TheBeautifulOnes

On Audacity of Huge. And I don't like either Yeasayer or Simian, but that has convinced me of the worth of both.

However, friends of mine who are, regrettably, NM fans said it was 'a load of emo moaning'. Then I shot them.

This made for a very odd chillout playlist

the working xlass does, unfortunately, still exist. Even in this day and age, we still have a class system.

Unfortunately I am one of the haters. I find Snow Patrol generic and irritating, and can't understand the love for them when there is so much better music out there. Also, Gary Lightbody is a thoroughly dislikable human being, but redeemed a bit by his work in Reindeer Section

sums up my hate for them

I'm also getting some Animal Collective on ASAP

Ilsa's just come out and it's AMAZING... adds Credence to my statement

That's possibly the most unwitting funny thing the NME has publsihed in a while

I was six and listened to Eminem at the time!

but it's ironic his username is one of the singles he slates

Is my song of the year

Grow up yourself

STOP attacking the Mercury Prize, people on here!

I wouldn't have particularly cared if the Horrors had won, though. I am very upset that the beautiful Portico Quartet and their mesmerising album wasn't released this year instead. Elbow deserved it last year, but Portico could easily have won the first 'jazz Mercury' this year in a weaker line-up. That's a band that deserve more respect, rather than just one band that once got a Mercury token nomination. Please let them release better, greater albums which will shake the world and re-introduce modern jazz as the art form it is

and 'Girls' are the pick of these. I like Drumming Song anyway. Girls will definitley be looked up, as will O Children. I hate Mika. He should not even be here on the world.

Would've liked to see Emmy the Great win, that's an amazing album. Not a big fan of That Was The Week That Was (can't exactly remember their name), they have good individual songs but the album sounds a bit incoherent to me. I wish The Twilight Sad had been nominated

I think the cover of Red Right Hand is pretty appalling though, all the menace and suspense is taken out of it and it becomes an average hard rock number. Their new album is great, though, so they are forgiven, and at least they're into Nick Cave

and the biggest surprise for me were The Rakes. I've found them a bit prosaic and samey before, and not as good as other bands of their type, but I found their set really interesting and fun. Alan Donohue also makes for an intriguing frontman live. Maximo Park were very tight live and so were Metric. The two top billed bands though (Prodigy and Arctic Monkeys), blew everything out of the water, Arctic Monkeys especially.

Bright Eyes, you will be much mourned, by me and many, many others. I'm Wide Awake It's Morning is sublime, just perfect imo. I am 16 and I just discovered it, and I love Lua, First Day of my Life (even though it's on a bank advert), We Are Nowhere and It's Now, god... all of it. Sorry for raving in this way, but I'll really miss Bright Eyes, that's a little happy chunk of my life gone

for your opinion. The point I was trying to make was, if we were on the panel, I'm sure we would have different picks, but is there a need to complain? Can we not just enjoy it for what it is rather than saying they were 'wrong' when taste is an opinion anyway? Also, to quite a lot of you: why is it a criticism of Speech Debelle that she's 'bound to be on there'? These boards have been praisinf her and as soon as she gets nominated, no control of her own over, you start slating her. Hypocrites.

I meant the shortlist is not OBJECTIVE

everyone on here is going to moan about the choices, but let me say I have always been a huge fan of the Mercury Prize. Why did we 'lose faith years ago'? Let's think. Antony and the Johnsons. Arctic Monkeys. Franz Ferdinand. Dizzee Rascal. Klaxons. Elbow. All are representative (except maybe Klaxons) of the brilliance of music and what it can be. The award is far better than any other around, at least in Britain, and is it really a 'way to get underperforming albums to sell better'? Kasabian and Glasvegas have been very high in the charts. OK, so there's albums I would have liked to see there, but generally it represents a good, interesting selection of mostly capable bands from a range of genres, and many are from 'our world' anyway, or have been tipped and loved on here. We will all have our differences of opinion, but is it subjective anyway? No. Do we need to argue about it like it's the be all and end all? Again, no.
Also, it's not a 'checklist approach' of nomination, this year esepcially. People have pointed out that normally there are 'token' acts and two obscure artists. There are four not widely known this year, and I genuinely don't think any are included just to give that genre a bit of a boost. Besids, why do we classify music into genres? If it's all good stuff, can't we enjoy it regardless of what little style we pigeonhoe it into? We should be beyond that now.

I hope someone agrees with this, or at least is up for sensible, non abusive debate. Please write to put your view in.

that calls themself Raary Deci-Hells earns respect, whatever their choice of music

Paolo Nutini, or PAULO as Louis refers to him

I want to be a music journalist (I'm 16 now). I don't want to be one of the Priya Elan type, boring writing. I only remember him over others for his unusual name, not his work, and it's the same for many others. I want to say what I think and what i believe and relate it to everything else in life. Maybe not be as ranting as Swells but not 'coffee table journalism'.

Well put there stabby3

being 16, I have limited musical knowledge, so I hold great faith in such reviews

Copy Haho are great, but even better are Papercuts.