Without wishing to drown my excitement in a sea of superlatives, it’s safe to say that, for me, 2002 kicked ass.

Having become an Arts drop-out merely five months into my first year at UCD, I took up residency as intern-extraordinaire at HP Towers in September where I have (thus far) gotten paid for listening to the free CDs I get sent in the post and going to gigs seven nights a week. (And no, I’m not joking).

As if things couldn’t get any better, rock ’n’ roll returned to the popular music scene with a big, loud, distorted squeal this year, knocking the remnants of the nu-metal monster well into orbit. Meanwhile, pop committed suicide by showing the world, via live TV, just how manufactured it really is and Tenacious D got popular. Hoorah!

But it wasn’t all sweetness and light – I missed Green Day’s Witnness gig (punishable by death in my book), Korn’s Jonathon Davis – with a bun in his hair and citing his favourite band as Duran Duran – was grossly disappointing and we waved goodbye to yet another casualty of the Dublin music scene as the wonderful Brando hung up their guitars in Whelan’s.

On a personal note, I met System Of A Down (nut-bars) and Incubus (ridiculously good-looking), passed Slayer in the hall backstage at Ozzfest (very scary indeed), was shocked by Huey Morgan from the Fun Lovin’ Criminals who claimed he bought drugs from a street dealer while I was doing a phone interview with him and enjoyed the most exciting ten seconds of my young life when I met my God, Mr Dave Grohl (above), at Witnness .

Queens Of The Stone Age, Tool, Foo Fighters, David Holmes and The Free Ass, The D4, The Streets, Zero 7 and Motörhead were the essential gigs and The Strokes, The White Stripes, System Of A Down, Damien Rice, the aforementioned QOTSA and The Streets all did an extended residency in my CD player. Home birds Mundy, Gemma Hayes and Damien Rice at last received due praise and local cut ’n paste prog-rock players blossomed, with gigs and releases from The Jimmy Cake, Nina Hynes, Daemien Frost and the Connect 4 Orchestra.

As for 2003? Well, a new A Perfect Circle album, the reforming of The Stone Roses and Green Day on the cover should suffice. Just about.