Mercury Music Prize 2010

For the last hour I’ve been listening to BBC 6 Music’s live coverage of the Mercury Music Prize, and finding the experience oddly gripping. Now that it’s 10:23 and the winner has just been announced, I feel like I’ve gone into the fridge the day after a party and found that someone else has eaten my left-over pizza: I knew that it would happen, but I was just hoping that it wouldn’t.

So it is with the news that The xx have won the Mercury for their debut album. The bookies favourite from early on, for many there was never any doubt that they would take the prize when it came to the big night.

I’d been quietly hoping that Wild Beasts would take the prize, although I’m well aware that they might not be to everyone’s taste. But then, I didn’t think that the Mercury Prize was a popularity contest, either. It annoyed me to hear a judge talking about the fact that The xx had to win, because the album had ‘soundtracked the last twelve months’. Had many even heard of Speech Debelle before her win last year?

For all my moaning though, I have to admit that I’ve become a fan of the Mercury Music Prize. If nothing else, it’s a great way to get people talking about music, and perhaps opening their ears to things that they wouldn’t necessarily listen to otherwise. I’m ready for 2011, and another list of nominees; some of which I already love, some of which I will go on to love, some that I’ve never heard of, and some that I’ll just never be able to listen to.

My winner, for what it's worth.

Thinking about axing 6 Music, Auntie Beeb? Shame on you!

So it appears that what was yesterday only low-level internet speculation might today be a whispered reality: the BBC has had a rare moment of reflection, realised its turgid and vapid state, and decided to act. That’s all fine and well. I’ve suffered enough nightmares as a result of some of its recent programming to be truly in favour of the BBC deciding that “quality” is their new favourite word. But if the emphasis really is on “quality” (it seems that their definition of the word is disturbingly dissimilar to mine), then something doesn’t quite add up.

This afternoon, The Guardian is reporting that 6 Music might soon be quivering under the axe while, it appears, Radio 1 will continue as normal. Focussing on quality, BBC? Really? And judging by other online traffic on the matter, I’m not the only one to have fallen in love with the uniformly excellent 6 Music, and I’m also not the only one whose blood is starting to boil.

For fear that I’ll spontaneously combust if I start trying to articulate exactly why the mere suggestion of 6 Music disappearing from the airwaves makes me quite so angry, I’m going instead to turn to the good old rhetorical rule of three (which has seen me though many an angry letter in the past) and a few pictures.

So.

Talk of the BBC axing 6 Music makes me feel:

Angry

Upset

Frustrated

Because I love listening to:

Jarvis Cocker

Lauren Laverne

Shaun Keaveny - legend!

Who all play decent music, like:

Bombay Bicycle Club

Joy Division

Wild Beasts

So, dear BBC, stop spending money on:

Snog, Marry, Avoid?

Material Girl

Chris Moyles

… and THEN we can have a talk about “quality”.

Don’t like what I’m saying? Then refer to the picture of Jarvis Cocker, above.