The BRIT Awards 2012 Nominations: Still As Mainstream As Ever?

With the nominations for this year's BRIT Awards set to be announced in a matter of days, speculation is mounting as to who will be named the cream of the crop within the British music industry. A nomination alone can do great things for a burgeoning music stars career, just take a look at Adele who flew into success after performing on the awards show last year, the You Tube video of which now has over 84 million views.

However, while all this is great for the host of mainstream popular music artist who have taken over the charts in the last decade, not much can be said for all the alternative bands battling to have their voices heard.

In the last week  Noel Gallagher told The Daily Mirror “The days of Oasis and Blur were the last great assault on the charts by alternative music” only to be backed by both The Black Keys drummer, Patrick Carney who told Rolling Stone Magazine “Rock and Roll music is dying because people became OK with Nickleback being the biggest band in the world” and Kasabian front-man Tom Meighan who confirmed “There's a rock n roll drought at the moment”.

While alternative folk band Mumford & Sons claimed British Album of the Year with 'Sigh No More', the quartet are hardly the makings of the next rock n roll scandal. So where have all the hot blooded male and female musicians who are known for tipping on the edge of violence, inhaling anything put under their noses and carelessly sleeping with anything with a pulse gone?

Looking towards those who are likely to be announced as nominees this Thursday at the Savoy Hotel there are two categories which deserve a closer look.

Last year's 'British Album Of The Year' category sparked much debate with Tinie Tempah, Take That, Plan B and The XX all nominated while Mumford & Sons went on to take the crown. Still dominated by washed up boy bands and rappers of little consequence, the category did at least nod towards an alternative music scene showcasing the much acclaimed
hipster band of the moment The XX as a sound worth listening to. With this years biggest selling album coming from Adele, who has spent nineteen weeks at the number one spot, an easy winner can be picked. Other possible nominations include Ed Sheeran who is set to perform at the nomination event and Jessie J who is to present this year's Critics Choice Award.

Predicting nominees for this years 'Best British Group' category is a wholly more enticing task with The Vaccines, Arctic Monkeys and Kasabian all unleashing albums which have shown their worth not only in the mainstream charts but by the amount of tour and festival dates racked up between them. As the biggest breakout band of 2011, The Vaccines even made an appearance on this years Christmas Top Of The Pops special while Kasabian and Arctic Monkeys are now considered long established British rock acts. While old timers Coldplay and the latest fad Princes of Pop One Direction might give these great British bands a run for their money, at least four out of five bands can claim to have written and recorded their own material.

Britpop band Blur are to perform at the end of this year's ceremony after claiming the 'Oustanding Contribution to Music Award' which has been brought back especially for this years BRIT Awards. Other acts rumoured to be playing the awards show include a duet between  Rhianna and Coldplay, as well as both Noel Gallagher and Kasabian.