Thanks For the Tectonic Sonics, 2008!

Thanksgiving is tomorrow for us Americans, so Listening Post would like to take the time today to give thanks for the stellar year in music. Here are five examples of why it was exceedingly easy to tune in, turn on, and rock out in 2008. The Return of My Bloody Valentine After the reunion of […]
Image may contain Human Person Face Clothing Apparel and Hair

Thanksgiving is tomorrow for us Americans, so Listening Post would like to take the time today to give thanks for the stellar year in music. Here are five examples of why it was exceedingly easy to tune in, turn on, and rock out in 2008.

The Return of My Bloody Valentine
After the reunion of the Pixies in 2004, there were few bands left alive that Listening Post would chase around the country, along with other thankful hordes. My Bloody Valentine was the top dog among that slender contingent, and it roared back to life in 2008 so loudly that we were convinced that Kevin Shields' legendary band returned only so it could kill us all. Which it did, figuratively speaking, counting up the concert receipts and shattered eardrums. And as we did with the Pixies in 2004, we anxiously await My Bloody Valentine's next move, which so far promises to be a resuscitated album and who knows what else. Who cares? We're dazed, confused and happy to have been alive in 2008.

Trent Reznor, Propheteer
The music industry is filled with too many whiners, complaining about infringement, arguing about distribution models, moaning about lost revenue that never existed in the first place. The biz is crying out for people who actually do things, and so far Trent Reznor is answering the call. From exploiting the wonders of BitTorrent to offering Ghosts I-IV and The Slip for free, Reznor has proven that you can embrace the future and stay comfortably paid for your bravery.

Games Pwn Discs!
Listening to Warner Music Group's Edgar Bronfman Jr. whine about how Rock Band and Guitar Hero are exploding the seemingly bulletproof game biz on the back of an aging, decrepit music biz almost made our year by itself. Let's be clear, major and minor labels: Your discs are done, one way or the other. To survive, you must look at your holdings as a library, a really expensive library, which listeners and innovators visit to create the music experiences of tomorrow. Whether that is games or television and film licensing, well, it doesn't matter. What matters is that no one in his or her right mind is going to ever pay $20 for a crappy CD again. Internet and other clever methods of distribution, like killer interactive music games, have changed the game for good, and the sooner you get this through your head, the sooner you will find a way to stay relevant in the 21st century. Don't believe me? Say, how's that earnings report?

The Year of Creating Strangely
Man, there were so many brain-teasing releases set loose in 2008 that it's going to be impossible to corral them all for this slim nod. But let's start with Marnie Stern, Juana Molina, Deerhunter and Deerhoof, No Age and many, many more. Even conventional rock, pop and folk was skewed weird in the hands of The Melvins, Blitzen Trapper, Fleet Foxes, Stereolab and others. We've compiled a greater list for you to add your choices to in our collaborative Best of 2008 investigation, so go there and tell it like it is. We'll post your candidates for change in December, along with our own.

Let's Get Political
As much as it hurt some of you to load Listening Post and find discussion of Barack Obama and Parliament Funkadelic or John McCain and Jackson Browne (and Heart, and Van Halen, and Foo Fighters, and...), well, all we can say is don't kill the messenger. Like everything else in pop culture this momentous year, music was politicized within an inch of its life, on purpose and by accident. David Byrne would probably argue that it's the "same as it ever was," but the scale and breadth of the political-musical merge demanded interrogation, so we did our jobs, happily. John McCain's exploitation of music for political purposes shined much-needed light on the licensing practices of ASCAP, while Barack Obama's love of hip-hop, soul and funk is a first for the White House. The last time a president was talking about hip-hop, Bill Clinton was smacking down Sister Souljah to pander to the Republicans across the aisle.

So yeah, it was all a big deal. We welcome rebuttals from anyone on the issue, and we will consider them, but the fact that we are still talking about this means it's here to stay – and, in fact, has always been with us, albeit in different form. This is a long way of saying that the personal has always been political, and as music fans discovered this year during one of the most important elections in American history, there's little as personal in this world as the music you love and cherish.

But let's talk about you. What musical movements, innovations or moments do you want to give thanks for, if any? Post them below, and keep the holiday balls rolling.

SEE ALSO: