水星音乐奖

一向以提携新人著称的英国“水星音乐奖”设立于１９９２年，是音乐界里一个比较独特的奖项。是英国地区享有国际声誉的音乐类奖项之一。每年的水星音乐奖由一些中立的评委投票，从各种风格的音乐中选出去年一年当中在英国或爱尔兰地区出版的最优秀的专辑。

与其他音乐奖拥有众多奖项不同，“水星音乐奖”的奖项只有一个，由业内人士组成的评委团来决定奖项的归属。自设立以来，“水星音乐奖”一直凭借专业精神和纯粹从音乐出发的评选标准而广受好评，被很多新人视为进入音乐界的敲门砖。^[1]

Mercury Prize（水星奖）历年获奖名单

2008暂缺

2007暂缺

2006 

《Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not》-Arctic Monkeys

《The Eraser》-Thom Yoke

《Black Holes & Revelations》-Muse

《Balllad of the Broken Seas》 -Isobel Campbell &Mark Lenegan

《The Back Room》 -Editors

《Through the Windowpane》-Guillemots

《Coles Corner》-Richard Hawly

《The Warning》-Hot Chip

《Melting Pot》-Zoe Rahman

《Beloved One》-Lou Rhodes

《White Bread Black Beer》-Scritti Politti

《This is My Meno》 -Sway

2005
Antony and the Johnsons - I Am A Bird Now WINNER
Bloc Party - Silent Alarm
Coldplay - X&Y
The Go! Team - Thunder, Lightning, Strike
Hard-Fi - Stars of CCTV
The Kaiser Chiefs - Employment
Seth Lakeman - Kitty Jay
The Magic Numbers - The Magic Numbers
MAXIMO PARK - A Certain Trigger
MIA - Arular
Polar Bear - Held on the Tips of Fingers
KT Tunstall - Eye to the Telescope

2004
Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand WINNER
Basement Jaxx - Kish Kash
Belle And Sebastian - Dear Catastrophe Waitress
Jamelia - Thank You
Keane - Hopes And Fears
Snow Patrol - Final Straw
Joss Stone - The Soul Sessions
The Streets - A Grand Don't Come For Free
Ty - Upwards
Amy Winehouse - Frank
Robert Wyatt - Cuckooland
The Zutons - Who Killed the Zutons

2003
Dizzee Rascal - Boy In Da Corner WINNER
Athlete - Vehicles and Animals
Coldplay - A Rush Of Blood To The Head
The Darkness - Permission to Land
Floetry - Floetic
Lemon Jelly - Lost Horizons
Radiohead - Hail To The Thief
The Thrills - So Much For The City
Martina Topley-Bird - quixotic
Terri Walker - Untitled

2002
Ms. Dynamite - A Little Deeper WINNER
Guy Barker - Soundtrack
The Bees - Sunshine Hit Me
David Bowie - Heathen
The Coral - The Coral
Doves - The Last Broadcast
Electric Soft Parade - Holes In The Wall
Gemma Hayes - Night On My Side
Beverley Knight - Who I Am
Joanna MacGregor - Play
Roots Manuva - Run Come Save Me
The Streets - Original Pirate Material

2001
PJ Harvey - Songs From The City, Stories From The Sea WINNER
Basement Jaxx - Rooty
Elbow - Asleep At The Back
Goldfrapp - Felt Mountain
Gorillaz - Gorillaz
Ed Harcourt - Here Be Monsters
Tom Mcrae - Tom Mcrae
Radiohead - Amnesiac
Shusheela Ramen - Salt Rain
Super Furry Animals - Rings Around The World
Turin Brakes - The Optimist LP
zero 7 - Simple Things

2000
Badly Drawn Boy - The Hour Of Bewilderbeast WINNER
RICHARD ASHCROFT - Alone With Everybody
Coldplay - Parachutes
M.J. Cole - Sincere
Death In Vegas - The Contino Sessions
The Delgados - The Great Eastern
Doves - Lost Souls
Helicopter Girl - How To Steal The World
Leftfield - Rhythm And Stealth
Nicholas Maw - Violin Concerto
Nitin Sawhney - Beyond Skin
Kathryn Williams - Little Black Numbers

1999
Talvin Singh - OK WINNER
Thomas Ad鑣 - Asyla
Denys Baptiste - Be Where You Are
Blur - 13
Black Star Liner - Bengali Bantam Youth Experience
Chemical Brothers - Surrender
Faithless - Sunday 8pm
Manic Street Preachers - This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours
Beth Orton - Central Reservation
Kate Rusby - Sleepless
Stereophonics - Performance and Cocktails
Underworld - Beacoup Fish

1998
Gomez - Bring It On WINNER
Asian Dub Foundation - Rafi's Revenge
Eliza Carthy - Red Rice
Catatonia - International Velvet
Cornershop - When I Was Born For The 7th Time
4-Hero - Two Pages
Massive Attack - Mezzanine
Propellerheads - Decksandrumsandrockandroll
Pulp - This Is Hardcore
John Surman - Proverbs & Songs
The Verve - Urban Hymns
Robbie Williams - Life Thru A Lens

1997
Roni Size/Reprazent - New Forms WINNER
The Chemical Brothers - Dig Your Own Hole
Mark-Anthony - Turnage Your Rockaby
Beth Orton - Trailer Park
Primal Scream - Vanishing Point
The Prodigy - The Fat Of The Land
Radiohead - OK Computer
The Spice Girls - Spice
Suede - Coming Up
John Taverner - Svyati

1996
Pulp - Different Class WINNER
Artists for War Child - Help
Black Grape - It's Great When You're Straight
Fire / Caroline - Mathilde
Manic Street Preachers - Everything Must Go
Peter Maxwell Davies/The BBC Philharmonic - The Beltane
Mark Morrison - Return of the Mack
Oasis - (What's The Story) Morning Glory?
Courtney Pine - Modern Day Jazz Stories
Norma Waterson - Norma Waterson
Underworld - Second Toughest In The Infants

1995
Portishead - Dummy WINNER
Guy Barker - Into The Blue
Elastica - Elastica
PJ Harvey - To Bring You My Love
Leftfield - leftism
James MacMillan - Seven Last Words From The Cross
Van Morrison - Days Like This
Oasis - Definitely Maybe
Supergrass - I Should Coco
Tricky - Maxinquaye

1994
M People - Elegant Slumming WINNER
Blur - Parklife
Ian McNabb - Head Like A Rock
Shara Nelson - What Silence Knows
Michael Nyman - The Piano Concerto and MGV
The Prodigy - Music For The Jilted Generation
Pulp - His 'n' Hers
Take That - Everything Changes
Therapy? - Troublegum
Paul Weller - Wild Wood

1993
Suede - Suede WINNER
Apache Indian - No Reservations
the Auteurs - New Wave
Gavin Bryars - Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet
Dina Carroll - So Close
P.J. Harvey - Rid Of Me
New Order - Republic
Stereo MC's - Connected
Sting - Ten Summoner's Tales
Stan Tracey - Portraits Plus

1992
Primal Scream - Screamadelica WINNER
Barry Adamson - Soul Murder
Jesus & Mary Chain - Honey's Dead
Bheki Mseleku - Celebration
St Etienne - Foxbase Alpha
Simply Red - Stars
John Taverner & Steven Isserlis - The Protecting Veil
U2 - Achtung Baby
Jah Wobble - Rising Above Bedlam
The Young Disciples - Road To Freedom

作为英国地区最著名的两大音乐奖项之一的水星奖(另一个是全英音乐大奖Brit Awards)自举办以来至今年已有17年之久，和那些久负盛名的古典音乐盛会相比，尽管凭它的资历还谈不上历史悠久，但是作为一个流行音乐的奖项确不可不说是有不小的分量的。对于音乐相关行业的从业者来说，奖项意味着受肯定的程度；而对广大的音乐文化的崇拜者，或者更直白的说是乐迷歌迷来说，几乎就是他们的流行风向标，省去了逐一关注大小报刊杂志的各种排行，完全可以当作一个视听参考，尤其是水星奖的涵盖地区。在大不列颠，水星奖几乎是一个家喻户晓的名词。

自1998开始即第6届，组委会把获奖提名从10个增加到12个，具体什么原因也不得而知，或许是出于避免落入各大媒体的年度top10的俗套的缘故。有不少人对水星奖的苛刻颇有微词，12个提名里只有一个将最后胜出，除此之外并没有其他类如年度最佳表现奖的奖项，而更难能可贵的是。水星的评判更偏重于音乐性，12个提名均以唱片为评判标准，所以在提名列表上看到的艺人都是和他们获评的唱片连带出现的，艺人、乐队的个人色彩被放到了第二位。

翻看水星奖的历史，差不多每年的最后胜出者都是当年当之无愧的狠角色。当然，没有十全十美的事，花落谁家都难说高下。最让乐迷不可理解的恐怕就是1997年那一届，无论是当年还是现在看来都具有革命性的专辑，Radiohead的转型之作《Ok Computer》最终抱憾而归，而组委会却把奖项颁给了并不为人熟知的Drum&Bass乐队Roni Size/Reprazent的一张专辑，Thom York大打实验牌的开篇之作可能当时并没有笼络到当时多少评委的心，不过Roni Size/Repraze的《New Form》在当时卖出了5倍白金的销量，我们只能说当时的Thom York有些倒霉，遇到了如此巨大销量的对手，今年Radiohead凭借出众的才华和诡异的《In Rainbows》挤进了年度提名，也是乐队第四次入选水星大奖(前三次分别是1997，2001和2003年)。

近几年的获奖唱片几乎都无可厚非，07年的伦敦新军Klaxons去年的势头十分猛烈，首张专辑《Myths of the Near Future》的神秘色彩和近几年十分走俏的复古new-wave结合得堪称完美；06的摇滚乐坛几乎就是“猴子们”Arctic Monkeys的天下，在没有唱片公司运作的情况下，完全是通过Myspace的口口相传，北极猴子硬是蹦到了最高的领奖台上，也无形中成就了MySpace模式下最成功的案例；1997年之后最让人感到差强人意的应数05年的水星大奖，Bloc Party，Coldplay还有Kaiser Chief，Maximo Park等一线大牌的专辑虽说都得到了提名，但并没有最后突出重围，让一直处事低调的Antony and the Johnsons打了个反围剿，其实如果细听下来Antony and the Johnsons那张《I Am A Bird Now》还是很有说服力的，低调唯美，身为钢琴手的Antony在音乐上确实很有天赋；来自苏格兰，腼腆的Franz Ferdinand在2004年的红火程度绝对不亚于他们的晚辈Arctic Monkeys；有着二分之一牙买加血统的Ms. Dynamite 把hip-hop杂糅了Reggae特有的节奏，让Hip-Hop变得更加风趣，虽然专辑《Lil Deeper》的可圈可点之处并不太多，但是2002年的12个提名里，这个应该是最有特色的； 2003年的水星奖让Dizzee Rascal成为了该奖项历史上第一个获此殊荣的说唱艺人，一张说唱唱片在世界范围内就卖出了25万份之多，当年的说唱界，Dizzee Rascal大有舍我其谁的霸气；在朋克圈里，男有Iggy Pop，女有PJ Harvey，PJ Harvey 2002年的专辑《Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea》获得了包括《滚石》，《NME》在内的多家权威媒体的首肯，可以说它的胜出也是众望所归，也是在这一届里，Radiohead和Elbow第一次同时入选，08年的他们再一次同时成为了夺标热门；新世纪的2000年，Coldplay的首张专辑在结果公布之前被认为最有可能拔得头筹，可偏偏阴差阳错的让Badly Drawn Boy的《The Hour Of Bewilderbeast》赶了个早，从这开始音乐界里出现了一个新名词future folk。