Features The Year in Music News: October - December 2011

We left our news summary with Morrissey in the sorriest of states: Healing the wounds from a dog bite and scrambling to put together the last remnants of his shattered reputation, having compared the shooting of young men to the setting up of a chicken factory. Things turned a page for the former Smiths front-man however when he was declared within his rights to sue the NME. It all stemmed from his belief that he was portrayed as a fascist. This is one story that could develop in 2012, although our spider sense guesses that it could be something of a non-story.

Another debacle capable of rearing its ugly head next year is the debate over Spotify. In 2011’s last quarter, the argument over the platform’s credibility began to brew once more, largely because Century Media and Projekt Records shipped their artists out of the streaming service and musician Jon Hopkins made his views particularly public with a far from cryptic tweet. The service remains on steady feet however, and its recent integration into (somewhat annoying) Facebook timeline shows it becoming a bigger deal than ever before. 

October was dominated - or more accurately, kidnapped and put under strict instructions - by news of The Stone Roses’ reformation. Before it was even confirmed, DIY’s very own Derek Robertson was foaming at the mouth at the prospect, and his wishes soon came true. The music press soon went into a frenzy, contemplating what the Manchester lads would go on to play at their Heaton Park show. Presumably, we’ll be seeing their faces more than a few times over, frequenting festival upon festival as well as the already penned-in comeback dates.

So most of us were in a state of jovial happiness at the news of one of Britain’s most prided bands joining hands for one more time. 

A select few specimens however were in a quite different situation; a trance-like state; grappling at the wallpaper in their rooms; cowering in the corner; shaking like a leaf. They had just witnessed something surreal. Beyond reason. Justin Bieber opened his mouth and instead of some garbage nonsense about how much he loves his fans, celibacy and his Mom, out came a full, audible rap. Those who have seen footage have still yet to recover, and much theory of the 2012 apocalypse is beginning to become linked to the possibility of Bieber taking up a career as an avant garde prog rock session guitarist.

Like other periods of 2011, our late Summer/early Autumn was not without its tragedies. The Metallica & Lou Reed collaboration album was one such monstrosity. An album so steeped in vanity and pointlessness that many were left bereft of words upon first listen. Fortunately DIY’s Edward Clibbens braved the typewriter to express his early, slightly aghast thoughts. A really rather grim performance on Jools Holland was the nail in the coffin for ‘Lulu’. Speaking of Jools, our final quarter of 2011 will also be remembered for the emergence of Lana Del Rey as something of a “real deal”, rather than the average music snob’s pin doll that she looked set to become. It all began with a nervous rendition of ‘Video Games’ on Joolsy Woolsy. Soon afterwards, she was in the top 10 of the charts (thus ineligible to be included in the BBC’s Sound of 2012 poll) and not many would bet against her debut album hitting the top spot come next February.

What have we forgotten? Well, one of Del Rey’s biggest influences, David Lynch, released an album of his own. Everyone got slightly excited and asked him if it was going to be the audible equivalent of Mulholland Drive. It wasn’t. As well as this, smart cookies with an eye for profit purchased the Burial/Massive Attack split 7”, quickly seeing a £25 purchase gaining a worth of around £300. It was a pretty impressive work, too. The Weeknd also released his third mixtape (and details of his ‘Trilogy’), equipped with a cover of Michael Jackson’s ‘Dirty Diana’. Meanwhile, London went a few months riot-free, everybody compiled their end of year coverage, celebrated Christmas and went to bed. Apart from Star Slinger, that is. He just carried on doing remixes.