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Last year it was Veve, Verve, Verve...with a little Radiohead chucked in for good measure. But 12 months is an awful long time in rock'n'roll and this year The Verve are pretty much stuck on the ring road outside Nowheresvile when it comes to your affections.
Nineteen-ninety-eight was the year that proved that size does matter. The Manics got their first Number One, began playing stadia and romped home with the lion's share of the votes in four major categories. They won Best Band with over twice as many votes as their nearest rivals, the fast-rising Stereophonics. 'This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours' again polled double the shout for Embrace's 'The Good Will Out'... and then some! Ditto 'If You Tolerate This...', which went near to trebling the vote for Placebo's 'Pure Morning' and repeated the romp in the Best Music Video category.
So there's no doubt about it: in 1998 the Manics were guv'nors. Elsewhere it was all change, too. After wowing us all at the summer festivals, Robbie stormed home well ahead of the pack to win Best Solo Artist; Gomez - who, remember, were hardly even around this time last year - won the majority of your votes in the Best New Band section and Norman Cook, aka Fatboy Slim, did the double in the dance department, just squeaking home ahead of the Prodigy to win Best Dance Act and nipping in ahead of Stardust's 'Music Sounds Better With You' to win Best Dance Record with 'The Rockafeller Skank'.
Despite the torrential rain and neck-deep mud, you still voted Glastonbury your Musical Event Of The Year, you masochists! But the winner with by far the biggest margin in any category was South Park, which spanked the rest of the opposition to carry off the Best Show accolade with a record vote nearly four times its nearest rival, The Simpsons.
So that was your 1998. You can relive the best of it all over again in the NME Premier Review at 11.30pm on Channel 4 this Wednesday, January 27. This flashback's on us!
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