2005 : The Year in Rock!

Each year in the diverse genre of modern rock music, we acknowledge a combination of accomplished artists and the avant-garde. This past year was no exclusion as proverbial bands dominated the airwaves while obscure bands endeavored for a breakthrough. Bands of familiarity such as Green Day, Foo Fighters, 311, Weezer, and Nine Inch Nails released several hits each as we witnessed solid hits by newer bands such as Crossfade, My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy, 10 Years, and Dark New Day.

As Billboard magazine releases their year-end charts, we as listeners often have our own sentiments of what songs were appealing and which songs weren’t. In this review, I have compiled a list of awards for the 2005 year in modern rock.

MODERN ROCK SONG OF THE YEAR-Scars (Papa Roach)
Papa Roach broke on to the rock scene back in 2000 as an explosive hard rock band. While obviously having issues, the group would vent through their music. With the release of ‘Scars’, the lead singer Jacoby Shaddix showed vulnerability as the rocker poured out his heart. The emotion mixed with the rockin’ instrumentals puts the song in an elite class.

Honorable Mention: Boulevard Of Broken Dreams (Green Day), Feel Good Inc. (Gorillaz), The Clincher (Chevelle), The Hand That Feeds (Nine Inch Nails), B.Y.O.B. (System Of A Down), Doesn’t Remind Me (Audioslave), Photograph (Nickelback)

MODERN ROCK GROUP OF THE YEAR – Green Day
Their latest album ‘American Idiot’, which was released in September of 2004, produced three number one songs. The title track ‘American Idiot’ along with ‘Boulevard of Broken Dreams’ and ‘Holiday’ all topped the Modern Rock charts at some point since the album was released. The fourth release ‘Wake Me Up When September Ends’ peaked in the top five. No other artist’s success was as evident as the success of Green Day in 2005.

Honorable Mention: Nine Inch Nails, System Of A Down, Weezer, Seether, Mudvayne, Foo Fighters, Slipknot

MODERN ROCK BREAKTHROUGH BAND OF THE YEAR –Crossfade
The group Crossfade, from Columbia, South Carolina, broke through in 2005 as they released three hit singles from their album ‘Crossfade’. Their first release ‘Cold’ first hit the local airwaves around early fall of 2004, but once the song caught on nationally, it’s longevity on the modern rock charts lingered on well into 2005. ‘So Far Away’ and ‘Colors’ became their next two releases and were habitually rotated on modern rock radio.

Honorable Mention: Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance, The Killers, 10 Years, Dark New Day, Theory Of A Deadman, Avenged Sevenfold

MODERN ROCK BREAKTHROUGH SONG OF THE YEAR – Wasteland (10 Years)
‘Wasteland’ is the groups first release off their album ‘The Autumn Effect’. This song is definitive of modern rock as it strays from the beguiling punk rock sound as well as the choppy heavy metal sound. The song is a good medium between the two styles of rock.

Honorable Mention: No Surprise (Theory Of A Deadman), Sugar, We’re Goin’ Down (Fall Out Boy), Brother (Dark New Day), I’m Not Okay (My Chemical Romance), Bat County (Avenged Sevenfold), When I’m Gone (No Address)

MODERN ROCK DISAPPOINTMENT OF THE YEAR- Audioslave
It’s not like Audioslave had a dismal year by any means, but the quality of their album ‘Out Of Exile’ didn’t quite meet up to the expectations as their debut album. When Audioslave released their first album in 2003, the brilliancy of songs such as ‘Cochise’, ‘Like A Stone’, ‘Show Me How To Live’, ‘I Am The Highway’, and ‘What You Are’ reigned the modern rock airwaves as no other band in a long while has been able to release a string of hits such as that. While Audioslave’s latest releases ‘Be Yourself’, ‘Your Time Has Come’, ‘Doesn’t Remind Me’, and ‘Out of Exile’ are brilliant recordings, they are inferior to the list of songs released off of their first album.

Honorable Mention: 3 Doors Down, The White Stripes, Garbage, The Offspring, Alter Bridge