Problem: Background: Mayday (Chinese: Wu Yue Tian ; pinyin: Wu Yue Tian; Peh-oe-ji: Go[?]-goeh-thin), is a Taiwanese band that was formed in the late 1990s with five members, Monster (leader, lead guitar), Ashin (vocal), Stone (rhythm guitar), Masa (bass) and Guan You (drums). Formerly So Band, they came to be known as Mayday in 1997, with the name originating from Masa's online nickname. Mayday won the Golden Melody Award for Best Musical Group in 2001, 2004, 2009 and 2012.. CNN calls them "The Chinese Beatles" and they are named "Kings of concerts" in Asia.
Context: Shortly after participating in the Formoz Festival (Ye Tai Kai Chang ), the band began to actively send demo tapes to various record companies in the hope of sealing a record deal. Their demo impressed Rock Records executive Jonathan Lee (Li Zong Sheng ) who described them as "the ones who would usher in the sound of the future". As a result, they signed their first record deal with Rock Records in 1998. In the same year, they also took part in the release of the Taiwan Independent Compilation Album <<AIGuo Ge Qu >> by indie music label TCM (Jiao Tou Yin Le ) which included their first studio recording Motor Rock<<Ya Che >> . In June 1998, they also released Embrace<<Yong Bao >> compilation album for which they took on most of the songwriting, production and recording duties. In 1999, after their third drummer Robert from Loh Tsui Kweh Commune had left (the second one was Chen Yung-chang Chen Yong Chang ), the ex-member from a band called "whynot" (disbanded) - Guan You (Guan You ) joined the band and completed Mayday. They went on to release their first full-length studio album Mayday's First Album<<Di Yi Zhang Chuang Zuo Zhuan Ji >> under Rock Records on 7 July 1999. Their debut received critical acclaim, and they gained a following in Taiwan. It went on to sell more than 300,000 copies, a considerable feat for a new band in the then pessimistic and saturated music industry. They were also nominated for the 11th Golden Melody Awards under the category of Best Band (Shi Yi Jie Jin Qu Jiang Zui Jia Yan Chang Tuan Ti Jiang ). The tracks Peter and Mary <<Zhi Ming Yu Chun Jiao >> and Embrace <<Yong Bao >> also caught on among the youth, and became the top songs on the KTV Chart. Peter and Mary was one of the top ten songs of the year according to the Association of Music Workers in Taiwan (Zhong Hua Yin Le Ren Jiao Liu Xie Hui ). In fact, Peter and Mary has been acknowledged by Ashin as the "song that brought them from the north of Taiwan to the south, allowing everyone to recognize Mayday." On 28 August, they held their first large-scale performance called The 168th Performance [Di 168Chang Yan Chang Hui ] , cementing their position as one of the rising bands in Taiwan.
Question: Why were they sending out demos?
Answer: Their demo impressed Rock Records executive Jonathan Lee (Li Zong Sheng ) who described them as "the ones who would usher in the sound of the future

Problem: Background: Point of Grace is an all-female Contemporary Christian music vocal group. The trio consists of Shelley Breen, Denise Jones, and Leigh Cappillino. The group started out as a quartet in 1991, with original members Breen and Jones, as well as Terry Jones and Heather Payne. In November 2003, Terry Jones decided to spend more time with her family after giving birth to her third child, and left the group, with Cappillino joining in March 2004 for their 2004 release
Context: In July 1995, the girls signed a major book deal with Simon & Schuster. They had been featured in major publications such as the Ladies Home Journal and TIME Magazine. The book was written by the girls along with Davin Seay. In it, each member told her life story, and the other chapters were divided into question-and-answer sections were the girls addressed topics like dating, sex, clothes, family life, and friends. Along with the book, the girls also began work on their third album. This project was a growing pain of sorts for them. John Mays, the man who had signed them to Word Records, had left his position there as A&R to join Sparrow Records. The girls were left to make all major decisions, and for the first time, were executive producers of their album. They took their time with the record, and the result was Life Love & Other Mysteries, released on September 9, 1996. The book was also released that same day, subtitled "Advice and Inspiration from Christian Music's No. 1 Pop Group." On the day of the album release, Word Records chartered the Dallas Mavericks' DC-9 jet and the girls flew to five different cities in one day to promote their album. During each stop they performed their current single, "Keep The Candle Burning", which went No. 1 on the day their album released. It became the girls' twelfth consecutive No. 1 single. A music video with footage from their whirlwind promo tour was released a few months later. The girls announced that they would be co-headlining an arena tour with 4Him, who had just released their album The Message. The tour hit major markets and was very successful, leading both groups to add a spring leg, which went into early summer of 1997. In 1996, the girls contributed the song "Follow the Star" to the album Emmanuel: A Musical Celebration of the Life of Christ. They were not able to go on the tour, with Avalon taking their place. Life Love & Other Mysteries has been one of their most successful albums to date. It was certified gold by the RIAA in 1997 and platinum in 1999. The album debuted at No. 1 and stayed at the top of the charts for 10 weeks. It was one of the Top 5 selling albums throughout 1997 and one of the Top 10 selling albums in 1998. The album was nominated for a Grammy for Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album in 1997. The girls were also nominated for the 1997 Group of the Year at the Dove Awards and "Keep The Candle Burning" was nominated for Song of the Year. The girls gave a memorable performance of the song during the live The Nashville Network broadcast from the Sommet Center, with the whole audience swaying little flashlights back and forth. The girls continued touring until September of that year and took some time off when Denise's first child arrived in October.
Question: Was there anything interesting that happened in the years 1996-1997?
Answer:
Life Love & Other Mysteries, released on September 9, 1996.