Thursday, September 08, 2005
Prize Surprise
Once again we proved ourselves to have all the predictive abilities of a box of cornflakes when we suggested that Verbalicious and MIA would take the Popjustice and Mercury prizes respectively. Fortunately we didn't have either the confidence or the basic understanding of how gambling works to actually put our money were our mouth was, but we can still be somewhat proud of the fact that for the third year running we've scored zero for zero in our pre-emptive guessing. Oh well.
Of course, we really should have called Girls Aloud for the PJ Prize. After all, the odds of them not getting it were only slightly more likely than God appearing in the city of New Orleans to apologise for what he would describe as "A bit of a balls up". We, however, must take issue with decision, not because it's not a good song - it's clearly as fantastic as a whole armful of helium balloons; not because we wanted Verbalicious to win - though we did; and not because of sheer bloody-minded contrariness - though that is a factor - but because we feel that, good though it is, Wake Me Up isn't quite as exciting and ground-breaking as previous GA singles, and to award them the prize for this is almost like giving them the green light to carry on coasting along, releasing tracks like Long Hot Summer and not being the red hot pop machine we expect them to be. It's not to besmirch those tracks - they're still better than 99% of what's out there, Fierce Girl's What Makes A Girl Fierce notwithstanding - but we know they can do better and we'd like to see them push themselves a bit harder, and hit that extra mile for what will inevitably both their third and final album.
Still, nice motorbikes.
With Antony and the Johnsons Mercury victory, the debate is less about whether he deserved to win, but whether he should have even been on the shortlist in the first place, what with him being ever so slightly American. Also causing consternation is his appearance, with the BBC describing him thus: "Standing 6ft 4in tall and with a shock of black hair, the 34-year-old has a voice as unconventional as his looks.", by which they mean he's a bit chubby. But ultimately, who cares? He could come from the moon and have had extensive plastic surgery to look like Donald Duck and it still wouldn't matter as long as he keeps releasing music as breathtakingly beautiful as I Am A Bird Now.
Oh, and the GQ Awards happened as well, but really, who, other than Dylan Jones and Little Britain, gave a toss about that?
music mercury music prize mercury popjustice music prize
Of course, we really should have called Girls Aloud for the PJ Prize. After all, the odds of them not getting it were only slightly more likely than God appearing in the city of New Orleans to apologise for what he would describe as "A bit of a balls up". We, however, must take issue with decision, not because it's not a good song - it's clearly as fantastic as a whole armful of helium balloons; not because we wanted Verbalicious to win - though we did; and not because of sheer bloody-minded contrariness - though that is a factor - but because we feel that, good though it is, Wake Me Up isn't quite as exciting and ground-breaking as previous GA singles, and to award them the prize for this is almost like giving them the green light to carry on coasting along, releasing tracks like Long Hot Summer and not being the red hot pop machine we expect them to be. It's not to besmirch those tracks - they're still better than 99% of what's out there, Fierce Girl's What Makes A Girl Fierce notwithstanding - but we know they can do better and we'd like to see them push themselves a bit harder, and hit that extra mile for what will inevitably both their third and final album.
Still, nice motorbikes.
With Antony and the Johnsons Mercury victory, the debate is less about whether he deserved to win, but whether he should have even been on the shortlist in the first place, what with him being ever so slightly American. Also causing consternation is his appearance, with the BBC describing him thus: "Standing 6ft 4in tall and with a shock of black hair, the 34-year-old has a voice as unconventional as his looks.", by which they mean he's a bit chubby. But ultimately, who cares? He could come from the moon and have had extensive plastic surgery to look like Donald Duck and it still wouldn't matter as long as he keeps releasing music as breathtakingly beautiful as I Am A Bird Now.
Oh, and the GQ Awards happened as well, but really, who, other than Dylan Jones and Little Britain, gave a toss about that?
music mercury music prize mercury popjustice music prize
