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The past year on the music front was a memorable one: The Internet helped break a new generation of pop stars, dead rock icons like Kurt Cobain continued to rake in big bucks while old bands tried to recapture lost glories by reforming. Trendwise, music came full circle as listeners who had evidently grown weary of an endless stream of banal hip-hop artists and pop princesses re-embraced the singer-songwriter. PLUS revisits the year's highlights and picks out the moments to remember.
Hit Me Baby, One More Time
Take That
So, what do you do when your world-conquering boy band breaks up, your pop career fizzles and you spend the better part of the decade languishing in obscurity? Simple: Re-form. That's what Take That did. The now less-than-youthful combo of Gary Barlow, Howard Donald, Jason Orange and Mark Owen regrouped after a documentary last year marking the 10th year since they had last performed together was given a warm reception. Even more surprising, the group (sans Robbie Williams, who was sacked in early 1995 and went on to become one of England's most successful performers) have since held a string of sold-out concerts in the United Kingdom and released a chart-topping comeback album, Beautiful World. There are no signs of slowing down: A Take That musical is planned for sometime next year.
All Saints
For a brief time, they were the girl band it was cool to like. All Saints, after all, were the anti-Spice Girls and had better songs to boot. But even they weren't immune to the odd slip: In 2000, they starred in the execrable crime caper Honest, a movie so bad it led to their acrimonious breakup a year later. Naturally, all four members launched solo careers, none of which matched up to anything they had done collectively. In January, the quartet of Melanie Blatt, Shaznay Lewis and Appleton sisters Nicole and Natalie reformed. A new album, Studio 1, was released to mixed reviews in November and has so far managed to dent only the UK Top 40.
Smashing Pumpkins
After the commercial failure of his much-heralded solo effort TheFutureEmbrace, Billy Corgan took out a full-page ad last year in the Chicago Tribune announcing plans to reform the pioneering alternative rock band that had disintegrated in 2000 amid allegations of in-fighting, ego clashes and drug abuse. Last February, Corgan and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin reportedly signed a new management deal and were on the verge of readying new material for the project while original members James Iha and D'arcy Wretzky were reportedly snubbed in favour of session musicians.
While Their Guitars Gently Weep
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Bob Dylan
One of the century's most influential musicians, Bob Dylan spent the year reaping acclaim from all corners of the globe with album No 32, Modern Times. Reviews hailing Dylan's return were near hysterical: US magazine Blender ranked Modern Times alongside the work of jazz giant Sonny Rollins and poet William Butler Yeats. While other Dylan fans furiously obsessed over his latest batch of songs, one thing was clear: Modern Times was a worthy follow-up to 2001's Love and Theft and its commercial success gave Dylan his first US No 1 since 1976's Desire.
Yusuf Islam
The artist formerly known as Cat Stevens made an unexpected return to the pop fold after years of shunning mainstream music. His first pop effort since 1978's Back To Earth, An Other Cup is a return to the folk-pop idiom of yore (before Stevens became a Muslim and adopted the name Yusuf Islam) with its simple yet uplifting melodies. Above all, it eradicated the memory of his repulsive 2004 collaboration with Irish pop muppet Ronan Keating.
James Blunt
The man most responsible for making the troubadour a bankable commodity with record company types, former soldier James Blunt became a favourite of housewives by peddling a treacly blend of pop, folk and rock into one marketable package. His signature single You're Beautiful usurped Elton John's Candle In The Wind as the most annoyingly ubiquitous pop song ever and has, according to British newspaper The Sun, overtaken Robbie Williams' Angels as the tune most frequently played at weddings.
Comeback Kings
Kurt Cobain
Years after his death, Cobain continues to intrigue fans and rake in the lucre. Forbes magazine recently named him as the top dollar-earning dead celebrity, ringing up an estimated US$50 million ($77 million) in the past year alone. It was the first time the former Nirvana frontman had made the list, all thanks to his widow Courtney Love's decision to sell a stake in Cobain's song catalogue to publishing company Primary Wave.
Jay-Z
It was one of the most pointless retirements in history. When Hip-hop mogul Jay-Z announced plans to abandon his music career to focus on his other businesses, few expected he'd soon collaborate with Linkin Park and R Kelly. After a dalliance with a clothing line, the opening of an upscale sports bar and a stint as the CEO of recording company Def Jam, Jay-Z officially ended his retirement with new album Kingdom Come. The record is set to be one of his most successful outings yet: In less than a month, the album has sold nearly 1 million copies in North America alone.
Running with the Big Boys
The Arctic Monkeys
Poster boys for the Internet generation, the Sheffield-based foursome were one of the most-hyped bands to emerge this year after securing their reputation by posting demos on the World Wide Web. It paid huge dividends: Their first album Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not was one of the most hotly anticipated debuts of 2006. It was also the fastest-selling debut rock album in British history, moving just under 120,000 copies in its first day alone.
Electrico
Homegrown rockers Electrico scored two triumphs this year. First, their second album Hip City became one of the must-have albums of the year. Elsewhere, one of the tracks off the album, Love In New Wave, found renewed life after a remix was done by Zouk resident DJ Aldrin Quek and dance producer Akien. It attracted the attention of British DJ Pete Tong and negotiations are underway with the aim of securing a major publishing deal for the band.
The Great Spy Experiment
Though they formed just two years ago and have yet to record an album, The Great Spy Experiment scored a coveted slot in the annual South by South West music festival in Austin, Texas, in March next year. Together with fellow homegrown rockers Electrico, the quintet - comprising vocalist Saiful Idris, guitarist Tan Shung Sin, keyboardist Magdelene Han, bassist Khairyl Hashim and drummer Fandy Razak - were chosen along with 400 others from a list of 4,000 bands from around the world to perform at the five-day event. The outfit is currently at work on their debut album Flower Show Riots, already tipped by some to be one of 2007's more promising releases. - TODAY
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