Year in Review

We've been hearing for 10 years about how the Internet's going to change the music biz by tearing down the major-label system.

This year, the wall finally started crumbling.

Two of rock's biggest acts totally bypassed the major labels with their latest albums: Radiohead released In Rainbows digitally on a pay-what-you-want basis, while the Eagles issued Long Road Out of Eden on its own label, sold it on its Web site and at Wal-Mart, and watched it shoot straight to No. 1.

Elsewhere, Sir Paul McCartney cut ties with EMI and sold his new CD, Memory Almost Full, at Starbucks. And Madonna said goodbye to Warner Bros. and hello to the world of free-agency: "The possibilities are endless," she said.

To quote the old song, the future's so bright, I gotta wear shades. But then again, Timbuk 3 was being facetious.

Like everything else, there's no sure thing in the music world – especially for today's younger acts that might fade faster than you can say "Ace of Base."

Graybeards like the Police, Van Halen and Bruce Springsteen continued to pack arenas a quarter-century after their glory days. But what will come of Daughtry, Fergie and Josh Groban?

All three acts sold millions in 2007. But by 2032, will they be playing American Airlines Center – or Poor David's Pub?

1 Mavis Staples, We'll Never Turn Back (Anti-): Her gritty voice is a national treasure, and producer Ry Cooder wisely keeps her rough edges intact on this concept album about civil rights. The result is juke-joint soul at its most glorious.

2 The Shins, Wincing the Night Away (Sub Pop): Smart Brit-pop from five guys based in Portland. Who needs a Smiths reunion when we have the Shins?

3 M.I.A., Kala (Interscope): The British-Sri Lankan artist takes hip-hop off the street and plants it on the playground. Funny, creepy and thoroughly unpredictable.

4 Bruce Springsteen, Magic (Columbia): The Boss is on a roll, following last year's brilliant We Shall Overcome with this potent work about love, war and growing old. The lyrics can be grim, but the production is "Good Vibrations" crossed with Born to Run.

5 Feist, The Reminder (Interscope): Leslie Feist got her break in an iPod ad, but don't hold that against her. The Reminder isn't trendy – it's simple, old-fashioned song-craft from rock's answer to Nina Simone.

6 Sonny Rollins, Sonny, Please (Doxy): He's an elder statesman of jazz who still has the spit and swagger of his youth. At 77, he lives up to his old album title, Saxophone Colossus.

7 St. Vincent, Marry Me (Beggars Banquet): St. Vincent is the nom du rock of 25-year-old Annie Clark, the most promising musician to come out of Dallas in ages. Marry Me is part Frank Zappa and part Edith Piaf, but the sound is entirely original.

8 Norah Jones, Not Too Late (Blue Note): Her first CD without producer Arif Marden is also her most daring, with forays into Memphis soul, politics and some of the darkest cabaret songs this side of Tom Waits.

9 Amy Winehouse, Back to Black (Universal Republic): If all you know about the "Rehab" hit-maker is what the tabloids tell you, you'd think she's the British Britney Spears. In reality, she's a superb torch singer who puts a bold new spin on Motown.

10 Animal Collective, Strawberry Jam (Domino): The electronic New York band loves samplers and synths, but it also loves melodies. Experimental noise-rock has never sounded this catchy.

Jason Janik / Special to DMN

Morrissey at Palladium Ballroom

1 Rufus Wainwright, Aug. 10, Nokia Theatre – It's a toss-up what was better: the music or the costumes. Dressing like an Alpine goatherd in lederhosen (or in drag like Judy Garland), Mr. Wainwright spiced up the show with sartorial surrealism.

2 TV on the Radio, April 4, Granada Theater –Eighty minutes of squalling guitars and complex rhythms – and the capacity crowd hung on every last note. If a band is good enough, even fickle Dallas audiences will pay rapt attention.

Brandon Thibodeaux / Special to DMN

Kings of Leon at House of Blues

3 Dumpstaphunk, Sept. 27, Granada Theater –Armed with two bassists, a pair of Nevilles (Ivan and Ian) and a batch of great songs, Dumpstaphunk laid down the funk as surely as the Meters ever did.

4 Lucinda Williams, Sept. 15, Longhorn Ballroom –She plays Dallas every year, but she never sounded more at home than she did in Bob Wills' old haunt. Her new West tunes were solid, but the high points came when she whipped out long-lost gems and a wonderful cover of "Ode to Billy Joe."

Ben Sklar / DMN

Aretha Franklin at Nokia Theatre

5 Bill Frisell, June 7, Dallas Museum of Art –Jazz Under the Stars doesn't host many national acts, but this stellar show suggests organizers should try it more often. From "Masters of War" to "Moon River," the guitarist turned every song inside out.

6 Morrissey, May 25, Palladium Ballroom –"The Pope of Mope" has a well-deserved rep for surliness. But he was unusually jovial during his first Dallas concert in 15 years, clowning with the crowd and treating fans to a ton of Smiths classics.

7 Richard Thompson, Sept. 21, Lakewood Theater –Sure, he writes great songs, but the night belonged to his transcendent guitar solos. If John Coltrane played a Fender Stratocaster, he'd have sounded like Mr. Thompson.

8 Kings of Leon, May 13, House of Blues –Sin and salvation. Ecstasy and anguish. The Followill boys turned three-chord rock 'n' roll into an act of high drama.

9 Polyphonic Spree, June 23, Granada Theater –They've taken off the colorful robes and put on black military outfits – yet their shows are as jubilant as ever.

10 Aretha Franklin, April 21, Nokia Theatre – Her voice has mellowed with age, but she still breathed gospel fire whenever she needed to. All hail the queen.

Album of the year: Taking the Long Way, Dixie Chicks

Record of the Year: "Not Ready to Make Nice," Dixie Chicks

Song of the Year: "Not Ready to Make Nice," Dixie Chicks and Dan Wilson

Best New Artist: Carrie Underwood

Best Female Pop Vocal Performance: "Ain't No Other Man," Christina Aguilera

Best Male Pop Vocal Performance: "Waiting on the World to Change," John Mayer

Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocals: "My Humps," Black Eyed Peas

Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals: "For Once In My Life," Stevie Wonder and Tony Bennett

Best Pop Vocal Album: Continuum, John Mayer

Best Pop Instrumental Performance: "Mornin'," George Benson and Al Jarreau

Best Pop Instrumental Album: Fingerprints, Peter Frampton

Best Male Artist: Justin Timberlake

Best Female Artist: Fergie

Best Group: Fall Out Boy

Best New Artist: Gym Class Heroes

Best Video: "Umbrella," Rihanna featuring Jay-Z

Polar Music Prize: Steve Reich and Sonny Rollins

Pulitzer Prize for music: Sound Grammar, Ornette Coleman

Mercury Prize: Myths of the Near Future, Klaxons

Shortlist Music Prize: The Greatest, Cat Power

"There's no one in the record company that's a technologist. ... It's like if you were suddenly asked to operate on your dog to remove his kidney. What would you do?" Universal Music Group CEO Doug Morris, telling Wired why the music biz can't adapt to the Internet

"I'm just trying to take the invisible and make it visible." Free-form jazz pioneer Ornette Coleman, the Fort Worth native who won the Pulitzer Prize and Lifetime Achievement Grammy this year

"We really did open up the gate, and through that gate came rats, scorpions and all sorts of things." Iggy Pop, on the influence of his recently reunited punk band, the Stooges