标题：水星音乐奖
基本介绍
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。
历年获奖
Mercury Prize（水星奖）历年获奖名单
2008暂缺 
  07获奖者Kaxons2007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
2005Antony and the Johnsons - I Am A Bird Now WINNER 
Bloc Party - Silent Alarm  06获奖者Arctic MonkeysColdplay - 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 Telescope2004Franz 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 Zutons2003Dizzee 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 - Untitled2002Ms. 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 Material2001PJ 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 Things2000Badly 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 Numbers1999Talvin Singh - OK WINNER 
Thomas Ad镳 - 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 Fish1998Gomez - 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 Lens1997Roni 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 - Svyati1996Pulp - 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 Infants1995Portishead - 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 - Maxinquaye1994M 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 Wood1993Suede - 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 Plus1992Primal 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
佳作点评
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。