With 2008 on the verge of becoming a distant, boozy memory, join the Rock Daily crew as we look back at the year that was. Ah, 2008, the year Chinese Democracy became a reality, Obama was elected President, Britney Spears went from crazy mama to hot mami. To quote our favorite Kanye West rant of ‘08, it was the year of the “Squid Brains.” But who was the year’s most-blogged-about star? What posts did the readers comment on the most? How many times did we discuss the Phish reunion and the R. Kelly sex tape? And how many times did David Archuleta fans demand that we “eat our hat?” All those answers and more as we blog down Rock Daily’s best moments of the year: (more…)

We love it when Breaking Artists make good and wind up on our Best Albums of the Year list, like Fleet Foxes, Jamey Johnson, the Knux and Bon Iver did in 2008. Here’s a look back at their Breaking videos, plus two bonus clips — Deerhunter busking on a Brooklyn street and Sam Champion rocking out in their van. To review all our 2008 Breaking stories, performances, exclusive downloads, video premieres and more, spend your holiday weekend with the Breaking Blog.

Fleet Foxes

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In true Las Vegas fashion, Sin City will usher in the New Year with “Tribute Palooza,” a concert featuring performances by David Bowie, the Eagles, U2, Kiss, the Rolling Stones, Queen, Aerosmith and Billy Joel… impersonators. 2U will substitute for U2, Queen Nation will copycat Freddie Mercury, Aeromyth will channel Aerosmith, the Long Run will welcome you to the Hotel California and much, much more. Unfortunately, despite the presence of not one but two KISS cover bands, neither act is the Rock Daily faves Mini-KISS. The whole fake fest party will go down at Vegas’ infamously tented Fremont Street, where two stages will be erected to give fans 14 hours of cover-song goodness. Now, if this bonanza of unoriginality sounds like the lamest way to spend your New Year’s Eve… well, you’re probably right. Thankfully, Rock Daily is your guide to having a much better December 31st than witnessing Satisfaction, a Rolling Stones Tribute. Behold, our New Year’s Eve guide, featuring the best concerts going down tonight across the country:

• New Year’s Eve Rock Guide: The Night’s Biggest Shows, From My Morning Jacket to Wu-Tang Clan

What were the best movies of the year? What were the worst letdowns? Peter Travers explains what was so great about Gus Van Sant’s Milk, Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire and Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight — and why 007 flick Quantum of Solace, hideous epic Australia and vampire love story Twilight were massive cinematic bummers.

• Peter Travers on the Year’s Best and Bummers

The Big News: Taylor Swift managed to keep the top spot on love lockdown for yet another week, selling 262,000 more copies of Fearless (which went double platinum). Platinum was the theme of the week as Britney Spears’ Circus, Nickelback’s Dark Horse, Kanye West’s 808s & Heartbreak and the Twilight soundtrack all crossed the million-selling plateau on their way to charting at three through six, respectively. Beyoncé’s I Am… Sasha Fierce jumped from five to second place thanks to an additional 210,000 copies sold, while Kanye leapt from 11 to five thanks to that repackaged 808s with the new artwork. With four of the top six releases geared toward females, it’s comforting to know women are at least still purchasing CDs.

Debuts: At 81, the self-titled album from a band called Brutha charted. That was the only debut on the entire Top 200 this week. (more…)

Brooklyn rockers Love As Laughter’s 2008 disc Holy — a Smoking Section favorite — was produced with a little help from Modest Mouse’s Isaac Brock, who signed the band to his Epic imprint, Glacial Pace. The crew recently popped by the Rolling Stone offices to perform “Crosseyed Beautiful Youngunz” from Holy, as well as their newest track, “Cats.” Check out both tunes right here:

• Love As Laughter Enter the Smoking Section

• Jennifer Hudson’s estranged brother-in-law William Balfour was indicted on three charges of murder and one count of home invasion for allegedly killing Hudson’s mother, brother and nephew in October. Prosecutors painted Balfour as a “jealous man” who murdered his ex-wife Julia Hudson’s family because he thought Julia had a new boyfriend.

• The Hard Rock amusement park in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina is in danger of closing down for good after an auction earlier this month failed to even secure a minimum bid of $35 million. The $400 million park filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September as the first owners looked to sell the property. A spokesperson said the park would not open in 2009 without new ownership in place.
• Rapper DMX will spend at least 90 days in jail after pleading guilty to three felony charges of drug, theft and animal cruelty. DMX will remain in custody until his sentencing on January 30th. As part of the deal, the rapper also agrees not to own both guns and animals anymore.

Well, that was fast. Just days after telling a St. Louis newspaper that Guns n’ Roses were planning a two-year tour set to embark in March, guitarist Richard Fortus is now saying he was “misquoted” in the article. “OK, it seems that I am being misquoted once again,” Fortus told fans in a statement. “I never said that Gn’R would be playing St. Louis, nor did I say that we will be doing free shows or that we are starting a two-year tour in March! Selective hearing. Never said it.” Fortus’ denials come after the article printed quotes regarding Fortus and Rose joking about Gn’R’s return to St. Louis.

Let’s face facts: Fortus probably made some passing comments about an upcoming Chinese Democracy tour, but when word spread of Fortus’ interview Guns’ management probably told him to can the rumors. (more…)

Britney’s breakdown (and comeback!); Metallica’s Death Magnetic; the long-awaited arrival of Chinese Democracy; the death of drummer Mitch Mitchell; the crowning of a new American Idol; the crowning of a new president — the year’s biggest stories were all documented right here in Rock Daily. For a month-by-month guide of 2008’s most important album releases, deaths, festivals and more, check out our annual wrap-up here:

• 2008’s Biggest Stories

Photo: Getty

Tonight the Kennedy Center Honors airs at 9 p.m. on CBS. Why do you care? Because it’s the generally stuffy Washington, D.C. affair’s most rocking ceremony in its 31-year history: As we reported from the scene earlier this month, the Who will be the first-ever rock band honored at the event, which this year also features tributes to Twyla Tharp, Morgan Freeman, Barbra Streisand and George Jones.

Joss Stone slinked about the stage in bare feet singing “My Generation,” Chris Cornell took on “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” attempting Roger Daltrey’s wild-boy act, Bettye LaVette sang a bluesy “Love Reign O’er Me”, Rob Thomas attempted “Baba O’Riley” and Dave Grohl rocked the hell out of “Who Are You.” But before all that, Jack Black kicked things off with this awesome introduction:

“When I was 10, I fell in love with the Who. I saw Tommy and was deeply moved. I wasn’t deaf, dumb or blind, but I wanted to be felt, seen, heard and healed. Seriously, I’m not going for laughs here … When I first heard them in 1979, it hit me like a torpedo in my third eye. It was a collection of ass-kicking songs the likes of which we will never see again. And it’s about time they get some sweet-ass recognish.”

The full report — stocked with details you won’t see on TV! — can only be found right here:

• Dave Grohl, Chris Cornell Pay Tribute to the Who at the Kennedy Center Honors

Freak-folk icon Devendra Banhart’s new project Megapuss pals around with Fab Moretti’s (of the Strokes) side project Little Joy — who you may remember from their exclusive Smoking Section performance — in the latter’s new video for “No One’s Better Sake.” Dig the Seventies, Sesame Street-style graphics above.

Related Stories:

• Album Review: Megapuss’ Surfing
• Devendra Banhart’s Bizarro Rock Memorabilia
• Little Joy Enters the Smoking Section

Irish rockers Bell X1 will return March 3rd with Blue Lights on the Runway, the follow-up to this year’s Flock. Singer-guitarist Paul Noonan says the group’s new sound is “a little bit electronic, a little bit Bacharach, a little bit New Orleans Funeral March.” Hmm. Judge for yourself on the Breaking Blog, where you can nab a free download of “How Your Heart Is Wired”:

• • Download Bell X1’s “How Your Heart Is Wired”

You’ve read Rolling Stone’s lists of the top albums and singles of the year — and checked out readers’ picks for LPs, songs and videos — but what did the folks who work at RS name their personal favorites? Here’s how critic Will Hermes ranked the year’s best:

Albums

Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes
TV On The Radio – Dear Science
Santogold - Santogold
The Hold Steady – Stay Positive
Ponytail - Ice Cream Spiritual
Kathleen Edwards – Asking For Flowers
Rudresh Mahanthappa - Kinsmen
Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend
Esau Mwamwaya and Radioclit - Esau Mwamwaya and Radioclit Are the Very Best
Kasai All Stars – In The 7th Moon, The Chief Turned Into A Swimming Fish and Ate the Head of His Enemy By Magic

Singles

Blitzen Trapper - “Furr”
MGMT - “Time To Pretend” (more…)

In Part II of our special Year in Music New Music Report, Christian Hoard dissects Rolling Stone’s 100 Best Singles of 2008 list — led by Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies” — and reveals his personal picks for the category, which include tunes by the Knux and Ida Maria. Plus, a look at the Best & Worst Ideas in Rock, from selling your record at Wal-Mart and outsourcing your lead singer (a la Journey’s Arnel Pineda) to bragging about leaking Chinese Democracy and giving your kid a ludicrous name. And our holiday gift to you: a look back at one of our favorite RS videos of the year: MGMT’s hippie-dance lesson from backstage at Bonnaroo.

>>Watch every episode of our weekly New Music Report video podcast by subscribing via iTunes (when prompted, click “Launch application”). Every Tuesday, a new episode will be delivered to your iTunes. [If you don’t have iTunes, download it here.

According to the Chinese calendar, 2008 was the year of the rat. But if you ask us, ‘08 belongs to a different animal: The Collabo. And no artists cross-pollinated more than Fall Out Boy’s Patrick Stump (he got down with Questlove!), Elvis Costello (he went emo!) and T-Pain (he was permanently attached to a vocoder!) Here’s your guide to this year’s most collabo-happy stars:

Photo:Coppola/Wireimage

Patrick Stump
Collaborations: Gym Class Heroes; Tyga; Pete Wentz protégées the Cab. And Stump’s stamp was all over hip-hop — he teamed up with Ne-Yo (”Finish Your Food”), the Roots (”Birthday Girl”) and T.I. (”Out in the Cold”) — but none of the tracks made the final versions of their respective albums.
Signature Sound: Emo meets blue-eyed soul
Hottest Track: “One of Those Nights.” On this strutting Cab cut, Stump plays a man begging a girl for a second chance (”I’m a mess… just give me time”). His wince is so desperate that it might just do the trick.
This Is Why He’s Hot: He’s a slave-driver. “For as little as he is, dude’s pretty fucking militant,” says GCH frontman Travis McCoy. “He’ll be like, ‘Travis, hit this note!’ and I’ll be like, ‘Just tune that shit!’ and he’ll say, ‘Just fuckin’ be a man and hit that shit!’ I got four feet on the dude, and he’s putting me in check.” (more…)