News

Shockwaves NME Awards Nominations Announced

• 27th Jan 2011

Reports of rock music’s death appear to have been greatly exaggerated as a wealth of guitar-based bands get the nod in this year’s Shockwaves NME Awards nominations. NME’s revered public poll – which this year attracted over half a million votes – seems to suggest that not only is rock in very rude health but also that voters’ taste in music is as eclectic as ever with a huge spread of genres represented. Leading the way for 2011 are Foals and Arcade Fire who are nominated for four awards, closely followed by My Chemical Romance who have picked up three nominations.

A litany of greats including Arctic Monkeys, Biffy Clyro, Foals, Kasabian and Muse will be fighting it out for the one of the night’s biggest prizes, Best British Band, at the awards which will be held at the iconic O2 Academy Brixton on Wednesday February 23rd. The Best International Band category sees Arcade Fire, Kings Of Leon, My Chemical Romance, The Drums and Vampire Weekend all vying to land the coveted award. And proving rock really is in tip-top shape, the Best Live Band category features Arcade Fire, Biffy Clyro, Foals, Kasabian and Muse, all of whom have been captivating live audiences across the country in the past 12-months.

Meanwhile, brand new music is represented by some of the most exciting bands to have appeared in the last year, including Beady Eye, Everything Everything, Hurts, The Drums and Two Door Cinema Club.

Celebrating the best in music across the board, the Best Solo Artist category pits talents as diverse as Florence + The Machine, Frank Turner, Kanye West, Laura Marling and Paul Weller against each other and the Best Track category keeps the diverse theme with Cee-Lo Green’s ‘F*** You’, Foals’ 'Spanish Sahara', Gorillaz’s 'Stylo', Janelle Monae’s 'Tightrope' and Mark Ronson & The Business Intl’s ‘Bang Bang Bang'.

Coalition government duo David Cameron and Nick Clegg attract the ire of NME readers as potential Villains of the Year and Wikileaks founder Julian Assange and My Chemical Romance’s Gerard Way are just some of those in the running to be Hero of the Year. Lady Gaga and Liam Gallagher split opinion down the middle as they appear in both the Most Stylish and Least Stylish categories, alongside Brandon Flowers, Hayley Williams and Noel Fielding who all get the sartorial thumbs up and Cheryl Cole, Justin Bieber and Ke$ha who should maybe think about hiring new stylists.

All the winners for the Shockwaves NME Awards 2011, the most credible music awards around, will be announced on Wednesday February 23rd at the O2 Academy Brixton and as previously announced Dave Grohl will be picking up the Godlike Genius Award before fronting the Foo Fighters at their first major show of the year, the NME Awards Big Gig at Wembley Arena on the Friday February 25th.

Get this week’s issue of NME for interviews with the nominees including Arcade Fire, Biffy Clyro, John Lydon, Mark Ronson, Brandon Flowers, Vampire Weekend and more. Head to link to vote. Tag your tweets with #nmeawards to join the conversation.

Shockwaves NME Awards 2011 Nominations – (Half a million votes cast)

Best British Band supported by Shockwaves
Arctic Monkeys
Biffy Clyro
Foals
Kasabian
Muse

Best International Band supported by T4
Arcade Fire
Kings Of Leon
My Chemical Romance
The Drums
Vampire Weekend

Best Solo Artist
Florence + The Machine
Frank Turner
Kanye West
Laura Marling
Paul Weller

Best New Band supported by Boxfresh
Beady Eye
Everything Everything
Hurts
The Drums
Two Door Cinema Club

Best Live Band
Arcade Fire
Biffy Clyro
Foals
Kasabian
Muse

Best Album
Arcade Fire – 'The Suburbs'
Crystal Castles – 'Crystal Castles II'
Foals – 'Total Life Forever'
My Chemical Romance – 'Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys'
Two Door Cinema Club – 'Tourist History'

Best Track supported by NME Radio
Cee Lo Green – ‘F*** You’
Foals – 'Spanish Sahara'
Gorillaz – 'Stylo'
Janelle Monae (feat Big Boi) – 'Tightrope'
Mark Ronson & The Business Intl –'Bang Bang Bang'

Best Video supported by NME TV
Arcade Fire – 'We Used To Wait'
Brandon Flowers – 'Crossfire'
Chase & Status – 'Let You Go'
Gorillaz – 'Stylo'
My Chemical Romance – 'Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na)'

Best Festival
Download
Glastonbury
Reading & Leeds Festivals
T In The Park
V Festival

Best Dancefloor Filler
Crystal Castles – 'Baptism'
Kele – 'Tenderoni'
Plan B – ‘Stay Too Long’
Professor Green – 'Jungle'
Tinie Tempah – 'Pass Out'

Best TV Show
Misfits
Nevermind The Buzzcocks
Peep Show
Skins
The Inbetweeners

Best Film
Get Him To The Greek
Inception
Kick-Ass
Scott Pilgrim Vs The World
The Social Network

Hero Of The Year
Gerard Way
Julian Assange
Kanye West
Lady Gaga
Matt Bellamy

Villain Of The Year
Axl Rose
David Cameron
Justin Bieber
Nick Clegg
Simon Cowell

Most Stylish supported by Shockwaves
Brandon Flowers
Hayley Williams
Lady Gaga
Liam Gallagher
Noel Fielding

Least Stylish
Cheryl Cole
Justin Bieber
Ke$ha
Lady Gaga
Liam Gallagher

Worst Album
Cheryl Cole – 'Messy Little Raindrops'
Justin Bieber –' My World'
Katy Perry – 'Teenage Dream'
Kings Of Leon – 'Come Around Sundown'
My Chemical Romance – 'Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys'

Worst Band
30 Seconds To Mars
JLS
Jonas Brothers
Kings Of Leon
Tokio Hotel

Best Band Blog Or Twitter
Frank Turner
Hayley Williams
Kanye West
Lily Allen
Theo Hutchcraft

Best Book
Carl Barat – Threepenny Memoir
Jay-Z – Decode
John Lydon – Mr Rotten's Scrapbook
Keith Richards – Life
Russell Brand – My Booky Wook 2

Best Small Festival (50,000 capacity or lower)
Bestival
Kendal Calling
Latitude
RockNess
Underage Festival

Best Album Artwork
Foals – 'Total Life Forever'
Gorillaz – 'Plastic Beach'
Klaxons – 'Surfing The Void'
MGMT – Congratulations
My Chemical Romance – 'Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys'

Hottest Woman
Alison Mosshart (The Kills)
Emily Haines (Metric)
Hayley Williams (Paramore)
Lady Gaga
Shakira

Hottest Man
Alex Turner (Arctic Monkeys)
Billie Joe Armstrong (Green Day)
Dominic Howard (Muse)
Jared Leto (30 Seconds To Mars)
Matt Bellamy (Muse)