Normally, I don't think much of award shows. They're just ego snacks, with flat live performances. But, the 51st annual Grammy Awards on Sunday were STEAMING with some of the sweetest 'Grammy Moments' we've had in a long, long time, and gave us in the music world a bit to get jolted about. It's tough to pick the best moment of the night though. Let's recount the night, shall we?

Blink182 announced their bid to return to the rock music world after a bitter cold war-like breakup a few years back. Try and tell me seeing Mark Hoppus' devilishly goofy smile lighting up a stage doesn't make you happy. Cool moment, but Tom was so awkward, and it's not like they performed a song or anything. It was a bigger deal when The Police made a return at the Grammys two years ago.

Green Day handed off the album of the year award to Robert Plant & Allison Krause...though Coldplay and/or Radiohead most certainly deserved that award more in my book (GD also recently announced their followup to American Idiot will hit shelves this May and be called 21st Century Breakdown. Nice.)

Despite being due to deliver a KID Sunday, a ridiculously pregnant M.I.A. performed the soon-to-be-classic "Swagga Like Us" on stage alongside "The Rap Pack" (Jay-Z, Kanye, TI, and Lil Wayne). And it was awesome.

Speaking of awesome, I'm in love with Kate Beckinsale. Paul McCartney couldn't have gotten a sweeter lady to introduce his tight performance of the classic "I Saw Her Standing There." Wish he would have played something else though. Like a song of his he doesn't have to pay Michael Jackson to play.

Kid Rock's medley was startlingly good, especially the opening with "Amen."

That new U2 song, "Get On Your Boots," was a lot better than the first single from their last album. You know, the one where the chorus was: "Yeah, yeah, yeah."

Stevie Wonder. Al Green. Fantastic night for soul.

And who doesn't love when Neil Diamond shows up and busts out "Sweet Caroline"?

But the finest moment of the night goes to... Radiohead.

Seriously. Ho. Ly. Crap! That performance of "15 Steps" with a full drum line was too good. If you've seen them live, you know you can always count on caliber like that, but it's rare that it translates with such electricity onto an award show. They definitely delivered here. I think this performance is one of the most definitive moments that shows what makes Radiohead so special. Notice the attitude ala The Sex Pistols, the anthemic quality and beauty ala U2, the extraordinary sense of fluid experimentation ala Pink Floyd, that swagger ala The Rap Pack, and especially that vigorous soul ala vintage Al Green.

Remember the days when video killed the radio star? Well 2008 was the year that Real World killed the video star. The last place to catch music videos on MTV was TRL, which, oops got canceled this year. And then earlier this month, the music video grave was further cemented (lol! i love the headline of the link's story) over when MTV announced that it would adding even MORE reality television programming to it's already unwatchable listings. Time's is tough!

However, music videos are fighting to live long and prosper via YouTube and quite a few slick ones turned up this year. (MTV, you are the weakest link...goodbye!) So here's some of the best music videos from 2008. But first, let's bow our heads in remembrance for MTV and all the great years of music television it gave us, because that MTV is long since dead (tho, I am a regular frequenter and enjoyer of MTV.com and it's blogs for entertainment blabble). Fire up some popcorn, sit back, and enjoy.

Radiohead - House of Cards
Last year, Radiohead released a record called "In Rainbows" without rules or a record label. This year, they made a music video without using video cameras for one of the most haunting, tormented love songs from that album. I love this band.

Weezer - Pork & Beans

A music video for the YouTubers? One of 2008's more brilliant shimmers of light.

Arcade Fire - Black Mirror
These guys & gals gave up on MTV a good while ago (oddly enough, I didn't discover this band until I caught a video of their's on MTV2 a few years back when I was in college), and did something totally nuts for their Black Mirror video. They made it a hypnotic and interactive flash website where you are in charge of how the song sounds while the video plays. Your move, Radiohead.

Vampire Weekend - A-Punk

This is another one of those fun single shot camera timing-trick flicks that are always, ALWAYS a blast to watch. Especially with the Vamps spinning around, moving like robots, changing their bright wardrobes over and over, and all kinds of other fun little tricks. Dig when the guy on the keys spins around in the fake snow round the one minute mark! Electrifying!

M83 - Kim & Jessie

Sure, I was obviously won over by that steamy, sultry half minute mark. But it helps that the rest of the video is ridiculously playful, and the song itself is one of the greatest things 2008 is responsible for.

All American Rejects - Gives You Hell
I grew tired of the 'Jects 3 minutes into what I thought was their 5 minutes of fame (I gotta hand it to them for still ticking on after all this time), and this song hasn't changed my opinion. BUT! This video rules! I can't wait for summer to roll around again so that I can get up on the lawn tractor and rock out like that. Simply brilliant.

Miniature Tigers - Cannibal Queen

This is like the Vampire Weekend video, but with a cinematic story going on too! In which a dude cuts off his limbs to make a lover out of scratch who then cheats on him with a guy who looks like Jesse Ventura that she meets on the internet. Lost? Who cares? It's sick! And speaking of sick, dig the Jesse Ventura dude shredding up the barb-wire on that guitar solo! Nasty! And what's a miniature tiger anyway? A kitten???

Sure, we've hit the slowest time of the year for music releases...but after being available essentially for free for about 3 months, Radiohead's fantastic "In Rainbows" has wasted no time in running up the iTunes charts as the #2 downloaded album of the week, with no hit single strength.

Now, I don't know what's more depressing--Whether all these people missed their opportunity to spend less on the album and participate in Radiohead's little music biz experiment OR whether these people actually waited this long to hear such a fantastic album. I expected some people to buy the hard copy of the album...but download? I figured the iGeneration had already gotten their hands on the tunes.

The other interesting conversation this week's iTunes album chart raises is soundtracks. What about them you ask? Well they're the big sellers. 5 of the top 10 albums this week are soundtracks to films, including the indie-flavored Juno at #1. To me, that says no one knows what to listen to right now.

But that's a better thing than it sounds. That means lots of listeners are looking for something new.

Free mix of Scene & Heard's favorite songs of 2007. (zip file of 19 mp3s)

It's tough to say where music is at right now. There isn't really one landmark scene that has velcroed itself to this decade's generation. Instead, the musical landscape has settled into this big boiling crock pot of everything that was once big and exciting, with some minor hits here and there, but nothing sweeping the world up into an all-engulfing frenzy storm of noise and excitement. Think about it. When was the last time you got truly excited about a song you just heard?

The closest mainstream has gotten is the slick electronic pop/hip hop storm fanned by stars like Timbaland, Justin Timberlake, and Kanye--but all they're really doing is creating aural collages of rock, funk, punk, soul, r&b and hip hop; or pop with more ingredients and spice. Nowhere is there a song from some young unknown with a rallying cry to round up a generation of young souls looking for that voice that speaks directly to them. Most people making music today are just trying to 'be cool' or look cool. What we need are some new loud songs that make some real noise. Ones that crunch, bang, smash, and clobber everything your parents value. Songs that don't attempt to "be" cool, but just ARE cool.

Compiled here is a mix of some of Scene & Heard's favorite songs released in 2007. This is what Scene & Heard sounded like all year long. They aren't exactly the sort of songs I've been talking about here, but they're all steps in the right direction. They're all songs that share this same hunger and fire, from across all genres. From pop to hip hop to rock to gentler acoustic ditties. These are songs that want to shatter the world of music into billions of tiny little pieces, even if they didn't do it this year.

I've uploaded all 19 songs as a whole zip file for your convenience. Enjoy. Share your thoughts in the comments. (all songs are used here for promotional purposes. If you like what you hear, please support the artist, and buy their stuff. If you represent the band or label these songs come from and wish to see them removed, please email me and they will be removed from the mix immediately.)

1. LCD Soundsystem - All My Friends
Hands down, anthem of the year, if not the decade. It's like the "Stairway To Heaven" of 21st century dance funk.

2. Against Me! - New Wave
What sort of fiery underground punk band signs to a major label and flips off anyone crying "sellout" with lyrics like "We can be the bands we want to hear"? Green Day and The Clash come to mind. This song is 2007's rallying cry for something new.

3. Modest Mouse - Dashboard
Somehow, Isaac Brock enlisted ex Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr for the new Mouse album. What resulted was a fiery and bombastic album with excellent songs like this one about everything going down the flusher, but things will be okay because we still got our music.

4. Spoon - Underdog
There is no one writing catchier pop music in the indie music scene than Spoon. And this brassed up swinger is proof why.

5. Arcade Fire - Keep The Car Running
This anthemic song will ignite you. This could have fit on U2's Joshua Tree and may have even stolen the show. This group could become one of the most important bands of the rest of the decade.

6. The Fratellis - Chelsea Dagger
This is one of those songs that gets everyone shouting along in unison, waving big glass mugs of beer around when sitting at the bar with their mates. But even if you're sober, it makes you feel drunk.

7. Mark Ronson with Amy Winehouse - Valerie
Vintage soul made a little comeback this here ala tabloid trainwreck Amy Winehouse. But her best cut came from Mark Ronson's record of covers by reworking The Zutons' rocking anthem into a brassy funkfest of awesome.

8. Brand New - (Fork And Knife)
This was released in the form of digital single this year and is one of my favorite tracks to come from their "Devil and God..." sessions last year, but you can see why it was left off the album; Too beautiful a song to be on such a dark album.

9. Minus The Bear - White Mystery
With their latest album, "Planet Of Ice" The Bear did more than write songs about being cold and lonely. They actually make you FEEL cold, and a little lonely. Some of the most beautifully haunting songwriting of the year, right here.

10. Cassino - Old Year
This album was completely self-released, and is truly one of the year's hidden gems. And songs like this upbeat one are proof why.

11. Dustin Kensrue - Please Come Home
Who knew the wolf-like howler of Thrice had some Johnny Cash in him? There may be no other song in existance that lyrically illustrates the ultimate definition of love.

12. The Redwalls - Game of Love
This song gave me the same feeling "Hey Jude" gave me when I first heard it. I shouldn't have to say anything else about it.

13. SloMo - How Do We Win The War?
One of the year's most memorable songs came from one of Philly's most dynamic groups, led by slide-guitarist wizard, Slo-Mo and rapper Mic Wrecka. Wrecka usually handles vocals, but Slo-Mo took over on this one for this yearning gem of a song.

14. Kanye West - Everything I Am
While there are lots of great fun songs to pick from Kanye's catalog, this slower laid back jam is as honest and definitive as they come. It's a tribute song, to everything he isn't, because that's what made him what he is. When a performer can say that, and make a beautiful song out of it, that's when he's gone from performer, to artist.

15. Aesop Rock - None Shall Pass
But don't worry, I didn't forget about hip hop. Shows hip hop can still be wholesome, awesome, and frightening. As opposed to lame, substanceless, and a complete mockery of all hip hop was when it first blew up.

16. Radiohead - Reckoner
It was good to hear Radiohead throw in some of the most propulsive rock songs they've written in years on the headline-making "In Rainbows." But it was this gorgeous little diamond that stole the show. Who else could write a song that makes you ache, and stand in sheer amazement at it's lush perplexity and beauty.

17. Meredith Bragg - New York
I heard an earlier version of this song on a compilation 2 years ago, and I began an immediate Bragg fan. It finally found a home on his solo record this year, and it's just as perfect now as it was then.

18. Bright Eyes - I Must Belong Somewhere
I began this year wanting to be anywhere but here. So then, I went to Europe for a month. Then I came home and made plans to move to Florida. And before moving, I drove my brother out to Colorado and spent the 2 following weeks on the road, living in hotel rooms and my car. Then things fell through with Florida and I ended up back here, at home. It was an amazing journey of a summer, but it taught me that everybody and everything belong somewhere. I think I fit pretty nicely around here. So here is where I'm staying. For now, anyway. And this song helped me along the way.

19. Wilco - What Light
Bummed? This song will change that.

For a few years now, there has been this misguided notion that music is dieing. But don't confuse the business part of "the music business" with the music, because music is alive and well and getting along just fine. There may be no more smash blockbuster albums flying off shelves the way N*Sync and Beatles records used to, but think about how many kids have iPods and how much music they got packed in those little things. For a world that has so much going on at once nowadays, think about how prevalent music continues to be. The songs are still out there, my friends.

The art of the ALBUM, however, isn't doing quite as well. Songs have become the new albums. The power to choose songs only has come along with the listener's newfound power and control over what they listen to. So the albums I'm about to highlight aren't the ones that were packed with the most hit singles or most delectable tunes. These are full, bullet-proof albums that were perfect in songwriting, song order, packaging, and zeitgeist timing. These aren't albums that I found and liked, but albums that searched me out, swallowed me, and spit me out as a different dude than I was before I heard these songs or held their artwork in my hands.

Ladies and gentlemen, the five finest albums 2007 gave us;

5. Meredith Bragg - Silver Sonya
Headphone record of the year. Mr. Bragg ditched his band, The Terminals, for this one-off solo record, and it resulted in one of most dynamic, yet simple performances all year. Sonically, it's the reincarnation of Elliott Smith; sad, hopeful, blissful, scathing, heavy and gentle, all at once. Sync up tracks like "New York" or "Twin Arrows" and you won't be sure if you should be sad, or ecstatic for the rest of your life to unfold. If the future holds more records like this from Bragg, however, consider me ecstatic.
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4. LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
One of the year's funkiest dance records to get down to with your bad self. Oddly enough, it's also one of the solidest records of the 21st century. James Murphy packs it all into this 8-song set. From the best song you'll hear all year (the anthemic "All My Friends") to massive blasts of shiny groove ("Someone Great" and "Time To Get Away") to punky hip-shakers ("Watch The Tapes") to goofy piano ballads ("New York I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down").
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3. Against Me - New Wave
This explosive record is this decade's equivalent to Nirvana's "Nevermind" and Green Day's "Dookie," or even The Clash's self-titled debut. The formula is the same; an angsty group of dudes become ignited by a generation gone bored, crank their amps up, tune their guitars to snarl, and let the mud hit the fan. It's not a cry for attention, but for connection, which so many young breaking artists screw up. When fluid records like this come along and work this genuinely well, it's rare. And with the state we're all in right now, this was the album 2007 needed. Thanks Against Me for stepping up.
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2. Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
The underground indie music scene has coughed up a massive band with a massive sound that could easily become the biggest band in the world. This 2nd-full length of theirs is a strongly cohesive set of songs that serves as a solid 'state of the union,' stirring up a heavy sense of disillusionment with everything from music to patriotism to religion. Take U2's Joshua Tree and splice it's dominant genes with Bruce Springsteen's finest recordings and this fantastic album would be the result. It gets a little murky at times, but explosive songs like "Keep The Car Running" and "Windowsill" will keep you spinning over and over again, finding new things in every song with every listen.
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1. Radiohead - In Rainbows
One of the unfortunate things about being Radiohead is that BEING Radiohead overshadows the fantastic records Radiohead put out. They're like the Bob Dylan of alt-rock. And this is probably more true this year than ever before. They got everyone abuzz about what they're doing WITH their music when they put this album on their website for people to download at the price of their choosing, which many opted to do for free predictably. Fortunately, the music itself holds it's own quite well against all this 'changing the system' talk. In fact, it's the most perfect record of their career, running the stylistic gamut of adrenaline-laced alt rock ("Bodysnatchers" and "Jigsaw Falling Into Place"), soft soothing jazzed-up numbers ("House of Cards"), and achingly gorgeous songwriting ("Reckoner" and "Videotape"). Yet, every edge of every song fits perfectly together with every brushstroke of the artwork and every detail of production, painting the band's masterpiece of the decade, if not of their career. If you didn't download it when you had your chance, it will be commercially available on Jan 1... so record of the year for 2008 as well? Let's see what 2008 has in store, but I wouldn't be surprised.
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Honorable Mention: The Shins - Wincing The Night Away, Kanye West - Graduation, Bright Eyes - Cassadagga, Minus The Bear - Planet of Ice, Cassino - Sounds of Salvation, The Fratellis - Costello Music
Come back tomorrow for TOP FILMS OF THE YEAR. I'll be joined by my panel of Mercury staff film enthusiasts.

Looks like the movie industry is taking notes on the music industry.

Radiohead's 'pay what you want for our new album' approach to "In Rainbows" (self-released on the net earlier this year) may have struck a chord with the guys behind MTV's infamous Jackass series.

Fans of the demented stunt show will get a sequel to last year's feature film, Jackass 2, for totally free on the 'net' starting December 19. Jackass 2.5 (featuring new footage and some outtakes from the 2nd film) will be the ultimate YouTube video to be viewed completely for free at www.Blockbuster.jackassworld.com.

It will only be up till Dec. 31, but will also be for sale on DVD at major retailers starting Dec. 26. Although it's being considered the first "free broadband movie ever distributed by a movie studio," I think realistically it's just a smartly-marketed internet commercial for a beefed up special edition DVD of Jackass 2. (anyone remember Spiderman 2.5? Or Xmen 2.5?)

So make sure you tune in with your high speed internet over the holidays, or you'll miss your chance to see dudes beat the crap out of one another, totally for free, without even going to a seedy bar in the bad part of town.

And speaking of Radiohead, Christmas came awesomely early for me, with my "In Rainbows" discbox arriving on my doorstep yesterday. The album on vinyl, CD, and with bonus tracks, plus a full out gorgeous color booklet. Totally worth the $80. Anyone else shell out the big ones for it?

Here's what's going on in the music world.

Even though The White Stripes had to cut off their tour this fall because of Meg's "acute anxiety," they've reportedly reconvened in the studio to cut some new tunes. No word yet on where those will be turning up in the future.

Weezer's new record is reportedly in the can and should be ready for release in early 08.

The British press says Pete Doherty has been caught doing heroin on film, yet again, only 2 weeks after completing a court ordered drug rehabilitation program. Trainspotting anyone?

There is a Nirvana biopic in the works, and Universal has purchased rights to the band's ENTIRE catalog for use in the film. They must have had some bucks to throw around, yes?

Who's been following all the Radiohead news lately? Turns out about 62 percent of the people who downloaded Radiohead's "name your price" version of the new "In Rainbows" didn't pay a cent for it. But all the money that people did pay goes directly to the band, with no label middleman, so they still probably made more money already off this record than any of their previous releases. Plus, you have to take into account that some people are waiting for the higher quality official release early next year to actually put some money up for it.

AND DON'T FORGET TO PICK UP THE PAPER TOMORROW FOR ANOTHER SHOT AT WINNING TICKETS TO THE POLICE CONCERT NEXT WEDNESDAY IN PHILLY!