The 1980 ceremony was held on 24th February 1981, to celebrate the music of the preceding year. It was presented again by Dave Lee Travis. It was also broadcast on BBC Radio 1, with commentary from Andy Peebles. A full recording of the audio is available online here, and the introduction of the TV coverage is here:
Best Album
Winner: The Police, for Zenyatta Mondatta
Best Group or Band
Winner: The Police
Best Female Singer
Presented by Mickie Most. Winner: Sheena Easton
Daily Mirror Readers’ Award for the Outstanding Pop Personality
Presented by Una Stubbs. Winner: Cliff Richard
Best Single
Presented by Suzi Quattro. Winner: The Jam, for Going Underground
Nationwide Golden Award for the Artist or Group with the Most All-Round Family Appeal
Presented by Sue Lawley. Winner: The Nolans
Best Male Singer
Presented by Lulu. Nominees included:
Gary Numan
Cliff Richard
Paul McCartney
David Bowie
Winner: David Bowie
Radio 1’s Disc Jockeys’ Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Pop Music
Presented by Mike Read. Winner: John Lennon, and accepted by Yoko Ono
Further Details
Showaddywaddy were listed as having been “in attendance”. There was also a suggestion that Ultravox may have won a video award for Passing Strangers, but this appears not to have been true.
From 1982 (confusingly the 1981 ceremony thanks to the year numbering) onwards, the British Rock & Pop Awards were happening concurrently with the British Record Industry Awards (later the BPI Awards, and even later the BRIT Awards).
1979
The awards for 1979 seem to have taken place on 26th February 1980. Simulcast on BBC TV and BBC Radio 1, and again at the Café Royal, London (see BFI record). Presented by Dave Lee Travis and Sue Lawley. Awards included:
Best Single
Best Album
Best Male Singer
Best Female Singer
Best Group or Band
Radio 1’s Disc Jockeys’ Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Pop Music
Daily Mirror Readers’ Award for the Outstanding Pop Personality
Nationwide Golden Award for the artist or group with the most all-round family appeal
Presenters included Barron Knights, Kate Bush, Marianne Faithfull, Andy Gibb, and Leo Sayer.
Rick Wakeman presented The Police with the Best Album award for Regatta de Blanc.
Kate Bush seems to have either won Best Female Singer for a second year running, or the previous entry was an error (see here). Paul McCartney won the Daily Mirror Readers’ Award.
Dave Lee Travis introduced John Peel to present Jerry Dammers with Radio 1’s Disc Jockeys’ Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Pop Music for his work with The Specials. Apparently Gary Numan also won “multiple awards” (see video entry for next year).
1980
Again presented by Dave Lee Travis and Sue Lawley (see BFI record here) on 24th February 1981. This entry on a Wikipedia talk page is largely apocryphal, but mentions The Jam winning the Best Single Award for Going Underground, which is mentioned in more detail here.
Best Male Singer nominees included:
Gary Numan
Cliff Richard
Paul McCartney
David Bowie
Winner: David Bowie. Presented by Lulu. See also image here and entry here. There’s an alternative recording of the video here.
Ultravox were nominated for Best Video for Passing Strangers, but failed to win.
Showaddywaddy were also in attendance according to this page, and Madness, Adam and the Ants, Hazel O’Connor, Hot Chocolate, Madness, and Ronnie Hazlehurst and HisOrchestra all performed (see here).
1981
The 1981 ceremony took place on 8th February 1982 at the Lyceum, London, and were presented by Dave Lee Travis and SueCook (see BFI record).
Shakin’ Stevens also won the Best Male Singer award (see here), while Duran Duran were nominated for Best Newcomer, and performed Girls on Film and My Own Way (see here). Bananarama performed Shy Boy (see here).
If you would like to see the comparison, the 1982 BRIT Awards are covered here.
“If,” said Chumbawamba, “John Prescott has the nerve to turn up at events like the BRIT Awards in a vain attempt to make Labour seem cool and trendy, then he deserves all we can throw at him.”
Indeed. For it was in 1998 that they put this unusually specific philosophy into practice by emptying a bucket of iced water over the Labour fatty.
But despite a bit of anarchy here and there, things remained pretty corporate. It was February 9th 1998, the venue was London Arena, and our host for the evening was Ben Elton out of comedy. Watch the opening here, and the introduction here.
Best International Male Solo Artist
Presented by Matthew Modine and Chaudia Schiffer. Nominees:
Jon Bon Jovi
Coolio
DJ Shadow
LL Cool J
Sash!
“Why,” you may ask, “Did Jon Bon Jovi merit a solo award nomination?” No idea. Video here.
Winner: Jon Bon Jovi.
Best British Newcomer
Voted for by listeners of BBC Radio 1, and presented by Max Beesley and Jo Whiley. Nominees:
All Saints
Shola Ama
Embrace
Olive
Beth Orton
Finley Quaye
Conner Reeves
Roni Size/Reprazent
Stereophonics
Travis
Winner: Stereophonics.
Best International Female Solo Artist
Was to be presented by Dusty Springfield, but sadly she was too unwell to do so (and would pass away a year later), so it was presented by Alexander McQueen and Honor Fraser. Nominees:
Erykah Badu
Björk
Meredith Brooks
Celine Dion
Janet Jackson
I am grateful grapefruit.
Winner: Björk.
Best British Female Solo Artist
Presented by Richard Branson. Nominees:
Shola Ama
Michelle Gayle
Louise
Beth Orton
Lisa Stansfield
Winner: Shola Ama.
International Sales Award
A special award for the best selling international album.
Winner: Spice Girls.
Best British Video
Voted for by viewers of The Box, and presented in character by Alan Partridge (Steve Coogan). Nominees:
All Saints – Never Ever
Blur – Song 2
David Bowie – Little Wonder
Chemical Brothers – Block Rockin’ Beats
Dario G – Sunchyme
Oasis – D’You Know What I Mean?
Republica – Drop Dead Gorgeous
Spice Girls – Spice up Your Life
Supergrass – Late in the Day
The Verve – Bittersweet Symphony
Winner: All Saints.
Best British Male Solo Artist
Presented by Errol Brown and Natalie Imbruglia. Nominees:
Gary Barlow
Elton John
Finley Quaye
Paul Weller
Robbie Williams
Winner: Finley Quaye.
Best International Group
Presented by Heather Small from M. People with unusually small hair and Jay Kay out of Jamiroquai. Nominees:
Daft Punk
Eels
Hanson
No Doubt
U2
Although Ben Elton introduces Jamiroquai as a former BRIT winner, this is in fact not true – he’s never won one in the entire history of the awards.
Winner: U2.
The Freddie Mercury Award
A special award for Doing A Song About Princess Diana. Presented by Tony Blair out of Starting Illegal Wars, on video from Washington DC. Cringeworthy video here.
Winner: Elton John.
Best Soundtrack/Cast Recording
Presented using the medium of song by Cleopatra (comin’ atcha). Nominees:
The Full Monty (various artists)
Men in Black (various artists)
Romeo + Juliet (various artists)
Space Jam (various artists)
Trainspotting 2 (various artists)
Winner: The Full Monty.
Best British Group
Presented by Frank Skinner and David Baddiel. Nominees:
Oasis
The Prodigy
Radiohead
Texas
The Verve
Winner: The Verve.
Best Dance Act
Nominees:
Brand New Heavies
The Chemical Brothers
Eternal
Jamiroquai
The Prodigy
Oh yes, the Dance Act award, which was sadly dropped in later years, and which inexplicably featured an annual nomination for not-very-dancey-and-frankly-pretty-lousy Jamiroquai.
Winner: The Prodigy.
Best British Single
Voted for by listeners of independent radio, and presented by Pam Grier and Samuel L. Jackson. Big up to the UK. Nominees:
All Saints – Never Ever
Blur – Song 2
Chumbawumba – Tubthumping
Eternal feat. Bebe Winans – I Wanna Be the Only One
Elton John – Candle in the Wind
Olive – You’re Not Alone
Radiohead – Paranoid Android
Texas – Say What You Want
The Verve – Bittersweet Symphony
Robbie Williams – Old Before I Die
Singles, according to Ben Elton, had experienced a big revival in 1997. Of course, as we now know, the draconian chart rules introduced later in 1998 would kill them in a way that they could never recover.
