Somewhat belated post on the Mercury Prize

The Klaxons, you say? Best album of 2007? Hilarious. Now tell us who really won...

Sure, Amy Winehouse is a hopeless wino drug bag these days, but Back To Black - recorded last year - is clearly a work of immense genius. Of all the albums on the Mercury shortlist, it's the one we'll still be listening to in five years time - and its light won't have dimmed one single watt.

On the other hand, you can sum up The Klaxons' longevity in two simple words: Jesus Jones.

I'm not one for conspiracy theories (except that one about Angela Landsbury being responsible for 9/11 - that’s definitely true), but don't you think it's odd that the Mercury panel was overseen by NME editor Conor McNicholas? That's the NME - which championed the Klaxons, booked them for its new bands tour and christened them with the clunking "new rave" tag. The NME, of course, stands to sell more issues with the Klaxons on the cover next week than they would with, say, Amy Winehouse. Hmmm...

But there is some solace to be taken from the band's win:
1) Their on-stage drunken acceptance speech is one of the pop highlights of the year (almost as good as their still-drunk appearance on News 24 this morning, where they chastened presenter Kate Silverton for asking questions about Winehouse instead of them).
2) Winning the Mercury Prize is pretty much a black kiss of death for any aspiring pop act.

In the meantime, at least the readers of Popjustice.com got it right - awarding Amy's Rehab their £20 music prize last night. Amy gets that sum in cash. And she will no doubt spend it on orange juice.

Here she is performing Love Is A Losing Game at the Mercury Awards last night. It will send shivers up your spine (in a good way).

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