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Lastnight, at the glitzy, spinning doors, red-carpeted, champagne-laden, Hilton Hotel in London's Park Lane; rock rag Kerrang! had it's awards ceremony 2002. But not without a bit of controversy from none other than Kelly Jones from the MOR Stereophonics... Basically, he's stood onstage, cord flares, denim jacket, new dodgy hairdo, about to announce the Best International Newcomer and he pays tribute to Kerrang! Then, a pause. He says, "There couldn't be anymore cunts working for one magazine than the NME!" to which, obviously, the whole place full of rock stars cheered and applauded. Maybe 'Mr Writer' REALLY was aimed at the NME's change of heart toward the 'phonics? He actually said, "I wish someone would knock down the IPC tower," and predictably, deservedly, the place goes nuts. "You probably won't see that in the Channel 4 broadcast" said the nights presenter Eddie Temple-Morris after the awards. But you can see the rest of it on Thursday night at 23:35 when the event is broadcast including live songs recorded in the afternoon by 'A', Hundred Reasons and Garbage.
The only other remotely entertaining, unpredictable thing was just before Casey Chaos from Amen gave Alec Empire the Award for The Spirit of Independance; Casey ironically asked for a cheer for the winners "Nickleback...Staind!" and a deathly silence fell on the rock-filled room before the likes of 'A', Gavin Rossdale, The Coopers, Muse, etc, etc, began to woop and cheer at the very drunk Amen frontman swaying and grinning under the lights. Oh, and one of Raging Speedhorn were caught ranting in the toilets about how the event has "sold out since it changed it's logo to that shitty, trendy, barcode thing!" ...And the rest of the night was just predictable speeches, page 3 girls, anal tabloid photographers, hiding nme-journo's, iDLEWiLD+Ash+100Reasons talking in the gents and me lacking an aftershow pass to mingle with all those rock stars. Grr.
And the winners were...
SPIRIT OF INDEPENDENCE: Alec Empire
BEST BRITISH LIVE ACT: Muse - managed to speak to Matt after, good news, they've just started writing new material in a secret London location!
BEST NEW BRITISH BAND: The Cooper Temple Clause
BEST INTERNATIONAL LIVE ACT: Rammstein
BEST ALBUM: Hundred Reasons 'Ideas Above Our Station'
INTERNATIONAL NEWCOMER: Sum 41
BEST SINGLE: Puddle Of Mudd 'Blurry'
CLASSIC SONGWRITERS: The Offspring - "we'd like to thank the kidz!"
BEST VIDEO: Marilyn Manson 'Tainted Love'
BEST BRITISH BAND: 'A'
BEST BAND IN THE WORLD: Red Hot Chili Peppers
HALL OF FAME: Foo Fighters
DiScuss: Do you agree with those winners? What do you think of Kerrang? Where can I we get Kelly Jones number from for enough semtex to blow ipc tower off the map? Should the D4, signed to Infectious (owned by Mushroom, owned by Rupert Murdoch.Inc) have been nominated for the Spirit of Independence award?
