1998 - hardly a vintage year, was it?

Too many bands were allowed to try to make silk purses out of sows' ears, leaving the record-buying public feeling decidedly pig-sick.

Steve Webb looks back on the year in pop

You only had to look at the end-of-year chart to see George Michael sitting pretty at the top of the tree with his greatest hits album, while a woman in her 50s enjoyed the biggest-selling single of the year - hardly bodes well for the future, does it?

Beastie Boys: Welcome return

But it wasn't all doom and gloom. The Beastie Boys exploded back onto the scene with the humdinging Hello Nasty. Funky, scratchy, loud and loveable, they also boasted the sleeve of the year, which made the humble sardine hip again.

Catatonia: International Velvet ... and international succes

The Manics also made a welcome return with the thoughtful, underrated This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours. A generation apart from Generation Terrorists, but anyone who saw them live could see the old sparkle was back.

Catatonia's Cerys and the irrepressible Robbie Williams were woman and man of the year. Cerys became the most photographed woman in pop on the back of the single-laden International Velvet, while Robbie adopted the alter-ego of King Midas.

Manic Street Preachers: Underrated

I've Been Expecting You was critically acclaimed, he made more appearances on TFI Friday than Chris Evans and his halo remained intact, even when he'd confessed to "taking this and that".

Massive Attack took a walk on the dark side with Mezzanine, a broody reflection which spawned the spine-tingling Teardrop. What price a cover of The Stranglers' Duchess in 1999?

The big beat bandwagon gathered pace, with Fatboy Slim in the driving seat. The man with more aliases than Smith and Jones is in danger of becoming too popular.

Massive Attack: Took a walk on the wild side with Mezzanine

After helping Cornershop to number one, he put out two of the dance albums of the year in Big Beat At The Boutique and the meaty, beaty, big and skanky You've Come A Long Way, Baby.

Skint labelmates the Lo Fidelity Allstars lived up to their early promise with the mind-blowing How To Operate With A Blown Mind, but their year ended on a sour note when singer The Wrekked Train (Mark E Smith's lovechild) came off the rails and departed.

Young whippersnappers Gomez provided the annual 'shock' by walking away with the Mercury Music Prize. Bring It On was a tasty mix of beaten-up blues and beats with its roots set in deepest America. They actually hail from, er, Southport!

Pulp's sorrowful This Is Hardcore did not enjoy the commercial success of its predecessors, but will in time be hailed as their greatest-ever album.

Sex Pistols: Shook up the music scene in the 70s

REM also decided a change was better than a rest with the experimental Up, while Smashing Pumpkins, Ash, Placebo and The Bluetones made stunning re-appearances.

But the big boys did not have it all their own way. Air's Moon Safari took us on a journey to another planet and put the Moog firmly back on the map, Jurassic 5's eponymous old-skool offering was hip hop at its blinding best and The Boy With The Arab Strap from Belle And Sebastian was simply beautiful.

Add to that Morcheeba and The Fun Lovin' Criminals and you may think it wasn't such a bad year after all.

Smashing Pumpkins: Adorable hit

Take an overview of the whole picture, though, and you can see that the music scene as a whole is going through a worrying period of stagnation.

But there's light at the end of the tunnel.

The last time things got this stale, Malcolm McLaren unleashed the Sex Pistols onto an unsuspecting world - and young rock band Idlewild are waiting in the wings to lead the latest revolt. Watch this space...