Well, no other year seemed to focus more on the build up and breakdowns of "blog bands" and any other little thing written about on music blogs. Why don't we run down some of the interesting, funny and polarizing topics and bands that got lots of love, but then didn't quite live up to, in some writer's, critic's and blogger's minds, the hype. Some of MOKB's favorite bloggers have dropped us a line to talk a little bit, but we'd also love if you'd tell us some of the things you felt didn't quite reach iconic status as they were billed to.
What many of you knew would be one of the biggest busts of 2006 turned out to be, at least in this stage of it's life. The Microsoft
Zune was met with much rage when posted about on MOKB and other notable blogs. iPod enthusiasts were quick to not only dismiss the Zune, but kill the families of all those associated with it. Sluggish sales after week one have led to the belief that this version of Microsoft's "serious" attempt to enter the mp3 player market is not long for this world. Brown was a bold and interesting choice, but only added to the ammunition that this player was a piece of...
Snakes On A Plane built a huge marketing buzz on the internet through blogs, but the movie only opened to $15.2 million and quickly found it's way out of theatres. It will probably see good rentals as a result of the buzz, but my guess is, Hollywood won't be as apt to use blogs to build movie buzz in 2007.
Cobra Starship - Snakes On A Plane (Bring It)
Birdmonster, while still loved here at MOKB, has receieved some serious blacklash towards the latter half of 2006. The band's live show is still outstanding, but they will want to spend some more time on production for their next album.
Birdmonster - All The Holes In The WallsCold War Kids and
SOUND Team were also very polarizing "blog bands". MOKB saw Cold War Kids live a few times this year and I will say that their live show improved quite a bit over the course of the year. Their full-length had some gems on it that were previously included on their earlier EPs. None of the new songs had as much "umph". Some bloggers thought the CWK band members were "dicks". I have no first hand knowledge of this though. Anyone?
SOUND Team never really piqued my interest beyond SXSW. Bill Baird is still incredibly cool, creative and interesting, but when joining with the rest of his bandmates, I start to lose interest.
Cold War Kids - Hang Me Up To DrySOUND Team - Your Eyes Are LiarsEven the untouchable
Tapes N Tapes saw some backlash this year. I mean, come on, these guys were the most talked about band there for like a three month period leading up to SXSW, so it's only natural that some people got sick of them. MOKB is not among those folks.
Tapes N Tapes - Insistor
Gnarls Barkley hype built to unprecedented levels, and Cee-Lo & Dangermouse actually somewhat delivered.
Crazy is great no matter how overplayed, and is definitely the most covered song of 2006. Great live performances and Cee-Lo Green is about as likable a guy as you can find, but nearing the end of 2006, many bloggers and fans have either grown weary or just simply chose to distance themselves from Gnarls in thesecond half of '06.
Gnarls Barkley - Crazy
In the wake of the Arctic Monkeys, everyone started trying to hype the Test Icicles are the next big thing. Which was ridiculous considering they were less talented than even their name would suggest. Plus, their lead singer might have been the only man on earth that could make Kele from Bloc Party look like Tupac. When they broke up they might have left 14 fans in their wake, 12 of them bloggers - Jeff from the
Passion of the WeissTest Icicles - Circle, Triangle, Square 
Although it wasn't a complete bust, I think of the Raconteurs. The album was easily one of the most anticipated albums of all year as far as the blogosphere was concerned and when Steady As She Goes came out (Jan. 30th) it was on the top post on every blog I visited. By the time the album came out though no one really cared, and good live shows turned out to be the only redeeming factor of the project. - Taylor,
Music For Kids Who Can't Read GoodThe Raconteurs - Blue VeinsWhat about
Chinese Democracy? I haven't given a fuck about West Lafayette's native son since I was about 12, but apparently this was SUPPOSED to be the year the braided one and his revolving band of people not named Slash released this thing.
Oh shit, my bad...
Chinese Democracy WAS released this year... by NYC punk outfit Kitty and the Kowalskis. I guess we can all quit holding our breath now. - MOKB friend and hopefully soon-to-be contributor, B.Chaps
Guns N Roses - Welcome To The Jungle EZArchive, file host du jour, brought bloggers to their knees with its "upgrade": a transfer of old files (which would have required new URLs within 30 days) and all sorts of restrictions previously unseen in its heyday ("Bandwidth? What the hell is bandwidth?").
Panic ensued.
(For the record, mp3 blog readers were bound to be screwed, too, with downloads at an oh-so crappy 32 kbps.)
So, like scorned lovers, bloggers packed up and left, leaving a wasteland of broken links behind. Oh, EZArchive. We really thought you were The One. - Kevin,
So Much SilenceThe biggest bust of 2006 was the failure of blogs to unite as one force and take down the neolithic infrastructure of the music industry. To take it down to the lake, depants it, and force it to sit in the cold, cold water of critical democratization. - Eric,
MarathonpacksR.I.P.'s of 2006:Few bands that disbanded in 2006 caused MOKB a lot of tears, but a couple did. MOKB was more than sad at the demise of
Bravo Silva.
Bravo Silva - I Can't Say Goodbye
I think I will miss Grandaddy the most of the bands that called it quits in 2006. Jason Lytle and company were, at one time, "the hot shit" as he put it. Around the time The Sophtware Slump was reaching its peak. However, touring was not something they enjoyed, I talked to Jason in a phone interview once and he said he would love to keep writing and recording music, but touring sucked.
Since Jason was doing most of the work anyway, he did a string of solo dates to support Just Like the Fambly Cat. I was able to catch the first of these, which was amazing here in town. The dude was soooo nervous though, you could tell he really would rather be skateboarding or tipping one back. I guess hes got lots of time for that now as the rumor is that he is kicking it low key in Montana. Heres hoping its not the last we see or hear of Jason. - Joe Long,
Each Note SecureGrandaddy - The Crystal Lake
This break-up was a bowl full of awesome for me, personally, this year: Micah Calabrese’s departure from
Giant Drag. I was the first to speculate about the split on my blog and then got Annie Hardy to confirm it, first hand (via e-mail). Then I kinda, mighta, sorta, accidently let the news slip to
Stereogum, Dodge here, and
Pitchfork (thanks MTV News!). Needless to say, Annie was pissed and although I wouldn’t call her follow-up e-mail to me "mean" – she definitely wasn’t happy. I tried to assure her it wasn’t malicious and I was still a Giant Drag fan but she never responded. Rock stars, what can you do?
Giant Drag - God Only Knows (Beach Boys Cover)
Anyway, the whole situation was kind of a big deal for me – especially to have been the one to break the news – since I’m pretty much a nobody in the music blog scene right now (I drank with Birdmonster once, yeah!). Oh yeah, before I forget: Annie also wants you all to know Giant Drag songs are in standard E tuning, not drop D, despite what anyone tells you. - Chris Walker,
Chris Walker VersusOther bands, according to Wiki, that saw their demise in 2006:22-20s
Arab Strap
Dead Moon
Death From Above 1979
Out Hud
Rainer Maria
Sleater-Kinney
Test Icicles
The Like Young
Le Tigre, Garbage and Weezer are also on "hiatus".
Group Sounds broke up and some members reformed
Generals & Majors.
Generals & Majors - Mother (Live Danzig Cover)
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One of the first Merge releases of 2007, Jan. 23rd, will be the debut from 
To the Godfather of Soul, 
I finally checked out Lupe Fiasco and all you guys that told me to were right - HOT! Food & Liquor does get nominated for worst and best album cover of 2006 too. Will Lupe ascend to Kanye-like (the guy who gave him his break) levels?
