dcdeb Posted February 20, 2008 Share Posted February 20, 2008 Last Updated: 12:01am GMT 20/02/2008 The Brits: Everything but the best With Take That and Leona Lewis nominated for Best Album, tonight's awards ceremony isn't about music but business, says Neil McCormick The Brits are with us again, and how you feel about that depends on whether you view this as the biggest music awards ceremony of the year or a shameless, ratings-seeking extravaganza with all the credibility of an old-school variety show. It is certainly not a critics' choice award; it doesn't show any special favour to performers on account of creativity, innovation, passion or any other discernible artistic criteria. It is a popularity contest, in which awards go to the most popular. The flavour of the event is dictated by the nominees, inevitably the biggest sellers of the previous year. In 2008 it is Mika, Mark Ronson, Kate Nash, Leona Lewis and Take That (Amy Winehouse stole the show last year but is slated to appear with producer Mark Ronson). The line-up suggests that, after a period of domination by guitar bands, pop is back with a vengeance. And there is nothing wrong with that - in the face of a recession, we could all use a bit of cheering up. This year's award for Outstanding Contribution to Music goes to Paul McCartney, who will take a break from divorce proceedings to remind us just how glorious pop can be when it is created by extravagantly talented individuals with musical adventure, emotion and wit. advertisement You could certainly say that of Mika, who will probably be one of the big winners, his brash, eccentric showtunes being just wild and strange enough to compensate for his over-eagerness to please. His rivals for best British male solo artist (Jamie T, Richard Hawley, Mark Ronson and Newton Faulkner) all have their own unique flavour, twisting pop genres to create very individual, accomplished music. The British Female Solo Artist category looks strong for the second year running, reflecting a surge of agenda-setting female artists. Post-Lily Allen blogpop queen Kate Nash may be favourite, but she faces stiff competition from the gorgeously otherworldly Bat for Lashes, feisty singer-songwriter KT Tunstall and the white-knuckle intensity of PJ Harvey. And then, of course, there's Leona Lewis. Which is where it all starts to go a bit X-shaped. There is something deeply offensive to me about Leona Lewis and Take That being nominated in the Best Album category, as if what they are doing has any artistic merit. This is brand-name pop music manufactured by record companies following formulaic principles with teams of crack songwriters and in-house producers content to churn out lowest-common-denominator mush. It is musical baked beans. There's a place for it, but not at an awards show. So who is responsible for their inclusion? Well, I am for one, as a member of the 1,000-strong Brits voting academy. Yet somehow the nominations rarely bear any relation to my ballot paper. You could make a decent case for a top five albums list comprising artists not nominated in any category: In Rainbows by Radiohead, Raising Sand by Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, Kala by MIA, Comicopera by Robert Wyatt and Untrue by Burial. These, incidentally, were the most praised British albums released last year (according to metacritic.com, which collates all UK and US reviews). The absence of Radiohead is particularly dubious, given that their set-your-own-price download concept was not well received by the music business. Radiohead were excluded from consideration on the basis of some obscure pre-internet era ruling, as if the Brits had to uphold a historic constitution set in stone (a notion somewhat undermined by the introduction of a Critics' Choice award, which seems to have been dreamed up especially to introduce Adele to her public). The Brits is the music business voting for the interests of the music business and the inevitable winner is business. Which is why so many worthwhile groups are ambivalent about it, the Arctic Monkeys having effectively boycotted the ceremony for two years in a row. I doubt we'll be seeing them this year, either, especially faced with the possibility of humiliation by an X Factor winner and a superannuated boy band. The theme for tonight's show is "glam v punk", though don't expect a face-off between Roxy Music and the Sex Pistols. All it really means is that the set designers have gone to town on gold lamé and torn Union Jacks. Kylie can probably be counted on to summon up the revolutionary spirit of 1977 with some artfully ripped tights. Mika will wear eyeliner. The Kaiser Chiefs will jump around and shout a bit. It will be hosted by the duo Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne (one to read the Autocue, the other to do something outrageous and get in the papers). At least they have some connection to the world of music, which is more than can be said for most of the rent-a-celebs handing out gongs - the usual baffling line-up of actors (David Tennant, Ian McKellen, Michelle Ryan, James Nesbitt), comedians (Alan Carr, Vic Reeves) and broadcasters (Denise Van Outen, Chris Moyles). The truth is, these are the kind of figures ITV's viewers are most familiar with. The musicians are just there to look good between jokes. From the supposedly exclusive vantage of a table in the vast arena of Earls Court, cut off from the stage by a battery of cameras, cranes, tracks and booms, straining to hear speeches or discern any semblance of sound quality in the cacophony of live bands, the Brits has all the glamour of a TV show staged in a draughty aircraft hanger. And since they are broadcasting it live, this year I have decided to stay at home and watch it as it is intended to be seen. That way, at least, I can hurl abuse without risk of being thrown out by bouncers. # The Brits are on ITV1 tonight at 8pm. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2008/02/20/bmbrits120.xml&DCMP=ILC-traffdrv07053100 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Queenie Posted February 20, 2008 Share Posted February 20, 2008 Thanks for posting, deb!! It´s here! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tauruslady Posted February 20, 2008 Share Posted February 20, 2008 over-eagerness to please! good article though! thanx! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcdeb Posted February 20, 2008 Author Share Posted February 20, 2008 over-eagerness to please! good article though! thanx! Yeah, I raised an eyebrow at the "Mika will wear eyeliner" line... I think he'll wear something more interesting than that! But overall he was favorable to Mika, and I loved the way he described the some of the other entries as "baked beans." I'm so excited -- wish we were going to see the Brits live here! dcdeb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niki27 Posted February 20, 2008 Share Posted February 20, 2008 Yeah, I raised an eyebrow at the "Mika will wear eyeliner" line...I think he'll wear something more interesting than that! But overall he was favorable to Mika, and I loved the way he described the some of the other entries as "baked beans." I'm so excited -- wish we were going to see the Brits live here! dcdeb Any chance non-Brits can watch it online? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FREDDIESDOUBLE Posted February 20, 2008 Share Posted February 20, 2008 Thanks for posting ... we shall know soon enough if he will sweep it:punk: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gatagordinha Posted February 20, 2008 Share Posted February 20, 2008 Thanks for posting deb. I thought the article as a whole was very complimentary to Mika; it made the distinction between Mika and the corporate mush. That's very important. Not everyone 'gets' that about Mika... All the more reason why he should clean up....but the Brits are strange really. Who knows. ONLY 5 HOURS TO GO!!!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miek Posted February 20, 2008 Share Posted February 20, 2008 thanks for postin Deb. can't wait to hear how it went. Guess i'll have to wait till tomorrow for al the youtubelinks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serendipity66 Posted February 20, 2008 Share Posted February 20, 2008 Wow! "Paul McCartney who reminds us just how glorious pop can be when it is created by extravagantly talented individuals with musical adventure and wit. You could certainly say that of Mika...." Being compared to Sir Paul himself?!! You ain't gonna get much better than that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nadou Posted February 20, 2008 Share Posted February 20, 2008 Any chance non-Brits can watch it online? Yeah, I was wondering the same question???? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kasia87 Posted February 20, 2008 Share Posted February 20, 2008 Yeah is there a site to stream it in the States?!? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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