Two thousand eleven has officially switched from happening to happened.
In the music world, there was some good stuff in 2011, some bad and a whole lot of "meh." Because reminiscing is only acceptable this time of year (and all of my album picks have already been covered by two or 20 sites from around the Internet), these are the events from '11 that will be remembered months from now:
Remembering the White Stripes
Jack and Meg knew how to get attention. The noisy duo celebrated their 14 years as a restrictive two-piece by ending the band in the grandest way possible. In their open breakup letter to fans, the two stated simply that, “The White Stripes do not belong to Meg and Jack anymore. The White Stripes belong to you now and you can do with it whatever you want.” Goodbye, Jack and Meg.
Rediscovering the Foo Fighters
Dave Grohl got back to his garage roots by literally recording the band's eighth studio album in his garage. Granted, Grohl's garage is probably nicer than some of our houses, and Wasting Light isn't exactly the rawest-sounding album, but the sentiment should be appreciated. On top of their highest-charting studio album yet, the band got the documentary treatment with the release of Foo Fighters: Back and Forth, celebrating the band's climb to the spotlight. With a four-year lapse between releases, 2011 was the year the Foo Fighters reminded everyone they still know how to rock.
Spotify Goes Stateside
Get The Pick Newsletter
All the latest guitar news, interviews, lessons, reviews, deals and more, direct to your inbox!
More ways to get to music means more ways for bands to get heard. Spotify finally squeezed its way past the big four record labels and onto the shores of the U.S, meaning new people can hear new music. Thanks to Facebook, it also means immediate awareness of how bad friends' musical tastes can get. Looking at you, Dave Matthews playlists.
