Classic Rock staged its first ever annual award event at London's Café De Paris last night, though it was a bit different from most of the back slapping fests organized by its music media competitors. Many of the winners were known in advance of the event, and the show was less about announcing the winners, and more about celebrating their work. A big chunk of the evening went to Motorhead's Lemmy Kilmister who won the Living Legend Award. The other pre announced winners were as follows:
Best New Band: The Answer
Comeback Of The Year: Billy Idol
Showman: Arthur Brown
Classic Songwriter: Ian Hunter (Mott The Hoople)
Metal Guru: Judas Priest
V.I.P.: Neil Warnock (The Agency)
Inspiration: Tommy Vance
Classic Album: Deep Purple For 'In Rock'
Living Legend: Lemmy Kilmister
Commenting on the awards event, Classic Rock magazine's Editor-in-Chief Scott Rowley told reporters: "These winners are some of the bands and artists that built rock 'n' roll. It's not about being trendy or having your image approved by Simon Cowell - these are guys who changed the way people thought about rock music, from the crazy showmanship of Arthur Brown to high voltage rock of Deep Purple and Motorhead. People can't even remember the name of the guy who won the last 'Pop Idol' [actually, it was a girl] - but these guys wrote the songs that have soundtracking our lives - and we'll still be listening to them in 20 years' time".