Fly Magazine went into the 2009 concert season with a list of burning questions we were determined to answer. “Why does everyone hate Moby so much?” “Why is the purple Wiggle always falling asleep on stage?” “Why does Bryan Adams come across as such a grumpy such-and-such in interviews?”
And hells bells, if we didn’t solve each and every one of them by year’s end! (Answers: “Nerd sweat,” “Kids think it’s funny” and “Because he really is a grumpy such-and-such.”) From ’70s crooners to ’80s pop stars, children’s entertainers to emo rockers, hardcore punks to country vixens, we caught up with some of the music world’s brightest stars to ask the tough questions. Below is a look back at some of 2009’s more illuminating moments.

JANUARY
STEVE WINWOOD
Who: British rock legend, singer of Traffic, member of Blind Faith, ’80s pop superstar
Who cares: Moms, whoever votes people into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Fly Magazine sales manager Brian Hershey
The epiphany: In music, newer isn’t always better. “This idea that everything must be new and different is quite hard with music, because there’s only 12 notes,” Winwood chuckles. “Music is a fascinating subject. It’s one of those things where the more you think you know about it, the more you realize there is to learn about it.”

FEBRUARY
BARRY MANILOW
Who: ’70s schmaltz superstar for whom music and passion are always the fashion
Who cares: Fanilows!
The epiphany: Manilow was born to rock. “I’ve always been on the border of rock and roll,” says an exuberant Manilow. “As a matter of fact, people credit me for inventing the power ballad, which I think I might have done. ‘Mandy’ was the first power ballad. I don’t know why people think all I do is sit at a piano and sing love songs. Boy, that’s about the last thing I do.”

MARCH
DROPKICK MURPHYS
Who: Irish drunk-punks who pahk the cah in the Hahvahd Yahd
Who cares: The guy in the kilt who just stabbed you in the neck for wearing a Yankees cap
The epiphany: Boston punks have a sensitive side. “We come from big families that are close. They’re not without the dysfunction, but they’re close,” says Murphys founder Ken Casey. “I just left a wake for my friend’s mother. There must have been a thousand people there. The line was down the street and around a corner. I think that’s Boston. People are close.”

APRIL
BRYAN ADAMS
Who: Canada’s curmudgeonly answer to Bruce Springsteen
Who cares: Chicks with big bangs, whoever scores Kevin Costner movies
The epiphany: Adams isn’t mean – he just doesn’t care. “I never was interested in fame. I always tried to keep quite a low profile. I turned down TV shows, I turned down huge interviews – I did one interview for the album Waking Up The Neighbours,” Adams says. “I never believed the whole [fame] thing. I only believed in the music and my band, and the rest of it was just bullshit.”

MAY
K.D. LANG
Who: Pop artist, PETA advocate and queen of androgyny
Who cares: People who thought the Lilith Fair was a good idea
The epiphany: Open lesbianism – not a lucrative career choice. “Once the titillation of that waned, it was difficult to convince advertisers that playing a lesbian on your radio station was a good thing,” lang recalls with a laugh. “But coming out has established an openness and an honesty, and has in a way contributed to my longevity. People know that I am what I say I am. I’m walking the walk.”

JUNE
STRIKE ANYWHERE
Who: Political punk / melodic hardcore band from Richmond, VA, fronted by dreadlocked vegan activist Thomas Barnett
Who cares: The neighbor kid with the lip ring who spray-painted an anarchy symbol on your garage door
The epiphany: Anarchists need love, too. “This is about friendship and an extended global family of artists, radicals, dreamers, maniacs, teachers,” says Barnett. “There’s a dentist in Edmonton who works on our teeth and then gets in the mosh pit afterwards. It’s like that.”

JULY
JULIANNE HOUGH

Who: Dancing With the Stars alum / country starlet / really, really, incredibly, ridiculously hot 21-year-old virgin
Who cares: Men
The epiphany: It’s possible for a young, attractive girl to be both successful and fully clothed. “I try to be as good as I can,” Hough giggles. “I think I’m too busy to get in trouble. I don’t know how [other celebrities] get in trouble. They should be too busy to! That’s what my parents’ philosophy was when we were growing up: ‘Just put ’em in a bunch of lessons so they don’t get in trouble!’”

AUGUST
THE WIGGLES
Who: Aussie children’s musical group
Who cares: Your nephews, the folks who book the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade
The epiphany: As it turns out, the purple Wiggle was totally just pretending to be asleep onstage. “Initially, it was because I didn’t have any communication skills with very young children. It was really a way of getting me to become involved in the show,” purple Wiggle Jeff Fatt explains. “For children to be able to wake up a grown-up – that’s a very empowering thing. It’s become a very popular thing.”

SEPTEMBER
MOBY
Who: Baldheaded beatmaster, giver of hope to nerds everywhere
Who cares: That kid with the Converse All-Stars, cardigan sweater and ironic Hello Kitty T- shirt who works at the indie record store
The epiphany: His repugnance is really only chemical. “Do you remember the Simpsons where Lisa had a bully? They realized that what the bully was responding to was the pheromones in Lisa’s nerd-sweat. That’s all I can think of. Maybe I’m missing something. It seems like there are probably more loathsome people on the planet than me.”

OCTOBER
LITTLE BIG TOWN
Who: Super-hot country stars, and the two dudes they keep around
Who cares: People who wear cowboy boots that they’re afraid to get dirty
The epiphany: Parenthood isn’t any easier when you’re a millionaire. “It’s a challenge with a two-year-old to keep her quiet at times,” says Kimberly Schlapman, daughter squealing in the background. “It’s tiring, definitely, but I’m used to sleep deprivation and just being run ragged. But it’s the best job in the whole world. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”

NOVEMBER
AFI
[PHOTO]
Who: Goth-glam punk vets, soundtrack to disenfranchised emo generation
Who cares: Jared Leto, who wants to know what happens when emo kids realize that you’re 37 years old
The epiphany: Mopey lyrics don’t always mean a mopey singer. “I certainly understand that [impression] that I would be a bleak and miserable person, because a lot of my lyrics are very despondent,” says frontman Davey Havok. “Luckily, I have the music to use as catharsis. If I didn’t, I might spend more time sitting and crying in a corner.”

DECEMBER
THE FRAY
Who: The missing link between Coldplay and Five For Fighting
Who cares: Well-balanced teens and the moms who chauffer them
The epiphany: Overnight success isn’t always a blessing. “It has felt really strange [suddenly] having millions and millions of people intimately involved in your process,” says drummer Ben Wysocki. “No one’s supposed to hear your first couple albums. You’re supposed to be given a couple of years to figure it all out. But we hadthree million people witness us going through puberty.”