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| 2006 Year in Review |
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| Feature Articles - General Feature | |
| Written by Elizabeth Rabbit | |
| Thursday, 04 January 2007 | |
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It’s amazing how little one remembers about events contained within one year when faced with writing a review of them. Under duress I managed to come up with some important events in music, film, sports, science, world news and technology to what is the most random and incomplete review of 2006 you will have the misfortune to read.
Arctic Monkeys are the big winners at the annual NME Awards, taking home best new band, best track and best British band. Pete Doherty is named sexiest man, Ian Brown, God like genius and the legendary Jarvis Cocker collects Best Film award for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. The end of the month sees the release of the Arctic Monkeys eagerly anticipated album, which becomes the fastest selling debut of all time, making them the biggest thing to come out of Sheffield since steel. Fourteen people are killed, with many more feared dead, after a landslide destroys a village in Java after flash floods in the region. It is the second such incident in the region within a week. February The 48th Grammy awards takes place in Los Angeles, with U2 winning all five awards they were nominated for. Meanwhile, the Winter Olympics takes place in Turin, Italy and the one billionth song is purchased from the Apple iTunes Store. Astronomers measure the size of newly discovered dwarf planet Eris as larger than Pluto with 84% probability. March The 78th annual Oscars takes place in Hollywood, with Reese Witherspoon taking best actress for her role in the outstanding Johnny Cash biopic, Walk the Line. Philip Seymour Hoffman is awarded best actor for his role as the eccentric Truman Capote, and Crash is named best picture. A video obtained by the Associated Press shows U.S. President George W. Bush being warned that the levees in New Orleans could break one day before Hurricane Katrina hit. April Mass demonstrations take place in New York and other major cities, marking the third year of war in Iraq. Prince Albert II of Monaco walks to the North Pole, becoming the first reigning monarch to do so. 2006 labor protests in France: Three million people march against the First Employment Contract (CPE) law, 700 000 in Paris. Student organizations call for a general strike. May Monster-masked Finnish band, Lordi win the Eurovision Song Contest, after being awarded the most points ever given in the contests 51 year history. British Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labour Party suffers one of its worst electoral defeats, losing more than 200 councillors in the 2006 UK local elections, and coming in third place in vote totals, behind both the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats. The FIFA World Cup kicks off in Germany. The cancellation of this years’ Glastonbury Festival leaves significant hole in the month’s musical calendar. Superman Returns to cinemas after almost 20 years, this time starring Brandon Routh and Kate Bosworth. The Eureka Tower, the tallest residential tower in the world, exterior is completed at a height of 297.2m and 91 floors in Melbourne, Australia. It takes the title from Q1 on the Gold Coast, Australia July Italy triumph in the emotionally-charged final of the World Cup, beating fellow finalists France 5-3 on penalties. In the States, Independence Day is celebrated as the space shuttle Discovery is launched to the International Space Station, returning safely on July 17th. The month ends on a sad note as the world’s longest running music show, Top of the Pops, broadcasts on BBC Two for the last time, after 42 influential years. A bomb scare in the arrivals area of Dublin Airport results in a complete closure of the main building. The man who is responsible for the scare has been arrested; he claims to be a member of al-Qaeda. Approximately 9,000 passengers and 50 flights were affected during the two-hour disruption. August The International Astronomical Union defines ‘planet’ at its 26th General Assembly, demoting Pluto to the status of ‘dwarf planet’ more than 70 years after its discovery. Meanwhile, back on Earth, the Reading and Leeds festivals go off without a hitch, featuring sets from Franz Ferdinand, Muse and The Strokes. El Paso, Texas is hit by heavy, intense rain, causing much flooding and making the Rio Grande overflow its banks, reaching levels not seen in over 50 years. Roads are destroyed, dirt and rocks litter the streets. The West and Northeast sides are most heavily hit. September Apple outdoes themselves once again with the release of the 5th Generation video ipod, enabling you to have as many as 20,000 songs in your pocket. The second series of Ricky Gervais’ post-Office comedy Extras begins, featuring guest appearances from David Bowie, Robert De Niro and Daniel Radcliffe. Hezbollah sets up armed militias comprised of more than 2,000 children of shahids aged 10-15, training them to sacrifice their lives, an Egyptian weekly reports. October Legendary New York rock club CBGB’s closes its doors after 33 years. The influential venue launched the careers of many great bands, including The Ramones, Blondie and Patti Smith. The club has since reopened in Las Vegas. In London, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s highly anticipated adaptation of The Sound of Music finally opens in the West End. Google buys self-publishing website YouTube for $1.65 billion US dollars. New laws against age discrimination in the workplace - officially titled the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 - come into force in the United Kingdom. November The NME Cool List 2006 is released. Beth Ditto of The Gossip is number one, replacing last year’s winner Alex Turner of the Arctic Monkeys, now at 32. 2004 winner Pete Doherty is placed 28 and Stones icon Keith Richards lands at 26. Sony Playstation 3 and Nintendo Wii are released - just in time for Christmas. The Swedish Ro-Ro ship M/S Finnbirch sinks in a blizzard in the Baltic Sea, killing two of its fourteen crew members. The vessel had some 260 tons of fuel and lubrication oil onboard which might present a hazard to the environment December The final month has so far been the quietest. Millions of people worldwide have already opened eight doors on their advent calendar. As Bahrain prepares for tomorrow's second round of its parliamentary elections, a Member of Parliament from the Kingdom's largest party calls for legislation to restrict women's employment. NASA announces plans to build a base on either the north pole or south pole of the Moon. Southwestern Taiwan is shaken by a 7.2 earthquake at 20:28 (GMT+8). A second aftershock, estimated at 7.1 and centered in Pingtung County, is felt 5 minutes later. In Summary Glancing through the second draft of my timeline, it began to suggest that the past 12 months were not only crammed with music to rival the nineties, but also saw passion-fueled sporting achievements, advancements in our favorite companion technology, men boldly going where no man has gone before and a band resembling Slipknot winning Eurovision. Some of the more brave individuals among us endeavored to further our knowledge of the planets and life forms resident in the solar system above us, while their neatly suited superiors got together to define the term ‘planet’ over a nice cup of tea. The Prince of Monaco, not content with being part of one of the oldest and most glamorous royal dynasties in existence, set off to the North Pole. In reaching his destination, the adventurous Prince Albert became the first ever reigning monarch to do so. In June the world stood still as the World Cup descended upon a grateful Germany. Legendary footballing countries Brazil, France, England and Italy joined enthusiastic newcomers and old rivals in a quest for eternal football glory. Thousands of fans flocked to host cities, and those lucky enough to buy tickets were treated to bizarre African celebratory dancing, unprovoked acts of violence and the sight of Gucci clad footballers wives’ sipping champagne in the expensive seats. Unfortunately, England’s 40 year dream died at the sight of Wayne Rooney’s red card and they returned home early, leaving Italy to take the title. In September, Apple released the fifth generation video iPod. The prospect of having 20,000 songs in one pocket was so tantalizing, even I parted with my hard earned money. Luckily, the volume of outstanding music released in 2006 was such that my new iPod didn’t stay empty for long. The Strokes and Razorlight both returned with critically acclaimed albums, as did legendary Scots Belle and Sebastian. Kasabian’s return was indeed ‘Empire’. Idlewild frontman Roddy Woomble and Strokes guitarist Albert Hammond Jr both released solo debuts. Snow Patrol also released the eagerly anticipated follow up, the phenomenal Final Straw, which then turned out to be just as rubbish as their first two albums and subsequently the biggest selling album of the year. The Arctic Monkeys had the most successful year, beginning with numerous NME Awards, the fastest selling debut of all time and ending with the prestigious Mercury Music Prize and several Brit nominations. Noise Floor, a compilation of rarities and previously unreleased tracks from Bright Eyes became my record of the year. The glue holding the music of 2006 together was undoubtedly MySpace. Virtually unheard of before this year, the social networking website is now used by almost everyone; even your favorite bands and actors have their own MySpace profiles. More importantly, MySpace has revolutionized the way we discover new music. Many of the year's breakthrough acts, including Lily Allen, used the website as a place to showcase their music for free and collect and organize the most thriving of fan bases. Even established bands have been known to post the occasional free download on their profiles. It would be impossible to include everything in one article. In short, 2006 was the year the world got smaller as everyone signed up to MySpace and for six sunny weeks it looked like football could bring about world peace. The iPod revolution continued to gain momentum and the Arctic Monkeys took hold of Britain like a seventeenth century outbreak of cholera. Some would say 2007 has a lot to live up to!           |
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