Everyone's mother once told them, or should have, that life is not always going to be a puppy mill full of unicorns and rainbows. Remember why all those puppies are there. Sometimes life -- and especially pop music -- doesn't turn out like you were expecting, so now we present Rocks Off's Biggest Musical Disappointments of 2012.
COREY DEITERMAN: My biggest disappointment in music this year is the career trajectory of Odd Future. Look, I was one of their biggest adherents when they first came out and I even stuck with them when they alienated their hipster fanbase around the middle of 2011. But there's only so much even I could take. Goblin was the last great release from these guys, in my opinion.
Everything since, and there's been lots, has been boring and shown how much thin ice they were treading even in the beginning. The cracks have not only shown themselves on recent albums, they've blown wide open as the rap crew has played itself out completely. Even their collective OF Tape Vol. 2 and the much-hyped return of Earl Sweatshirt simply raised my hopes to promptly kill them as brutally as possible.
I'm pretty much ready to call it a day on these guys ever making anything worth paying attention to again, but I admit I'm still waiting to hear Wolf before really giving up.
CORY GARCIA: It may not have made it to TMZ but it was sad watching Ween go out in a blaze of unnecessary drama. While I fully expect for them to reunite at some point in the future it's never fun to watch a group you like have a very public falling out, especially when it comes out of left field the way this one did.
CHRIS GRAY: These days I find that my expectations are generally so low with anything regarding music, be it a new album or concert or some viral trend, that it's difficult to be seriously disappointed in much. That way if something does turn out well, I am pleasantly surprised; if not, no big deal. So although I thought this year was ready for the glue factory by about April, there wasn't a whole lot that truly let me down.
Instead I want to mention something that exceeded my expectations beyond any reasonable amount: ABC's country-music drama Nashville. I'm not recapping it here anymore because nobody was reading (which I'm sure is my fault), but Nashville has happily been extended for a full season, and I'm still watching every week. It's on "winter hiatus" until Jan. 9.
Nashville has something of Melrose Place, aka Pretty People Making Stupid Choices, a conniving prime-time villain for the ages in the ruthlessly velvety Powers Boothe, and enough music-biz savvy to write in eyelash cameo roles for serious Nashville cats like Americana don Buddy Miller and rowdy roots band Cadillac Black. But then it will go and do something only the best trashy soaps can get away with, like pairing up the Strait-Laced Christian Pro Quarterback and the Bad-Girl Ingenue with a Mom in Rehab -- and the show has her ask him to marry her. I'm hooked.
JOHN SEABORN GRAY: Probably the new Gaslight Anthem album, Handwritten. I wanted to like it, but it just didn't do anything for me.
