It was a year for rocking, for boppig, for grooving, for moshing, for swaying and of course, for listening. Taking one last spin through the sounds of the past 12 months, our music writers tell us what they heard.

When The Strokes pulled out of this year's Summer Sonic event, questions had to be asked: Does this New York band really exist outside the pages of glossy magazines? Are those cool guys in the photos just models? And is the music actually being made by some old guys who used to be in a band called Television?

If there was music, that is, because at that time, none of us in Japan could get our hands on one of their two alleged singles.