Music Blogs

So last night was the Brit Awards, the British music industry's annual backslap and the less rock 'n' roll cousin of next week's ShockWaves NME Awards (much, much more on that next week, folks).

You can see all best the images from the ceremony now at www.nme.com/photos.

This year, all the talk (well, certainly the pre-nominations press release) was of a "return to pop." The truth was much more predictable: Sure, there were gongs for Kylie (Best International Female), Mika (British Breakthrough Act), and Take That (Best Single). And for the first time in living memory (and despite their world-conquering Wembley shows last year), Muse didn't win the Best Live Act trophy, which went to, erm, Kate Nash.

But the biggest story in British pop--X Factor winner Leona Lewis--went away with nothing, losing the Best British Female award to Kate Nash--indie vixen and romantic interest of Ryan from the Cribs.

And on the rocking side of the world, there were big wins for Foo Fighters (Best International Group, Best International Album) and, of course, Arctic Monkeys.

And it was Arctic Monkeys who provided the only real surprise of the night, by actually turning up. Sheffield's finest have a long tradition of snubbing the Brit Awards.

Two years ago, Keith and Chris from We Are Scientists filmed an acceptance speech on their behalf when both bands were on our ShockWaves NME Awards tour.

And last year they had no touring excuse for not showing up, but they still chose to dress up in Wizard Of Oz costumes for a video acceptance rather than show up--despite actually being in London and going to the Oasis party later that night.

With those two facts in mind, I had smugly, and incorrectly, deduced that I would probably run into the Monkeys at We Are Scientists' intimate show at Soho Revue Bar, and was telling as much to everyone who would listen.

But no, the new, showbiz-friendly Arctic Monkeys actually bothered to turn up to last night's bash to collect their awards for best British Band and Best British Album. Dressed up in flat caps and tweed jackets, no less. For their first acceptance, Alex Turner simply blew a horn into the microphone. Several beers later, when their name came up again, this happened:

WATCH ARCTIC MONKEYS' ACCEPTANCE SPEECH

Meanwhile, misjudged idea of the night was pairing Rihanna with Klaxons for a new rave mash-up of "Umbrella" and "Golden Skans":

Lovely lasers and all, but the rule of a mash-up is that the songs should bear some sort of musical similarity. As it was, the whole thing sort of clanged.

For the definitive reading of "Umbrella," get your hands on the Manic Street Preachers' space-rock version, free with next week's NME, available Stateside next Thursday. Which, in a moment of amazing circularity, is the day of our Awards, and the return of my Too Much Information video blog.

(Can't imagine Leona will win much there, either)