ALBUM OF THE YEAR
We Love Life
Pulp
A big, bold record that picked at the scabs on the knees of life, bursting at the seams of it's pants with anger and passion as Jarvis Cocker tried to convince himself - and us - that it's worth getting out of bed in the morning. The album spun together the art school and kitchen sink ends of Britpop, with the glam dramatics of early Roxy Music and the rainy day gloom of The Smiths strolling hand in hand through the ear-seducing splendor of Scott Walker's Cinemascopic production. While most rock music exhibits the intellectual muscle of a comic book, this had the depth and smarts of a literary novel for grown-ups, with incisive lyrics and multi-layered songs that unfurled like darkly beautiful flowers. Not exactly a jolly knees-up of a record that's for sure, but an utterly thrilling listening experience.

SINGLE OF THE REAR, sorry, YEAR
Can't Get You Out Of My Head
Kylie Minogue
This was about as fat-free as pop music can get, with a melody so simple it sounded like it was written in crayon by a four-year-old. More high-brow types could point to the minimal electro beat and drop hip names like "Kraftwerk" and "Daft Punk" thus giving themselves an excuse to admit they loved it without being embarrased in front of their more trendy friends. Kylie's lack of pretension was a breath of fresh pop air compared to the other so-called pop divas whose output seems to consist of nothing but narcissistic hymns to their own overblown fabulousness ("I Am Woman, Hear Me Squeak"). This was just no-frills dancepop fun - sung by someone who's a bit tasty, of course.

THE 'REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL' AWARD FOR SERVICES TO BRITISH RAP
Mike Skinner (The Streets)
Making the Greatest British Rap Album Ever might seem like an achievement on a par with making the Greatest Swedish Reggae Album Ever, but "Original Pirate Material" was a rollocking success no matter which pigeonhole you stuff it into. Part stand-up comedian and part social commentator, Skinner had more snappy one-liners than The Collected Works of Oscar Wilde, riffing on the ups and downs of modern geezer life in England with an accuracy that even an old fart ex-pat like me could recognize as The Way It Is (hey, I was young once.) With his mouthful-of-bad-teeth delivery and the Garage and Trip-Hop backing tracks this wasn't your trad "rap" album anyway, which just goes to show the only pigeonholes that mean anything are "rubbish" and "bloody fantastic."

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Saint Etienne
Cult indie pop bands aren't usually around long enough to make a career out of it, especially not one lasting 12 years. Such longevity is an abberation in a world where genius often crashes and burns and splits up before the ink is dry on the NME profile, but St. Etienne have managed to spin their vision of pop utopia - London swinging to a soundtrack of lounge and techno - into six albums (and several compilations) of dazzling pop clever-dickery and heartbreakingly lovely tunes. That they've never become mega world famous in all that time has added to the feeling that they're just too good for the uncool kids in school to understand, and they've remained the secret treasure of us people who spend way too much time thinking about things like their favourite b-side. In a perfect synergy of band and audience, their records amount to a celebration of this kind of fandom, their sample-happy first two albums were like collages built from the clutter of a pop geeks bedroom: obscure Dusty Springfield albums, cult movies, Pop Art posters, 12" dance singles, and well-thumbed London guide books thrown together in a salute to the glories of pop culture. Their records may have become less experimental since then but the referencing has continued which makes me think that, more than anything, St. Etienne are about the perfect, personal moments in life that can be recalled by hearing a favourite song - something they sum up in a gorgeous nutshell with a lyric like "Five to three, playing a tape you made me." They're the perfect band for sensitive pop romantics everywhere, because that's exactly what they are themselves.