1997 in music

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This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1997.

Events

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January

• January 9 - David Bowie performs his 50th Birthday Bash concert (the day after his birthday) at Madison Square Garden, New York City, USA with guests Frank Black, The Foo Fighters, Sonic Youth, Robert Smith of The Cure, Lou Reed, and Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins, with the opening act Placebo. Proceeds from the concert went to the Save the Children fund.^[1]
• January 10 - James Brown receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Hollywood, USA.^[2]
• January 19 - Madonna wins Best Actress In A Motion Picture, Musical Or Comedy, for her part in Evita, at the 54th annual Golden Globe Awards in the USA.^[3]
• January 28 - The Virginia Senate votes to retire Carry Me Back to Old Virginny as the official state song, and begins looking for a replacement.

February

• February 2 - Rich Mullins' musical The Canticle of the Plains premieres in Wichita, Kansas.
• February 10 - 52 year old Brian Connolly of Sweet dies of kidney failure in England.
• February 12 - David Bowie receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Hollywood, USA.
• February 13 - Michael Jackson's first son is born.
• February 13 - The Spice Girls knock Toni Braxton's Unbreak My Heart off the top spot in the US singles chart. They are the first British group to have a US number one with their debut single.
• February 20 - Ben and Jerry's introduce Phish Food, a new flavor of ice cream named after the rock group Phish. The ingredients are chocolate ice cream, marshmallows, caramel and fish-shaped fudge.^[4]
• February 24 - The Spice Girls win Best Video for Say You'll Be There and Best Single for Wannabe at the BRIT Awards. Geri Halliwell's Union Jack dress from the girls' live performance hogs the headlines the next day.

March

• Pianist David Helfgott performs at the Boston Symphony Hall, in Boston, USA, during his world tour. The Boston Globe describes his performance as "without phrasing, form, harmonic understanding, differentiation of style and often basic accuracy; worst of all, it was without emotional content."
• March 1 - The rock band Phish records Slip Stitch and Pass live at Markthalle, Hamburg, Germany.
• March 3 - U2 release the opinion-dividing Pop album. Along with the Oasis album Be Here Now, it becomes a major release that fails to sell to industry expectations, particularly in the US, despite many strong initial reviews.
• March 9 - The Notorious B.I.G. is shot dead while sitting in the passenger seat of a car after a Soul Train Awards party in the USA.
• March 9 - The Spice Girls become the first act in the history of the UK Top 40 singles charts to have four consecutive number one hits with Mama/Who Do You Think You Are. Profits from the single go to Comic Relief and provide the biggest individual contribution of 1997.
• March 11 - Paul McCartney is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.
• March 17 - Whirlwind Heat play their first show.
• March 19 - March 20 - The reunited Monkees perform two sold out concerts at Wembley Arena in London, UK.
• March 30 - The Spice Girls launch Britain's new Channel 5.

April

• April 2 - Joni Mitchell is reunited with her daughter, Kilauren Gibb, whom she gave up for adoption 32 years ago.
• April 25 – April 27 - The first Terrastock festival is held in Providence, Rhode Island, USA.

May

• 5ive's musical career begins after auditions are held in London, UK to find potential band members, with over 3,000 hopefuls showing up to audition.
• The Spice Girls attend the Cannes Film Festival to announce their plans to hit the big screen with Spiceworld: The Movie. A photo call on top of the Hotel Martinez entrance brings the area to a standstill.
• May 11 - The Spice Girls perform their first British live gig for the Prince's Trust 21st anniversary concert at the Manchester Opera House They break royal protocol by kissing Prince Charles on the cheeks and even pinching his bottom.
• May 15 - The Spice Girls' album Spice reaches number one on the US charts, making them the first British act to top the charts with a debut album.

June

• June 16 - Radiohead release OK Computer to huge critical acclaim. Now recognized as a classic album.*

August

• August 3 - The Black Crowes perform their last show with Johnny Colt and Marc Ford.
• August 4 - Nigerian afrobeat pioneer and dissident pop star Fela Anikulapo-Kuti dies in Lagos, Nigeria, of HIV-related illness.
• August 7 - Garth Brooks performs to an estimated 800,000 to one million people during a free concert given in Central Park, New York City.
• August 16 - August 17 - Phish perform at the two day music festival, The Great Went, at Loring Air Force Base in Limestone, Maine, USA. They play 500 minutes of music, six sets and two encores. There was an estimated attendance of between 65,000-70,000 and it was the top grossing concert of the season making over $4,000,000 in box office receipts.
• August 19 - The reunited Fleetwood Mac release The Dance and begin a concert tour in the United States.
• August 21 - Oasis' third album, Be Here Now, is released. It becomes the fastest selling music album of all time, moving 695,761 copies in the first week in the UK.
• August 25 - Radiohead's second single from OK Computer, Karma Police released, although does not get released in the US until June 1998.

September

• September 6 - Elton John performs Candle in the Wind at the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales; John Tavener's Song for Athene is performed at the same ceremony.
• September 17 - The KLF return for 23 minutes with their performance of Fuck the Millennium.
• September 19 - While on his way to a benefit concert in Kansas, USA, Rich Mullins loses control of his Jeep, flipping the automobile and throwing both Mullins and passenger Mitch McVicker out onto the road. A tractor-trailer approaching the scene swerves to miss McVicker, striking and killing Mullins instantly. McVicker survives, but suffered major injuries.
• September 23 - Björk releases Homogenic, moving towards a darker sound and away from her 'pixie' image.
• September 29 - The Rolling Stones release Bridges to Babylon.
• September 29 - The Verve release Urban Hymns. Ironically, in a controversial legal dispute, the majority of their royalties and sonngwriting credit for their single Bittersweet Symphony go to The Rolling Stones.

October

• October 13 - The Prince Igor single, jointly performed by The Rhapsody, Warren G and Sissel Kyrkjebø is released.

November

• November 3 - The Spice Girls release their second album Spiceworld. It is their second number one album, and makes the group the first British band since The Beatles to have two albums in the US chart at the same time. Spice and Spiceworld have amassed enough sales for one out of every two people in Britain to own a Spice Girls album.
• November 4 - Shania Twain releases her breakthrough album Come on Over which sells 39 million copies worldwide and was to become the biggest selling album in country music history and the biggest selling by a female music artist.
• November 6 - The Spice Girls make the decision to take over the running of the group and drop Simon Fuller as their main song.

Sometime in November- Children Of Bodom release thier first album, Something Wild, and make a video for the song, Deadnight Warrior.

December

• December 26 - The Spice Girls release their big screen debut Spiceworld: The Movie starring Richard E. Grant, Roger Moore, Sir Elton John and Stephen Fry. The movie makes £6.8m in its first week of release.
• December 31 - The Home of Country Music, the Opryland USA theme park, in Nashville, Tennessee, USA closes and is subsequently demolished.

Undated

• Nigel Kennedy, now calling himself simply Kennedy, returns to performing in public after a five year absence resulting from neck surgery.
• The companies Memorex, Maxell, and TDK introduce blank recordable CDs.
• Rob Gommerman leaves Finger Eleven due to extensive touring.
• Derrick Green replaces Max Cavalera in Sepultura.
• Glenn Ljungström & Johan Larsson leaves In Flames. Glenn wanted to Spend more Time with Family while no one knows why Johan did. That gave the Chance for Peter Iwers to Join.

Bands formed

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Bands disbanded

This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. (November 2008)

• Acid Bath
• Atomic Swing
• Les Avions
• Brainiac
• Christie Front Drive
• The Clouds
• Cocteau Twins
• Commander Venus
• Def FX
• Dinosaur Jr.
• Failure
• Gin Blossoms
• Glue Gun
• The Monkees
• Porno for Pyros
• Pungent Stench
• Soundgarden
• Soul II Soul
• The Sundays
• Swans
• Tad
• Throwing Muses
• Ugly Kid Joe
• White Zombie
• X Japan

Bands reformed

This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. (December 2008)

• Black Sabbath (reformed after being on hiatus since 1994)
• Depeche Mode (reformed after being on hiatus since 1995)
• Echo & the Bunnymen (reformed after being on hiatus since 1992)
• Sunny Day Real Estate (reformed after being on hiatus since 1995)

Albums released

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November