While Pete Doherty's antics caught the tabloid headlines, the music made by him and his label mates were dominating the music press. 2004 was a great year for Rough Trade Records who, having celebrated their 25th birthday, delivered us some of the greatest albums of the year. While the band who had topped Rough Trade's roster in recent years - The Strokes - had a quiet year after completing the promotion on album 'Room On Fire', with the Libertines, Babyshambles, Belle & Sebastian and the truly glorious Delays (among others) on the bill, the Rough Trade team were behind some of the best music in last twelve months.
And let's put that into perspective, because 2004 was a fantastic year for music - and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Yes, there was plenty of shit (Girls Aloud anyone? Best of Atomic Kitten anyone? Anything involving Westlife anyone?) - but let's not dwell on that, because there was so much good shit too. In fact so good a year was 2004 it would be inappropriate to randomly pick out some of our favourites off the top of our heads – but let's do it anyway.
2004 was the year of The Killers, The Bees, The Zutons, Kings of Leon, Interpol, Razorlight, Green Day, Blink 182, !!!, The Hives, The Ordinary Boys, The Thrills, and the refreshing, funktastic, wonderful Scissor Sisters. The year of Mylo, Soulwax, the Dub Pistols, Adam Freeland, Rennie Pilgrem, The Freestylers, those great Depeche Mode remix albums, that fantastic TwoCultureClash project, Grand National, Lazyboy, Max Sedgely and, come to think of it, anything to do with Rob Da Bank's Sunday Best label (proof that anyone who says dance music is dead is frankly insane). The year of Busted (again), McFly, Maroon 5, Gwen Stefani and decent pop music. The year of Dizzee Rascal (again), The Streets (again), Blade, Kelis, Jamelia, Estelle and the kings of the British urban scene - Goldie Lookin Chain.
It was the year of the comeback. Morrissey fans got the comeback record they desperately wanted. Pixies fans got the tour they desperately wanted. Beach Boys fans got the long awaited release of 'Smile' that they desperately wanted. Prince and Ian Brown fans got the greatest hits shows they desperately needed. And U2 fans got, well, a new album. The Prodigy, Fatboy Slim and Eminem may have got a mixed critical reception with their new long players - but we here at CMU rated each of them. And who could have failed to have been excited by the return to music by one Mr William Shatner. I don't care what anyone says - 'Common People' now belongs to him.
If we're talking global success, 2004 was, once again, the year of American hip hop. Jay Z kept talking about retiring, but kept selling records and packing out stadiums nevertheless. Eminem proved he is still very much in demand (by record buyers and music fans if not critics). And the real global unit shifters in 2004 were Usher, Kanye West and OutKast - all three of whom also grabbed most of the headlines at the major music award events.
Of course, there was all that really good stuff that you all ignored too. Why didn't Patrick & Eugene top the charts? Why was Robbie's track 'Radio' so popular when the Client track of the same name was so much better? Why didn't that wonderful album by Los Paranoias get the Lemon Jelly faithful excited? And why oh why oh why oh why oh why oh why oh why oh why weren't the Loose Cannons, quite clearly the most exciting new band of 2004, not heard any further than Eddy TM's Remix Show and the CMU office? If the Cannons don't get the success they so much deserve in 2005 I might have to hit someone (starting with whoever fucked up their marketing over at Island Records).
But enough of all that. Let's not forget this was the year Franz Ferdinand and Snow Patrol proved us Brits (well, those from Glasgow and Belfast anyway) could sell records in America too - and thank the Lord Snow Patrol are finally shifting records after all these years. And let's hope we are saying that about the Loose Cannons this time next year.
But hang on, what's all this about shifting records? Clearly some of the best tracks this year were never actually released - or at least that's the case if, like us, you're a sucker for a good mash up remix. While DJ Danger Mouse's controversial (but, frankly, genius) 'Grey Album' caught the headlines, these were the bootleg remixes that got out attention.
Alter Ego/White Stripes - 7 Nation Rocker (IDC Mix) http://www.btinternet.com/~dancefloor/consume.html
Loo & Placido - Kids Rock
http://www.culturedeluxe.com/audio/LOO_&_PLACIDO_Kids_rock.mp3
Dizzee Rascal vs The Strokes - Just A Reptilian (Lionel Vinyl Mix)
http://www.culturedeluxe.com/audio/LOO_&_PLACIDO_Kids_rock.mp3
DJ Riko - Whistler's Delight
http://www.djriko.com/html/tunes.html
Queen - New York At Last
Talking of Eddy TM's Remix show on Xfm - which is kinda where we first heard most of these - 2004 was the year Eddy kept telling me how big Kasabian were going to be. For a while it seemed no one else was interested - but then, sometime last week, everyone started talking about these guys, and big things surely beckon in 2005. Likewise, big things are also surely on the cards for the Go! Team, Bloc Party, Elefant, Evil 9, Do Me Bad Things and Neon Heights - just some of the new bands that got the CMU team excited in 2004.
Phew, that's a lot of good stuff. So, as the New Year approaches, if anyone tells you this Christmas that they isn't any decent music around at the moment, tell them to fuck off. Whether it's urban, rock, dance or one of those many little genres that sit within (and let's not forget country music is on an up just now too), the music world enters 2005 in good health. Which is good news for those that work in the music business. There seems little doubt that people will continue to download it, buy it and see it live next year. Of course, who will manage to make a profit from it all - the labels, the publishers, the management, the promoters, the technology companies, the phone firms, or perhaps even the artists - remains to be seen. But when it happens, rest assured CMU will be there, bad gag in hand, to give you the lowdown.