Sign up to The Irish Times Archive (1859 - 2008)My Account »
Fri 07 Jul 2010Mercury's credibility on the line after Speech Debelle debacle
REVOLVER:IT’S CRUNCH time for the Mercury Music Prize. The award for the best British/Irish album of the year had its worst- ever result 12 months ago when the overall winner, Speech Debelle, turned out to be the worst-selling Mercury winner in the event’s 18-year history.
It was a ridiculous choice in the first place (the favourite was Florence the Machine, but she had committed the mortal Mercury sin of being popular) and it reeked of demographic box-ticking. You can’t help feeling that the judges were more impressed by Debelle’s bio than her actual album.
Choose a Subscription type - required
