Here's a compendium of clips from our blog’s most popular music posts in 2009. Want to see the posts in their entirety? Click on the hyperlink.

Top 5 Bassplayers of All Time

By Ivan Pena, February 13.

“…I have been a student of the Bass Guitar for around 15 years and have always fought the “apparent unimportance” of bass players in contemporary music. Through this post I hope to once and for all assert the position of bassists everywhere in the highest echelons of cool…”

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By Infinite Skillz, March 3

“In the hip-hop community, no one really wants to be labeled a hater. While I don’t hate Lil Wayne, I am far from a fan. I respect the fact that he has put out more music than any other major hip-hop artist in the last five years and probably has the best work ethic of any rapper not named Tupac Shakur. But is doing your job really worth the iconic status he seems to have achieved? I’m going to have to say no…”

It’s 420, time for another Top 10 list! Sorry, it’s late — what’d you expect?

By Leilani Polk, April 20

“…I will say this before I share my list — a few days ago, after hearing Afroman’s “I Got High” for the first time in several years, I decided that, by and large, it’s a lame excuse for a pot song. More than anything, it’s representative of a small portion of pot smokers — the slackers who’d slack with or without smoking pot — and not the 90 percent of the rest of the population of regular imbibers. I’m sorry, but you can’t blame smoking pot for being a loser, and that’s just what this very song does…”

Concert review: Steely Dan at Ruth Eckerd Hall

By Leilani Polk, June 14

“…The band was tight, the horn players on cue, but the music still had that slick quality, the back-up singers were good enough but more a distraction than a worthy embellishment, and the audience of mostly older folks who seemed to be digging the show big time, enough to stand up and applaud at various key points, never went so far as to do any dancing, aside from a few people on the sidelines where the ushers were most lenient…”

Are the Sublime and Alice in Chains reunions bullshit?

By Joel Weiss, September 6

“Alice In Chains and Sublime are among the biggest alt-rock bands to come out of the 1990s. Both sold millions of albums and lost a frontman to drugs (not necessarily in that order). Both bands have recently re-formed with new singers. Alice In Chains is even set to drop a new record at the end of the month. These two bands have so much in common – including this very passionate debate: are their reunions bullshit?”

My Joel Madden Vegas Encounter

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“…I was taking in the sights as our cab made its way downtown. In what I now believe to be divine intervention, we hit a red light in front of the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino. The hotel’s electronic ticker boasted current promotions and events — hotel bargains, dining deals, Saturday night’s birthday bash for some celebrity I’d never heard of. And then I read something that excited me more than I’d like to admit: “Joel Madden DJing TONIGHT at Club Privé. I broke our silence with a noise that can only be compared to someone gasping for their first breath of air after being brought back from the dead…”

Concert Review: blink-182 + All American Rejects at Ford Amphitheater

By Mike Wilson, September 28

“…With the heat beating up everyone, Delonge offered a witty description of Florida weather: “It’s like the sun is coming down and personally shitting on my face.” I couldn’t have said it better myself, Tommy. The entire time I was thinking, how can I talk to these ridiculously young girls if my back is drenched in sweat? How can I knock them off their feet? Don’t worry — my “bros” from Alpha Beta Theta Pi Omega had all that taken care of, I’m sure! …”

Concert Review: Alice Cooper at Ruth Eckerd Hall

By Gabe Echazabal, October 5

“…Yes, time can be cruel. But it’s worked to Alice Cooper’s advantage — now that he’s past his 60th birthday, the true degenerate that is his onstage persona has gained a creepy dimension with age. In closest comparison is the level of eeriness that screen actors (and Cooper’s personal mentors) Vincent Price and Peter Cushing gained as they aged. Their level of spookiness rose by leaps and bounds as they matured and the same can be said about Alice Cooper. Seeing a gaunt, wrinkled man clad in black leather spearing baby dolls and attacking life-sized rag dolls onstage is a pretty frightening sight. Shock value takes on a whole new meaning when observing a sick, twisted senior citizen partaking in such heinous acts. Alice has had years to perfect his act and judging from Friday nights onstage fright fest, the Alice Cooper show has benefited from age and experience.”

Concert Review: Leonard Cohen at Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center

By Leilani Polk, October 20

“…Debonair as always in his grey pinstripe suit and matching fedora, the 75-year-old held the audience mesmerized with his deep breathy baritone and occasional witty stage banter. He sang against his rootsy, jazz-flavored, gospel-tinged folk rock with his hand alternately cupped around his face or around his mic, at times bending into a crouch to deliver his lyrics from the floor with his trademark self-possessed passion …”

Concert Review: U2 at Raymond James Stadium

By Leilani Polk, October 10

“…Upwards of 70,000 people were crammed into Raymond James Stadium, waiting for musical liftoff, and were rewarded with a colossal production spectacle steered by the voices, instruments and magnetic charismas of the Irish mega-foursome. The stage was a four-legged spaceship and U2 was central command…”

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By Alex Pickett, November 3

“…Just when I thought the show ambiance could not get any more trip-tastic, out comes the balloon lights. During the first day’s second set, while the band played “Harry Hood,” the “Balloon Burble” made its debut, floating through the crowd like some Technicolor blimp. Made up of 1,000 extra large helium balloons equipped with LED lights and sensors, the installation can be controlled from remote and made to ripple and glow. As if that wasn’t enough, on Sunday night, a shape-shifting balloon structure appeared and towered above the crowd, morphing into vague representations of llamas, space invader characters and hand gestures. At least, that’s what I saw…”