The next big thing for another big music year

Listen Up!

By: Brian Washburn

Posted: 1/14/08

A brand new year has arrived. A brand new year of musical blow-ups, busts and breakdowns. A brand new musical year to surpass the wild one that saw bands like Paramore, Gym Class Heroes, Plain White T's and Chiodos rise in music sales; Radiohead released an album and allows its fans to determine the price; and a free Ozzfest. But, of course, 2007 wouldn't have been complete without the self-destruction of a once- praised pop princess. However, I am not here to talk about the lives of musicians - just simply the music.

This year will see the release of several CDs, from both breakthrough and already established artists, that will take radio and our iPods by storm.

Las Vegas pop rockers Panic At The Disco (who recently deleted the obnoxious ! from their band name) will release their sophomore album, "Pretty. Odd." March 25. Panic will attempt to avoid the lurking sophomore slump after a stellar debut that was sought out by millions and played enough over both the radio and MTV to make our ears bleed. Although they can be pretentious, over-the-top and a bit much at times to hear - and not to mention watch - Panic will most likely avoid their slump. I am going to go ahead and give that award to The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, whose debut album didn't deserve much attention in the first place.

However, music releases in 2008 will not only be centered on circus-laden scene boys. Along with Panic At The Disco, the Counting Crows, Jack's Mannequin, Jack Johnson, The Mars Volta and Lenny Kravitz will all release heavily anticipated CDs within the first few months of 2008. Other bands and musicians releasing CDs from the summer includes Underoath, Death Cab For Cutie, The All-American Rejects, Franz Ferdinand, Gym Class Heroes and Ok Go. And for the fifth year in a row, the newly reformed Guns N' Roses (a.k.a. the Axl Rose catastrophe) is slated to release their heavily anticipated and heavily delayed "Chinese Democracy," but I seriously doubt that will happen.

Although many music aficionados will wait for their favorite artist to release new music, other music buffs will search to the end of the earth to find what is going to be labeled as 2008's "next big thing."

Although you cannot directly pick the next band to infest local radio stations and shoot up the charts, there are a few I am willing to wage will have their shot at making it happen.

Rock band Say Anything will take its step into the music limelight this year. Though they have achieved much underground success and acclaim, not much has been mentioned in the mainstream. Lead singer Max Bemis and company will take their unique blend of rock music and unique, poetic and often weird lyrics from their 2007 released double album "In Defense of the Genre" to national success in the next year.

Other bands looking for a breakthrough this year will be pop-punk act All Time Low, who will look to follow in the footsteps of scene builders Fall Out Boy and Paramore, as well as rock band Jet Lag Gemini, who will release their debut album Fire the Cannons Jan. 22. Another little secret gem to look out for in 2008 will be the Postal Service-esque, electronic pop act PlayRadioPlay!, whose debut will surface early this year.

Everybody should brace themselves. The pop rock, dance-beat music scene will probably not die in 2008. Though some might wish for this year to be the year of the indie music scene or pray for the long shot gamble that screaming, and maybe even hardcore and metal, might actually break through into mainstream America, unfortunately it probably will not happen. But then again, no one expected a part indie, part hip-hop, part god-knows-what else band like Gym Class Heroes would grab the nation with a chokehold in 2007.

More music will be sure to sky rocket to success and acclaim this year, but those are just a few to latch on to and place in your back pocket to be able to brag to your friends later this year about listening to them before they became "cool." After all, that is what the music industry has turned into, branding your favorite bands to have an argument with your friends later over which bands you loved before they were "cool."