We introduced a few weeks ago MTV’s hunt to find “The Greatest Album Ever“. It raised a fair few questions, and a lot of angry responses from you guys as you listed your favourite bands who weren’t included.

Rather unsurprisingly, Michael Jackson topped the poll, having announced his sensational run of London shows between the announcement of the show and the results. Almost one in three of all votes went to the crazy American. In a shock move, Craig David was number 2 in the poll, and has been deemed more popular than Radiohead and Nirvana, receiving more votes than the Oxford based quintet and Seattle grungers combined. Surely that’s got to be some kind of mistake?

Over forty thousand votes were cast, which gives a pretty good perspective of what people think. Many in the comments of the previous post asked about some pretty seminal albums, however it should be noted that these are the best albums since 1981 – when MTV began, so many classics (Pink Floyd, Smiths, Who etc) aren’t eligible for the list. However, as Thom so rightly commented…. no Libertines? Crazy, no?

Speaking of wacko Jacko’s win, Trevor Nelson commented

I don’t think there’ll ever be another album like it ever in the history of music. There will never be a marriage of producer and artist and song writing and pop sensibility – it just won’t happen again. And also, due to the way people buy records now, there’ll never be an album that sells as many copies – and that’s the thing that will keep it at number one.

Interestingly, Zane Lowe didn’t agree with Craig David’s high ranking, commenting

The guy was hugely successful and there’s no denying that album is a great listen from start to finish as a pop record. It probably stands up as the greatest British urban pop record of the last twenty years. Still no one’s really topped it – apart from Winehouse. Should it be number two in The Greatest Album of all time? No, in my opinion, but I’m not going to begrudge anyone’s success, and if his fans voted for it then what’s encouraging for me is that they still consider that record to be an important part of their lives and that’s what music is.

After the jump: the complete list of albums
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It seems every awards season we have another “Greatest album” survey, most of them from one random source who have basically surveyed their friends to see what they like best that day.

However, when MTV do a survey you know it’s going to be the right choice. They’ve just launched their hunt to find the “Greatest Album Ever“, after they crowned Duran Duran’s Rio as having the “Greatest Video Ever” last year.

In conjunction with music industry experts, MTV’s flagship music channels VH1, MTV Two and MTV Base have each collated their top ten greatest albums since 1981, the year MTV launched. The debates to select the albums were chaired by channel presenters Edith Bowman (VH1), Zane Lowe (MTV Two) and Trevor Nelson (MTV Base).

Suggs (of Madness fame) was one of the key contributors to the shows, talking about Amy Winehouse’s decline and then subsequent rejuvenation:

It’s great to see her looking marvellous again. There was quite a gap between her first and second album and I used to see her around Camden a lot, and when you see someone regularly its harder to notice their demise. I’m so glad she looks well again. It was fate putting her together with Mark Ronson for Back to Black, and was so good for her putting her voice right in the middle of it.

Meanwhile, as only MTV can, Pete Burns gave us an, erm, “intriguing” insight into his friendship with Morrissey, who failed to make the top 10 for any of his solo albums, but whose Smith’s classic “The Queen is Dead” appeared in both VH1 and MTV 2’s top 10’s:

I knew him personally back in the day, he gave me a copy of this album. I loved it from track one. He has a very unique sense of irony and humour. As a person he’s very difficult and awkward to get on with. He stopped talking to me over a fur coat, and still to this day he holds a grudge about it!

Personally, I’d love to see REM get the award. All the others are great, but people seem to underestimate the consistency of REM. Plus, Michael Stipe is a legend in my eyes. Either that or Human League, but I can’t see them beating the big boys – can you?

Voting for the top album is now open over on MTV’s website. Each channel’s review of the top 10 albums can be seen this weekend, with Trevor Nelson presenting the MTV Base run down Saturday 28 February at 9pm, followed by Edith Bowman presenting VH1 and Zane Lowe MTV Two both on Sunday 1 March at 9pm. The final winner will be announced on Sunday 12th April.

After the jump, check out the top 10 albums chosen by each channel.
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So it’s that time of year again, the NME awards are fast approaching, the tours almost over, this year Glasvegas and White Lies headlined to bring back post punk, supported by Friendly Fires and Florence. The tour seems to have gone down well, but now all eyes are on the awards, a short week away… I bring you who I think should win…

Best British Band -The Shadow Puppets were fun, but not exactly up to scratch for this award. Oasis are pretty strong contenders, the band put out a decent record and are set to go on an arena tour in the coming months, being NME favourites it’d be foolish to count them out. But if we’re looking at quality of music, then there’s only one band destined for this year award – Bloc Party (pictured top). Kele & co. have been in full force this year, touring and of course putting out the brilliant ‘Intimacy.’ Dancefloor-filling ‘Flux’ and ‘Mercury’ have also gone down a treat and the album itself has some epic tracks. In this category they clearly deserve success..

Best International Band – Main fight here no doubt is between Vampire Weekend (pictured right) and MGMT, though Kings of Leon put up a good fight too. Two brilliant new bands with sensational records and ace singles to match. The two seem inseparable, to choose one would be madness.. take our advice and go with the one your prefer, if you can’t choose (like I couldn’t), flip a coin and see where it takes you.. Oh and whatever you do – don’t vote Crystal Castles!!

Best Solo Artist -Chances are that this being the NME Pete has pretty much walked it. Aside from this though I don’t see the need to vote for anyone, Jay-Z puts in a good shout but the true winner – Kanye West – isn’t even up for nomination!! Something is seriously wrong with this category, it’s another flip, this time between Pete and Jay-Z..

Best New Band -Fucking hell.. this is impossible, every band is deserving and each one of them should be walking away with the title. Out of them all I may like Glavegas the least but they’re still awesome (though massively overhyped too). This ones a tie folks..

Best Live Band -I haven’t been to any of their shows so perhaps I’m not the best to talk you all through, but I have seen them all on BBC Three’s Reading highlights, (if that counts for anything). If I had to go with one band, based on just energy and explosiveness it’d have to be Kings of Leon. They deserve an award this year and their live show was (apparently) flawless.

Best Album -I notice I’ve been a little indecisive over the last couple of awards, but here I’m decided. Though the nominations aren’t great and are lacking some classics from last year (Clinic, Kanye (again!), The Metros, MGMT (if counted), Xiu Xiu etc. etc.)  Bloc Party are enticing us again as are Kings of Leon, and I know I said I’d decided, but I lied..

Find out the rest of my choices tomorrow morning at 11.

The NME awards are around the corner, if you want to have your say head on over to the nominations page and cast your votes now! Voting closes at 4pm tomorrow, 19th February.

So many good videos out there that we’re doubling up today and tomorrow so we can feature everything we want too.

Not normally a huge fan of rappers. Kanye West has long been a critics favourite, however I’ve never been a big fan. Then he released 808’s and Heartbreak, which I downloaded in the hope I’d like it. I fell in love with it.

Love Lockdown? Amazing. Now he’s got a new video for forthcoming single, Welcome to Heartbreak. Slightly bizarre to watch, it’s a feast of video editing techniques, and quite great to put it lightly. It’s directed by Nabil Elderkin – watch and enjoy below.

http://www.vimeo.com/3256023

(Stumbled across via the ever amazing Nialler9)

It’s that time of year again, readers, when the who’s who in music gather together at the Staples Centre, in Los Angeles, to celebrate the world famous ceremony that is the Grammy Awards. This year’s bash has been a particular success for British artists. Home-bred talent such as Coldplay (pictured top), Radiohead (pictured right), Duffy, Leona Lewis and Led Zepplin’s Robert Plant are all up for coveted gongs ranging from ‘Album of the Year’ to ‘Best New Artist’. Brits performing at the awards include Adele, Paul McCartney, Estelle and M.I.A – who has riskily decided to go on with the show despite the fact her baby is due that very night!

Further performances come from Rihanna, Stevie Wonder, Katy Perry, Jonas Brothers, U2 and even a potential surprise appearance from Green Day. The band have hinted on their website, that they may be showing at this year’s awards despite a near 5 year hiatus since releasing hit-album, American Idiot.

The nominees and consequent winners of the gongs’ are decided by a board of around 10000 members made up of artists, songwriters, producers and music engineers. American rapper, Lil Wayne, is the artist to receive the greatest amount of nominations this year, claiming a cool eight nods. Jay-Z, Kanye West, John Mayer, The Eagles and Metallica are other name’s that will be featuring across a significant array of awards tonight. Meanwhile, Neil Diamond is set to be awarded the acclaimed MusiCares Person of the Year title, which aims to recognise those who have made both an outstanding contribution to music as well as charity-work. Previous winners of the award include Bono, Sting and Aretha Franklin.

Catch all the Grammy action tomorrow night (Monday 9th), at 9pm on ITV2.

Ahh…The Brits. Perhaps more famous for Jarvis Cocker’s stage invasion, or Arctic Monkey’s drunken speeches rather than for it’s showcasing of the best of British music. Either way, every year it certainly proves an interesting watch and this 2009, the controversial show will be presented by disco diva, Kylie Minogue and Gavin and Stacey stars, Mathew Horne and James Corden. There will be performances from Kings of Leon, U2 and Take That to name but a few. You can catch all the action live on ITV1 on February 18th, but if you can’t wait till then, There Goes The Fear is here to tell you about the successful nominees that were announced earlier this week.

The artists leading the way with the highest amount of nominations this year are Welsh songstress, Duffy and Coldplay – both tallying up a total of four nods. Both artists had number 1 albums last year – Duffy with ‘Rockferry‘ and Coldplay with ‘Viva la Vida‘ (pictured right) – so are unsurprisingly up for Mastercard’s Best British Album alongside Elbow, Radiohead and The Ting Tings. Duffy’s ‘Mercy’ and Coldplay’s ‘Viva la Vida’ will also be going head to head in Best British Single category alongside the likes of Estelle’s ‘American Boy’, Adele with ‘Chasing Pavements’ and the X Factor Finalists’ ‘Hero’.

Duffy also features in the Best British Female Solo Artist category alongside Adele, Beth Rowley, Estelle and MIA, while the nominees in male counterpart include Ian Brown, James Morrison, Paul Weller, Streets and Will Young. Best British Group has seen the nomination of the ever-popular Coldplay, Elbow, Radiohead, Take That and Girls Aloud.

New music recieving nods in this year’s Best British Breakthrough Act include Last Shadow Puppets and Scouting For Girls, while 2009’s Best British Live Act showcases everyone from Iron Maiden and The Verve, to Elbow.

Singer-songwriter, Florence and the Machine (who we featured here), is tracing the footsteps of 2008 winner Adele through gaining the coveted Critics Choice Award which recognises upcoming music talent. Meanwhile, Pet Shop Boys have been intriguingly awarded the Outstanding Contribution Award, following on from Beatle Sir Paul McCartney’s win last year.

Band’s receiving nods in the international categories including Best International Group and Best International Album are Kings of Leon, The Killers, AC/DC, MGMT and Fleet Foxes. Solo artists featuring in the categories honouring oversea talent include Katy Perry, Gabriella Cilmi, Seasick Steve, Beck and Kanye West.

To see the nominations in full, check out the official Brits website.

Picking up Oscars and releasing the odd chart topping album is just part of being Jamie Foxx. Thankfully he’s back in the music world with his new album Intuition. Well I say its his new album but half a dozen other artists contribute, bringing a lot to the table.

The record is chilled out and easy on the ear but for me, it lacks a big hit. As an album it is very good but there isn’t a single that looks like it could be played on the radio for years. High expectations follow Jame Foxx and for me the best track is “Digital Girl ft Kanye West” but after these two produced “Gold Digger” together it is frankly a bit of a disappointment. Other tracks offer a few perks as well such as “I Don’t Need It” wich was produced by Timbaland and has is signature sound all over it.

The problem with the album seems to be that there are some awesome club anthems that probably already have a gazillion remixes but the slow songs, although chilled, lack excitment and are all to frequent. The album will still be a big success purely from the names on the back cover and is many ways the production deserves the acalades it is sure to recieve, however, half of me wonders if this album would be any good at all if the high profile feature singers were left out.

I did intend to do a full top ten, but seeing as I ran out of time I’m gonna list (in no particular order) the top albums of 2008.. I didn’t get time to cut down my shortlist either..

MGMT – Oracular Spectacular - This is the only album I ranked and I did so at Number One. A little cliched? Probably.. Predictable? Yes.. They’re topping loads of lists for this accolade (including the NME) and so perhaps this wasn’t the most shocking, but the truth is that I was praying for a 2008 release on this album (though strictly it was first released in 2007 the retail and UK versions fell in 2008). These physc-rockers have created the best album in a long while. It falls under no specific genre or style, yet is instantly listenable.

Highlights – Time To Pretend, Kids, The Youth

MGMT – Kids

The Metros – More Money, Less Grief - The most under rated debut of the year. If you could bottle London, muggings, sexual riots, ASBOs, depression, topshop and all, then press it on to a CD, it would sound like this. The South London based garage indie rockers have produced one of the best albums of the year, every track is brilliant and the signles released have been on par with the quality of the album as a whole. This definately deserves a listen.

Highlights – Talk About It, Last Of The Lookers, Education Pt.2, Sexual Riot

The Metros -  Education Pt. 2 (Live)

Bloc Party – Intimacy - The unexpected third album from Bloc Party was a pleasant surprise, and anyone lucky enough to see them live this year were lucky as they maintained top form through festivals and tours. The album was a digital adventure in to varying sounds, lead single ‘Mercury’ was a stark contrast to some of the other more mellow singles. It wasn’t low on energy either, ‘Trojan Horse’ amongst others going down a treat at live shows.

Highlights – Signs (whilst there are a load on this album, this track is a must listen

Bloc Party – Talons

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Kanye West has announced a UK Arena tour for November. The stuck up rapper who seems to have his own head a bit too far up his own backside will play his five largest UK shows to date over the course of a week.

Tickets go on sale at 9am this Friday (29th November).

Wednesday 12th November – London O2 Arena
Thursday 13th November – Newcastle Arena
Saturday 15th November – Birmingham NEC
Sunday 16th November – Glasgow SECC
Monday 17th November – Manchester MEN

Kanye West has announced details of a UK tour in late November. The tour has been called the “Glow In The Dark Tour”, which will see seven nights of Kanye all around the UK.

Tickets go on sale on Friday (7th September) at 9am. Tickets are £30 each.

Wednesday 21st + Thursday 22nd November – London Hammersmith Apollo
Saturday 24th November – Brighton Centre
Sunday 25th November – Bournemouth BIC
Monday 26th November – Nottingham Arena
Tuesday 27th November – Cardiff CIA
Wednesday 28th November – Plymouth Pavilions

Edit: Kanye is now playing The O2 on Thursday 22nd November instead of the two Hammersmith Apollo dates, such was demand. I understand that the Hammersmith tickets are still valid. I think.

Photo was taken from the_ml’s flickr stream under the creative commons license.