The Wasatch Front had a memorable year of music despite a depression, manufactured acts like Britney Spears and Kellie Pickler trying hard to be relevant, and Guns N' Roses releasing the most highly anticipated, and most disappointing, album of the past 15 years.

1. Despite the economic depression that shuttered clubs like the Broken Record and the Palladium, clubs like the Urban Lounge and Bar Deluxe picked up the slack and provided a spot for local bands as well as national acts to play in Salt Lake City proper. A promising upstart, the Murray Theater, became a prime place to see rap and rock, while established locations like Burts Tiki Lounge and The Depot remained solvent with eclectic choices and smart programming.

2. The Wasatch Front made up for the absence of the Van Halen tour by bringing in some of the hottest tours of the year, including The Police, Carrie Underwood, Neil Diamond, Wilco, Metallica, Bob Dylan, Kanye West, Rihanna and Bonnie Raitt.

3. Red Butte Garden opened on schedule and became one of best, and most beautiful, venues in the area to see a concert. With its inviting vibe -- helped by its cooler-friendly rules -- the venue sold out most of its shows and brought acts the old venue couldn't have accommodated in its earlier incarnation, such as Bonnie Raitt. And the Wilco-Fleet Foxes show was one of the best concerts of the year.

4. Utah natives such as David Archuleta and Julianne Hough captured national media attention -- and album sales -- while local acts such as Band of Annuals and Bliss arrived at the perch of widespread success.

5. As it has every other year, Utah provided a welcoming place to artists, and the artists in turn gave incredible, once-in-a-lifetime experiences. Among the best shows of the year: Mika's all-acoustic show at In the Venue after his tour buses were unable to get out of a Colorado snowstorm; Lucinda Williams' tour-de-force at Deer Valley that revved up the usually reserved audience into a stage-surrounding frenzy; Rihanna outperfoming Kanye West in an E Center show that showed hip-hop can bring in Utah crowds; Stone Temple Pilots' Scott Weiland reminding an audience how a rock frontman is supposed to look, act and sing; and Bob Dylan paying a blazing Labor Day weekend show in the face of a hard, hard rain.

6. National big-box retailers like Wal-Mart and Best Buy continued an effort to squeeze independent record stores by buying the exclusive rights to sell albums by AC/DC and Guns N' Roses. But indie stores, like Groovacious in Cedar City and Slowtrain and Graywhale in northern Utah, fought back by participating in the first-ever Independent Record Store Day and using unusual means to retain loyal customers.