Annual music awards show
NME
Awards
|
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|
Logo for the 2016
NME
Awards
|
Country
| United Kingdom
|
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First awarded
| 24 April 1953
; 71 years ago
(
1953-04-24
)
|
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Website
| http://www.nme.com/awards
|
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|
Network
| ITV
|
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The
NME
Awards
is an annual
music
awards show
in the United Kingdom, founded by the music magazine
NME
(
New Musical Express
). The first awards show was held in 1953 as the
NME
Poll Winners Concerts
, shortly after the founding of the magazine. Though the accolades given are entirely genuine, the ceremony itself is usually carried out in a humorous and jovial manner, and have included categories in the past like "Villain of the Year" and "Worst Record". The trophies given to the winners resemble an extended
middle finger
.
History
[
edit
]
The awards began as the
NME
Poll Winners Concert and associated awards ceremony in 1953. These continued through until 1972, where concerts were filmed and broadcast on
ITV
.
The Beatles
and
the Rolling Stones
were most commonly featured. Venues included the
Royal Albert Hall
and the
Empire Pool, Wembley
. In 2008, a
compact disc
was given away with a special souvenir box set issue of the
NME
magazine on 27 February 2008, called
NME Awards 2008
.
Britpop era
[
edit
]
In 1994, the awards were briefly renamed the
NME
Brat Awards
, with the title intended as a parody of the
Brit Awards
. The initial award ceremonies were supportive of the burgeoning
Britpop
scene with
Blur
becoming the first band in the modern era to win more than three awards, coming away with five total. Again in 1996, rival band Oasis won four awards: Best Band, Best Live Band, Best Album (
(What's the Story) Morning Glory?
) and Best Single ("
Wonderwall
").
Later in the decade, major winners were the
Manic Street Preachers
(4 awards in 1999) and Blur (3 awards in 2000).
Garage rock revival
[
edit
]
In 2002, the awards reflected the
NME
'
s support for the "New Rock Revolution"
garage rock revival
, with
the Strokes
winning three awards ("Best New Act", "Best Album" and "Band of the Year").
After the 2002 awards, an article on
Telegraph.co.uk
reported that the winners of the
NME
awards "were almost interchangeable" with the winners of the Brit awards and criticised then editor Ben Knowles for what they saw as a hypocritical attack on the commercial nature of the Brit Awards.
[1]
In 2003,
Nick Jago
, the drummer of
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
gave a "silent" speech lasting 7 minutes, infavourably compared the show to
The Source
awards, was booed and heckled and had to be physically removed from the stage.
[
citation needed
]
The Libertines
won "Best British Band" in both 2004 and 2005, as well as "Best New Band" in 2003. The 2003 award win was notable for
Pete Doherty
breaking and entering
former bandmate
Carl Barat
's house stealing many of his belongings, including his award.
In 2006,
Arctic Monkeys
won both "Best New Band" and "Best British Band" in the same year and became the third band in the modern era to win three awards (Best New Band, Best British Band, Best Track). In his speech, lead singer
Alex Turner
alluded to how the awards reflected who received the most coverage by the magazine; "Who else was going to be Best British Band? You don't write about something that much and then not tell you that you're Best British Band". Elsewhere that year, whilst collecting an award for his charity work,
Bob Geldof
called host
Russell Brand
a "cunt" to which Brand replied "[It's] no wonder Bob Geldof is such an expert on famine ? he's been dining out on '
I Don't Like Mondays
' for 30 years."
[2]
In the same year,
Kaiser Chiefs
were nominated for a six categories and won Best Album for
Employment
.
In 2007,
Razorlight
received a worst album nomination for their
self-titled album
, which
NME
themselves gave 8/10. This made it the highest rated album to receive a worst album nomination.
The 2008 award nominations were criticised in
The Guardian
for a lack of diversity and not including any female artists.
[3]
Also in 2008, the ceremony was followed by the
NME
Big Gig at the adjacent O2 Arena, where
the Cribs
performed with
Johnny Marr
, followed by
Klaxons
,
Bloc Party
,
Kaiser Chiefs
and
Manic Street Preachers
, who also performed with Tom Clarke of
the Enemy
and
Cerys Matthews
.
In 2009,
Oasis
were nominated for a record 7 awards, whilst Villain of the Year went to
George W. Bush
for the sixth year in a row.
In 2013,
the Killers
were awarded their fourth accolade in the "Best International Band" category.
In 2015,
Kasabian
were nominated for 9 awards, beating the 2009 Oasis record.
[4]
[5]
Most wins
[
edit
]
Most
NME
Award wins
[
edit
]
Multiple major awards per year
[
edit
]
Note: This list only includes winners of major awards (e.g. Best Album, Best British Band, Best Track, etc.)
References
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to
NME Awards
.