Some songs and artists were irresistible; others were plain
inescapable. USA TODAY's music critics round up 2012's highs and lows.
Most conspicuous tragedy: Whitney Houston
The
music world lost a wide range of favorites in 2012 (Etta James, Donna
Summer and Adam Yauch, to name a few), but no death was more shocking -
or seemed more sadly inevitable - than that of Houston, the golden
girl of pop-soul. At 48, Houston had struggled for years with substance
abuse, leaving her voice - one of the most glorious instruments to grace
a top 40 single - too ravaged to make her final album, 2009's I Look to You,
the comeback that fans had hoped for. Still, we'll always love her for
the heavenly sounds and buoyant spirit she brought to pop in her heyday.
- Elysa Gardner
Most overexposed artists: Justin Bieber, Maroon 5, Rihanna
The
Biebs, RiRi and Adam Levine's band all released popular albums and hit
singles this past year. But their seemingly relentless presence owed at
least as much to a celebrity culture in which personal foibles grab more
attention than artistic triumphs. OK, so Levine's ticket to enhanced
fame - a gig as coach on yet another TV talent show - was more cheesy
than tawdry. And Bieber can't really be blamed for our enduring
fascination with everything from his romantic life to his, um, onstage
nausea. But Rihanna encouraged speculation about her relationship with
former boyfriend/abuser Chris Brown by (among other things) inviting him
on her album - for a giddy duet called Nobody's Business. - Elysa Gardner
Viral sensation: Call Me Maybe, Gangnam Style, Walk Off the Earth cover
If
pop music were a disease, the CDC would have been overwhelmed in 2012.
And the breakouts came from across the globe. This month, South Korean
rapper Psy's pandemic Gangnam Style became the first YouTube
video to reach 1 billion views. In Canada, the five members of Walk Off
the Earth gathered around one guitar to sing Belgian-Australian Gotye's
Somebody That I Used to Know and wound up with 140 million
YouTube views, plus a deal with Columbia Records. And thanks to Justin
Bieber's tweets about Carly Rae Jepsen's Call Me Maybe, the Canadian singer now has 4 million Twitter followers who would be more than happy to give her a ring. - Brian Mansfield
Song of the year: Somebody That I Used to Know
In
a year that proved the mainstream mega-hit wasn't dead, no song had
more life than Belgian-Australian musician Gotye's persistent earworm.
The singer/songwriter recorded the track in his parents' home in 2011.
By the time it hit the USA in 2012, it was already a worldwide hit. Then
it just got bigger: Somebody That I Used to Know is on track to
be the year's top-selling and most-played single. It also spawned
countless cover videos (most famously by Walk Off the Earth) and got
reworked on Glee and American Idol, while Kelly Clarkson
and fellow breakout fun. performed it live. Its popularity appears
endless, showing that, as in real life, while the greatest relationships
may be only temporary, a good breakup can go on forever. - Brian
Mansfield
Double divas: Adele and Taylor Swift
Established chart steamrollers Adele and Taylor Swift clobbered the
competition in this year's album-sales race, in turtle and hare fashion.
Adele's 21, at No. 21 after 95 weeks, steadily built to total
sales of 10.1 million copies, leading last year's pack and returning as
this year's best-selling album, a feat unmatched since Michael
Jackson's Thriller topped sales in 1983 and 1984. Reinvigorated
by a sweep of six Grammy Awards in February, the British singer's
sophomore disc sold roughly 4.3 million this year. Ranking second is
country superstar Swift's Red, currently atop Billboard. After selling 2.6 million copies in eight weeks, it's the best-selling album released in 2012. - Edna Gundersen
Overrated albums: Some Nights, fun.; Babel, Mumford & Sons; A Different Kind of Truth, Van Halen
Mumford's
rootsy folk warranted excitement in 2009, but not the breathless praise
and sales frenzy that greeted this year's earnest but average Babel. Nothing else on fun.'s sophomore power pop album matched the uplifting shimmer of hit Some Nights.
Yet the Grammy Awards over-rewarded both groups with six nominations
each. At least voters got it right in the case of Van Halen, which has
zero nods for A Different Kind of Truth, the band's first album
in 14 years. Delivered amid deafening hype, the reheated meat-and-potato
riffs of Van Halen's past had critics swooning and fans panting, but
vanished from the charts after the band's tour was scrapped. - Edna
Gundersen
Best debuts: Alabama Shakes, The Lumineers, Kendrick Lamar
OK, One Direction had the year's biggest debut with Up All Night.
Even if British boy bands aren't your scene, though, 2012 offered
plenty of exciting new acts, including Frank Ocean, our
album-of-the-year recipient. We also like the down-home retro-soul of
Alabama Shakes, whose live shows are even more revelatory than the
band's album, Boys & Girls. Then there's The Lumineers, a
Denver folk-rock trio that released a self-titled album on an
independent label and wound up with one of the year's biggest crossover
hits. In hip-hop, Kendrick Lamar graduated from the mixtape scene to
release his major-label debut, good kid, m.A.A.d city and become the new King of the West Coast. - Brian Mansfield
Our critics' top 10 albums for 2012
Jerry Shriver:
1. Wrecking Ball, Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band
2. Handwritten, The Gaslight Anthem
3. Rebirth, Jimmy Cliff
4. Faithful Man, Lee Fields
5. Show of Strength, Michael Burks
6. Women and Work, Lucero
7. Gloryland, Kevin Gordon
8. Celebration Day, Led Zeppelin
9. Boys & Girls, Alabama Shakes
10.Carnivale Electricos, Galactic
Steve Jones:
1. Channel Orange, Frank Ocean
2. good kid, m.A.A.d. city, Kendrick Lamar
3. Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album, Pt. 1, Lupe Fiasco
4. Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors, Big Boi
5. Black Radio, Robert Glasper Experiment
6. Kaleidoscope Dream, Miguel
7. Life Is Good, Nas
8. Greater Than One,Dwele
9. Most of My Heroes Still Don't Appear on No Stamp/The Evil Empire of Everything, Public Enemy
10. Write Me Back, R. Kelly
Elysa Gardner:
1. Pour Une Ame Souveraine: A Dedication to Nina Simone, Meshell Ndegeocello
2.Home Again, Michael Kiwanuka
3.Glad Rag Doll, Diana Krall
4.Is Your Love Big Enough?Lianne La Havas
5.Forbidden Broadway Alive and Kicking!various artists
6. Channel Orange, Frank Ocean
7. Over the Moon: The Broadway Lullaby Project,various artists
8. Out of the Game, Rufus Wainwright
9. The Origin of Love, Mika
10. Dear Diz (Every Day I Think of You), Arturo Sandoval
Edna Gundersen:
1. Channel Orange, Frank Ocean
2. Tempest, Bob Dylan
3. good kid, m.A.A.d city, Kendrick Lamar
4. Shields, Grizzly Bear
5. Visions, Grimes
6. Boys & Girls, Alabama Shakes
7. Old Ideas, Leonard Cohen
8. Kaleidoscope Dream, Miguel
9.Celebration Rock, Japandroids
10. Django Django,Django Django
Brian Mansfield:
1. Red, Taylor Swift
2. Wrecking Ball, Bruce Springsteen
3. Uncaged, Zac Brown Band
4. Tornado, Little Big Town
5. Blue Mountain, Brandon Heath
6. How About I Be Me (And You Be You)? Sinead O'Connor
7. Hard 2 Love,Lee Brice
8. Sun Midnight Sun, Sarah Watkins
9. Little Broken Hearts, Norah Jones
10. Light for the Lost Boy, Andrew Peterson
USA Today