NME PINS GENIUS AWARD ON
PET SHOP BOYS

Pet Shop Boys, long signed to Parlophone and now indie, received the highest accolade at the NME Awards in Blighty with the Godlike Genius Award. Universal was the biggest winner in the label stakes Wednesday, taking seven gongs—including a Worst Band dishonour…

From David Joseph's Universal camp, winners included Best International Band, Metallica, and Best British Female, M.I.A., while Virgin EMI had Best Album for Bastille’s Wild World and Best Video for Slaves’ “Consume or be Consumed.” The music mag did a U-turn and crowned former Worst Band winners The 1975 (Dirty Hit/Polydor) with Best Live Band, while Capitol’s 5 Second of Summer were the unwilling recipients of the least-coveted Worst Band award.

Max Lousada’s Warner label had three wins: Best British Band, Biffy Clyro (14th Floor); Best New Artist, Dua Lipa (Warner Bros.); and Coldplay (Parlophone) had Music Moment of the Year in their tribute to the late band Viola Beach at Glastonbury.

Speaking of which, the British staple at Worthy Farm was named Best Festival, while its superstar headliner, Adele, was Best Festival Headliner. Sony scored a second win with Beyonce named Hero of the Year.

From the indie camp, grime artist Skepta (Boy Better Know) was Best British Male, while Frank Ocean (Boys Don’t Cry) was crowned Best International Male.

Christine and the Queens of French label Because Music was Best International Female and had Best Track for “Tilted.”

The Best Music Film was the Oasis documentary Supersonic, while a reissue of the band’s Be Here Now (Big Brother) was Best Reissue.