The Kerrang! Awards are coming round again on 13th June and rock fans are constantly being reminded by their favourite bands to vote for them to win an award, but what are they really worth?
Although it’s great to celebrate rock music, and often more mainstream music award shows neglect the genre, getting a K! Award doesn’t really change a band’s overall reputation. It’s not as though a band win in a certain category and are flooded with interview offers and suddenly catapulted into superstardom.
Furthermore, the awards are usually pretty predictable. Perhaps it is because of dedicated fan bases taking long hours out of their day to repetitively nominate their favourite band in every category and then vote just as much if they receive a nomination, or maybe it’s something else behind the awards (for example, the Kerrang! Reader’s Poll at the end of the year often takes the same trend as their awards ceremony.)
Let’s face it; it wouldn’t be a big surprise to anyone at all if You Me At Six won Best British Band for the third year in a row this year, but (with no disrespect to the band, as a fan myself) where will this get them? Perhaps a few more K! cover stories and a happy fanbase, but will the wider public be aware of this, or will they particularly care? Probably not.
Maybe the problem is that rock just isn’t widely represented in the wider media (or most of it isn’t) so maybe if there were more rock fans these awards would cause more of a rift amongst everyone. Or maybe Kerrang! just isn’t influential enough outside of its niche audience to make that much of a difference.
That’s not to say that the fans shouldn’t be discredited. It’s still humbling for bands to be nominated, down to the effort their fans put into voting (that is, if it IS all down to the fans). Personally, I would be happy to see Young Guns win Best British Band this year, a band who have worked ridiculously hard and have produced two amazing rock albums with minimal recognition. Although they haven’t gone unnoticed completely, YG have never won a Kerrang! Award and as a band who work so hard – surely their hard work and sheer talent should be recognised in the form of an award at some point. However, maybe Young Guns don’t need to win a Kerrang! Award. They’ve been making their name in the USA for the past few months, even appearing on Good Morning America recently.
This brings me back to my original point – do bands really need the Kerrang Awards? Perhaps they are more of a novelty meant for the fans. Proving your loyalty as a fanbase does give a sense of unity amongst fans and maybe helping your favourite band to win something is more important and worth more than bigger, more prestigious recognition. The Kerrang! Awards might have their worth, even if they may not help bands in making their name in the wider music world.