The Brits 1999: The Winners

Let's waste no time with the prelims.

The Awards

The Panel's Awards
BEST BRITISH GROUP:
Manic Street Preachers


Beautiful South
Catatonia
Gomez
Massive Attack
Dammit. My preview said Only the piss-poor, unattackable Manic Street Preachers are in to spoil things for us. And they did, repeating their victory in this caregory from 1997.
As usual, it seems, the Album and Group go to the same act: Blur, Oasis, the Manics, Verve, and the Manics again. This is the only defeat for Robbie Williams. (Oh dear, that's kinda given the game away...) BEST BRITISH ALBUM
"This Is My Truth, Tell Me Yours" - Manic Street Preachers


"International Velvet" - Catatonia
"Bring It On" - Gomez
"Mezzanine" - Massive Attack
"I've Been Expecting You" - Robbie Williams
BEST BRITISH MALE SOLO ARTIST:
Robbie Williams


Ian Brown
Bernard Butler
Lynden David Hall
Fatboy Slim
In fairness, nothing was going to stop Robbie; not with the massive public backing he's got. Probably the cheapest of his three awards, owing to the paucity of competition.
In the absence of any real talent, my preview I'll pick Des'ree to take the cheap bauble comes true. BEST BRITISH
FEMALE SOLO ARTIST:
Des'ree


Billie
PJ Harvey
Hinda Hicks
Billie Meyers
BEST BRITISH DANCE ACT:
Fatboy Slim


All Saints
Faithless
Jamiroquai
Massive Attack
I'm pleased to see Jamiroquai lose at last, and Norman Cook is not the worst of all destinations.

 
The People's Choices
BEST BRITISH SINGLE:
Robbie Williams - Angels


Beautiful South - Perfect Ten
Catatonia - Road Rage
Cornershop - Brimful of Asha
Desree - Life
Fatboy Slim - Rockerfella Skank
Manic Street Preachers - If You Tolerate This, Your Children Will Be Next
Massive Attack - Teardrops
George Michael - Outside
Robbie Williams - Millennium
Voted by listeners to independent local radio

Gosh! What a surprise! As soon as the nominations came out, we thought there's going to be no stopping one of the anthems of the time, "Angels" from taking the title. One of the most deserved awards, let's be frank.
Voted by listeners to BBC Radio 1

One of the oldest groups ever to win this "Newcomer" award do so in very strange style. To be honest, I never expected them to have more than a sniff of the prize: but, they go out and win the darned thing. Steps supremo Pete Waterman suggested the following weekend that the vote was rigged by students at Cambridge and Stratclyde Unis; the BPI and BBC express confidence in their voting systems.
BEST BRITISH
NEWCOMER:
Belle & Sebastian


Five
Another Level
Billie
Cleopatra
Cornershop
Gomez
Hinda Hicks
Propellorheads
Steps
BEST BRITISH VIDEO:
Robbie Williams - Millennium


All Saints - Under the Bridge
Mel B / Missy Elliot - I Want You Back
Cornershop - Brimful of Asha
Jamiroquai - Deeper Underground
Massive Attack - Teardrop
George Michael - Outside
Placebo - Pure Morning
Radiohead - No Surprises
Robbie Williams - Let Me Entertain You
Voted by viewers of cable channel The Box

Right guy, but The Kiss pastiche "Let Me Entertain You" is my tip, ahead of the Bond take-off of "Millennium" wrong clip.

 
The International Awards
BEST INTERNATIONAL NEWCOMER:
Natalie Imbruglia


Air
B*Witched
Eagle-Eye Cherry
Savage Garden
Previously: Natalie Imbruglia to be the first actress to turn credible singer. In result, she sweeps the board. Given Belle and Sebastian's victory in the UK category, look out for the Barenaked Ladies' 4th album to deliver them the goods here in 12 months.
Beck gets in for his part-time "Mutations" project; surely he can't win for that. Only he did. BEST INTERNATIONAL MALE SOLO ARTIST:
Beck


Eagle-Eye Cherry
Neil Finn
Pras
Will Smith
BEST INTERNATIONAL FEMALE SOLO ARTIST:
Natalie Imbruglia


Sheryl Crow
Lauryn Hill
Madonna
Alanis Morissette
We tipped Lauryn Hill, but suspected Imbruglia would run her close. A Good Result in a great category.
REM, winners in 92, 93, 95 and 97, fall off the podium for the first time ever, in favour of Irish group the Coors. Given that they sold 1.7 million last year, compared with REM's 200,000, there may be a little less surprise. BEST INTERNATIONAL GROUP:
Coors


Air
Beastie Boys
Fun Lovin' Criminals
REM
BEST SOUNDTRACK:
Titanic


Boogie Nights
Jackie Brown
Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels
The Wedding Singer
Following the "Biggest Is Best" paradigm of the past few years, Titanic picks up the gong.
Awards in the Gift of the Institute
THE FREDDIE MERCURY AWARD:
Jubilee 2000
The campaign to write off Third World debt was handed a promo coup by this award, presented to Bono of U2 and boxing champion Mohammed Ali. The connection with music in general, or any activity during 1998, was never made clear.
Twenty years after their initial success as two of the Tourists, David A Stewart and Annie Lennox pick up the 19th award between them; a statistic helped by the eligability of female singers in bands until 1991. They're the second 80s act to receive this award, after the Police unaccountably won in 1985. The list Yet To Be Honoured includes Slade, Kate Bush, the Sex Pistols and the Rolling Stones. OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION:
The Eurythmics
front local mscl music news sport
mail me


Create 17 Feb 99; revise 20 Feb 99 1