The 25 Most Significant Events of Rock ‘n’ Roll in 2009.

One year is in no way a very long period of time. But in the world of Rock ‘n’ Roll it’s an epoch of time broad enough to accommodate a broad spectrum of everything from stellar album releases, long awaited reunion tours, epic verbal barrages, untimely deaths and even ridiculously astonishing lawsuits. The Backdoor brings you the 25 most significant events of Rock ‘n’ Roll during last year as we mark the notches of 2009 in Rock ‘n’ Roll history.

Metallica wins “Best Recording Package” for ‘Death Magnetic’ at the Grammy Awards. (8th February)

A note to mention though is that this is not the most musically momentous award, considering that Death Magnetic was a solid album in its own right.

Blink 182 reunites live at the Grammy Awards. (February 8th)

“We used to play music together and we decided that we’d like to play music together again” – were the words of Travis Barker, as the group officially announced their reunion at the 2009 Grammy awards, while taking the stage to receive the award for the “Best Rock Album”.

Spinal tap announces new album and tour. (3rd March)

The band that made every rocker cry with their hilarious but strangely poignant mocumentary, “This Is Spinal Tap,” 25 years later, announced their new tour and album, “Unplugged and Unwigged,” playing as themselves. The miniature Stonehenge’s were left out of the props.

Metallica inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. (4th April)

The 4th of April saw Jason Newsted reunited with Metallica as they took to stage to perform ‘Master of Puppets’ and ‘Enter Sandman,’ to celebrate their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame alongside guitar great Jeff Beck.

Flight 666 is released. (21st April)

50,000 miles, 5 continents and 23 concerts in just 24 days. The documentary every metal-head awaited for one year with unbearable thirst, was released, and created a hype hitherto unseen for a documentary of a band.

Creed reunites. (April 27th)

The Creed official website announces a reunion tour of the band and plans for a new album.

Steel Panther Releases ‘Feel The Steel’. (8th June)

With songs titles like ‘Death to All But Metal,’ ‘Fat Girl’ and ‘Asian Hooker,’ coupled with lyrics like “50 Cent’s a fag, so is Kanye West, shooting hot sperm on each other’s chest, death to all but metal!” Who can argue with Steel Panthers very own brand of parody hair metal. It’s hilarious, it takes the piss out of all the bubble gum pop and pseudo-rock artists and above all it’s great musicianship.

Deep Purple fined for playing their own songs. (15th June)

A Russian court fined Deep Purple for playing their songs at a concert in Rostov-on-Don in 2008. According to Russian law, a song should be performed only after registering copyrights in Russia.

The King of Pop dies. (25th June)

Michael Jackson might be titled the King of Pop, but with his brilliant vocal prowess, dedication and studio perfectionism, along with a blistering Van Halen solo, made him an icon to Rock ‘n’ Rollers worldwide as well.

Them Crooked Vultures perform. (9th August)

The super group of Rock legends performed their first concert. The band consists of nirvana drummer Dave Grohl, Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones and Josh Homme, vocalist and guitarist of Queens of the Stone Age.

Les Paul Dies (12th August)

The father of the solid body electric guitar passed away at the age of 94, leaving an ever treasured legacy.

Woodstock celebrates 40 years. (15th August)

40 years since the 1969 festival of peace and music, Woodstock commemorated the event which saw 32 artists perform for 400,000 people over 3 days. The 40th anniversary festival which took place at the Bethel Center for the Arts overlooking the original site, featured the largest number of performers since the original festival, and was opened with a reflective and evocative performance of Jimi Hendrix’s Star Spangled Banner by 15 year old guitarist Conrad Oberg.

Gaahl ex- Gorgoroth retires from Metal. (18th August)

Kristian Eivind Espedal, best known by his stage name Gaahl, confirmed his retirement from Metal with terrorizer.com and wished his band God Seed good luck.

“American Idiot” musical opens in theaters. (4th September)

A musical produced after the Green Day album “American Idiot” premiered at Berkeley Repertory Theatre. The musical went on to become the highest grossing show in Berkeley Rep History.

Megadeth releases Endgame. (15th September)

A year after ‘United Abominations,’ Megadeth released their masterpiece, ‘Endgame’ which was also their first album with Chris Broderick on guitar. The complete album was put up for streaming on their myspace page on the 10th of September.

Release of Sonic Boom. (6th October)

11 years after the release of their last album in 1998, Rock ‘n’ Roll fans the world over were treated to KISS’s 19th full length.

Rumor of Stephen Tyler quitting Aerosmith (6th November)

A rumor of Steven Tyler leaving Aerosmith started to spread, which was helped along by Joe Perry who seemed to confirm Tyler’s departure. The rumor was later denied by Steven Tyler himself at a surprise Joe Perry solo gig, where he appeared onstage and delivered one of the most memorable Rock ‘n’ Roll quotes of the decade: “Joe Perry, you are a man of many colors, but I, motherfucker, am the rainbow!” the band then launched into their 1975 hit single, ‘Walk This Way’.

Dio diagnosed with cancer (25th November)

Wendy Dio, the wife of Ronnie James Dio, released an official statement on Blabbermouth.net that the Metal God was diagnosed with stomach cancer.

Guns & Roses start tour after releasing Chinese Democracy in 2008 (11th December)

The new Guns & Roses start touring for Chinese Democracy, GnR’s sixth studio album released exactly 15 years after “The Spaghetti Incident?”

Dimebag Darrel tribute album is released. (16th December)

An album in tribute to the guitar God of Metal was released with the 200th issue of UK’s metal magazine Metal Hammer. The album featured a number of Pantera greats covered by present metal bands.

Rage Against the Machine vs. the X Factor. (20th December)

After a widespread facebook support campaign, Rage Against the Machine’s ‘Killing in The Name’ takes the spot of Britain’s No1 Christmas single, beating the 2009 X factor winner Joe McElderry’s single. The spot went to “Simon Cowell’s music machine,” X Factor, winners for the last 4 years in a row.

The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Annex announces closing down. (7th December)

The Rock ‘n’ Roll museum in New York, which showcases rare items from artists such as The Beatles, Michael Jackson and The Rolling Stones, announced its closure in 2010.

Eddie Vedder sued over ‘Hard Sun’ lyric changes. (12th December)

The front man of Pearl Jam was sued by the original song writer, Gordon Peterson, over changing the lyrics of ‘Hard Sun,’ in his cover of the track for the sound track of “Into the Wild”. Vedder’s version of Hard Sun received extremely positive critical acclaim (including a Golden Globe) and arguably resulted in Indio’s 1989 album ‘Big Harvest’ being reissued.

Genesis induction into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced. (15th December)

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has long been the target of criticism and controversy over its selection process of inductees. And when they’ve failed to induct artists like Deep Purple, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Alice Cooper and Rush, we can’t help but raise a few eyebrows. They redeemed themselves ever so slightly by announcing 2010’s list of inductees which included the British Rockers Genesis.

Drummer of Avenged Sevenfold, The Rev, found dead. (28th December)

James Owen Sullivan, also known by his stage name, The Rev, was found dead at his home in Huntington Beach. The drummer, 28, was reported to have died of a natural cause.

photo credits – oddsock/jlacpo / Scott Penner/ Bogking/ NYCArthur/ mrmoorey/ rimmedwithfire/geekstinkbreath/ maurymccown