Events that shaped 2009

14 December 2009

by Lars Brandle

The decade that was the noughties closed out with a bang. A middle-aged Scot who’d “never been kissed” broke album sales records around the globe, a pop singer from Philadelphia blew away box-office records across Australia, and the King of Pop left this world forever. Headlines were dominated by the inauguration of Barack Obama, America’s “first rock ‘n’ roll” president”. But the true world of rock ‘n’ roll garnered incalculable column inches in 2009.

This Was It

Throughout his life, Michael Jackson had lived in the spotlight. ‘Til his death, Jackson was a man for the big occasion. And so it was, when the “King Of Pop” succumbed to heart failure, the tragedy set off a chain of events which has been described as the biggest mess in the history of the live music business.

Jackson died on June 25th, just a fortnight before what should have been a glorious comeback. London’s O2 Arena was booked out with Jackson’s This Is It residency, which was to span three months and 50 sold-out dates. The concerts never happened. Jackson’s death sparked an outpouring of grief. Fans paid homage with their wallets, sending the pop superstar’s catalogue back to the top of international sales charts for weeks to come.

For Jackson’s millions of fans, there remained a glimmer of good fortune. Footage from Jackson’s rehearsals was captured on film and found its way to the Silver Screen in the form of a feature-length documentary. This Is It was a blockbuster, earning US$200 million ($218 million) after two weeks in the cinemas. The official soundtrack opened at No. 1 on The Billboard 200. And Jackson posthumously won four American Music Awards in November.

Jackson was gone, but definitely not forgotten. Jackson isn’t the only music figure who will be missed. Guitar virtuoso Les Paul passed away at 94 and Dean Turner, bass player with Australia’s Magic Dirt, lost his battle with cancer at the age of just 37. Former Boyzone singer Stephen Gately lost his life at just 33. Artist manager Gary Rabin, who guided the careers of the Ross Wilson and the Angels, passed away in New York from heart failure at the age of 57. And David Snell, the former managing director of EMI Music Australia and chairman of EMI Australasia, passed away at the age of 72.

She Dreamed A Dream

Fairytale stories don’t come any bigger than the tale of Susan Boyle. The doughty 47 year old Scottish spinster made what should have been an innocuous April performance on UK TV series, Britain’s Got Talent. It turned out Boyle had talent. And the rest is history. She blew away everyone in the room and by year’s end, clips of her performance had been viewed on YouTube more than 100 million times.

Boyle was even name-checked in the Simpsons. Her ascent to becoming a household name took mere weeks. Remarkably, Boyle didn’t win the TV series. Viewers voted for dance troupe Diversity. But Boyle had the last laugh.

Her debut album, I Dreamed A Dream, was an international smash. In America, the album vaulted into the No. 1 position on The Billboard 200 selling more than 700,000 copies in its first week. It was the best sales week for an album Stateside in the year, and the second biggest debut in history (behind Snoop Dogg’s 803,000 for Doggystyle back in 1993). Britons quickly snapped up 410,000 copies, the biggest first-week sales of any album in British chart history. Australians followed suit, as the album debuted atop the ARIA albums chart.

Boyle’s album turned out to be the Christmas stocking-filler for the year 2009.

New Arrivals

Susan Boyle wasn’t the only newcomer on the scene. In the US, Taylor Swift made a smash and grab, selling albums by the million and grabbing five American Music Awards. And the world went a little gaga for Stefani Germanotta, better known as Lada Gaga.

On the other side of the pond, Britain sent off another fleet of female artists, Little Boots, Florence and the Machine, La Roux and Pixie Lott among them. While the international music scene welcomed a new wave of arrivals in 2009, and a raft of Aussies made ripples both at home and abroad.

Empire of the Sun glowed at the ARIA Awards, winning four gongs including best band and best album for Walking On A Dream, a top 10 hit in the UK. The Temper Trap also enjoyed a top 10 hit in Britain, their summer anthem Sweet Disposition rising to No. 6 on the Official UK Albums Chart. The sublime talents of Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu resonated in Europe, where the blind Northern Territory artist enjoyed a stellar breakthrough with world music audiences. The album Gurrumul cracked the top 10 in Germany, and charted in a number of markets including the UK.

Other Aussies who waved the flag in 2009 included The Veronicas, who enjoyed a hit on both sides of the Atlantic and sold more than 1 million copies of Untouched in the US. Meanwhile, Daniel Merriweather capped a great year with the ARIA Award for best male artist. The Melbourne-born soul man enjoyed a No. 2 debut with his Mark Ronson-produced debut release Love & War, to go with a hat-trick of 10 UK hit singles.

Adelaide-born Orianthi, the blonde guitar-shredder selected to perform on Michael Jackson’s ill-fated This Is It residency, landed on The Billboard 200 with her debut Believe.

Live Baby Live

In hard times, people still need to be entertained. That was certainly the case in 2009. Against the backdrop of the global financial crisis, the likes of Coldplay, Green Day, Black Eyed Peas, Nickelback, Beyonce, Britney Spears and Andre Rieu visited these shores for extensive arena tours. The year, however, was owned by Pink.

The tomboy pop star’s titanic 58-date national arena tour shifted more than 658,000 ticket sales, and generated more than $80 million at the box office. Promoted by Michael Coppel Presents, the Funhouse tour was a phenomenal achievement, perhaps bettered only by the legendary Dire Straits trek of 1986. Dutch-born, Melbourne-based promoter Garry Van Egmond commandeered that landmark mid-‘80s Dire Straits run, and he’s back at the helm for AC/DC’s homecoming Black Ice stadium tour in early 2010. Ticket sales are well in excess of 600,000.

The live scene had its casualties in 2009. None fell from a greater height than Kevin Jacobsen. The veteran promoter and leaseholder of the Sydney Entertainment Centre blamed "the volatility of the entertainment market” when his venues operator Arena Management was placed in receivership in July. Forensic accountants revealed Arena Management’s debts had swelled to $10 million. The future of the SEC was secured when Darling Harbour Convention and Exhibition stepped in to manage the site.

On the other side of the globe, a pair of superstar act were putting the icing on their own, impressive outings. U2’s 360-degree tour clawed its way in through the big markets, and Madonna’s Sticky and Sweet tour wrapped after 85 dates, which pulled in a whopping US$408 million ($446 million).

Comebacks were a familiar sight in 2009. Simon and Garfunkel put aside their well-reported animosities and treaded the boards for one last time. Audiences in Australia and New Zealand were among the first to catch the duo’s return to action. John Farnham went back on a promise and made a return to the live scene in 2009.

There were also comebacks for Aussie rock legends Cold Chisel, UK ska band the Specials and Brit pop heroes Blur. No doubt Damian Albarn and his fellow Blur bandmates would have raised a smile on the news that their nemesis’ Oasis had called it quits.

Keeping the pirates at bay

In 2009, the music industry staged some major advances in its war against piracy. The highest profile rogue, The Pirate Bay, met its match in Stockholm’s District Court; the Swedish bit torrent tracker’s founders were hit with millions in fines and jail sentences. But it was the beginnings of the “graduated response” or “three strikes” legislation, which promised real change.

France led the way with the implementation of a new system, which, ultimately, would force ISPs to shut out serial file-sharers. Across the Channel, the British government’s controversial Digital Economy bill ensured the world’s third-biggest music market had supporters in high places.

Australia’s record business kept a close eye on the Federal Court trial of iiNet, the Perth-based ISP accused by movie studios of permitting piracy on its networks. Any Australian government decision on a “three strikes” system won’t be made until a ruling is made in the iiNet case, expected some time in mid-2010. While the lawyers battle it out with the bad guys, the legitimate music market made strides in 2009.

The name on every executive’s lips was Spotify, an upstart that twins ad-funded free streaming for its registered users with a paid-premium service. By December, Spotify’s library had more than six million tracks, and as many users across its six markets. The latter figure should explode when it arrives in the US in the coming months and, later, Australia. Spotify will undoubtedly be a welcome newcomer to Australia’s nascent digital music market which, according to ARIA’s first-half figures, pushed the country’s record industry into the rarest of scenarios -- growth.