Michael Jackson was indeed great, he was a born entertainer, second to none as a song-writer, we all know this, but let’s face it, he was hardly going to pull any more albums out of thin air at this stage. He said it himself when announcing the O2 gigs, “This is it!”.

It’s a real shame that he never lived to do the O2 gigs (especially as I had a ticket – gutted!), but realistically his career was already coming to an end so at least he went out at a time when we all still appreciated his music.

Let’s not forget also the other great losses this year. First off Liam Clancy, a staple of Irish Folk since TV was invented (in Ireland at least), passed away on December 4th. Bob Dylan once described him as “the best ballad singer I’d ever heard in my life“, so I’m not sure if anything I say to praise him can top that.

We also lost Les Paul this year, that’s right, THE Les Paul, not only did he invent his namesake solid body electric guitar, but he invented multitrack recording as well, which is one of the most important things to happen in music since… well, ever.

Oh, and the fantastic Scottish guitarist John Martyn also died. One of the first great musicians to cross genres and blend them beautifully.

And of course, though he may not have had as much of a long-term impact on music as the others mentioned, we will all miss Stephen Gately. Boyzone just aren’t the same without him.

But hey, let’s not be down about the whole thing, music hasn’t died, it’s still going strong. 2010 has loads to look forward to.

Here’s someone who is due to make a big splash in 2010, Ellie Goulding.

And yet more good news for 2010, Blink 182 are doing a European tour which will hopefully include Dublin, yay!! So it’s not all bad.