Steven O'Rourke posted on January 27, 2009 19:00
According to a number of sources, including Drop-D and On The Record, the Meteor Music Award nominations were leaked online yesterday. Though they will be officially announced today (28th) it would appear that the people behind the Meteors haven't figured out that the secret to a good awards show is variety.
This is Key Notes second draft of this particular blog. The first draft was your typical 'how come my favourite band wasn't chosen' blog. However, while writing that, Key Notes had something of a 'Road to Damascus' moment. Not that I'm suddenly a God botherer or anything of the sort, but this blog now realises what 'normal' people have be trying to tell him for ages; music awards don't really mean all that much. Of course, Aslan winning best band at last years Meteors should have been enough for Key Notes to lose all faith with music awards but no, it was something else entirely.
Looking through the nominees for this years Meteors there is a distinct feeling of 'Meh.' There is far too much overlap for an award night that only has 8 categories. For example, The Blizzards and The Script are nominated for both Best Irish Pop Act and Best Band. Indeed, it seems that The Script are nominated in every category except best regional DJ and that's probably because not even Zach in the Meteor Music Marketing Department could convince his bosses that LA could be considered a region.
Now, obviously Key Notes is being facetious but it's difficult not to be. Perhaps it's a sign that we just don't have the quality and diversity of music in Ireland that those of us who write about it, talk about it, live it and breathe it think we have. Or could it be that, shock/horror, the peope that run these awards (other than the Choice) don't actually do the dirty work and go to gigs on cold, wet Monday nights where the only other audience members are the support band and the barman. Indeed it's difficult to see anyone from Meteor thumbing their way through the tiny (but important) Irish Independent Music Section in Tower when they've got all those Kings of Leon records to get to. As an aside, Kings of Leon are set to headline OXEGEN again!!! Are they the new Red Hot Chili Peppers for the GAA-jersey-wearing-Tayto-munching-not-there-for-the-music-but-for-the-craic/crack festival goer?
Now, this isn't a 'Key Notes is indier-than-thou' blog. Those sort of blogs I'll leave to the Skins-watching-skinny jeans brigade. No, this is just one man finally realising that music awards mean nothing when there is so much great music produced that goes unrewarded. It's only taken 26 years, but hey, better late than never.
For those of you who care/are interested here is the list of nominees:
Best National DJ
Tony Fenton - TodayFM
Dan Hegarty - 2Fm
Alison Curtis -Today Fm
Dave Fanning - RTE Radio 1
Ray Foley - TodayFM
Rick O’Shea - 2FM
Best Regional DJ
Dermot, Dave & Siobhan - Dublin’s98
Keith Cunningham - RedFM
Leigh Doyle - Beat 102.103
The Zoo Crew - Spin South West
Mark Noble - FM104
Jon Richards - Galway Bay FM
Best Irish Band
The Blizzards
Republic of Loose
Fight Like Apes
The Script
Snow Patrol
Best Irish Male
Mick Flannery
Damien Dempsey
Duke Special
David Holmes
Jape
Best Irish Female
Enya
Lisa Hannigan
Gemma Hayes
Imelda May
Tara Blaise
Camille O’Sullivan
Best Irish Pop Act
Boyzone
The Blizzards
The Coronas
The Script
Westlife
Best Irish Album
Fight Like Apes - Fight Like Apes & The Mystery of The Golden Medallion
Snow Patrol - A Hundred Million Suns
Lisa Hannigan - Sea Sew
Messiah J & The Expert - From The Word Go
The Script - The Script
Best Irish Live Performance
The Coronas
The Blizzards
The Swell Season
Fight Like Apes
Republic of Loose
More ...
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