Year of shock & rock

Even as the death of King of Pop shook the world of music, the year saw the rise of many new stars. Gaurav and Saurabh give a 2009 recap

The ‘King Of Pop’, Michael Jackson’s untimely death in June at 50 shocked legions of his fans around the world. But on a positive note, his death rescued his career in a way he had been unable to do himself for the past 10 years. The year saw Lady Gaga enact Madonna all over again, but the outfits were even skimpier, the message less clear, and the tunes not nearly as good. The Kanye West / Taylor fiasco didn’t do anyone any favours, and made country music fans feel the first twinge of self-righteousness.

With the band’s 20th anniversary approaching, Pearl Jam released one of the finest, most intensely focussed albums of its career titled Backspacer.

As the most notable collaboration of the year, a supergroup comprising Foo Fighter’s Dave Grohl, Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones, and Queens of the Stone Age’s Joshua Homme, teamed up to form Them Crooked Vultures and released a self-titled rock album of the year.

Susan Boyle epitomised the ‘over night star’ success with her stint in American Idol 2009, going from heart-warming, inspirational sensation to crazed diva in record time. Interestingly Courtney Love was left shocked when she discovered that she had signed over her rights to videogame makers by mistake and the company used Kurt Cobain’s image singing as Bon Jovi and Village People.

The Hollywood star Joaquin Phoenix was officially titled as a commercial failure with his foray into the music world. On the down side, Chris Brown gave a remarkable instructional performance in 2009 of how to ruin a once-promising career. He viciously assaulted Rihanna was later jettisoned from performing at the Grammy Awards.

Sadly on October 10, Boyzone member Stephen Gately’s body was found in an apartment in Spain. On October 6, he had posted on Twitter, saying: "Still busy, lots going on. Focussing on finishing my book next so may be quiet here." He was only 33.

Joe Satriani filed suit against Coldplay for allegedly stealing the melody of If I Could Fly for Viva La Vida, while Paula Abdul quit American Idol after a long association with the show.

Kiss made history by actually giving away free tickets through Ticketmaster for an Oakland show. While this has been done informally in the past, Kiss institutionalised it, putting tickets up for sale at an official price of $0.00, in effect taking the lid off one of rock music’s dirty little secrets.

Unfortunately, T.I., who enjoyed immense success on the Rap Songs Charts this year, will be celebrating his 2009 triumph behind bars in Forrest City, Arkansas, where he remains imprisoned for federal weapons charges through March 2010.

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