Dickon Stone #1: The 2009 Barclaycard Mercury Prize
By: Dickon Stone
To paraphrase Paula Cole; “Where have all the SENSIBLE NOMINATIONS gone?”… I mean, what exactly has happened to the Mercury Music Prize?! Sorry, the Barclaycard Mercury Prize. Ahem.
The year’s releases seemed so promising and then WHAM; they bring out the shortlist and suddenly you realise you are going to feel just as let down by this year’s winner as you a mere 12 baffled months ago. A prize with a lousy reputation for picking the “right” winner is due to continue this shabby legacy right through to the second decade of our new millennium.
Let’s look at most solid fact that negates any decision ever of The Mercury Prize…
M People… BEAT (in 1994)...
The Prodigy – Music For The Jilted Generation
Pulp – His ‘n’ Hers
Paul Weller – Wild Wood
AND
Blur – Parklife
What is wrong with these people? And who are they anyway?
There has often been contention in the judging of the prize, which has garnished a hefty reputation for picking obvious, non-standout, chaff rather than inspired, genius breakthroughs with more than an ounce of talent and a double-ambition to do something different from the herd of stinking sheep that wander about the field of ‘everything sounds the same’ masticating endlessly on their favourite food; ‘absolute drivel’. What were Elbow doing that was so out there compared to Burial? Or a little known band called FRICKIN’ RADIOHEAD!?
The Mercury was supposed to be a less mainstream alternative to the Brits, but its vicious shallow wake has often been littered with ill decisions (in my humble opinion) and controversy.
This year’s finalists are:
Bat for Lashes – Two Suns
Florence and the Machine – Lungs
Friendly Fires – Friendly Fires
Glasvegas – Glasvegas
Kasabian – West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum
La Roux – La Roux
Led Bib – Sensible Shoes
Lisa Hannigan – Sea Sew
Speech Debelle – Speech Therapy
Sweet Billy Pilgrim – Twice Born Men
The Horrors – Primary Colours
The Invisible – The Invisible
Where are the stand out albums? It is fair to say that Two Suns is pretty great (and in fact, we’ll throw our weight behind that one I think – Bat for Lashes FTW!), and true too to say that Friendly Fires has some cracking singles, and that the band it’s named after themselves are a stunning live act. But the prize isn’t about that; it is about (supposedly) breakthrough, inspiring, different, SPECIAL albums, and neither of the two I just mentioned are THAT.
Nor are the other nominees; perhaps good albums, perhaps great bands… perhaps… but there doesn’t seem to be anything with that EDGE that we are surely looking for in our Mercury Prize nominees. Last year I felt Burial had that; taking a sound that the mainstream had had one night stands with and dragging it down the aisle to perform the full ceremony. I also felt Foals were overlooked disgracefully after releasing an auditory delight with more invention that Doc Brown’s notebook and yet failing to even make the shortlist.
This year is a similar story; The Horrors… ARE YOU F**KING MENTAL!? If they win I will scratch out my eyes and eat them, defecate them into my hand, and eat them again; continuing this cycle until the prize is handed to someone worthy.
La Roux? Florence? Again, ladies favourites… but not great records in their entirety; certainly nothing groundbreaking, of that I am certain.
Should we just stop listening to The Barclaycard Mercury Prize -Which is clearly leading us away from independent wonderful music and dragging us down yet another super-commercial alleyway parallel to The-Brit-Awards High Street?
All fingers point to YES.
Artists in this article: Bat For Lashes