I managed to dredge up my memories of news, shows, and records that happened this past year. It wasn’t easy. I’ve fried a lot of brain cells with black coffee and fumes from the subway, so remembering what I had for dinner the night before is sometimes a chore.  Not to mention that a lot of albums have come across my desk, I spent a lot of time listening to music, almost to an obsessive level sometimes.

So to highlight my favorite stuff of the year, never mind remembering what exactly came out this year, is sorta fucking hard.  I mean the last CD I really loved that I got is a CD version of two Scream records, and that band broke up in 1990.  Most of the bands I really like are off the beaten path even in punk rock, and a bunch of them aren’t even active any more.

Yes, I really am that hip.

But I figured that if I instead thought of what I remembered about the year in more general terms, then that’ll work.  So here we are. And while the names that you see here might not be ones you recognized this past year, what’s here was still pretty significant to me and in the end, in some way to everyone.

Read more after the jump.

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As previously reported by Jason, Taco Bell was holding a “Feed The Beat” contest to give touring bands free Taco Bell, likely in hopes of having creepy fans to follow the bands to the nearest Taco Bell after the show. Good choice on picking teenage girl heart throbs Armor For Sleep. Among the other winners were Ted Leo, whom has already expressed the fact that he did not enter this contest according to Pitchfork. Taco Bell has yet to remove his name from the Feed The Beat website at this time. According to the website other winners include Strike Anywhere, Lemuria, Girl Talk and Panthers to name a few. Strike Anywhere’s people have confirmed the band entered the contest just because it was a goof and free food is just that. I think I’ll pass though