They came, they saw, they rocked us in 2011

Adele got ill, Motorhead rocked the joint, the Red Hot Thrilly Peppers brought their customary brilliance and the ever-influential Adam Ant and Duran Duran returned in triumph. No doubt about it, 2011 was quite a year,

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Of course, it was also the year of the Penneyscope, in which your tireless correspondent tried to provide you with an alternative look at the shenanigans taking place across the region. Covert meetings at a fountain in Queen Square with the Express & Star's crack team of writers has equipped me with all the information I've needed to peer through my Penneyscope at the ever-changing landscape.

Away from the hurly burly of live entertainment – of gigs being delayed because workmen have cut through power cables, or bands have overdone it on their rider – it's also been a year of celebration for the best in Midlands music.

The Home of Metal campaign saw rockers pay homage to the rock behemoths who originated in Birmingham and the Black Country. Heavy metal was born in the West Midlands and offers us a proud cultural heritage. Though they may not be everyone's cup of strychnine, it was good to see bands like Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Judas Priest, Napalm Death and Godflesh receive recognition.

Closer to home, the Wolverhampton Civic created a wall of fame, in which influential operators from our region were honoured. One of my proudest moments of the year was recognising the efforts of Sam Jukes, the guy who ran JB's, in Dudley, and somehow managed to host performances by such legends as U2 and Dire Straits – not to mention The Wonder Stuff, Pop Will Eat Itself and my own band, Ned's Atomic Dustbin.

Sam was a former speedway rider who started the club with friends after his track career was cut short. He used to host disco nights at the former home of Dudley Town FC before moving to premises at the back of a menswear store on King Street in the 1970s. His 250-capacity venue was legendary, it was an essential destination on the tour sheet for all up-and-coming bands – as much as The Leadmill, in Sheffield, or King Tut's Wah Wah Hut, in Glasgow.

Sam hosted gigs by pretty much everyone – from UB40 to Judas Priest, from the Manic Street Preachers to Elvis Costello and from Blur to The Stone Roses.

Back in 2000, we celebrated JB's 30th anniversary with a two-day festival at Dudley Castle that featured Ned's, Terrorvision and The Wonder Stuff's Miles Hunt. Sadly, the club closed in January this year, marking the end of an era, but JB's lives on in the hearts and minds of tens of thousands of people across the region. It was the club where bands could cut their teeth, where fans of live music could attend their first gig, where people could experience the sweaty and ephemeral pleasures of rock 'n' roll. The club that Sam created became immortal. It will never die.