| The Panel's Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
|
The Verve Oasis The Prodigy Radiohead Texas |
So. The most self-indulgent people not there lost. Their nearest equivalents won. What a mess. | |
| Familiar nominations, familiar result, familiar reaction. | The Verve - Urban Hymns Oasis - Be Here Now The Prodigy - The Fat Of The Land Radiohead - OK Computer Texas - White On Blonde |
|
| BEST BRITISH MALE SOLO ARTIST Finley Quaye Gary Barlow Elton John Paul Weller Robbie Williams |
Something of a surprise there, as the one relative unknown comes forward to wind up victorious. Whether this was as a result of a heavily split vote, or Finlay's positive quality, we may never know. But well done to him. | |
| I predicted Shola to win this category, slightly against my personal preferences. But, yet again, this is such a weak category that it's heading to the ludicrous. Before 1994, female singers of bands were eligable for this category; had that rule been applied here, I've no doubt Sharleen Spiteri of Texas would have won something more than respect. | BEST BRITISH FEMALE SOLO ARTIST Shola Ama Michelle Gayle Louise Beth Orton Lisa Stansfield |
|
| BEST BRITISH DANCE ACT The Prodigy The Brand New Heavies The Chemical Brothers Eternal Jamiroquai |
Who cares? | |
| Who cares, squared? | BEST BRITISH PRODUCER Youth/The Verve/Chris Potter Nigel Godrich/Radiohead Liam Howlett Roni Size Stephen Street | |
| The People's Choices | ||
|---|---|---|
All Saints - Never Ever Blur - Song 2 Chumbawamba - Tubthumping Eternal featuring Be Be Winans - I Wanna Be The Only One Elton John - Something About The Way You Look Tonight/Candle In The Wind 1997 Olive - You're Not Alone Radiohead - Paranoid Android Texas - Say What You Want The Verve - Bitter Sweet Symphony Robbie Williams - Old Before I Die |
In the absence of les femmes Spice, les Saintes Toutes were victorious. Officially, voting figures weren't released, but the big surprise was the lack of support for Elton John: 4 million sales but only 8th place. Eternal and Chumbawumba provided the closest run-in; the Chumbas later attacked Labour Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott accusing him of selling out his socialist principles. A case of the pot calling the kettle black, I'm sure. | |
So, the All Saints didn't make a clean sweep of the public awards. In fact, the winners were probably the most boring of the nominees, peddling a brand of tired, cliched guitar music. But, it's what Radio 1 has deemed to be cool, and that's that. This award has something of a bad history to it: previous winners Bros, Oasis, Terence Trent D'Arby and Five Star never made a decent record afterwards, while Kula Shaker are yet to follow up their winner last year. | Stereophonics All Saints Shola Ama Embrace Olive Beth Orton Finley Quaye Conner Reeves Roni Size & Reprazent Travis | |
| BEST BRITISH VIDEO All Saints - Never Ever Blur - Song 2 David Bowie - Little Wonder The Chemical Brothers - Block Rockin' Beats Dario G - Sunchyme Jamiroquai - Alright Oasis - D'You Know What I Mean Republica - Drop Dead Gorgeous Spice Girls - Spice Up Your Life Supergrass - Late In The Day The Verve - Bitter Sweet Symphony |
And put the two big girl groups head to head, and the Saints win. Something of a surprise, really, until you consider their margin of victory was just 0.4% of the vote. | |
| The International Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
Eels Erykah Badu Daft Punk Hanson No Doubt |
Hey, another one where the Panel agrees with me. Hopefully, they won't suffer the curse of previous winners of this category, such as MC Hammer and Alanis Morissette, Canada's favourite brand of vanishing cream. | |
| Ho-hum. | BEST INTERNATIONAL MALE SOLO ARTIST Jon Bon Jovi Coolio LL Cool J DJ Shadow Sash! | |
| BEST INTERNATIONAL FEMALE SOLO ARTIST Bjork Erykah Badu Meredith Brooks Celine Dion Janet Jackson |
I should have know. Winner in 94 and 96, the last times she was eligable, Bjork was always the favourite to win again. | |
| Well, that's a complete load of bunkum, really. Why? Why? The most boring group of the five, with their worst album in a very long time. B-a-d call. | U2 Daft Punk Eels Hanson No Doubt | |
| BEST SOUNDTRACK The Full Monty Men In Black Romeo + Juliet Space Jam Trainspotting #2 |
So, well done to them, and good luck with the Oscars. | |
| Other Awards | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Elton John |
This award is given to someone or a group of people who have done work for charity. Elton is the obvious recipient of this award, following his work with AIDS charities over the past ten years, and some other charity work this year. The award was presented by Prime Minister Tony Blair the previous week, at a White House reception with other rock legends Stevie Wonder and Bill Clinton. | |||
| In recognition of their being the biggest band on the planet, really. Oh, and because they didn't win anything else. | SPECIAL AWARD The Spice Girls |
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| OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION Fleetwood Mac |
When Mick Fleetwood and Peter Green formed a band in 1967, they didn't expect it to still be recording 30 years later. With classic albums Rumours and Tango in the Night amongst their many hits, Ver Mac are another quality part of the British musical heritage. Now, where's that free CD..? | |||
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