1999

Britain and America spent 1999 watching the clock run down on the millennium. The euro arrived on 1 January, NATO went to war over Kosovo in March, and the Columbine shootings in April left a shadow over American teenage life. On a lighter note, The Sopranos and SpongeBob SquarePants both turned up on the telly, and Manchester United won the Champions League final in Barcelona.

Nu metal had the room to itself. Slipknot's debut landed in June, Linkin Park's Hybrid Theory in May, and Korn's Issues in November, while Rage Against the Machine closed the year with The Battle of Los Angeles. Elsewhere, Nine Inch Nails delivered the sprawling The Fragile, Foo Fighters gave us There Is Nothing Left to Lose, and Type O Negative went gloomier still with World Coming Down. Metallica teamed up with an orchestra for S&M, and Megadeth's Risk showed a band trying something different. The older guard filled the shelves with compilations and live sets: Led Zeppelin, Guns N' Roses, Queen, Alice in Chains and Black Sabbath all had a look back, and Def Leppard released Euphoria.

Changes of line-up abounded. In February Iron Maiden announced that Bruce Dickinson and Adrian Smith were back, which meant Blaze Bayley was out. Tommy Lee left Mötley Crüe, and Megadeth's former drummer Gar Samuelson died aged 41. Skid Row, White Lion and Armored Saint all reformed, while Death called it a day. Marilyn Manson, meanwhile, was busy trading lawsuits with a former Spin editor.