20 Years of the Mercury Prize - Winners Poll

cos it was much more like "hype toddler shows off in front of mates" imo

OTM, still MJ deserved it, no matter how good he was

i often think that if MJ had beaten the crap out of him there and then his career wd have never dipped

He's a lover, not a fighter

and really "oddball reclusive black guy pretends to be Jesus in concert performance" is much more subversive and funny than "aging student doesn't like pop music"

tbh give me a pop star throwing jesus poses any day over a pop star trying cluelessly to be an Important Social Commentator

What's that Oasis song again, Heal The World?

though i guess MJ was trying to be both, lol

tbh give me a pop star throwing jesus poses any day over a pop star trying cluelessly to be an Important Social Commentator

Isn't that what Jacko was doing tho? Albeit in messianic megalomaniac mode?

oops (xp)

and really "oddball reclusive black guy pretends to be Jesus in concert performance" is much more subversive and funny

Maybe, if it actually had been subversive or funny

rephrase: if you're a pop star trying to be an Important Social Commentator, you damn well better accompany it with some jesus poses

Thing is, JCock was 'hero' to many for that stunt for years, but after MJackson died, the whole thing seems, um, I dunno, churlish?

Enjoying doglatin’s finessed irony here. Where’s ex-ILMer and “Toploder” fan Andy Paltridge when you need him?

xxpost jesus was famous for his flappy flappy arse wave

Romans didn't like that shit AT ALL

From Wikipedia

Pulp (band)

History (1978 - 2011):

Jarvis Cockhead spent 30 years striking ridiculous poses round the common room wearing the same knock-off Che t-shirt and quoting The Communist Manifesto at anyone who would bother listening to him. Then one day he decided to punch Michael Jackson. Then he grew a beard. Jarvis Cocker is gay.

jesus poses > important social commentary >>>>>>>> ~self-important lex commentary~

Different Class? Shitferent Class you mean...

xp It wasn't Jarvis v pop (which he loves) or Jarvis v Michael Jackson's back catalogue, it was Jarvis v creepy, messianic hubris. Not his finest hour by any means but balls to pro-Earth Song revisionism.

Still a prick after all these years, DL, I see.

Glad you got that off your chest.

It's amazing what you can do with duct tape and Onken strawberry mousse.

OMG I understood that.

Elegant Slumming, easily. Most of the other stuff I've heard is either bland (Portishead, Roni Size, Talving Singh), irritating (Dizzee, Pulp, Primal Scream) or shite. The Ms. Dynamite album has few good tunes, but it's wildly uneven.

I think it might actually be Let England Shake. Umming and aahing between that and Dummy. Boy In Da Corner would be in there but for the weak section in the middle - I never want to listen to it all the way through.

2009: Speech Debelle - Speech Therapy

BLESS YOU

This is positive contrarianism gone mad though.

Antony And The Johnsons winning was a bit of a treasured moment for me because Conor McNicholas's stuttering incredulity was such a picture. Loved that record at the time, find a whole hour's worth of Antony's voice a bit hard going and treacly now. Also it broke up several years of haircut indie domination.

Jarvis loves "Pop", not the same thing as pop music

that Antony album is pretty short and sweet tbf

I didn't know before reading this thread that Antony & The Johnsons is an UK act! Somehow they've always sounded like they were from New York to me.

in honesty my favourite of these - certainly most listened - is (disc 2 of) New Forms.

But I like the Primal Scream, M People, Portishead, Pulp, Ms Dynamite, Dizzee Rascal, xx and PJ Harvey albums as well.

they're called the suburbs

I think it's a kind of Jimi Hendrix thing with Antony.

But yeah, they're okay. It's just that as Nina Simone fan I've never been able to deal with how much the singer tries to sound like her.

(xxx-post)

xp Antony was born in the UK though based in the US at the time - there was a minor fuss at the time about his eligibility.

but the irony is their music is actually about small town life

1992: Primal Scream - Screamadelica
Voting for Screamadelica now is like admitting defeat, bit like buying Beatles albums because you can't think of anything else you want.

1993: Suede - Suede
Nothing that makes Brett Anderson happy should be allowed, anywhere.

1994: M People - Elegant Slumming
Not down with the positive revisionism on this one, would probably be more open to it if it didn't have Heather Small's voice on them. But it beat His & Hers, and that at least annoyed Mark Radcliffe.

1995: Portishead - Dummy
A++++ classic for all time.

1996: Pulp - Different Class
Like it, don't love it, bar a few tracks.

1997: Roni Size / Reprazent - New Forms
After living in a student halls of residence when this was huge, I honestly never want to hear it ever again.

1998: Gomez - Bring It On
Hahahahaha you clowns.

1999: Talvin Singh - OK
See Gomez.

2000: Badly Drawn Boy - The Hour Of Bewilderbeast
Secretly like some of this, blame it being on a lot over the right summer in the right place.

2001: P J Harvey - Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea
Actually in danger of becoming underrated. I like this more than To Bring You My Love. Not the best PJ Harvey record in this poll, let alone overall.

2002: Ms. Dynamite - A Little Deeper
Terrific, not the best here.

2003: Dizzee Rascal - Boy In Da Corner
Terrific, not *quite* the best here.

2004: Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand
It's a really good job the Divine Comedy were never eligible to win.

2005: Antony and the Johnsons - I Am A Bird Now
See previous post.

2006: Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
Lol.

2007: The Klaxons - Myths Of The Near Future
Seriously lol.

2008: Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid
Don't care.

2009: Speech Debelle - Speech Therapy
Who gives a shit.

2010: the xx - XX
DULLDULLDULL.

2011: PJ Harvey - Let England Shake
Amazing.

^^^ mostly brilliant and correct

all the winners of the mercury prize are confessional albums about small town life, the fact that the winners represent a broad sphere of british life just goes to show how many different towns in Britain there actually are

Matt that Primal Scream precis shd be stickered on all future copies of Screamadelica

What's wrong with Heather Small's voice?!

She had a TV show over here where she read out the names of anybody convicted of shoplifting during the last week, it put a lot of people off her Tuomas.

Tho u haven't lived until u've heard "Terry Ganton, 25, 6 months conditional discharge" to the tune of "Sight for Sore Eyes".

Those were extra verses of "What have you done today to make you feel proud" though.

xpost TIMING!

Ah, okay. No need to put down her previous work because of that, though! I mean, Thriller is still a great album even if you don't approve of Micheal Jackson's caviar smuggling ring.

(xx-post)

What's wrong with Heather Small's voice?!

We don't like it, so there

You're the Queen?

At one point Heather actually got paid by Woolworths to search for the Aero inside your coat iirc

Heather Small's voice obviously isn't as bad as say, the gargly bloke from Gomez, but everything else on that album is so obviously inept that it's barely a talking point, whereas I usually love euphoric early 90s diva house so the voice getting in the way becomes twice as annoying.