Rate 08: This year just gone: February 2008

Pete Townshend's daughter, Emma worried there might be too little pop memorabilia for the next generation to collect. Indeed, with Sony switching off the DRM for Connect customers, it was looking possible there might not be any tunes for the next generation to collect, either. The Liverpool Echo attempted to have a moment, launching an Atomic Kitten cover of a Cilla Black song to start Capital of Culture year with a new Liverpool number one. They settled for a number 77. BBC Three tried to blend the internet and pop stars and came up with Lily Allen and Friends and The Guardian took on Beth Ditto as an agony aunt.

The Kaiser Chiefs attempted to fight Heathrow's third runway while helping promote SilverJet's services, which seemed as confused as Gordon Smart's pledge to leave Amy Winehouse alone while holding her life up to critical daylight. At least Britney Spears could count on the support of Brian May.

Shifting schedules: R Kelly was so busy with one court case he missed another, generating a third; The Spice Girls dropped a bunch of tour dates from the reunion in order to allow the tour to finish before they killed each other. The Police also decided that their reunion had run its course.

Undettered by Cliff Richard's dismissal of the Mop Tops, NASA started to play Beatles songs into outer space, which is no less likely than plans for Jay-Z on the Pyramid stage at Glastonbury. Or, indeed, Ireland entering a turkey puppet into Eurovision - which, unfortunately, Dana failed to see any funny side to.

Boston told Huckabee to stop playing their tunes but, perhaps inspired by Neil Young deciding that music can change the world after all, Obama accepted some help from Mark Ronson while the RIAA showed its concern for artists by suggesting songwriters get paid less but at least Avril Lavigne was forced to u-turn on plans to get dancers for free. The UN threw a little party to promote Madonna's Kabbalah friends and Gucci and somehow help poor children. Camden Market caught fire and No Depression closed down.

From The Jam - the non-Weller bits of The Jam - decided to record some new stuff, still without Weller, while Freakpower reunited without Norman Cook. And Led Zeppelin had their reunion announced by journalists who misread another band's name. It was going to take a court to decide if the new Gene Loves Jezebel was the real thing. Art Brut released a single which turned out to be bogus. The Was (Not Was) who got together were (not weren't) genuine, though.

The curious tale of how it was that an artist called Lennon came to be so convinced that Yoko was trying to stop her using her own name that Julian Lennon took up her cause was never quite fully explained. It was quite clear, though, that Will Smith wasn't a big fan of Hitler. Not a fan at all. David Cameron likes Thom Yorke so much he somehow tried to replicate In Rainbows as a Tory marketing stunt. George Martin figured the time was right to apologise to Pete Best for helping get the heave-ho from the Beatles.

NME announced yet another revamp as the pop press readership vanished. On radio, GCap dropped its DAB adventures and stuck much of XFM up for sale while Lesley Douglas fought popular opinion to insist that actually people were loving George Lamb's programme on 6Music - and nobody could ever fault Douglas' judgement. Microsoft's romantic Valentine's Day Zune was only slightly ruined by turning up late while MySpace announced new plans to take control of music online.

David Walliams and Russell Brand made themselves look a bit stupid during a Morrissey gig. A clear message that Brand needs a careful eye if you want to keep him out of trouble.