And while the film world was, at times, underwhelming, at least the music industry had some stand-out releases to keep our ears warm as we toddled to and from the cinema.
Things started well with Brian Fallon returning with his second solo album. More soulful than previous outings, Sleepwalkers showed ol' B maturing nicely.
Also making welcome returns to the fray were The Dogs D'Amour, with delightfully loose and raw album that can proudly cock a leg against their best outings, while Slash jumped off the GnR juggernaut long enough to produce his best solo album to date.
Stone Temple Pilots found themselves a new singer and, while no new ground was being stomped, showed they can still produce a solid rock album, and Jake Shears finally re-emerged — and gave the world the sort of joyous pop music that made us fall in love with Scissor Sisters in the first place.
There was also something of a trend for re-imagining back catalogues, with Levellers doing a range of new acoustic arrangements of old classics and Rise Against doing much the same, only with a cheeky orchestra on board.
But it wasn't all about the old guard. Star Crawler slithered out of America and took the rock world (and Download festival) by storm with their New York Dolls-esque debut.
Tina Dico and Kacey Musgraves also had a good year, with Dico's sublime grown-up pop and Kacey's slow shift into more poppie realms both being good enough to almost make the top 10, almost being joined by Laura Jane Grace's wonderfully raw solo debut.
So what kept three fine albums such as these out of the top 10?
Glad you asked...]
10) A Star Is Born OST
Now you wouldn't normally have a soundtrack in a top 10, but this is here for a couple of good reasons — first they're all original songs, and second this is a proper old school soundtrack with snippets of dialogue peppered through out. The latter should be mandatory for all soundtrack albums, but the former is something of a delight. Gaga and Bradley Cooper sing their hearts out, and the album is so good it actually gave us a new appreciation for the film.
9) Therapy — Cleave
It's wrongly thought that Therapy? peaked with their seminal Troublegum album way back in the mists of time, but nothing could be further from the truth. Their latter-day period has produced some fine stuff, but with Cleave they really took it up a notch. Searing guitars, catchy choruses, the venom of their early stuff, Cleave has got the lot. It's also the closest they've come yet to replicating Troublegum's drum sound. Oh, and it clocks in at a little over 30 minutes, making this beautifully brutal and compact to boot.
8) Stone Broken — Ain't Always Easy
Sometimes, all you really want is a solid rock album. Something you can just crank to the max and sing along to at the top of your voice as the guitars and drums smash your ears to bits. This year, Stone Broken kindly provided the necessary. With gravelly vocals, pounding rhythms and choruses that lodged in your noggin for weeks (just check out Let Me See It All and Heartbeat Away), this lot provided gave hope that all is not lost in the Brit Rock scene right now.
7) Walking Papers — WP2
Before Axl saw sense and got the band back together, Duff McKagan was having a high old time hanging out with the man with the sexiest voice in rock, Jeff Angell, The result was Walking Papers, one of the finest bands and albums to surface in some time. That it took them six years to come up with a second album is nothing short of criminal, but on the bright side at least it was worth the wait. My Luck Pushed Back, Death On The Lips and I Know You're Lying are all bona fide classics worthy of sticking on repeat.
6) Ducking Punches — Alamort
OK, I'll admit that I know these guys. Have been a fan and a mate for a couple of years now, but that doesn't interfere with the fact this is a cracking third album from Norwich's finest. Raw, emotional vocals over acoustic punk guitars, the band have grown and matured with each release. Dan's songwriting is as honest and personal as ever (I Ruin Everything and being a perfect example), while the band have never sounded so tight and focussed. This has pretty much been on repeat all year.
5) Ginger — Ghosts In The Tanglewood/The Pessimist's Companion
As die-hard fans will know, Ginger has been having a hell of a time of it of late. First his mental health took a dive, and then his relationship joined in. As he started to put himself back together, Ginger did the only thing he knew — he grabbed his guitar, got the guys round, and put all of his emotions and experiences down in a song or 12. Twice. When Ghosts came out at the start of 2018 we discovered that Ginger was in a country frame of mind, and so we got tales of his breakdowns set to acoustic and slide guitars. And it's as beautiful and poignant as you would imagine. The Daylight Hotel and Paying It Forward tell you all you need to know about what's been happening so far.
But then, because he wanted to and could, he got the guys back together and recorded Companion. Due out in hard copy this year, pre-orders were gifted the advanced downloads, and it's every bit as good as its predecessor, only slightly more focussed, now that the band know what's needed. I Love You So Much I'm Leaving and You Will Let Me Down Again tell us what's still on his mind, and the songs are as fragile and beautiful as the first batch. Any artist would be delighted to have produced one of these albums. Only Ginger could do it twice in a year...
4) The Wombats — Beautiful People Will Ruin Your Life
Many moons ago, we were at a thing called a V Festival (apparently it's still a thing) and decided to go and see some random band just because they had a daft name. Turns out The Wombats were OK. Good little bunch of kids. Good debut album too. But then life moved on, we checked in occasionally, they seemed to be doing OK, and we both carried on as before. Then we caught the last album, which was a bit good. Then we heard the new one, and were blown away. It's a near-perfect slice of indie pop — quirky lyrics (Lemon To A Knife Fight), catchy choruses (Out Of My Head), super-sexy bass lines (Ice Cream), this has got the lot. As the weather carries on getting hotter, this will be the perfect album for driving around with the windows down for years to come.
3) Meg Myers — Take Me To The Disco
This may only be Meg's second full album, but news of its release was cause for much excitement here at Chez Popcorn. Her debut was searing, raw and wonderful, so more of the same would be lovely. Only that's not what we got. Taking her time, Meg went off and started experimenting, and came back with a dark, atmospheric, hauntingly beautiful collection of proper, grown-up, adult pop music. From the From the eerie title track to the pounding Tear Me To Pieces and the raw emotion of Funeral, this is the sound of a woman growing into her music and barely putting a foot wrong.
2) Tom Morello - The Atlas Underground
Tom Morello is, I can think we can agree, something of a legend in the guitar world. First he was at the cutting edge of rap-rock, then he was at the cutting edge of the supergroup, then he taught Bruce Springsteen how to play his own song — and now he's stepping out again, collaborating with the world's top *checks notes* electro artists.... Because if there's one thing you can say about Morello is he does like to change things around a bit and confound expectations. First we had The Nightwatchman, now Atlas Underground. And it's as brilliant as it is unexpected. From the opening pounding beat of Battle Sirens we're treated to driving rhythms, atmospheric soundscapes, catchy choruses and incendiary rapping. Joined from across the genres by Knife Party, K.Flay, Gary Clarke Jnr, Steve Aoki, Tim McIlrath and, erm, Marcus Mumford, The Atlas Underground is an electic mix of brilliance.
1) Mike Shinoda — Post Traumatic
As you may have heard, in 2017 we lost Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington. And while the world mourned, the rest of the band were left to wonder what they did next. Then in June of last year, we found out what Mike had planned. Fuelled by the twin losses of both his mother and his best friend, Mike had been pouring everything he felt down on to tape. The result is a passionate, raw, heartfelt collection of songs about grief, loss, coping, not coping, and at one point being stuck in traffic. It's also strangely uplifting, and in almost every case catchy as all hell. Crossing A Line, Nothing Makes Sense Anymore, Ghosts and personal favourite Holding It Together show a man trying to make sense of what has gone on while also being at the absolute top of his creative game. Guest stars swing by, but at the centre of it all is Shinoda, standing tall, singing his heart out and sweeping is all along with him.
Til next year....
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