2020 a year in music and otherwise.
Viktor
Was 2020 a bad year?
My immediate answer as well as consensus seems to be it was but since it’s appropriate to reflect on things in this kind of text I’ll indulge a bit.
I ended my Year in Review text last year with “This is my number one wish for the coming year, that I (and all of you) will be able to attend more concerts than ever before.” Of course if that was my number one wish for the year, well then surely the answer is; yes 2020 sucked, reflection done.
The statement that 2020 was a bad year implies that there is such a thing as a good or a bad year. A year with a global scale catastrophe with millions upon millions of dead world wide surely must be much worse than a year without one and the same consensus that dismisses 2020 as bad seems to be overwhelmingly in favour of it ending so that we can go on with our lives and start a new year that surely will be much better. Indeed this analysis isn’t my own but something a former student of mine brought up the other day but it seems accurate enough to me and well worth taking a moment with.
2021 has a golden starting position. Following a shitty year like 2020 it should be easy enough for 2021 to coast on by to, easily and with very little effort, become a great year. The bar is very low you know. Now, let’s brainstorm some things 2021 could do to get ahead…
Well that’s the thing isn’t it, 2021 can’t really do shit now can it? Much like the year 2020 in of itself didn’t bring the virus, burn down any Australian bush or choke George Floyd to death. However, huge numbers of people spent a fair deal of effort and time during 2020 trying to respond as best they could to all of the above tragedies. Firefighters and volunteers were fighting the bushfires in Australia as well as elsewhere in the world. Millions of protestors took to the streets all over the world demonstrating against the injustices committed against Floyd and so many others. Ideas were put forth to instigate meaningful changes that would help combat the underlying problems that lead to these deaths. All of us, including all musicians and artists that had planned to tour, stayed at home to help combat the pandemic. Lots of people did a lot of good in 2020.
If 2021 is to be a better year than 2020, a truly better year, we have a lot to live up to. Calamities and catastrophes might or might not ravage us this coming year but we have to strive to do good, perhaps we could even do better than last year. In last year’s Year in Review article I implored everyone to support their local music scene, well that is even more necessary now after a year with many musicians’ most significant revenue stream cut off for almost the entirety of last year. Perhaps we will eventually be able to attend shows again as I wished for but until then there are many ways to support the artist that you appreciate in their time of need. Go to their website or social media and see how you could support them, perhaps they have merch or music available for sale or perhaps they have an online show coming up or maybe they have a Patreon account. If you like what they do, try to find a way to help them be able to keep doing that.
Let’s make 2021 a great year! Surely it is up to us, mostly. Oh, and here is my ultimate 2020 playlist, it is truly great, since in spite of it all, or perhaps just because of it all, the music output 2020 was amazing.
Roobin
If 2020 would be a person it would be a bitter old serial killer. A despicable person all and all, but – and here is the twist – with a fantastic taste in music!
2020 will not be forgotten for a long time. It has been a special year in many regards and music-wise it has delivered some really fantastic tunes. One hundred fantastic tunes to be exact. One hundred you might say and yes I know; who has the time and energy to listen to 6 hours of music? Well, don’t listen to it all at once, take it in little by little. Put it on in the background while doing other stuff. One change over previous years is that I deliberately added covers to the list. That all began with us choosing a cover as the best tune of the year in our Yule calendar. So, a lot of great covers are added to the list.
Listen and enjoy these fantastic tunes and let’s hope for a 2021 with lots of new fantastic music and hugs… lots of hugs. Let this year be the year of hugs and great music!
…and for our next task, we will find a tune that…
…makes me excited about an album announced to be released in 2021.
A brand new year comes with the promise of brand new releases of course. Some artists have been teasing or otherwise testing the waters with singles, EPs or just some tune for streaming to get the hype rolling. Well what has caught our eye and peaked our curiosity or just plain hooked us up with an addiction feverishly needing more.
Be sure to check back January the 17th to see how we resolve this our first challenge of the the year!
see you in little over two weeks!