• New Year’s Eve happened! SPIN documented the celebratory fun in an action-packed photo gallery. We also checked out SoundScan’s 2011 report and learned Adele saved the music biz, rock made a tiny comeback, and people still really like Metallica.
• Van Halen happened! David Lee Roth and the brothers (and son) Van Halen played a tiny New York club to announce a February 7 album and jumbo size 2012 tour. We broke down a DLR vocal second by second to celebrate.
• Zooey Deschanel and Ben Gibbard’s divorce happened! Sort of. The former filed divorce papers, giving us intimate knowledge of her monthly spending habits (she’s thrifty!). Gibbard spoke to a running magazine, giving us intimate knowledge of his jogging playlist.
Also Read
Compact Discs: Sound of the Future
• New album announcements happened! There will be Killers and Bloc Party albums this year, which is cool since we all thought both bands had kind of split up.
• D’Angelo covered Soundgarden! And somebody made an amusing Tumblr of album covers with the deceased musicians removed. And an ambitious SPIN editor counted down the 10 best Thin Lizzy songs.