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Has The Mercury Prize “Lost It”?

added 20 July 2010 at 15.04

The Barclaycard Mercury Prize, then… a shortlist of the best British music, or a symptom that the patient is on death’s door?

There are plenty of Xfm-friendly bands on the list, and plenty we’ve played first (The XX anyone?). As always, the shortlist has provoked plenty of reaction. It seems this year’s selection has polarised opinion. Some love it, some of you don’t, and here are a few opinions:

“Growing up, I thought it was an exciting and special thing to be a part of. I was always excited to see the results, so it’s so incredible to be here”, Romy Madley Croft, The XX.

“For ten years we’ve been gigging a lot, but I am aware of the fact that there are an awful lot of people out there who’ve never heard of us… It’s quite thrilling, it’s a bit of a ‘Hello Mum’ moment,” I Am Kloot.

“Got to be the Biffy or Foals now! but maybe Wild Beasts/Laura Marling /Mumford & Sons purely as they are genuinely very different from everything else atm”, Thomas Hickey, Xfm listener, via Facebook.

“I am kloot have been consistantly great and yet largely ignored by the media, their time has now come and it's well deserved!,” the_real_TB, Xfm listener, via Twitter.

“Disco disco disco disco ........ Pfft . Mercurys have lost it. Marling to win please !”, Lily Allen via Twitter.
“It's become a joke. And what will we get on the night? Bloody Lauren Laverne and Jools Holland being smug,” Denzil6, Xfm listener, via the website.

“Bit of a lazy nomination for Dizzee Rascal. Not the best hip-hop/rap/rnb british album in the past twelve months. I'm not a big fan of Plan B but that album is a lot stronger than tongue in cheek and even giggs debut album was better than tongue in cheek,” Josh Coates, Xfm listener, via Facebook.

What do you think? Tell us below?

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comments

1. If Weller is in there it can't be that bad!

   Posted by Robin on 21/07/2010 14:02:19 | report abuse

2. The mercury has always been on one side or the other of a very fine line; in the old days they were accused of being an indie only closed shop (Primal scream and Suede one the first two), so they gave it to M people and they were corporate sell outs. Last year they gave it to an artist who was quite deservedly unheard of, so they got called intellectual snobs, so this year it's mostly chart friendly fodder and they get accused of being irrelevant.
   
   Whatever they do and whomever they give the award to 80% of us will disagree; so if you think they've lost the plot, don't worry because there will inevitably be a whole new agenda next year.

   Posted by Paul on 21/07/2010 12:47:48 | report abuse

3. Like any other well advertised "event", the music is always booring. Get some real bands out, and stop playing same songs every f day. Take NME Radio, since it became internet only jukebox, has played music from the 60's 'till present. NO COMERCIALS!

   Posted by Andrei on 21/07/2010 06:32:33 | report abuse