PUT YOUR RECORDS ON

This year my musical tastes were a mixed bag. The great mix of indie, rock, alternative dance and and pop that filled my ears continued, usually via 6music and MTV2, with a more gothic tone that had steadily been creeping in for a couple of years. Looking back, the year seemed to belong to four acts: Arctic Monkeys continued their rise that had begun toward the end of the previous year with another chart topping single and their equally successful debut album, plus a standalone Top 5 single and a five track EP featuring four brand new songs plus one from the album. All this whilst still keeping a fairly low profile as far as television appearances go. Muse also continued their increasing success with a No.1 album and three hit singles, two of which went Top 10. Lily Allen, daughter of actor Keith, came out of nowhere to score a chart topping single and a No.2 album, her music being inescapable that Summer. Emo - a more introspective and emotional brand of Punk that had been around for years - was also in the ascendent at the time, with acts such as Fallout Boy, Panic! At The Disco and My Chemical Romance all having big hits and sales. It was the last of these, however, who would have an unlikely No. 1 single with a song from a concept album about a cancer patient and his journey into the afterlife. Not the most cheerful of themes, but the dramatic and powerful music pushed its parent album to No.3 and multiple platinum sales around the world. It was this album that would be part of my continuing exploration into darker music.

That's not the whole story though. There was also the sweet soul of Corrine Bailey Rae whose biggest hit gives this blog post its title, and which i maintain is one the classic songs of the millennium so far. That single and other songs from her chart-topping eponymous debut bought a Summer feeling to a cold February. Indie legend Morrissey continued his comeback with another great album, with a harder rock sound and proper orchestrations produced by the legendary Tony Visconti. Morrissey has yet to better the aptly titled (given his penchant for annoying the press and even his own fans with outrageous comments) Ringleader Of The Tormentors, and its lead off single "You Have Killed Me", which reached No.3.

Two bands whose debut albums i had found electrifying just a year or two before followed up with more "mature" and, to my ears at least, disappointing releases. Yeah Yeah Yeahs and The Futureheads had all taken their turn as my favourite band of the moment over the previous few years but i just couldn't get into Show Your Bones and News And Tributes. They were less immediate than their predecessors, although they weren't completely lacking in great songs: "Gold Lion", "Cheated Hearts" and "Way Out" from SYB were as good as anything from the debut, and NAT's first single "Skip To The End" is, in my humble opinion, one of the Sunderland quartets' best moments. I've since learned to appreciate the latter album and its darker shades.

The disappointing returns of some acts were soon replaced though, by the quirky, angular and very English art rock of The Young Knives. The antithesis of "cool" bands like Franz Ferdinand and Bloc Party, they wore tweed jackets and and looked as if they should be shooting grouse on some country estate. But this unusual get-up belied the sharp riffs and hysterical vocals that delivered songs about beating up your girlfriends Dad, Tailors, jealousy of the well off classes, hating your day job and dreaming of reinventing oneself. They weren't quite as successful as their peers, but some of the songs from their album Voices Of Animals And Men - "She's Attracted To", "Here Comes The Rumour Mill", "Weekends And Bleak Days" and "Loughborough Suicide" still sit well alongside the usual "indie disco" perennials of the era.

There was also the panoramic chamber pop of Guillemots, whose debut Through The Windowpane remains one of my favourite albums (i've covered that in another post) and which stood out a mile from everything else i heard that year.

To return to my roll call of "who the year belonged to", Arctic Monkeys debut album was and is still a corker. Tales of small town characters, dodgy goings on, lads out on the piss, local bands trying to make it, and trying to pull down at the local discos, all set to no nonsense and no frills indie rock. Great lyrics and great tunes. Whatever They Say I Am, That's What I'm Not set them on a career that has seen them have six No.1 albums and continuing acclaim.

I'd been a fan of Muse ever since hearing Muscle Museum from their first album Showbiz, but it wasn't until their fourth long player Black Holes & Revelations that they really became a BIG act. They'd already headlined Glastonbury in 2004 and won a few awards, but when the first single "Supermassive Black Hole" peaked at No.4 - their biggest hit that far and to date - it pushed their success and acclaim to even higher levels. On this album they took their ambitious prog rock/space rock sound and incorporated electronic influences, funk, industrial music and even music from southern Italy (where frontman Matt Bellamy was residing at the time). This huge and very dramatic sound, along with lyrical themes tackling New World Order conspiracies, alien invasion and political corruption, drew sneers of "ridiculous" from some critics, but the reception was largely that it was their best work yet. The funk feel of the first single, the surging electronics and synths of "Map Of The Problematique" and "Take A Bow", the stomping anthem that was "Starlight", and the sci-fi western of "Knights Of Cydonia" are just a few of the many highlights. It also included the most hushed, tender sounding song they had made to date, the shape of the brief but beautiful "Soldiers Poem", sung from the perspective of someone sent off to fight in an illegal war.

Lily Allen was an almost constant part of that Summers' soundtrack, due to the ska and reggae influences on her debut album Alright, Still and its omnipresent hit singles "Smile" and "LDN". Her cute but outspoken attitude made her an interviewers delight. Even my Dad likes her music!

There was someone else i neglected to mention in my roll call, someone whose tragically short life and personal problems have overshadowed the great music she made in her brief career. Amy Winehouse had already been around for a few years and was a critics favourite, but the jazz and easy listening overtones of her debut album Frank hadn't quite won over the public. That was all set to change with the release of Back To Black, a dark, soulful confessional of a record detailing her tumultuous personal life and addictions, all set to music that took the best of 1960's Soul, Motown and R&B and gave them a gritty modern update. It's one of those records that takes on a much darker and even harrowing atmosphere in the wake of the events that followed, but that shouldn't shadow the music. "Tears Dry On Their Own", "Back To Black", "Love Is A Losing Game" and the ubiquitous "Rehab" are all modern classics that deserve their place in the pantheon of Soul.

The record that continued my exploration into darker musical territories was also that bands biggest success. The Black Parade by Emo rockers My Chemical Romance was an ambitious and, in places, quite theatrical collection of songs centred around a character called The Patient, who dies at the beginning of the album, which then follows his descent into the afterlife and reflects on his life. Its not the most commercial of themes so it was quite a surprise when the first single "Welcome To The Black Parade" topped the UK singles chart, no mean feat for a band whose previous chart high was No.19! It's by no means the most gothic music i've ever listened to, but the imagery and themes of MCR and bands like Lacuna Coil and HIM were certainly pointing me in that direction.