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The Brit
Awards 2004 Review
THE Brit Awards organisers have made plenty of mistakes in the past:
Dido being nominated for Best Newcomer the year after she appeared
in the Best Female category. But this week’s nominations seem
more in touch with what genuinely has been the best music of the
past 12 months.
In the past,
dull veterans such as Sting and Phil Collins and the nation’s
favourite, Robbie Williams, were certain to be wheeled out. This
time, prominence has been given to younger, fresher stars, including
Justin Timberlake, Dizzee Rascal, Busted and the Darkness.
But is the gong-fest
really about the year’s best music?
The Brits always
used to be the naff elder brother to the more specialist awards
shows, certain to provide a few uncool gaffes and to hand out several
prizes to those who did not deserve them (who could forget the Spice
Girls’ Outstanding Contribution to Music award in 2000?).
Now-defunct
categories are a reminder of a po-faced past: Best British Producer
was abandoned after 1998, and Best Soundtrack was last heard of
in 2001. Best British Dance Act was the Brits’ first bid for
hipness in 1994 - but one quickly scuppered by the decision to award
it for the first two years to M People.
The Brits are
suffering from an identity crisis which emerges at the shortlisting
stage (yes, I am one of the 2,000 "industry figures" who
get a vote, so 0.05 per cent of all this is my fault). It just isn’t
clear whether you are supposed to pick acts for their musical excellence
or for their commercial success. The two factors rarely overlap
and judging criteria are not specified. The result is a list that
features token hip names alongside the industry’s favourite
unit-shifters, and the prizes invariably go to the big sellers.
Dizzee Rascal
would never have been nominated in the past for his groundbreaking
album, which is a difficult listen and has sold relatively poorly,
so it is great to see him getting some recognition. But the far
more wholesome Will Young or Daniel Bedingfield are bound to beat
him to Best British Male, and fresh-faced cutie-pies Busted or Jamie
Cullum will certainly trump him for British Breakthrough Artist.
Engineered to
reward only those who fill the industry’s coffers? Why else
would the organisers invent categories targeted at those who have
sold lots of albums but might not get an award elsewhere? Risible
pop group Steps received a one-off award called Best Selling Live
Act in 2000, while Best British Urban Act seems to have been introduced
solely because Ms Dynamite looked like being the first UK artist
in years to sell well in a field dominated by Americans.
But the Brits
should beware turning into the Grammys, during which the academy
spends several weeks giving out prizes for Best Cowbell Solo and
Best Whistling Interlude. This constant format-fiddling suggests
that the categories do not matter at all.
The invention
of new categories might work if Britain had the depth of talent
to support them. Current nominees such as Stereophonics, Kosheen,
Primal Scream, Groove Armada and David Bowie have all had a year
in which they have released some of their most forgettable work.
On the voting form for Best British Urban Act there were only 12
eligible candidates, and those on the thin longlist for Best British
Female Solo Artist included Martine McCutcheon, Denise Van Outen
and Cilla Black. Dido is the only woman nominee who has released
a truly successful album, making her the certain victor.
So if the Brits
must dream up more new categories, how about some that could be
filled convincingly? Last year saw music DVDs selling better than
ever and becoming a major market in their own right.
Then there is
live music. This week the Performing Right Society announced that
it was set to receive a record income from live concerts in 2003,
meaning that Britain spent more on watching live performances last
year than at any time since the society was set up in 1914. The
Stones’ world tour, Williams’s colossal Knebworth shows
and Timberlake’s incredible 14 arena concerts in London all
made it a great year for gigs, and a Best Live Act category is understood
to be under serious consideration.
At a time when
profits are falling and the music world faces an uncertain future,
the British music industry’s biggest back-patting extravaganza
must work out what it really needs to celebrate.
Scotsman
dot Com
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