Rock & Metal Forum Awards 2011 - Discussion

Malice

It's that time of year again where it's time to crown the achievements of some bands over the previous 12 months, make fun of others and ignore the rest .
Now I seem to recall there were some issues last year but I can't find the post(s) so I'm just going to stick to pretty much the same format as last time around until my brain clicks into gear and I remember what it was that I was going to do differently.

Here is the preliminary list of categories that I'd like opinions on:

Metal Album of the Year
Rock Album of the Year
Band of the Year
Gig of the Year
Irish Band of the Year
New Band of the Year
Shock of the Year
Talking Point of the Year
Video of the Year
Disappointment of the Year
Song of the Year

I've added the Disappointment category because I can think of a few albums which were let-downs for me but I guess this could also extend to albums not being released or certain gigs not being up to scratch. I will leave discussion open for a couple of weeks and then I will create the voting thread.

The big question is whether we should have a separate best and worst list altogether. What do the rest of you think?

As always please direct any questions, comments and abuse my way.

Motley Crue

Metal Album of the Year: Toxic Holocaust - Conjure and Command

Rock Album of the Year: Volbeat - Beyond Hell/Above Heaven

Band of the Year: Slayer

Gig of the Year: The Darkness, Newcastle Academy, Nov 12th and Europe, Newcastle Academy, Feb 27th

Irish Band of the Year: Gama Bomb

New Band of the Year: Voodoo Johnson - http://www.myspace.com/voodoojohnson (I recommend)

Shock of the Year: The 25 people in Europe who remember Puddle of Mudd getting together and asking for them to perform at Download.

On a more serious note, the death of Peter Steele

Talking Point of the Year: The Big Four touring Europe, Slayer loosing Jeff to a flesh eating virus, Peter Steele's death, Pearl Jam and Metallica's continued existence and a lot of the other things talked about on Boards.ie

Video of the Year:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XX6JVPMd--k

Disappointment of the Year: Lulu, need I say anymore

Song of the Year: Mastodon - Black Tongue

Malice

Just to be clear, this is the discussion thread. Don't vote yet!

I will count Motley Crue's vote.

TheStickyBandit

Mastodon should defininitly receive either album or band of the year due to the sheer excitment their new album generated before its release, plus it also kicks ass too!

Nephilim Wolf

I think there should be a separate best and worst list. I think album of the year should go to 'New World Shadows' by Omnium Gatherum or 'The Great Mass' by Septic Flesh. Both albums are truly incredible.

viadah

Motley Crue wrote: »

On a more serious note, the death of Peter Steele

So good they killed him twice.

Malice

Okay folks so far there have been four replies to my original post only one of which is actually discussing the format of the awards like I had intended. I guess if we're all happy with the proposed format then fair enough but I think there are still a few things to iron out.

I think the suggestion from Nephilim Wolf might not work for every category. The other thing is that the list would get pretty big and folks might not vote for everything. The list below already has sixteen entries.

Best Metal Album of the Year
Worst Metal Album of the Year
Best Rock Album of the Year
Worst Rock Album of the Year
Best Band of the Year
Worst Band of the Year
Best Gig of the Year
Worst Gig of the Year
Best Song of the Year
Worst Song of the Year
Irish Band of the Year
New Band of the Year
Shock of the Year
Talking Point of the Year
Video of the Year
Disappointment of the Year

Now, onto a thought I just had. Should we look for nominations for each category and then vote only for those nominations or stick to last year's format where folks can vote for what they want?

viadah

A shortlist of nominations works most every awards ceremony, but who's learned opinion will gather the necessary shortlist together?

Malice

viadah wrote: »

who's learned opinion will gather the necessary shortlist together?

It won't be one person's opinion, it'll be a counting up of what a bunch of people nominate. All transparent and above board.

chin_grin

The new list is pretty comprehensive, I like it!

Although I'm going to be controversial and say (yes I know this isn't the voting thread) that the biggest disappointment was Mastodons new album. :pac:

Kess73

I think I like the idea of people being able to vote for whatever they liked or disliked rather than using a shortlist.

viadah

I reckon a few trusted posters with diverse interests and a good eye on the goings on in the rock / metal world could be relied on to gather a shortlist, put it to the public for any critique to make sure of transparency and then hold the official vote. It would save on having in essence two voting rounds.

For the record, I'm not angling for anything here, I don't have a clue what's going on in the world in general having only returned to this plain of existence a few months ago. Motley Crue seems to have a solid head for this kind of thing.

What about Album Lifetime Achievement Award? For albums that are over 25 years old that are still class?

Angron

How about if you do a best and worst categories, could you split it into two threads to make it a bit of easier reading?

Nephilim Wolf

Deleted User wrote: »

What about Album Lifetime Achievement Award? For albums that are over 25 years old that are still class?

That sounds like a really great idea. I can think of a few class albums off hand that are over 25 years old.

Def Leppard - Pyromania
Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath
Iron Maiden - Piece of Mind
Rush - Permanent Waves\Moving Pictures
Metallica - Ride The Lightning
Mercyful Fate - Don't Break The Oath
Thin Lizzy - Black Rose
Hawkwind - Levitation
Venom - Black Metal
Celtic Frost - To Mega Therion
Scorpions - Lovedrive
Saxon - Strong Arm of The Law
The Cult - Love
Van Halen - Van Halen II
Rush - Hemispheres
Scorpions - Love at first Sting
Thin Lizzy - Thunder And Lightning
Deep Purple - In Rock
Black Sabbath - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath

JBnaglfar

Deleted User wrote: »

What about Album Lifetime Achievement Award? For albums that are over 25 years old that are still class?

Like a boards R&M hall of fame? I like it.

viadah wrote: »

I reckon a few trusted posters with diverse interests and a good eye on the goings on in the rock / metal world could be relied on to gather a shortlist, put it to the public for any critique to make sure of transparency and then hold the official vote. It would save on having in essence two voting rounds.

I'd rather having a round of nominations and then a round of voting. Works well for the gig of the year anyway. This would be my first choice. Otherwise I would say stick with last year's system. With no offense to fellow boardsies, I wouldn't really want a shortlist to be drawn up by just a few members.

Malice

Kess73 wrote: »

I think I like the idea of people being able to vote for whatever they liked or disliked rather than using a shortlist.

Yeah, that was the format we followed last year. One slight problem with doing that was that there were a few cases of people not supplying votes for particular categories for whatever reason so something could win a category despite not getting too many votes. With a set list of options that's less likely to happen.

viadah wrote: »

I reckon a few trusted posters with diverse interests and a good eye on the goings on in the rock / metal world could be relied on to gather a shortlist, put it to the public for any critique to make sure of transparency and then hold the official vote. It would save on having in essence two voting rounds.

For the record, I'm not angling for anything here, I don't have a clue what's going on in the world in general having only returned to this plain of existence a few months ago. Motley Crue seems to have a solid head for this kind of thing.

The biggest problem with that is that we end up with something like a committee and given that this is an entirely voluntary forum I don't want to have to start hassling anyone to do anything.

Deleted User wrote: »

What about Album Lifetime Achievement Award? For albums that are over 25 years old that are still class?

Good call, I never get tired of discussing Ride The Lightning. Er, I mean of course we'll put it to a vote .

Denny M wrote: »

How about if you do a best and worst categories, could you split it into two threads to make it a bit of easier reading?

I'm not sure what you mean here. Last year it was, as demonstrated by Motley Crue on this thread, just one thread for the voting with the user's choice in each category listed. What way would you change it?

Angron

I was thinking one thread for the best, one for the worst, though I suppose if it's just voting it'd be pretty unnecessary..

Jemmaa

Malice wrote: »

The biggest problem with that is that we end up with something like a committee and given that this is an entirely voluntary forum I don't want to have to start hassling anyone to do anything.

Why cant we just share this forum without taking responsibilities for each other

StaticAge11

For me the album of the year has to be one of:
Machine Head - Locust
Trivium - In Waves
Foo Fighters - Wasting Light
Rebecca Black - Friday single

Nephilim Wolf

This year has been a fantastic year for me in terms of a lot of class albums. Here are some of my choices:

Omnium Gatherum - New World Shadows
Amorphis - The Beginning of Times
Septic Flesh - The Great Mass
Insomnium - One For Sorrow
Blood Ceremony - Living With The Ancients
Thulcandra - Under a Frozen Sun
Demonaz - March Of The Norse
Raventale - Bringer Of Heartsore
Moonsorrow - Varjoina Kuljemme Kuolleiden Maassa
Wolves In The Throne Room - Celestial Lineage
While Heaven Wept - Fear Of Infinity

Somnus

Just on the topic of format. I don't think a worst song or band of the year is relevant? I personally wouldn't bother voting for these cause I would find it hard to pick a song I consider terrible. And what would constitute worst band?

I think the disappointment of the year could cover stuff like that. Also, with people varying tastes I don't know if a nomination format will work. I thought last years way was grand!

Malice

Jemmaa wrote: »

Why cant we just share this forum without taking responsibilities for each other

I'm not sure what you mean. All I meant was that it's far simpler for me if I just collate and count up what everyone voted for myself without having to delegate that to others and then potentially be stuck waiting for them if real-life stuff gets in the way.

Dr.Poca wrote: »

Just on the topic of format. I don't think a worst song or band of the year is relevant? I personally wouldn't bother voting for these cause I would find it hard to pick a song I consider terrible.

Turn on the Kerrang tv channel. If they're not on already when you change the channel then wait a few minutes for Black Veil Brides to appear. There's the terrible song I'd vote for .

Dr.Poca wrote:

And what would constitute worst band?

Turn on the Kerrang tv channel, wait for Black Veil Brides...I'm sure you can follow my logic .

Dr.Poca wrote:

I think the disappointment of the year could cover stuff like that. Also, with people varying tastes I don't know if a nomination format will work. I thought last years way was grand!

Good point on the Disappointment of the Year since I'd thought of it only in terms of albums that were let-downs but of course that would be taken care of by Worst Album.

As for the nomination format, I agree it'd probably be hard to cover all bases even with the 25 or so possible options that you can have in a poll.

Somnus

Malice wrote: »

As for the nomination format, I agree it'd probably be hard to cover all bases even with the 25 or so possible options that you can have in a poll.

Ah so you'd be doing a thread/poll for each catagory then? In that case it wouldn't be too bad. You could probably cover most things.

Also, I don't normally go out of my way to listen to bad music :P

Malice

Dr.Poca wrote: »

Ah so you'd be doing a thread/poll for each catagory then? In that case it wouldn't be too bad. You could probably cover most things.

No, I don't plan to do that unless there's a major swing in feedback towards that format. It'll just run like last year. I'll create one voting thread with a template that folks can copy and stick their votes in.

Jemmaa

Malice wrote: »

I'm not sure what you mean. All I meant was that it's far simpler for me if I just collate and count up what everyone voted for myself without having to delegate that to others and then potentially be stuck waiting for them if real-life stuff gets in the way.

Turn on the Kerrang tv channel.

I mean I'm not on Kerrang but I have my own opinion about metal music and basically I don't want to put myself into the frame and vote for the music from the list created according to someones test Im never listening to.
This is open forum and I'm coming here because I like to share music I like I feel home here and to be honest when I see twenty "Award" threads on the first page I feel frustrated it's kinda not typical for this kind of music in my opinion

This is of course only my point feel free to ignore it or remove it I will survive. Smile.

GLaDOS

I agree with above, voting for the worst anything just seems silly.

Malice

Jemmaa wrote: »

I mean I'm not on Kerrang but I have my own opinion about metal music and basically I don't want to put myself into the frame and vote for the music from the list created according to someones test Im never listening to.

That's fine. Dr.Poca made the same point earlier in the thread. We all come here because we like music and the genres of rock and metal are sufficiently wide that we'd probably never be able to satisfy everyone with a list so it's probably better for people to vote for what they want.

Jemmaa wrote:

This is open forum and I'm coming here because I like to share music I like I feel home here and to be honest when I see twenty "Award" threads on the first page I feel frustrated it's kinda not typical for this kind of music in my opinion
This is of course only my point feel free to ignore it or remove it I will survive. Smile.

Your opinion is just as valid as anyone else's . There won't be 20 awards threads on the front page, just the ones for the results once they have been calculated.

Jemmaa

Didn't want to make you feel bad, sorry

Your opinion is just as valid as anyone else's . There won't be 20 awards threads on the front page, just the ones for the results once they have been calculated.

Thank you very much!

Angron

Seeing as we have best rock album and best metal album, could we have best rock band and best metal band as two seperate categories?

Nephilim Wolf

Malice wrote: »

We all come here because we like music and the genres of rock and metal are sufficiently wide that we'd probably never be able to satisfy everyone with a list so it's probably better for people to vote for what they want.

I agree, because then everyone would be voting for Mastodon and the like, and I can't stand Mastodon. If moderators were to do a list they would be propably leave out bands like Septic Flesh, Omnium Gatherum, Amon Amarth, Hell, Draconian, Arch Enemy, Primordial, Wolves in The Throne Room, Moonsorrow, Insomnium, Blood Ceremony, Amorphis, Thulcandra, Insomnium and Demonaz. All those bands released really outstanding albums this year.