  • Sacha Distel, 71, French singer
• August 6
  • Rick James, 56, US funk singer
  • Argentino Ledesma, 75, Argentinian singer
  • Tony Mottola, 86, US Guitarist
• August 9 - David Raksin, 92, US composer
• August 18 - Elmer Bernstein, 82, US composer
• August 20 - María Antonieta Pons, 82, Cuban Rumbera
• August 26 - Laura Branigan, 47, US singer
• September 11 Juraj Beneš, 64, Slovak composer
• September 12
  • John Buller, 77, British composer
  • Fred Ebb, 72, US lyricist
• September 15 - Johnny Ramone, 55, US Guitarist and founding member of The Ramones
• September 19 - Skeeter Davis, 72, US country singer
• October 25 - John Peel, 65, British DJ and broadcaster
• October 28 - Gil Melle, 72, film and television music composer
• November 12 - Usko Meriläinen, 74, Finnish composer
• November 13
  • John Balance, 42, British musician from Coil
  • Ol' Dirty Bastard, 35, African American rapper
  • Carlo Rustichelli, 87, Italian film composer
• November 14 - Michel Colombier, 65, composer
• November 18 - Cy Coleman, 75, US composer
• December 8 - Dimebag Darrell, 38, former Pantera guitarist, shot to death in Ohio
• December 13 - Alex Soria, 39, guitarist for The Nils
• December 14 - Sidonie Goossens, 105, harpist
• December 19 - Renata Tebaldi, 82, operatic soprano
• December 20 - Son Seals, 62, blues musician
• December 30 - Artie Shaw, 94, Swing Era Clarinetist and Bandleader

Awards

Grammy Awards

• Grammy Awards of 2004

Country Music Association Awards

Eurovision Song Contest

• Eurovision Song Contest 2004
• Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2004

Brit Awards

• 2004 Brit Awards

Juno Awards

• Juno Awards of 2004

Mercury Music Prize

• Franz Ferdinand -- Franz Ferdinand

Charts

KROQ

• KROQ Top 106.7 Countdown of 2004

Triple J Hottest 100

• Triple J Hottest 100, 2004

External links

For a more detailed list of hits or albums by month, see:

• KATS-FM
• New Rock 94.7 The Zone - WZZN-FM - Chicago