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.
