2007: The Year In Music
Ollie Elliott looks at the music of 2007.
1. Radiohead changed the course of human history - Or so it was claimed in some quarters. Their novel album release method certainly started a debate but it remains to be seen whether it was anything more than a gimmick.
2. The alternative goes mainstream - Previously niche, alternative bands like Modest Mouse, Arcade Fire and The Shins all see commercial success to the horror of hipsters everywhere.
3. Reunion frenzy
4. The ‘difficult’ second album - The first of the newest wave of indie bands, such as Arctic Monkeys, Bloc Party, Arcade Fire and Maximo Park released their second albums this year to generally excellent reviews.
5. An ever more desperate music industry took things up a gear this year with the closure of the beloved Oink - a very popular music sharing site. The media, true to form, covered the story using grossly inaccurate information.
6. Festivals overdo themselves - As the interest in live music continues to renew itself, more and more festivals appeared to pick up some of the slack. Although just about any musical genre now has a festival representing it, some of the new ones suffer from criticisms of lacklustre organisation as organisers tend to focus on getting attention-grabbing acts rather than having, for example, toilets.
7. Kanye vs 50 Cent - In the hilarious music industry spat stakes it didn’t get better than Kanye West vs 50 Cent. Following West’s phenomenally successful Daft Punk hip hop conversion, 50 Cent decided it would be a good idea to claim he’d quit music if Kanye’s album outsold his. It did, by a massive margin, resulting in 50 Cent quietly disowning his promise.
8. Hardcore Punk’d - That self-appointed guardian of musical integrity NME spent the year gushing at a new breed of hardcore punk bands. Although it’s difficult to assess exactly how popular any band drooled over by the NME actually is, the likes of The Horrors and Gallows represent an interesting change.
9. Pussycat Dolls for Kyoto - The post-live 8-cause bandwagon continued to roll as Live Earth tried to save the world amid accusations of hypocrisy and ulterior motives. Either way, recycling statistics have apparently remained stubbornly resistant to the combined pleas of Madonna, Metallica and Spinal Tap.
