DESIGNER MAGAZINE'S BEST OF 2006
As I sit here and look back at the year of 2006 it's summed up best by Preston from Ordinary Boys appearance on Celebrity Big Brother who blurred the lines between what is mainstream and what is alternative? Looking at many of the winners such as Panic! At The Disco who made us question not only what emo was but also whether they're a rock or pop band through to the fact that Sparks won Best Album Of The Year, an album which itself defies categorization.
Also in the year that singles were talked about being phased out in their physical format at least, there were more classic singles than ever and that we had to pin it down to the Top 3 was nigh on impossible.
We were also forced to look at some of the worst aspects of 2006 which will be summed up by the fact that more Americans seem to like Snow Patrol than any other British Band and the behaviour of Heather Mills-McCartney made her the clear winner for Least Attractive Female of 2006.
Alex McCann
(Editor - Designer Magazine)
BEST ARTIST / BAND
1. Panic! At The Disco
2. My Chemical Romance
3. Morrissey
Despite that by the end of the summer, the war on emo had been declared, there was no doubting that the band of the year had to go to Panic! At The Disco. Designer Magazine saw the band play their first UK live tour earlier in the year before they'd ever released so much as a single or album on these shores and they played to a rammed capacity crowd at Manchester Academy 2. It was the sort of downloaded pandemonium that dwarfed that of the Arctic Monkeys and by the end of the year they'd been the toast of the MTV Awards and turned into New Romantic Emo boys while guitarist and songwriter Ryan Ross had some drag queen Terminator look going on. Classic debut album, some unforgettable live shows and a bright promising future all made for a great 2006 for Panic! At The Disco.
BEST NEW BAND / ARTIST
1. The Enemy
2. The Tigerpicks
3. Tiny Dancers
Just 100 people crammed into the Star & Garter earlier this year to witness local band The Jakpot launch their EP, but it was support band The Enemy who were destined to be the ones everybody were talking about. At the time it was only their fifth ever gig and NME were yet to coin the phrase New Midlands or whatever it was they called the likes of The Enemy, The Twang and burgeoning scene that previously had been avoided like the plague due to Ocean Colour Scene-itus. Managed by the same team as Boy Kill Boy, The Enemy were in comparison an edgy punk band and the fact that they were launched by word of mouth with people suspecting it was a mini-indie supergroup featuring members of The Paddingtons, Boy Kill Boy and The Others made it all the more hilarious. With support slots with The Paddingtons, Milburn and The Futureheads under their wings they kick off 2007 with a headline tour in January.
BEST ALBUM
1. Sparks - Hello Young Lovers
2. My Chemical Romance - Welcome To The Black Parade
3. Sound Team - Sound Team
Although the likes of Panic! ATD, My Chemical Romance and Morrissey had beaten Sparks to the artist of the year, when it came to the album as a body of work there was no doubting that Sparks "Hello Young Lovers" stood tall. In fact as a band they'd influenced all 3 of our best artists directly or indirectly. Overblown neo-classical pop which they recreated in full for their tour in February from the absurd "Dick Around" and "Waterproof" to the political "Baby Baby, Can I Invade Your Country". Most artists create the best album of their career on their debut and then offer a series of diminishing returns...for Sparks the best album of their career came 20 albums in.
BEST LIVE ACT
1. Morrissey
2. My Chemical Romance
3. Panic! At The Disco
Manchester...so much to answer for. For Morrissey, he paid the residents back with 6 gigs over the course of the year which culminated in two gigs which heralded the official end of G Mex as we know it. Earlier in the year we'd seen him play an intimate gig at the Manchester Apollo for which he was subdued and barely spoke a word. By the end of the year at G Mex quips and jokes a plenty were thrown around about Jamie Oliver (an obese member of the British Empire) and his intro was a series of Eurovision clips. It was all nearly perfect but the one question we've always had about Morrissey gigs is why are the support bands so shockingly bad.
BEST ROCK ACT
1. My Chemical Romance
2. Panic! At The Disco
3. Funeral For A Friend
BEST POP ACT
1. Take That
2. Lil Chris
3. Scissor Sisters
Apart from Take That 2006 was a year where tradition pop music was thrown out the window. Westlife still droned on, McFly did about 10 million charity singles to keep themselves in the Top 10 and if you can name any other boy or girl bands please let us know. Although "Patience" was a solo Gary Barlow song and their reformation meant Designer Magazine didn't get another Mark Owen solo album, the live shows at Manchester MEN Arena and Manchester City Ground showed just what pop had been missing out for in the post-Busted years. Could Eton Road save the boy band formula in 2007 and be the male Girls Aloud? Here's hoping!!!
Lil Chris couldn't have been dreamt up if we tried. After all who could
have thought that in 2006 we'd get a 16yr old kid singing along to Undertones
and Buzzcocks influenced songs with a pure pop shine. Ch-ch-checking it
out was universally sung from 8 year olds to 58 year olds and although
the album sales didn't show that we suspect many more downloaded it as
a guilty pleasure.
BEST URBAN ACT
1. Public Enemy
2. Plan B
3. Akala
Back with a Paris (Guerrila Funk) produced album, Public Enemy still maintain that all important title as most important hip hop outfit of all time. The likes of Snoop Dogg and The Game may be able to sell out arenas the world over, but they've done that by playing a very well oiled game of super producers and selling themselves in the vision of the label. Like Franks Sinatra, Public Enemy have always done it their way.
Out of the all the hyped UK Urban artists the only one to make a real
impact this year was Plan B. More Necro than Eminem who he frequently got
compared to you had to listen to the album as a full body of work, Plan
B clearly isn't a singles artist. For us though it was much better when
he dropped the acoustic guitar and hopefully the 2nd album will be less
indie-centric and deliver on the beats.
BEST ALTERNATIVE / ROCK SINGLE
1. My Chemical Romance - The Black Parade
2. Men Women & Children - Dance In My Blood
3. The View - Wasted Little Djs
BEST POP SINGLE
1. Scissor Sisters - I Don't Feel Like Dancing
2. Gnarls Barkley - Crazy
3. Lil Chris - Checkin It Out
Were singles over or had downloads reinvigorated the market. Its clear by the selections for both rock and pop singles that the market had been substantially helped by the introduction of downloads be counted towards chart positions and in 2007 where the single doesn't have to come in a physical format this will surely change the market again. The most interesting thing in 2007 will be whether inclusion of songs in adverts increases the number of re-releases into the charts because labels wont need to take a financial risk on finding shockingly bad music like Babylon Zoo, but at the same time it could re-ignite the careers of several Britpop bands whose comeback are heavily anticipated next year.
MAN OF THE YEAR
1. Billy Bragg
A tour in April 2006 to stop the rise of the BNP in local elections
and also his book "The Progressive Patriot" made Bragg a real figure to
look up to. Younger fans were also introduced to Bragg's back catalogue
by the likes of Hard Fi and Jamie T who'd both talked about Bragg at length
in interviews.
WOMAN OF THE YEAR
1. Imogen Heap
This eccentric musical genius recorded and produced her recent album, released it independently and had the labels begging to license it once the single "Hide And Seek" has been featured on the OC earlier in the year. A genuine word of mouth phenomena that pushed music forward in the same way Kate Bush and Bjork had done previously
SEXIEST MAN OF THE YEAR
1. Christiano Ronaldo
2. Ryan Ross (Panic! At The Disco)
3. Paolo Nutini
SEXIEST WOMAN OF THE YEAR
1. Hayley (Paramore)
2. Alesha Dixon
3. Kate Moss
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THE ARTS IN 2006
BEST TV SHOW
The Mighty Boosh
BEST FILM
Casino Royale
BEST DVD
Mighty Boosh Live
BEST ACTOR
Daniel Craig (Casino Royale)
BEST ACTRESS
Evangelina Lily (Lost)
BEST ARTS PERFORMANCE
The Late Henry Moss (Almeida Theatre, London)
BEST BOOK
John Peel Autobiography
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THE WORST OF 2006
For every winner there must unfortunately be a loser and it seems that Snow Patrol are bigger losers than most for the second year running while Heather Mills-McCartney has shown that an ugly personality means you can go down in fire as the least attractive female of 2006. Do you agree?
WORST BAND / ARTIST: Snow Patrol
WORST NEW BAND: Fields
WORST ALBUM: Westlife - The Love Album
WORST LIVE ACT: Katie Melua
WORST SINGLE: Snow Patrol - Set The Fire To The Third Bar
WORST TV PROGRAM: Two Pints Of Lager
LEAST ATTRACTIVE MALE: Dean Gaffney
LEAST ATTRACTIVE FEMALE: Heather Mills-McCartney
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