Mercury meltdown
This year’s Mercury Prize may only have just been handed over to the divine Polly Jean Harvey, but that hasn’t stopped the music press from dusting off their crystal balls and giving us their insider tips on who is going to scoop the award in 2012. I have no problem with the music press giving us their hot tips for the future (even if most of them are back in their pharmacy jobs by the end of the month) but predicting the winner of an album prize that has always prided itself on being a little bit different a whole year in advance is just crazy talk!
The Mercury has quickly become the equivalent of the Brits for people with brains. Which is why it saddens me to see such banal and drab suggestions being put forward by the likes of the NME when it comes to 2012’s front-runners. Kasabian. Coldplay. Radiohead. Even Noel Gallagher’s first solo effort is a “sure” nomination according to whichever 40-year-old writer still turns up to the NME office in his ’Wonderwall't-shirt.
Don’t get me wrong, if any of those established acts produce a great record between now and this time next year, then I’m sure they’ll be on the short-list and one of them might even take the prize. But when you look at the list of Mercury winners over the last five years or so, the odds are very much against acts who have already “made it” taking the award. OK, Polly Jean is a megastar in certain circles (i.e. me and my friends) but Elbow were hardly the darlings of the music press, until ’The Seldom Seen Kid'won the Mercury and started appearing in music collections across the country. Do me a favour, music journos, save the predictions until we’ve actually heard the albums you’re touting as a sure thing for the Mercury. Let’s face it, there’s a tiny possibility that Radiohead’s new material will be maudlin and depressing and Coldplay’s self-absorbed and arrogant, while Noel’s new album just might sound like Oasis'greatest hits…
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