Rage Against the Machine
January 1 signalled a great start to the year when frontman Chris Cornell announced the reunion of Soundgarden and by the end of the both, those sweethearts in The Red Hot Chili Peppers had also announced a return to the stage.
The year went on to see the awesome, Rush, inducted into Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame 2010 and the announcement that rock legends AC/DC would headline Download festival - marking their return to Donington for the first time in 19 years, since 1991's Monsters of Rock.
Rage Against the Machine and Aerosmith also bagged themselves headline spots at the racetrack-based festival, whilst "The Big Four of Thrash Metal" - Anthrax, Megadeth, Slayer and Metallica - played together for the first time at the Sonisphere Festival at Bemowo Airport in Warsaw, Poland.
Whilat we're on the subject of festivals, Ozzy Osbourne and his Ozzfest returned with Mötley Crüe, Rob Halford and DevilDriver on the bill, and fellow musical legend, the late Dimebag Darell's former girlfriend Rita Haney, organised Dimebash '10 which raised $10,000 for Cancer Awareness in memory of Ronnie James Dio.
Following the passing of Avenged Sevenfold drummer The Rev in December of 2009, this year saw Mike Portnoy of Dream Theater joining M Shadows and friends to record their fifth studio album Nightmare. He then toured with the band and Corey Taylor's Stone Sour in late 2010 before announcing that after 25 years or musicality, he would be leaving Dream Theater to focus on A7X.
We also remember the passing of some great stars in rock;
Malcolm McLaren - Manager for Sex Pistols - April 8,
Peter Steele - Type O Negative - April 14
Ronnie James Dio - Dio / Black Sabbath / Rainbow - May 16
Paul Gray - Slipknot - May 24