The Darkness Happy Despite Losing Mercury Music Prize

Despite losing out in the 2003 Mercury Music Prize race to rapper Dizzee Rascal, Justin from The Darkness says he’s happy enough just to be nominated. “Last year, I was trying to remember the winner, and I thought, well, it’s the Streets isn’t it? They were the real winners, because they had their profile raised to extraordinary heights because they were the favorites,” he explained, though Ms Dynamite was the actual winner. “They didn’t win, technically, but they’re now sort of breaking America and everyone knows who they are and everyone knows they were nominated for the Mercury prize, and just being nominated is to win, really. I think if we won, then British music would be the winner!”