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FRIDAY 17TH DECEMBER

It's the last Friday before we break up for Christmas, and that can only mean one thing. Well, it could mean several things, but in this case it means it's time to dust off CMU Yearly once again.

If this is your first time reading CMU Yearly, or your memory doesn't stretch back as far as twelve months, let me explain. It's basically the same as a normal edition of CMU Weekly, but it looks at the whole year. What do you mean you could have guessed that yourself?

So, yes, a whole year of news, quotes, links and beefs. And our Powers Of Ten playlist this week features our top ten artists of the year. I've just listened to it twice. It's a very good playlist. Even if I do say so myself. And I do.

But, hey, this whole thing is about the past, how about we talk about the future for a minute? Because in 2011 everything is going to change completely. Well, that statement is correct if you replace "everything" with "CMU Weekly" and "completely" with "a bit". That's right, we've got plans for this baby.

In January, we're launching a new CMU podcast, which will arrive with your CMU Weekly every Friday and feature half an hour of CMU Business Editor Chris Cooke and me talking about what's happened in the music world over the previous seven days. If the pilot editions are anything to go by, we will ruthlessly mock people, clumsily link stories together and I will swear far too much. Something to look forward to there.

The news stories published in the Weekly will also link back to the relevant report on theCMUwebsite.com, so you can get the full story, should you wish. And you'll still get me babbling at the top here, a Powers Of Ten playlist curated by an excellent music person, and your Beef Of The Week.

That'll all happen when CMU Weekly returns on 21 Jan. I'm excited. Are you excited? I am. It's exciting.

Now, finally, let me wish you all a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year. Enjoy your breaks. Unless you're a CMU Daily reader and plan to check your emails next week, in which case I will see you there on Monday (though you should still have a happy Christmas and New Year).

Andy Malt
Editor, CMU

		MICHAEL JACKSON EARNS BIG BUCKS It's now eighteen months since Michael Jackson's death, but he's been more active musically in 2010 than he had for more than a decade before his untimely demise. In June it was announced that the late king of pop had sold more than four million albums and singles in the UK alone since his death and in October Forbes put his global earnings at $275 million, making him the highest earning dead celebrity this year. A large part of this was thanks to a $200 million deal with Sony Music to release various music and video packages over the next seven years. The first release to come out of this was 'Michael', a posthumous album of previously unreleased material completed by a variety of producers and musicians. There has been much debate about whether the LP actually features Jackson's voice at all, and whether or not releasing what were unfinished tracks when MJ died is disrespectful to his memory. There seems to be more agreement on the fact the new album's a bit rubbish, though.

		6MUSIC SAVED In February, The Times claimed that the BBC was planning to shut down one of its digital radio stations, BBC 6music. Many scoffed initially, but it turned out to be true. In fact, the closure was part of a package of cuts, which would include the Asian Network station, teen services Switch and Blast and 25% of the Beeb's online operations, too. A huge campaign to save 6 was launched, with protests held outside Broadcasting House and 94 MPs signing an Early Day Motion tabled by Labour politician Tom Watson. Thousands contributed to a public consultation on the cuts, and the BBC Trust eventually decided to block the proposals to shut down the station. However, many of the other cuts proposed by the BBC strategy review, including of non-core online services, were approved and the Trust said it "would consider a formal proposal for the closure of the Asian Network".

		WYCLEF FAILS TO BECOME HAITIAN PRESIDENT In August, Wyclef Jean officially announced his intention to run in the then upcoming Haitian presidential election, after rumours had been circulating for several weeks. After registering to stand as a candidate for the Viv Ansanm party at an electoral office, Jean told cheering supporters: "I would like to tell President Barack Obama that the United States has Obama and Haiti has Wyclef Jean. This is the only president who will dance when Creole hip hop is being played". Unfortunately for him, it turned out he wasn't actually eligible to stand, as he hadn't lived in the country for five years. He responded by throwing wild accusations at politicians and critics alike, both in interviews and in song, and generally showing that Haiti had a lucky escape.

		ROBBIE WILLIAMS REJOINS TAKE THAT In July, pop's worst kept secret was finally made official; Robbie Williams had rejoined Take That and the band announced the release of a new album together. Williams said at the time: "I get embarrassingly excited when the five of us are in a room. It feels like coming home". Entitled 'Progress' and produced by Stuart Price, the album came out in November and has been number one in the album chart ever since. It is expected to stay top throughout the Christmas period, and will likely have sold over 1.5 million units by the end of the year. Elsewhere in TT news, things were less rosey. In March, Mark Owen surprised everyone by admitting to have had ten affairs, blaming it all on a long battle with alcoholism, while last month a super injunction stopping the press from reporting on the fact that an unnamed woman was attempting to sell a story about an affair with Howard Donald was lifted.

		MALCOLM MCLAREN DIES In April, Malcolm McLaren died in Switzerland aged 64. He had been diagnosed with cancer in October 2009. Born in 1946, McLaren first gained public notoriety as manager of The Sex Pistols. Other music people who passed away this year included: Jay Reatard (Jan), Kate McGarrigle (Jan), Mark Linkous aka Sparklehorse (Mar), BBC presenter Charlie Gillett (Mar), music photographer Jim Marshall (Mar), drummer and Four Tet collaborator Steve Reid (Apr), Type O Negative frontman Pete Steele (Apr), rapper Guru (Apr), Ronnie James Dio (May), Slipknot bassist Paul Gray (May), former Stereophonics drummer Stuart Cable (Jun), Ou Est Le swimming Pool frontman Charlie Haddon (Aug), Slits frontwoman Ari Up (Oct), and reggae musician Gregory Isaacs (Oct).

		GEORGE MICHAEL AGAIN DEEMED UNFIT TO DRIVE George Michael has quite a history of driving offences, often drug-related, and this year he was at it again. In July, he was arrested after crashing his Range Rover into a Snappy Snaps store in Hampstead having smoked a bit too much weed. In court it was revealed that when police informed him that he'd crashed, the singer replied: "No I didn't. I haven't crashed into anything". He was found guilty and sentenced to four weeks in the slammer and four more under strict supervision by the authorities. He was also fined £1250 and banned from driving for five years. Michael is now rumoured to have signed up to be one of the judges on the US version of 'X-Factor', which launches next year. At least that means he'll be able to expense all those taxis to Simon Cowell.

Want more? Want daily in-depth music news? Want all this for free? Well, ha, you're in luck. Click here to subscribe to the CMU Daily. Or here to access the CMU News site. back to top

CMU Artists Of The Year 2010
For the last two weeks in the CMU Daily, we've been revealing our top ten favourite artists of the year. These are all artists we felt had contributed something a bit special in 2010. Not just people who had delivered a great album (or even an album at all), but musicians who made a real mark on those twelve months just gone.

The resulting list takes us through rock, metal, pop, rap, reggae and more, with ten artists that we reckon are just that little bit extra special, whether that be because they deliver great music on record, or put that bit more into their live shows, or because they go above and beyond the call of duty in some other way. In many cases, it's all of the above.

Says CMU Editor Andy Malt: "I'm really pleased with how this list has turned out. 2010 has been a really good year for music, as I think the ten artists we've selected show - not to mention all the amazing acts who didn't make it into the top ten. There were a lot of them, and it was an agonising process getting it to this stage!"

Andy has written about exactly why each of these artists made our list and what they got up to in 2010 here (although our number one artist of the year won't be revealed to CMU Daily readers until Tuesday, so you're getting a little sneak preview here). And while you're at it, check out our favourite new acts of the year, too.

Now, here are the ten artists in the form of a Powers Of Ten playlist, plus some brief thoughts on each from Andy again.

CMU ARTISTS OF THE YEAR 2010
01	Tinie Tempah	Pass Out
	This year Tinie Tempah went from being relatively unknown to a major star in a matter of months, and this was the song that did it for him. 'Pass Out' quietly appeared on YouTube at the end of last year and slowly built up an impassioned following, sending it to number one in March.
02	Janelle Monáe	Cold War
	'Cold War' is the standout track from the smart, amazingly creative and insanely talented Janelle Monáe's fantastic debut album, 'The ArchAndroid'. The album continues the story of Cindi Mayweather, an android from the year 2719, which began on her 2007 debut EP.
03	Steve Mason	Boys Outside
	Since The Beta Band split in 2005, Steve Mason has struggled to get his solo career off the ground. The records were great, but he was blighted by depression. But with his first album released under his own name, of which this is the title track, he's overcome his demons and delivered the best record of his career.
04	Chilly Gonzales	Never Stop
	This year Chilly Gonzales has released a new album, a film, performed shows solo and with a full band, provided piano accompaniment to Peaches' solo performances of Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, 'Jesus Christ Superstar' and had this track featured on Apple's iPad adverts. He's been busy.
05	Warpaint	Undertow
	Warpaint, like many of the artists on this list, were responsible for one of my favourite gigs of the year when they played The Scala in London. So good was that, that at times I was actually rendered breathless. Their debut album, 'The Fool', from which this is taken, is no less beautiful.
06	The National	Bloodbuzz Ohio
	Released as a free download in March, and one of the album's standout tracks, this track perfectly exemplified the understated rock sound of the album, building a buzz for the record, aided later by support from BBC 6music. It spent several weeks on heavy rotation on the CMU stereo, too.
07	Roots Manuva Meets Wrongtom	Jah Warriors
	In creating his Roots Manuva remix album, 'Duppy Writer', Wrongtom tried to re-imagine each track as an 'original' version from an earlier decade. The result is more than just a collection of remixes, it's a proper album so good you could think the real originals were the remixes. This track, however, is brand new.
08	Deftones	Rocket Skates
	Deftones were preparing to release their sixth album, 'Eros', in 2008 when bassist Chi Cheng was seriously injured in a car crash, leaving him in a coma. Seven months later, the rest of the band shelved 'Eros' and started another album from scratch. The result sees them on top form, with this being the first single.
09	Marnie Stern	Transparency Is The New Mystery
	Marnie Stern plays lightning fast guitar, complemented by Hella drummer Zach Hill's brain-melting percussion, but somehow moulds all this technical mastery into quirky indie songs that bubble with charm. Her third eponymous album is her most personal and pushes that formula in new directions.
10	Sleigh Bells	Tell Em
	This duo make noisy pop songs, so loud that they sound like they're trying to punch their way out of your speakers. Guitarist Derek Miller's background is in hardcore, while singer Alexis Krauss was once in a pop group. It's a match that is somehow perfect. This is their album's opening track. And what an opening track.

January - Kanye West announces his return to the studio in characteristically understated style: "I'm so happy to be back in the studio making new music. It's funny how so many rappers get worse as their careers stretch out but true poets get better. We will follow in the footsteps of Maya Angelou, Gil Scott Herron and Nina Simone. Their work improved with time. They documented what was happening in culture"

June - Mick Jagger on the development of music industry: "When The Rolling Stones started out, we didn't make any money out of records because record companies wouldn't pay you! They didn't pay anyone! Then, there was a small period from 1970 to 1997, where people did get paid, and they got paid very handsomely and everyone made money. But now that period has gone"

July - Damon Albarn says he is to blame for criticism of Gorillaz's performance at Glastonbury: "We were yet to change the dynamic entirely from the cartoon band [with us] acting purely as a film orchestra into something that had more of a human element to it. Basically, the difference between that and the next gig we did at Roskilde was I just communicated with the audience more"

September - Despite the band being sort of online music posterboys, Radiohead bassist Colin Greenwood says that the old ways are still the best: "I'm unconvinced that the internet has replaced the club or the concert hall as a forum for people to share ideas and passions about music. I miss the editorialisation of music, the curatorial influences of people like John Peel or a good record label"

October - Mark E Smith on Mumford & Sons: "We were playing a festival in Dublin the other week. There was this other group warming up in the next sort of chalet, and they were terrible. I said, 'Shut them cunts up', and they were still warming up, so I threw a bottle at them. My band said, 'That's the Sons of Mumford or something, they're number five in the charts!' I just thought they were a load of retarded Irish folk singers"

December - Bob Geldof cancels Christmas: "Any day soon, I will go to the supermarket, head to the meat counter and ['Do They Know It's Christmas?'] will be playing. Every fucking Christmas. [Carol singers] think 'Do They Know It's Christmas?' is as old as 'Silent Night'. Sometimes I think that's wild because I wrote it. Or else I am thinking how much I want them to stop because they are doing it really badly"

		Fever Ray acceptance speech. Award acceptance speeches are so formulaic, aren't they? Thankfully, Fever Ray, aka Karin Dreijer Andersson, is here to change all that. Her acceptance speech at the P3 Guld awards in Sweden in January ranks up their with the all time greats. Arriving on stage to receive the award for Best Dance Act, her appearance was short but certainly memorable - youtu.be/ymCP6zC_qJU

		Chilly Gonzales' Pianist Envy mixtape. This free mixtape from Feist and Jamie Lidell collaborator Chilly Gonzales sees him apply his piano skills to a variety of hip hop and R&B tracks over 28 minutes. The man himself says: "You know those rap beats and electro songs - the ones with almost nothing in them? Well, I go all Liberace on these beats with my piano and my orchestra" - chillygonzales.com/mixtape/

		Shane Macgowan & Friends. It's one thing to be able to get a load of musicians into a studio to record a collaborative charity single, but it's quite another to come up with something good. And Lord alone knows how difficult it must be to do all that and be Shane MacGowan at the same time. But to raise money for the victims of the earthquake that hit Haiti in January, he rose to the challenge and came up with something quite brilliant - youtu.be/cf69vIQL_u8

		Lady Gaga's Telephone video. It's the video that made music videos being released an event again. Unfortunately, Lady Gaga's follow-up, 'Alejandro', put an end to it. But it was nice while it lasted. Here's the nine and a half minute video for 'Telephone', set in some kind of lesbian prison, and featuring some cigarette sunglasses, more advertising than is probably necessary, a bit of swearing and some murdering - youtu.be/GQ95z6ywcBY

		Waiting for Bieber. Justin Bieber is quite popular, you know. All the kids just love him and his Lego hair. There's something completely hypnotic about this website, Waiting For Bieber, which simply displays Justin Bieber fans on Twitter pleading with him to follow them. As we watch them slowly fade in and out, one question repeats itself over and over in our heads: Why? - waitingforbieber.com

		Justin Bieber remixed by Shamantis. We got a bit of a reputation for having something of a Bieber obsession this year, and including two JB related links here isn't going to help. But here is the squeaky popster's single 'U Smile' slowed down by 800%, while retaining the same pitch, by producer Shamantis, a process that turned it into a 35 minute ambient work with ethereal, Liz Fraser-esque vocals and snare hits that sound like waves crashing. Alas the full length version has disappeared off the net, but you get a good helping of it here - youtu.be/QspuCt1FM9M

Beefs Of The Year
Every Friday in 2010, we selected our favourite pop argument from the previous seven days and featured it here in the Beef Of The Week column. Some weeks, I'll admit, the population of Planet Pop hadn't been overly argumentative. But mostly, thanks to the volatile nature of your average pop star, people had been at each other's throats plenty, meaning we had to pick with petty squabble was best.

We've had Tommy Lee asking SeaWorld to stop wanking off their killer whales, Billy Corgan telling pavement they're ripping off fans by only playing the songs those fans want to hear them play, Calvin Harris choking on his breakfast upon hearing a new Chris Brown single, The New Pornographers having a gig cancelled because people thought they were actual pornographers, and dolphins shitting in Kelly Rowland's face. But here, for your enjoyment, are our top five favourite beefs of 2010.

1: 5 Nov - MC Hammer v Jay-Z
Beefs in hip hop are generally quite tedious, and mostly laid on for promotional purposes. This one, however, is brilliant. Incensed by, he later revealed, what he felt were a series of attacks on Christianity by Jay-Z, MC Hammer has penned a new track, and filmed an accompanying video, to give him a proper telling off. Jay-Z was bemused. [read]

2: 15 Jan - Dappy v a Radio 1 listener
As a celebrity, you will get some criticism. You're supposed to let it wash over you. You're not - I repeat, NOT - supposed to find out your critic's mobile phone number and start sending them threats. But that's what Dappy from N-Dubz did when someone insulted him during an appearance on Radio 1. He was later dropped, along with the rest of N-Dubz, as an ambassador for an anti-bullying campaign. [read]

3: 26 Nov - Axl Rose v Slash via Guitar Hero
Axl Rose had to appear in the top five somewhere, and there were plenty of opportunities for him to do so. This is brilliant, though. Last month, Rose launched a $20 million dollar lawsuit against Activision, maker of the 'Guitar Hero' video game series, for "emphasising and reinforcing an association between Slash and Guns N Roses and the band's song 'Welcome To The Jungle'". [read]

4: 30 Jul - Kings Of Leon v critical pigeons
If Dappy can't hack seeing text messages from strangers who don't like him, I hate to think how he'd cope with having pigeons shitting directly into his mouth during a live performance. That's criticism no one wants. In the case of Kings Of Leon back in July, they watched their two support acts get pelted with bird shit dropping from the rafters at a venue in Missouri, before struggling through two and a half songs and walking off. [read]

5: 26 Feb and 5 Mar - Courtney Love v Lily Allen
Like Axl Rose, Courtney Love is someone who had to appear somewhere in our top five, and this beef is so good it spread over two weeks. And, indeed, two awards ceremonies. It started with a quarrel over a dress at the BRIT Awards and carried over to the NME Awards the following week, before Lily and Courtney started hurling insults (and unflattering pictures) at each other on Twitter. [read: part 1 | part 2]

Andy Malt Editor	Chris Cooke Business Editor & Co-Publisher	Caro Moses Co-Publisher

Eddy Temple-Morris Columnist	Paul Vig Club Tipper	John Cage ...

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