We all know the music industry has been holding its collective breath for this moment. The Brits and the Mercury Music Prize are all fine and dandy and nice to have, but the only one that matters is the top ten as determined by your dear host.
Without a shadow of a doubt, 2008 has been a dire year for pop music. Coldplay disappointed us all by coming back after pledging to stay away for a very long time. Katy Perry was number one for ages with a lame tune that sold by the bucketload. Tip for up and coming stars: faux lesbianism still sells. And, inexplicably, the no-marks from X-Factor continue to shift product. In other words, 2008 was as crap as 2007 for pop.
But all is not lost. There may have been a lot of crud bubbling up through the world of dance (the rise of the barely-remixed remix; the coming of the Scouse House-specialising radio spin-off, Clubland TV; bassline; the continued existence of Scooter), but there's been some great stuff as well. Here's the coveted AVPS countdown of 2008:
10) Black and Gold - Sam Sparro
9) Miracle - Oceanlab
8) I Lust U - Neon Neon
7) Body Crash - Buy Now
6) This Is My Life - Euroband
5) Crimewave - Crystal Castles
4) Slave of My Mind - Kiko
3) Sirens of the Sea - Oceanlab
2) Blind - Hercules and Love Affair
And here it is, the best tune of 2008, Armin van Buuren feat. Sharon den Adel with In and Out of Love. Two words: just beautiful. Play it, Sam!
What were your musical highlights of 2008? Anyone you fancy in the new year?
7 comments:
I'm hot for The Bird and The Bee for next year!
Hercules & Love Affair's 'You Belong' was also amazing. Lupe Fiasco's 'The Cool' showed how mainstream hip-hop is meant to be done.
I do like the current Girls Aloud single ('The Promise') a lot too. The new Portishead album was good... not that much of a change though, I didn't think.
Ach, I should never be invited to talk freely about music! :-D
I'm totally with you on You Belong. It sounded as if an edgy act from 1992 had stuck the track in a time capsule, only for it to emerge 16 years later. But alas I did prefer Blind because I hadn't heard anything like it for quite some time. On the back of those tracks I had high hopes for their album, which, unfortunately, were misplaced :(
Portishead had a good year and their offering did live up to expectations, IMO. You know what you're going to get when you acquire one of their records. A bit like Status Quo, but not like Status Quo, obviously.
Guilty sin time - I really liked (most of) the remixes of Alphabeat's singles, esp. 10,000 Nights. And as you can see from my list, Iceland's Eurovision entry made it into the best choons. It's so cheesy, but catchy and, erm, brilliant!
For 2009 I wouldn't be surprised if trance has a big renaissance. Armin van Buuren's radio show regularly pulls in 25 million listeners, which shows huge market potential! Plus in these gloomy times, a large audience will be looking for uplifting music, which trance certainly supplies by the bucketload. If it does happen I will be very happy!
Last of all, already there is a contender for the track of 2009 on the radar - Close My Eyes by Sandar van Doorn vs Robbie Williams(!) is just superb.
The risk of freely giving your musical opinions is that someone will give them back!
Check out The Kid's 'Transient Blood' from this year, but don't mention to New Order that a Swedish quartet have been nicking their tunes wholesale.
No Sébastien Tellier?
No Sigur Ros????
The Icelandic Eurovision entry at no. 6!
Yes Mike, it's great! Honest!
(Admittedly, a penchant for cheesy eurodisco helps).
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