It's time for the obligatory year-end wrap-up.And while I traditionally use this column to briefly recap before making some predictions about what next year will be like, I'd rather do something a little different this time around. What follows are the things that spring most immediately and brightly to mind when I look back at 2004, in terms of both music at large and local goings-on. Think of it as a sort of photo album, kept by a crazy guy who thinks pictures are evil because they steal your soul.
Happy holidays, everybody.
NationalSCREAMO GOING BIG TIME Told ya. In related news, if anybody out there wants a CD-size drink coaster with a cathartic phrase like "Dead Hearts Bleed Murdered Love" printed on it, I've got about 200 of 'em.
MODEST MOUSE RELEASING A HIT ALBUM Anybody who says they saw that coming is either lying, psychic or employed by the Promotions/Budgeting department of Epic Records.
ASHLEE SIMPSON ON SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE The world is shocked to discover that a girl who only got a record deal because she's the little sister of a hotter, dumber, more popular girl might need help not sounding like shit in concert.
MAINSTREAM RAP GETTING EVEN WORSE I thought it was about as possible as a Modest Mouse album getting into Billboard's Top 20, but Lil Jon rose to the occasion by lowering the bar.
FRANZ FERDINAND There's no doubt in my mind this band is the result of some UK hipster genius scraping some skin cells off members of Interpol and The Strokes backstage at a monster 2002 festival, then scurrying back to the little Rube Goldberg cloning machine hidden in his dorm room closet. Cheers, mate.
DIMEBAG DARRELL MURDERED ONSTAGE Like every year, we lost some MVPs, including Ray Charles, Rick James, Ol' Dirty Bastard, John Peel, and Dead Milkmen bassist Dave Blood. But fuck, man, some worthless cretin got up onstage and shot former Pantera guitarist Darrell Abbott while he was playing a show. It's just beyond comprehension.
THE GARDEN STATE SOUNDTRACK Perfectly, poignantly, hiply melodic and melancholy — for months, I thought it was a mix-CD someone made from last year's Volkswagen commercials.
EVERY MUSICIAN IN THE WORLD TAKING SIDES IN THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION I'll listen to Audioslave guitarist Tom Morello. I'll listen to Billy Bragg. Hell, I'll even listen to The Boss. Wine-soaked 21-year-old Bright Eyes principal Conor Oberst and the guy who filled in on bass for Pete Way in UFO once — I'm not so sure I need to hear from.
SOME KIND OF MONSTER On the off chance that some people might not be interested in watching a movie about Metallica making its third horrible album in a row, the band took a cue from reality TV and documented their marriage-counseling sessions as well. Who says they've got issues?
USHER! USHER! USHER! Yeah, I'd sleep with him. But it doesn't mean I'm gay — it just means that the Usher thing is working better than even Usher could've hoped it would.
LocalTHE ABSENCE PRETTY MUCH TAKING OVER This long-running, brutally talented extreme-metal quintet rose to metal-scene prominence this year, drawing the grammatically-challenged ire of the usual Coffeestain.com naysayers by actually being, you know, really good.
WILL QUINLAN RETIRING THE PAGAN SAINTS They may be The Diviners now, but the same longtime local-music supporters that still call this publication Creative Loafing probably won't ever let the old moniker — and the memories attached to it — go.
DRONE DIMENSION BREAKING UP RATHER THAN SPENDING A YEAR AS WEEKLY PLANET'S "BEST NEW BAND" The Britpop-inspired wall-of-fuzz outfit split not long after being featured in September's "Best of the Bay" issue; now that's punk rock. (Come to think of it, we haven't heard from '03 winners The Nuevos in a while, either. Coincidence?)
ACOUSTIC-SHOWCASE MANIA Nearly every great venue in the bay area hosted more than its share of shows loaded with killer, unplugged original talent. The musicians love it; we can show up with one guitar, and without having to drive to New Port Richey first to pick up whichever member of our band is carless and jobless this week.
BOOMERZ BOILER ROOM ENTERING THE NATIONAL-ACT FRAY Great room; motivated ownership and management; questionable selection of national-tour bookings. I know that radio-rock and metal crowds pay the bills and spend at the bar, but it would be great to see this place live up to its potential.
THE LOCAL JAM-BAND SCENE REACHING CRUISING SPEED The efforts of folks like Gaspar's Grotto owner Eric Schiller and Clearwater booking/management concern Rising Jupiter paid off in a higher profile for the area's jam/groove/World Beat scene. It seemed like there was a Sun Fest or Sun Fest West every couple of weeks, and I believe singer-songwriter Rebekah Pulley was presented with an honorary degree in jamology at some point.
THE LIAR'S CLUB RUNNING OUT OF BEER And mixer. And ice. During a packed Pink Lincolns show. It wasn't too much later that this Seminole Heights hellbilly hangout went the way of the dodo, chivalry and The Rock-It Club.
THE BAD TOUCH SNIPING IT UP ONSTAGE Sometimes they're great, and sometimes they're merely good, but this Pinellas rock 'n' roll foursome has raised between-song inter-band carping to a hilarious art form.
THE UPTOWN BAR AUGMENTING ST. PETE'S CENTRAL AVENUE LIVE-VENUE STRIP A boon for those of the opinion that the one-block distance between the Emerald and The State Theatre was just too damn far to walk without taking a break for a beer, a loud song, and a lungful of the smokiest air west of, well, the Emerald.
THE DEATH OF DAVE "RAT" ANDERSON AT THE NEW WORLD BREWERY In the early morning of Oct. 24, nice guy Anderson, a lifelong punk-scene supporter and close friend to many, was fatally stabbed in a fight during a show at Ybor's New World. (Dave Decker, guitarist for Clairmel and Vagina Sore Jr., was also severely injured, and is recovering.) It was a senseless, shocking and incredibly tragic isolated incident; sadly, it's also what many in the Tampa music community will remember most vividly about 2004. Our condolences and prayers to Dave's friends and family during this, a time when loved ones should be close.scott.harrell@weeklyplanet.com
This article appears in Dec 22-28, 2004.