via//chicago

This is the first in a four part series in which via//chicago looks back on the year in music. We start off with a quick summary of 2005 and a quick glimpse at what is to come in 2006. Part two will reveal my Top 10 live shows and Top 20 compilation/reissued albums of the year, part three will reveal my favorite 100 singles of the past year, and part four will finish things off with a look at the 50 best albums of 2005.

Part 1: The Overview

What will we remember most about the music of 2005 when we look back on it in fifteen years? Will we remember it as the first significant year of the Arcade Fire's global domination? Or will we look back and fondly recall the humble beginnings of superstars like M.I.A. or Bloc Party? Maybe we'll remember it as the year Eminem announced the first of his many "retirements". Probably none of the above, instead we'll be kicking ourselves for ever allowing "Hollaback Girl" and "My Humps" to become Top 10 hit singles. If not, we should be. In fact, why don't we just go ahead and chalk those two up in the "horrid atrocities of 2005" column right now and get it over with. Put them just below the continued presence of the Bush administration and that whole bird flu thing, but just above the continued presence of Paris Hilton. At least she's good for a laugh or two.

In all seriousness, 2005 will most likely be a very interesting year to look back on. While there was no easy to pinpoint defining moment, sound, or artist this year (ala "Hey Ya" in 2003 or Eminem in 2001); there was still plenty of great music to be heard. For the first time in what seemed to be too many years, rock music snuck back up onto the pop charts and slightly loosened the stranglehold that hip-hop and R&B has had on them. Thanks to both Green Day and The Killers holdover success stories from last year, the kids who like guitars instead of turntables actually had reason to tune in the weekly countdowns. American Idiot and "Mr. Brightside" may have led the charge, but it was a duo of spunky new bands that kept the rock flame burning. You could hardly flip on MTV this summer without stumbling across a dorky kid with antlers or a funeral with enough choreography to put Star Search to shame. Fall Out Boy and My Chemical Romance proved that girls still love the guys that sing from the teenaged heart, but it helps even more to have a quirky video on your side. Not to mention that the arguable biggest single of the year, courtesy of the best American Idol factory product yet, owed more to the Strokes than Beyonce. Some might even say that "Since U Been Gone" owes even more to Nick Zinner and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, but that's a different story.

2005 was also a huge year for disappointments, of both the massively crushing and slightly annoying variety. Billy Corgan pretty much wrapped up the former all by his lonesome, unleashig upon the world a horrifically weak album that made the whole Zwan thing look downright genius by comparison. Look Billy, we all know that you want to forge a separate identity from a certain former band - but flopping a reheated pile of '80s synth farts isn't the way to do it. And squandering every fan's dream of a duet with Robert Smith on that near trainwreck of a Bee Gee's cover? Unforgiveable. I'm not going to hate just yet because I know you still have it in you, but you let us down big time with this one. Although it just may have been part of the mid-90's alt-rocker curse as albums from Nine Inch Nails, Beck, Audioslave, and Garbage all fell far short of expectations. Beck's being the biggest shocker of the bunch, let's just hope it was an off year for the guy. In the "slightly annoying" category of disappointments we find the latest releases from Super Furry Animals, Boards of Canada, and Missy Elliott failing to live up to the standards set by previous releases. None of these three were exactly terrible albums (in fact the Boards of Canada album turned out to age fairly well), but everyone involved is capable of so much more.

But let us not dwell too long on the negative because there were even more reasons to be completely thrilled with the music 2005 gave us. One of the biggest reasons I'm excited about what I heard this year is that we had so many amazing debut albums in the last twelve months. It's very exciting to hear tons of great new music, but doubly so when all this great music is from a bunch of new artists who still have entire careers in front of them. Sure many will fizzle out or never again reach the full potential hinted at upon these debuts, but I think that many of the great first albums from this year are just the tip of the iceberg. Specifically I'm thinking about people like Bloc Party, Engineers, Wolf Parade, M.I.A., Akron Family, and The Game. Each of these artists' debut albums were sprinkled with flashes of genius and inspiration that offer a tantalizing peek of the huge things we can expect in the future. Bloc Party has already shown more talent with the non-album single "Two More Years", as has the Akron Family with their recent split LP with the Angels of Light. And if some of the mixtape material floating around is any indication, The Game isn't going to let his beef with G-Unit squash his career. The Documentary may have been uneven, but the kid has a very unique style and a delivery that will only get better with time. Not wanting to let the newcomers hog all the fun and spotlight, quite a few well established artists stepped up to the plate and delivered the goods in 2005 as well. Sufjan Stevens, Bright Eyes, Spoon, Animal Collective, Ryan Adams, and Broken Social Scene all released albums that greatly enhanced their already stellar reputations.

In the end, I think 2005 was mostly a year of transition. No huge new trends were broken, unless you count reggaeton's inevitable breach of mainstream urban radio, and there were no huge generational shifts in mood or taste. But I think enough subtle variations and nudges occurred to lay down some solid foundations for things to come - more rock music in the mainstream pop charts, young bands into careers and not just hit singles, and the continued acceptance of pop music as a serious form of music by even the most headstrong indie fans. This popism is certainly nothing new, but 2005 seemed to prove that it wasn't just a buzzword escape clause for pop fans to use while breaking out of the closet. Take it from Ted Leo, whose acoustic cover of "Since U Been Gone" went a long way towards showing the indie world just how wonderful the song actually was. And now we turn our ears towards 2006 and wait to see what rises above these solid foundations. With albums expected from heavy hitters and solid performers such as The Strokes, Radiohead, Belle and Sebastian, The Flaming Lips, Pearl Jam, and the aforementioned Yeah Yeah Yeahs (just to name a few) - the coming year promises to be as eventful and exciting as any.

Thanks for reading via//chicago these past twelve months and please continue to do so in the coming year. Don't be afraid to leave me a comment anytime, or feel free to drop me a line at jon830@yahoo.com to let me know what you think.