2008 Year in music

Jan. 18, 2009

In a music year that seemed to zip right by, there was the usual complement of great moments, musical faux pas, impressive successes, and a few abject failures. Surprisingly, there were also few landmark new artists in 2008, although the current crop did their best to stay on top of the charts and at a concert venue near you. Here’s our modern rockin’ look back at what made the past year another musically memorable one.

JUMPIN’ JANUARY
The new year began with the latest round of inductees into Cleveland’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Among them were John Mellencamp, Leonard Cohen, The Dave Clark Five, Madonna and singer Kylie Minogue who also started the year right, beating cancer, releasing her tenth studio album, and receiving the OBE (Officer of the British Empire) honor from the Queen...
In other January happenings, The Smashing Pumpkins released their American Gothic Ep... U2’s U2 3D concert film premiered - yes, in 3D - in select cities... Beyonce beau Jay-Z stepped down as president of Def Jam Records... Foo Fighters kicked off their U.S. arena tour... Beck’s groovy Odelay album got a deluxe re-release... The Bravery embarked on their North American tour... Amoeba Records gave away a plethora of free tunes online...

FUN FEBRUARY
R.E.M. started their February with the kickoff of their studio sessions with producer Jacknife Lee. The result would be their 14th studio album, Accelerate and a spring tour with Modest Mouse and The National...
Also in February, Wilco rocked Chicago’s Riviera Theater with “the complete Wilco”... OK Go began writing work on their much-anticipated next album... Morcheeba wrapped work on their sixth album... UB40’s Ali Campbell left the band after 30 years together... Madonna was named Top Cash Queen of Music by Forbes Magazine; runners-up were Gwen Stefani, Sheryl Crow, Beyonce, and the Dixie Chicks... And in the year’s first “huh?” moment, New Kids on the Block were rumored to be reuniting.

MELODIOUS MARCH
The big news of March - the month of St. Patrick’s Day, of course - appropriately leaned towards the Irish, when Frames frontman Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova won the Oscar for Best Original Song (“Falling Slowly”) from their film project Once...
More awards news in March - NME’s Shockwaves Awards named Arctic Monkeys a triple-winner, as Best Brit Band, Best Video, and Best Track; and the Canadian Radio Music Awards gave Alanis Morissette a Lifetime Achievement Award and inducted her into the Canadian Music Industry Hall of Fame... Wallflowers front man Jakob Dylan completed his solo debut album, Seeing Things... The Raconteurs pulled off a surprise album release with the previously unannounced Consolers of the Lonely... The Black Eyed Peas’ will.i.am snagged the role of Wraith in the upcoming X-Men Origins: Wolverine movie...

AWESOME APRIL
NASA chose The Beatles’ song “Across the Universe” to be the first musical track to be beamed into outer space by the Deep Space Network of antennas, an event Paul McCartney called “an amazing feat.” 30 Seconds to Mars visited an alien landscape (of sorts) too, trekking to Greenland to film a new music video in what they called a “life-changing” shoot...
Also in April, Paul Oakenfold wrapped work on the soundtrack for the new Bourne Identity videogame... Counting Crows played an impromptu set at the Apple Store in SoHo NYC... Portishead released their third album, titled - what else? - Third... Billboard named the likes of Radiohead, The Roots, KT Tunstall, Mana, and Jack Johnson as Earth Day’s Greenest Musicians... and legendary BBC music show host Jools Holland celebrated his 200th show with sets from Feist, Radiohead, and Robyn Hitchcock...

MELLOW MAY
Museums were first on the list for a relaxed month of May, as the Smithsonian recognized the hip-hop scene with a special exhibit called Recognize! Hip Hop and Contemporary Portraiture, which would run through autumn...
OK Go recorded a five-song digital EP in New Orleans to benefit musicians who were displaced by Hurricane Katrina... Rock the Bells announced that they’ll be taking the hip-hop tour on the road in Europe... Gavin Rossdale wrapped work on his first solo album, Wanderlust... Detroiter Aretha Franklin was named MusiCares’ Person of the Year.

JIVIN’ JUNE
Coldplay’s much hyped/anticipated/long-awaited new album, Viva La Vida, finally hit stores...Denny’s restaurants gave away free grub in their “Adopt-A-Band” program... and the seventh annual Bonnaroo Fest took place, with somewhat failing attendance and prima-donna antics by Kanye West, who kept moving his show time and didn’t take the stage until 4:30 a.m....
The month of June also saw actor Joaquin Phoenix step beyond his Johnny Cash musical role, as he began recording an album with Charlatans singer Tim Burgess. Actor Rhys Ifans echoed Phoenix’s project sensibilities by teaming up with Super Furry Animals’ Dafydd Ieuan to form a new band called The Peth... Smashing Pumpkins announced the release of a landmark box set that should arrive later in the year... Jack White and The Raconteurs both performed on Conan O’Brien and announced a fall tour...

JAMMIN’ JULY
The new Rothbury Fest welcomed the likes of Dave Matthews, The Black Keys, and Gomez, while the Dunegrass Festival in Empire showcased sets from Bela Fleck, Arlo Guthrie, and moe...
Other July events included the participation of Foo Fighters and Pearl Jam in the VH1 Rock Honors series, in which they played tribute to The Who... the debut of Elvis Costello’s new musical TV variety show (Spectacle: Elvis Costello With...)...and the arrival of Talking Head David Byrne’s sound-art installation “Playing the Building” in NYC... also, The Shins began work on their next album, and Kings of Leon wrapped work on their latest set... Oasis signed a three-album deal with BMG... Will Smith, Geri Halliwell, Annie Lennox, Peter Gabriel, Simple Minds, and Razorlight paid tribute to former South African president Nelson Mandela on his 90th birthday in London...

AMPED-UP AUGUST
This year’s Lollapalooza proved to have plenty of great - and a couple of not-so-great - moments. The great included legendary sets by the likes of Wilco, Jamie Lidell, Lupe Fiasco, The Raconteurs, Duffy, Louis XIV, The National, a much more polite Kanye West and many more; the not-so-great included rioting and fence-crashing during the Rage Against the Machine set, and an uncomfortably overpacked Grant Park. Hopefully in 2009, the deft organization of the Lolla crew will go more towards crowd control and booking those terrific bands, and less towards trying to shoehorn as many people into the event as (in)humanly possible...
Also in August, Annie Lennox worked hard on her next disc, The Annie Lennox Collection... Keane racked up 500,000 downloads when they offered their new single, “Spiralling,” in advance of their new album... an ageless Madonna celebrated her 50th birthday...and the 2008 Olympic Games celebrated with Coca-Cola and a series of music/art collaborations that included Tiesto, Benny Benassi, and Jay-J...

SUBDUED SEPTEMBER
September was a somewhat quieter month, but there were still some notable happenings...
Weezer kicked off their first North American tour in three years... Ben Folds’ first new studio set in over three years arrived on Epic Records... UK band Elbow snagged the 2008 Mercury Music Prize... Philip Glass released The Glass Box, a 10-disc retrospective set... Switchfoot put together their own recording studio in San Diego and and began work on their next album... My Chemical Romance decided to take a band hiatus... and Rolling Stone announced that they’ll be putting out a smaller-sized magazine starting with their October issue...

OUTSTANDING OCTOBER
October began with The Killers, who released their third studio album, Day & Age… and Oasis offered up their new album, Dig Out Your Soul... Elsewhere in October, Roxy Music frontman Bryan Ferrry was named a BMI Icon... Johnny Cash’s music was reinterpreted by various hip-hop and dance artists for the Johnny Cash Remixed CD... the Voodoo Fest welcomed R.E.M., NERD, and The Mars Volta to New Orleans...
By the end of the month, musicians were really using their influence to make one last push for presidential candidate Barack Obama; among those throwing their tunes into the Democratic ring were The Beastie Boys, who added dates to their Get Out and Vote tour, on which they brought along Sheryl Crow, Tenacious D, and Jack Johnson; even non US-citizens were backing Barack, from Coldplay (whose lead singer, Chris Martin, wore a “Barack to the Future” t-shirt on tour) to Blur.

NOTABLE NOVEMBER
The election of Barack Obama was heralded in the streets across America with music, dancing and cheers...
Elsewhere, Beach Boy Brian Wilson embarked on a 10-city tour to promote his newest album, Lucky Old Sun... Dido was named Songwriter of the Year by ASCAP... Chris Cornell worked hard on his new album with producer Timbaland... Beatle Ringo Starr put out a statement saying that he’s too busy to sign any more autographs - then quickly changed his mind and reversed course... Strokes bassist Nikolai Fraiture offered up an album from his new solo/side project, Nickel Eye... Foo Fighter Dave Grohl was honored with a street being named after him in his hometown of Warren, Ohio... the first hints of Green Day’s upcoming new album surfaced as the band showcased some YouTube footage of themselves in the recording studio with producer Butch Vig... and, speaking of YouTube, that’s where aspiring guitarists could now find free guitar lessons from Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante.

DRAMATIC DECEMBER
As the year wound to a close, music fans looked forward to a new year poised for change; December also brought plenty of random musical events, including a special Christmas celebration helmed by Stephen Colbert...
Nada Surf were the subjects of an extensive box set released by Barsuk Records... Memorex “SingStand” taxicabs surfaced in Chicago, NYC, and San Fran, allowing taxi passengers to karaoke on-the-go... John Legend wrapped up the end of his fall tour with tourmate Raphael Saadiq... the Songs for Tibet album saw a re-release, complete with tunes from Moby, Duncan Sheik, Sting, Garbage, and Damien Rice... The Hives and Cyndi Lauper teamed up to record a holiday tune... Old-school guitarist Joe Satriani attempted to sue Coldplay over alleged songwriting similarities... ’80s band Ultravox reunited... the Musicians Hall of Fame in Nashville named Buddy Holly’s band The Crickets and the Memphis Horns among their newest inductees... MTV countdown show TRL closed its stage after 10 years on the air... and the year drew to a close with an eye towards 2009 and a brand new presidency - and hopefully, a lot of great new music, too.