The 2006 Mercury Music Prize

[yertle-the-turtle]

The shortlist:

Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan - Ballad of the Broken Seas
Editors - The Back Room
Guillemots - Through the Windowpane
Richard Hawley - Coles Corner
Hot Chip - The Warning
Muse - Black Holes and Revelations
Zoe Rahman - Melting Pot
Lou Rhodes - Beloved One
Scritti Politti - White Bread Black Beer
Sway - This Is My Demo
Thom Yorke - The Eraser

Hmm. Results this Tuesday. Interesting how four of those nominated (Campbell, Hawley, Rhodes and Yorke) are more well known for their work with the bands/collectives they are/were in.

And really, Muse over 'The Life Pursuit'? Tsk.

 

[Jack In The Box]

wow, nominees this year are really weak

 

[LemonMelon]

wow, nominees this year are really weak

Agreed.

 

[beau2ifulday]

Hot Chip, please. It's the best of a bad lot. Not that they stand a hope in hell. Editors, maybe?

 

[yertle-the-turtle]

And your winner is...Arctic Monkeys.

That's actually a surprise to me. Not that I don't like them, it's just they've won seemingly every other award in the past year or so and the Mercury winner always tends to be a bit different.

Oh well rather them than Muse, really.

 

[bono_man2002]

Oh well rather them than Muse, really.

 

[If you shout...]

 

[u2popmofo]

Oh well rather them than Muse, really.

Considering the Muse album is great, not really.


The only albums in the list I'm even remotely interested in are Muse, Arctic Monkeys, Hot Chip, and Thom Yorke, and I truthfully don't think any of them really deserved to win. Crap list, guess that's what they get for only nominating British acts (hell, an American won last year).

 

[LemonMelon]

I really like the Artic Monkey's singer. He totally out-scums Liam Gallagher.

 

[yertle-the-turtle]

Considering the Muse album is great, not really.


The only albums in the list I'm even remotely interested in are Muse, Arctic Monkeys, Hot Chip, and Thom Yorke, and I truthfully don't think any of them really deserved to win. Crap list, guess that's what they get for only nominating British acts (hell, an American won last year).

We'll just agree to disagree about Muse, I guess.

Have you heard Guillemots yet? They're not bad, not prize-worthy but not bad. Kinda like have that whole Doves/Spiritualized vibe about them.

 

[u2popmofo]

We'll just agree to disagree about Muse, I guess.

Have you heard Guillemots yet? They're not bad, not prize-worthy but not bad. Kinda like have that whole Doves/Spiritualized vibe about them.

I have heard a track on a sampler, but I honestly remember nothing about it. I'll have to check it out again.

And by the way, when I said the album was "great", I meant as good as anything else on the list.

 

[Jack In The Box]

(hell, an American won last year).

that album was worthy to win, it was the best album of last year

 

[Earnie Shavers]

Anyone else think the Arctic Monkeys are ridiculously overhyped?

 

[Aygo]

Anyone else think the Arctic Monkeys are ridiculously overhyped?

Me! I always say that.
The Arctic Monkeys are probably the most overated band of the last 2-3 years by the world press and by... everyone!
Their album is no big deal, even though NME gave it 10/10 .
For me it's 5/10 and even Oasis' worse albums are better than that.

 

[Bono's shades]

Anyone else think the Arctic Monkeys are ridiculously overhyped?

YES!!

I know the British music mags eat this stuff up, but I thought the Mercury Music Prize voters were supposed to be smarter than that.

 

[MacHat]

Anyone else think the Arctic Monkeys are ridiculously overhyped?

Me!

I think the title of their album is ridiculously pretentious. Also, what I've heard from the album is really overrated crud.

I don't put much stock in reviews from NME, within 1-2 years they'll probably be ragging on the Arctic Monkeys!

 

[Aygo]

The guys enerve me a lot...
And it's unbelievable how desperate the british press seem trying to get a new british invasion or trying to recreate the hype of The Beatles/Rolling Stones, that failled 10 years ago with Oasis/Blur...

 

[u2popmofo]

I like the Arctic Monkeys, but they got next to no press or hype in the US. I'm not saying they're great, but they're fun and listenable. Quite honestly, every other year the UK is trying to hype one of their own acts up as the greatest band of our generation. For the most part, no one in the US ever seems to listen. Even Oasis didn't hit it big in the US (I know a lot of people will try to argue with me about this, but it's still true). Simply said, British press over hypes everything and anything British and new (and probably underhypes their actual talented and long lasting groups who have a world wide fan base). Take any British press hype with a grain of salt, because you probably won't hear about 80% of the bands in a year or two's time.

 

[yertle-the-turtle]

Yeah what mofo said. I find it quite ironic people talk about British press hype shoving them down their throats though. How many people actually read, let alone buy, the NME nowadays?

Either way I feel it's an impression that just because a band is hyped up by the music press it means they're automatically lousy. Arctic Monkeys are hardly the best British band ever but they're still able to put out fun, listenable tunes and that's enough. I'm willing to bet more people would share this opinion if, say, they were given as much press as Cast or Gomez or Ocean bloody Colour Scene.