What were the 80 most important musical recordings, artists, trends, events, and performances of 2008? What were the eight things this year that broke our hearts—or, at least, our ears? We’re happy to announce 80 ’08 (and Heartbreak), Idolator’s year-end overview. The list is below the jump.
Following the unexpected critical and commercial success of Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?, it seemed like Of Montreal’s Kevin Barnes had painted himself into a corner. If critics had considered that album a breakthrough because of its juxtaposition of romantic dissolution and bouncy glam, he would either have to start talking about Serious Things and become a Serious Artist, completing the expected maturation, or pull back from the thematic brink to explore the maximalist glitter aesthetic that now pervaded his musical and visual gestures. Needless to say, he went with the latter.
