2018 Music History: Key Events, Band Formations & Album Releases
Acts Formed
Ad Infinitum
Montreux, Vaud, Switzerland
Symphonic Metal
Black Country,
New Road
Cambridge, England
Art Rock
English Teacher
Leeds, England
Indie Rock
Ex-Void
London, England
Indie Rock
The Smile
England
Art Rock
January 15th
Dolores O'Riordan, of The Cranberries, dies at 46 after drowning in a bathtub at the Park Lane Hilton hotel in London. Her blood alcohol level was four times the legal driving limit. Her body was found by a maid.
January 24th
Mark E. Smith, of The Fall, dies at 60 of lung and kidney cancer.
January 28th - Grammy Awards
Album of the Year: Bruno Mars - 24K Magic
Song of the Year: Bruno Mars - 'That's What I Like'
February 2nd
A man carrying a knife is arrested at Lana Del Rey's concert in Florida. He is later sentenced to one year in prison for stalking. Police originally charge him with attempted kidnapping with a weapon.
February 15th
A cello worth €1.3 million is stolen at knifepoint in Paris from the classical musician Ophélie Gaillard. Two days later, following an online appeal for information, she finds her car with a broken window and the cello inside.
March
Sony Music start selling vinyl again. They declared the format dead in 1989 due to the increasing popularity of the CD.
March 7th
The popular British music magazine, NME, publishes its final print edition. The publication first went to press on March 7th 1952.
March 12th
The 'Flava In Ya Ear' rapper Craig Mack dies at 47 from heart failure in South Carolina.
April 3rd
The Swedish company Spotify float on the New York Stock Exchange at more than $26 billion.
April 14th
Julius Sandrock is arrested outside Taylor Swift's Beverly Hills home on suspicion of stalking. He was wearing a mask and rubber gloves, and had a knife and rope in his car. Swift later obtains a restraining order against him. Sandrock is sentenced to three years in prison in 2023 for the attempted kidnapping of a 17-year-old boy in an unrelated incident.
May 18th
Taylor Swift's security team use hidden facial recognition to identify stalkers at her Los Angeles concert.
May 22nd
YouTube Music Premium launches to compete with Spotify.
May 29th
YouTube delete 30 music videos by drill rappers associated with gang violence and knife crime. The Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Cressida Dick, states the lyrics often describe stabbings in detail.
June
In an interview with British Vogue, Ariana Grande reveals her PTSD diagnosis following the Manchester terrorist attack that killed 22 of her fans.
June 2nd
K-Pop group BTS top the US album charts, marking the genre's surging popularity.
June 9th
Paul McCartney performs a surprise gig in a Liverpool pub. 50 patrons were shocked to see the former Beatle take to the stage at the Philharmonic Dining Rooms.
June 22nd
Westside Gunn releases Supreme Blientele.
June 22nd
Pantera drummer Vinnie Paul dies at 54 from heart disease complications.
July 24th
Pop star Demi Lovato has a near-fatal heroin overdose in Hollywood. She is 'five to ten minutes away from death' upon arrival at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. She suffers three strokes, a heart attack, and permanent brain damage.
August 10th
The Beths release their debut album Future Me Hates Me.
August 16th
The Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin dies at 76 of pancreatic cancer.
August 18th
Hermit & the Recluse release Orpheus vs. the Sirens. The recluse is a pseudonym for the rapper Ka.
September 7th
Rapper Mac Miller dies at 26 in Los Angeles from a mixed drug overdose. He had fentanyl, cocaine, and alcohol in his system.
September 20th - Mercury Prize
Best British Album: Wolf Alice - Visions of a Life
September 24th
Apple buy the music identification tool Shazam for approximately $400 million.
October 11th
In the US, The Mechanical Licensing Collective is created to distribute royalties generated from streaming and create a publicly accessible database of music rights ownership.
October 25th
Sinead O'Connor, who famously ripped up a photo of Pope John Paul II in 1992, converts to Islam. She adopts the name Shuhada’ Sadaqat.
November 19th
Taylor Swift signs with Universal Music Group (UMG) in a deal estimated to be worth between $100 million and $200 million. Swift secures full ownership of her masters, but UMG have distribution rights.
November 29th
The United Nations’ cultural agency, UNESCO, officially adds Reggae music to its list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
December
Spotify settle a court case with Wixen Music Publishing. Representing artists including Rage Against the Machine and The Black Keys, Wixen had pursued damages of $1.6 billion for copyright infringement.
2018
Vintage band T-shirts become valuable following a nostalgia boom. Some sell for thousands.
