1991 in heavy metal music

This is a timeline documenting the events of heavy metal in the year 1991.

Newly formed bands

* Angra
* Behemoth
* Cradle of Filth
* Emperor
* Enslaved
* Labyrinth
* Mercenary
* Nevermore
* Rage Against the Machine
* Wolfgang
* Marduk

Albums

* Alice Cooper - "Hey Stoopid"
* Anthrax - "Attack of the Killer B's"
* Atheist - "Unquestionable Presence"
* Bolt Thrower - "War Master"
* Armored Saint - "Symbol of Salvation"
* Cannibal Corpse - "Butchered at Birth"
* The Cult - " Ceremony"
* Dark Angel - "Time Does Not Heal"
* Death - "Human"
* Europe - "Prisoners in Paradise"
* Fates Warning - "Parallels"
* Follow for Now - "Follow for Now"
* Forced Entry - "As Above, So Below"
* Guns N' Roses - "Use Your Illusion I" and "II"
* Heathen - "Victims of Deception"
* Helloween - "Pink Bubbles Go Ape"
* Infectious Grooves - "The Plague That Makes Your Booty Move...It's the Infectious Grooves"
* Richie Kotzen - "Electric Joy"
* Kyuss - "Wretch"
* Yngwie J. Malmsteen - "The Yngwie Malmsteen Collection"
* Metal Church - "The Human Factor"
* Metallica - "Metallica"
* Monster Magnet - "Spine of God"
* Morbid Angel - Blessed are the Sick
* Mortification - Mortification
* Motley Crue - "Decade of Decadence"
* Motörhead - "1916"
* Overkill - "Horrorscope"
* Ozzy Osbourne - "No More Tears"
* Pitch Shifter - "Industrial"
* Poison - "Swallow This Live"
* Primus - "Sailing the Seas of Cheese"
* Prong - "Prove You Wrong"
* Queen - "Innuendo"
* Ratt - "Ratt & Roll 81-91"
* Rush - "Roll the Bones"
* Savatage - ""
* Sepultura - "Arise"
* Skid Row - "Slave to the Grind"
* Soundgarden - "Badmotorfinger"
* Stratovarius - "Stratovarius II"
* Stryper - "Can't Stop the Rock"
* Suffocation - "Effigy of the Forgotten"
* Tesla - "Psychotic Supper"
* U.D.O. - "Timebomb"
* White Lion - "Mane Attraction"

Disbandments

* Death Angel
* Whitesnake
* Sanctuary

Events

* Poison fires guitarist CC DeVille. Conflict between Michaels and DeVille culminated in a fistfight backstage at the 1991 MTV Video Music Awards, provoked by DeVille's inept live performance. After bringing "Unskinny Bop" to a grinding halt, DeVille launched into "Talk Dirty To Me," forcing the band to switch songs in mid-performance. Deville was fired and replaced by Pennsylvanian guitarist Richie Kotzen.
*Queen releases Innuendo, a return to their early days of progressive rock and heavy metal. It is their most popular album since "The Game."
*Queen's Freddie Mercury dies of AIDS induced bronchial pneumonia.
*Def Leppard guitarist Steve Clark dies in January 8 due to compression of the brain stem from excessive alcohol mixed with anti-depressants and painkillers (as a result of a rib injury).
*Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" goes to number one in the UK for the second time, the only song to ever go to number one more than once in the same version. It has now spent 14 weeks at number one.
*Extreme's hit single "More Than Words" reaches number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. This brought the band to their first mainstream success in North America.
*KISS Drummer - Eric Carr dies at age 41 on November 24 (The same day as Freddie Mercury). As a tribute, the group's 1992 release Revenge featured what is said to be the only drum solo Carr ever recorded with the band, which was titled "Carr Jam 1981".
*Skid Row's second album "Slave to the Grind" becomes the first and only 90s classic heavy metal album to debut at No.1 in the Billboard music charts in the 90s.
*Metallica's self-titled "Black Album" becomes the first album by a thrash metal band to hit No.1 in the Billboard music charts.
*Guns N' Roses set a record when their albums "Use Your Illusion I" and "Use Your Illusion II" debut at the top two positions of the Billboard 200, the first and only time a rock band has ever achieved this
*Mayhem’s vocalist, Per Yngve Ohlin aka Dead, kills himself by shooting himself in the head with a shotgun and slitting his wrists with a hunting knife. He left a note reading "excuse all the blood". Photographs of his corpse taken by bandmate, Euronymous, were later used as cover art for the bootleg album "Dawn of the Black Hearts".
* Europe release the 5th album titled Prisoners in Paradise. It's Europe's last studio album before they decide to take a long break.
* "Monsters in Moscow" takes place in August at Moscow's Tushino Airfield featuring AC/DC, The Black Crowes, EST, Metallica and Pantera