music in 2008
- The very amazing Coldplay released their amazing new album ‘Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends’ which comprised of ten amazing songs, including the very amazing singles Violet Hill, Viva La Vida, and Lost. Plagiarism accusations followed soon after.
- New Kids On The Block – now neither new, nor kids – reunited, fourteen years after parting way, and released a new single, titled Summertime. We refuse to admit that we liked it.
- Queen and Paul Rodgers got together to make an album, which was subsequently slammed by critics.
- Weezer continued to do what they do best – hire directors who make really cool videos. This resulted in the amusing YouTube-celebrities-featuring Pork and Beans and the multiple-record-setting Troublemaker.
- Death Cab For Cutie released a song that had a mindbogglingly long intro.
- Scarlett Johansson’s vanity album, the Tom Waits covers set Anywhere I Lay My Head, was snooze-inducingly boring…unless it was meant to induce sleep, in which case it was pretty good.
- Amy Winehouse was in the news an awful lot. Most of it had nothing to do with music.
- Oasis’ Noel Gallagher reproached Radiohead, saying that their new material sounds just like their old material. “Correct me if I'm wrong,” he was quoted as saying, “they've been making the same record since 'Kid A', have they not?”, which Oasis-bashers translated to: “Hi kettle. I’m pot. You’re black.”
- With the music industry becoming increasingly ‘talent: optional’, Katy Perry showed us that one can still become a hit no matter how phony, obnoxious, and desperately attention-seeking one may be.
- Pharrell made Madonna cry while they were working on her album Hard Candy, therefore we like Pharrell. And after being informed by the tabloids that their marriage wasn’t working, Madonna and Guy Ritchie realized that they should get a divorce, so they did.
- Lynard Skynard’s Sweet Home Alabama + Warren Zevon’s Werewolves Of London = Kid Rock’s All Summer Long = Surprisingly infectious international hit.
- Disney continued to milk its cash cow, releasing High School Musical 3: Senior Year on the big screen, much to the delight of the world’s schmaltz-addicted pre-teens. Said tweens also helped skyrocket Disney-powered-boy-band Jonas Brothers to unwarranted levels of success.
- Kanye West’s ego continued to annoy/concern/worry/amuse people.
- Funny: A satirical take on reality TV in the form of a mock talent contest that parodies reality talent shows.
Funnier: The title of the show: Britain’s Got the Pop Factor and Possibly a New Celebrity Jesus Christ Soapstar Superstar Strictly on Ice.
Funniest: The spoof single The Winner's Song, ironically beating actual 2007 X Factor winner Leon Jackson’s single Don't Call This Love in the British singles charts. Finally some reality that we approve of!
- The Pussycat Dolls revealed that when they were little, they’d dreamed of becoming famous stars with lots of groupies when they grow up. So basically they’ve become everything they always wanted. Now if only they’d grow up…
- Fall Out Boy set the record for “most radio interviews completed by a duo in 24 hours”, also setting the record for “setting the lamest possible record in the history of the world” in the process.
- Straining under declining rating, American Idol fizzled and then tried to over-hype their David vs. David finale, which frankly we can’t really see the logic behind, seeing how everyone already knew David would win.
- Britney Spears released the unbelievable irritating single Womanizer which featured such intelligent lyrics as “womanizer, woman-womanizer, you’re a womanizer / oh womanizer, oh you’re a womanizer, baby / you-you-you are, you-you-you are / womanizer, womanizer, womanizer (womanizer)”. And it ended up topping the charts in various countries. Seriously world? This is what you like?!!
- Bon Jovi made lots of money, then got sued for lots of money.
- Boyzone made it incredibly hard for us to love them when they returned after a 7-year hiatus with the godawful single Love You Anyway.
- Film stars got together to butcher ABBA songs in the movie musical Mamma Mia!, which according to Mark Kermode (BBC Radio 5) felt like “the closest you get to see A-List actors doing drunken karaoke”. With such positive reviews to back it up, it came as no surprise that the film ended up becoming ‘the biggest box office hit of 2008 in the UK’ and the ‘highest grossing movie musical of all time’.
- Pink got a divorce, wrote a song about the break up – which in part dissed her ex-husband – and then got her ex-husband to make a cameo in the video. Props to Carey Hart for being a good sport.
- Beyonce decided she wanted people to call her Sasha Fierce. She even released a double album titled I Am…Sasha Fierce, the first single off which talked about what she would do if she were a boy, and then she said she wants to play Wonder Woman in a movie. Poor girl…how identify crisis-ed is she?
- Much success was enjoyed by artists including Rihanna, Leona Lewis, Duffy, Chris Brown, Ne-Yo, and T.I.
- Keane finally realized that guitars aren’t so bad after all.
- Metallica redeemed themselves by releasing an album that was actually good enough for their fans to forgive them for the Napster fiasco. Well, almost.
- And Guns N’ Roses FINALLY released their 14-years-in-the-making album Chinese Democracy. The album generally got a positive reception, but we still think it could’ve been so much better had Axl worked on it a bit more, and spend another decade or two perfecting the sound.
- By S.A.
Us Magazine, The News - 26th December, 2008
- The very amazing Coldplay released their amazing new album ‘Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends’ which comprised of ten amazing songs, including the very amazing singles Violet Hill, Viva La Vida, and Lost. Plagiarism accusations followed soon after.
- New Kids On The Block – now neither new, nor kids – reunited, fourteen years after parting way, and released a new single, titled Summertime. We refuse to admit that we liked it.
- Queen and Paul Rodgers got together to make an album, which was subsequently slammed by critics.
- Weezer continued to do what they do best – hire directors who make really cool videos. This resulted in the amusing YouTube-celebrities-featuring Pork and Beans and the multiple-record-setting Troublemaker.
- Death Cab For Cutie released a song that had a mindbogglingly long intro.
- Scarlett Johansson’s vanity album, the Tom Waits covers set Anywhere I Lay My Head, was snooze-inducingly boring…unless it was meant to induce sleep, in which case it was pretty good.
- Amy Winehouse was in the news an awful lot. Most of it had nothing to do with music.
- Oasis’ Noel Gallagher reproached Radiohead, saying that their new material sounds just like their old material. “Correct me if I'm wrong,” he was quoted as saying, “they've been making the same record since 'Kid A', have they not?”, which Oasis-bashers translated to: “Hi kettle. I’m pot. You’re black.”
- With the music industry becoming increasingly ‘talent: optional’, Katy Perry showed us that one can still become a hit no matter how phony, obnoxious, and desperately attention-seeking one may be.
- Pharrell made Madonna cry while they were working on her album Hard Candy, therefore we like Pharrell. And after being informed by the tabloids that their marriage wasn’t working, Madonna and Guy Ritchie realized that they should get a divorce, so they did.
- Lynard Skynard’s Sweet Home Alabama + Warren Zevon’s Werewolves Of London = Kid Rock’s All Summer Long = Surprisingly infectious international hit.
- Disney continued to milk its cash cow, releasing High School Musical 3: Senior Year on the big screen, much to the delight of the world’s schmaltz-addicted pre-teens. Said tweens also helped skyrocket Disney-powered-boy-band Jonas Brothers to unwarranted levels of success.
- Kanye West’s ego continued to annoy/concern/worry/amuse people.
- Funny: A satirical take on reality TV in the form of a mock talent contest that parodies reality talent shows.
Funnier: The title of the show: Britain’s Got the Pop Factor and Possibly a New Celebrity Jesus Christ Soapstar Superstar Strictly on Ice.
Funniest: The spoof single The Winner's Song, ironically beating actual 2007 X Factor winner Leon Jackson’s single Don't Call This Love in the British singles charts. Finally some reality that we approve of!
- The Pussycat Dolls revealed that when they were little, they’d dreamed of becoming famous stars with lots of groupies when they grow up. So basically they’ve become everything they always wanted. Now if only they’d grow up…
- Fall Out Boy set the record for “most radio interviews completed by a duo in 24 hours”, also setting the record for “setting the lamest possible record in the history of the world” in the process.
- Straining under declining rating, American Idol fizzled and then tried to over-hype their David vs. David finale, which frankly we can’t really see the logic behind, seeing how everyone already knew David would win.
- Britney Spears released the unbelievable irritating single Womanizer which featured such intelligent lyrics as “womanizer, woman-womanizer, you’re a womanizer / oh womanizer, oh you’re a womanizer, baby / you-you-you are, you-you-you are / womanizer, womanizer, womanizer (womanizer)”. And it ended up topping the charts in various countries. Seriously world? This is what you like?!!
- Bon Jovi made lots of money, then got sued for lots of money.
- Boyzone made it incredibly hard for us to love them when they returned after a 7-year hiatus with the godawful single Love You Anyway.
- Film stars got together to butcher ABBA songs in the movie musical Mamma Mia!, which according to Mark Kermode (BBC Radio 5) felt like “the closest you get to see A-List actors doing drunken karaoke”. With such positive reviews to back it up, it came as no surprise that the film ended up becoming ‘the biggest box office hit of 2008 in the UK’ and the ‘highest grossing movie musical of all time’.
- Pink got a divorce, wrote a song about the break up – which in part dissed her ex-husband – and then got her ex-husband to make a cameo in the video. Props to Carey Hart for being a good sport.
- Beyonce decided she wanted people to call her Sasha Fierce. She even released a double album titled I Am…Sasha Fierce, the first single off which talked about what she would do if she were a boy, and then she said she wants to play Wonder Woman in a movie. Poor girl…how identify crisis-ed is she?
- Much success was enjoyed by artists including Rihanna, Leona Lewis, Duffy, Chris Brown, Ne-Yo, and T.I.
- Keane finally realized that guitars aren’t so bad after all.
- Metallica redeemed themselves by releasing an album that was actually good enough for their fans to forgive them for the Napster fiasco. Well, almost.
- And Guns N’ Roses FINALLY released their 14-years-in-the-making album Chinese Democracy. The album generally got a positive reception, but we still think it could’ve been so much better had Axl worked on it a bit more, and spend another decade or two perfecting the sound.
- By S.A.
Us Magazine, The News - 26th December, 2008
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