Top 10 WTF Moments in Music in 2018

Was this inevitable? The band’s collection “Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975” got great reviews, with some critics going as far to call it the sun-soaked folk rockers’ finest album.The thing is, they said this in 1976. Historically, it had always been one of the best-selling albums of all time, but in an age when music sales are down, it’s odd that 2018 was their time to be certified 38x platinum and pass Michael Jackson to claim the title. It's true that the album is a case of mostly killer, no filler, but this hits package doesn't even have “Hotel California” on it, or any contributions from Joe Walsh or Timothy B. Schmit.

It's a story as old as time: the call is coming from inside the house, the trusted ally is really the criminal mastermind, and the ticket distributors have been the scalpers all along. Okay, so Ticketmaster aren't scalpers directly, but they might as well be. In September, Canada’s CBC News reported on a professional resale scheme where resellers were advised by Ticketmaster to buy tickets, and then flip them on TradeDesk – an invite-only service owned by Ticketmaster. This plan would secure Ticketmaster a cut of the initial sale, plus a cut of the inflated second sale – double dipping, and all kinds of shady.

It wasn't a surprise for guitar forum cynics, but to the rest of the world, seeing one of the undisputed leaders of the guitar industry staring into the abyss of its own mortality was a shocker. Many were quick to blame Henry Juszkiewicz, whose tenure as CEO brought unrequested innovations like mandatory robotic machine heads, finishes styled after '70s custom vans, declining quality control, dubious sourcing policies, and $10,000 collector models. But, this was not Gibson's undoing. Instead, it was the company's diversification into non-guitar industries, such as the acquisition of Phillips and Onkyo, investments which hadn't paid off when Gibson's creditors came knocking.

Theirs is a very complicated history, but it was nonetheless a shocker when, 43 years after joining — and over two decades after rejoining — guitarist, vocalist, songwriter, and producer Lindsey Buckingham found himself ousted from Fleetwood Mac. Even the timing was weird – they'd just played at MusiCares and were on the cusp of a major tour. The “why”? That was less surprising – complications with his solo schedule, and . . . complications with Stevie Nicks. There was a backhanded compliment in all this, however: it took two people to replace Buckingham – Crowded House founder Neil Finn on vocals, and Tom Petty's right hand man Mike Campbell on guitar.

When you have the years, wisdom, and Midas touch of an elder musical genius and statesman like Quincy Jones, people will listen. In an interview with Vulture, the 85-year-old shared a lot of unorthodox opinions like, oh : the Beatles were terrible musicians, and Microsoft's Paul Allen was a guitarist on par with Jimi Hendrix. Jones also confessed that he'd once jammed with Benito Mussolini's son Romano, he named JFK's killer, said that Michael Jackson was a literal musical thief, and that Marlon Brando bedded . . . a mailbox. But probably the most attention- getting was his claim that he once dated Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka.

2018 was a banner year for rap drama, like the hate-on between Nicki Minaj and Cardi B, but one of the most attention-grabbing was the diss-track war between Machine Gun Kelly and Eminem. The opening shots were fired in 2012 when MGK expressed approval on the physical appearance of Em's teen daughter. In 2015, the rap upstart then suggested he had been blackballed by Mathers from the radio station Shade 45, and appeared to allude to this in 2018 while guesting on a Tech N9ne track. Eminem returned fire with “Not Alike” in August; MGK with “Rap Devil”; and Em again with “Killshot”, which seemingly lived up to its title.

Elsewhere in hip hop, additional trouble was a-brewin'. So, Drake has a kid. You've heard “Scorpion,” you know this. But you know who knew it before you knew it? Pusha-T knew it. And if you heard his “The Story of Adidon,” you then knew it too. But you know who knew it before Pusha-T knew it? Kanye knew, and Drake seemed to think that ‘Ye was the leaker of the info. Except... it turned out, according to Pusha anyway, it was 40, his own producer. Oddly, based on his Twitter feed, Kanye didn't seem that invested in the “feud”, while the pot-stirring Pusha-T felt Drake owed Ye an apology.

Initially, armchair morality experts were busy judging if Ariana Grande's dress was long enough to qualify as funeral attire. But then, after she finished singing “Natural Woman,” something else caught their attention... that bishop's right hand, which was a questionable distance from Ariana's right breast. Like, the thickness of her dress from it. Then, while holding her breast hostage, in a church, at a funeral, honouring a musical and feminist icon, this same bishop went on to make a cheap and cheesy joke at the expense of Grande's name, all while Ariana grinned and squirmed through obvious displeasure. Yuck.

Sometimes you think Kanye's onto something . . . and then the next moment he pairs a MAGA hat with a Kaepernick sweatshirt. Or, like, he speaks. Yeezy made an unusual detour into politics in 2018, endorsing alt-right commentator Candace Owens, questioning the relevance of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr, and, well, calling for the abolishment of the anti-slavery 13th Amendment. Then, after having his pro-Trump rant cut from “SNL,” Kanye met with the President at the White House to explain, among other things, how the Donald’s MAGA campaign slogan was the one that made him feel the most manly.





Before we unveil our top pick here are a few honorable mentions.



Weezer Badgered Into Covering Toto's “Africa”



50 Cent vs Ja Rule

The Smashing Pumpkins Reunion Got Dramatic Before It Got Started

2016 was an infamously brutal year when it came to losing icons and legends, but 2018 may be the worst year since 1959 for wiping out a crop of new voices and young trailblazers. The first high profile loss came with the suicide of the highly-popular and influential Swedish DJ Avicii in April, bringing a sad close to a life marked by a battle with substance abuse. June saw the murder of XXXTentacion, a prolific up-and-coming rapper with a unique take on the genre; while music fans took a horrible third punch to the gut with the overdose death of the brilliant Mac Miller in September.