LEADING entertainment retail specialist, hmv, has launched a major online survey that aims to celebrate the remarkable achievements in British music and film presided over by The Queen during her 60-year reign.
hmv, which itself has a heritage stretching back more than 100 years, is inviting its customers and the wider public to use a special voting app on its Facebook page to put forward their choice of the greatest British albums and films of the past six decades.
The app, which has been developed by hmv’s digital and social media agency – MMK Media – features hmv’s Nipper mascot cloaked in a Union flag in ‘Britannia’ style in its design.
The national poll is part of a wider ‘Britain/Music is GREAT’ industry initiative that, in this special Olympic and Jubilee year, seeks to highlight the far-reaching achievements and contribution of British culture and music: www.facebook.com/MusicisGREATBritain
Participants in the hmv survey, which closes 20th May, will be able to vote for up to five albums and five films, as well as nominate their own ‘other’ selection if not listed, from a ‘longlist’ of 60 titles in each category compiled by hmv store and head office staff in a recent internal poll.
The two ‘longlists’ that voters can choose from reflect our nation’s rich post-war cultural heritage, and feature a broad and diverse selection of iconic and contemporary artists, musical genres and cinematic styles ranging from Adele to Zulu and Cult Sci-Fi to Punk Rock.
Unsurprisingly, The Beatles head the albums list with five nominations, along with The Rolling Stones on three and David Bowie, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Radiohead, Oasis and Blur – who all have two, as well as Queen, Elton John, Kate Bush and Coldplay. The Clash and The Sex Pistols ensure that Punk and New Wave is well featured, and Manchester’s contribution from the Nineties is additionally represented by Joy Division, The Smiths and The Stone Roses.
Scotland and Wales have their champions in the shape of Primal Scream and Teenage Fanclub and The Manic Street Preachers and Stereophonics respectively, while, along with Adele and the much-missed Amy Winehouse, more contemporary British artists include the Arctic Monkeys, Dizzee Rascal, Tinie Tempah and this year’s Mercury Prize winner, PJ Harvey.
The films category is arguably even more diverse, with the James Bond, Harry Potter and Monty Python franchises well represented alongside a selection of Working Title romantic comedies such as Four Weddings and a Funeral and Love Actually.
Military films range from The Bridge on the River Kwai to The Great Escape, while classic comedies include the likes of A Fish Called Wanda, Shaun of the Dead and Ealing Studios’ The Ladykillers.
Historical dramas that shine a light on a Great Britain of Royalty and Empire include Lawrence of Arabia, Gandhi, A Room with a View and The King’s Speech, while modern-day society is reflected by the grittier offerings of Sexy Beast, Tyrannosaur and This is England.
One of the most featured actors among the films nominated is Michael Caine, who stars in Alfie, Get Carter, The Italian Job and Zulu
*** See Notes to Editors for full list of nominated albums and films.
The full results of the HMV survey, including, in the view of the voting public, the name of the overall greatest British album recorded and the greatest British film made since the Queen’s accession to the Throne in 1952, will be revealed in the period leading up to the Diamond Jubilee celebrations, which culminate 3rd – 5th June.
Everyone entering will also have the chance to win a complete set of all sixty albums on CD and all sixty films on DVD that is up for grabs.
Many of the titles featured in the poll are being highlighted to customers in a summer-long ‘Best of Britain’ instore/online CD and DVD campaign, often at two for £10 pricing designed to inspire the public to revisit titles they’ve ve not listened to or watched for a long time, or, in the case of younger consumers, to perhaps enjoy them for the very first time.
The campaign will be supported with window and instore displays across the 240-strong chain in the last week of May and first week of June, when, in homage to The Queen, hmv advertising will also feature a specially adapted version of the famous ‘dog & trumpet’ trademark logo that will see a corgi stand in for hmv’s much-loved canine mascot – Nipper.
HMVs Gennaro Castaldo, comments: “The beginning of Elizabeth II’s reign, and the bright new future it represented, didn’t just coincide with a flowering of British popular culture, it helped to provide the very spark that lit the touch-paper for an explosion in music and film talent.
“Since then, the Queen has presided over the richest period of cultural achievement in our nation’s history, so it’s only right that her Diamond Jubilee – which ironically also encapsulates 60 years of the official charts, should also be a period when we reflect on the greatest British albums and films of the past six decades.”
Ends
Enquiries
gennaro.castaldo@hmv.co.uk
+44 (0)20 7432 2033 / +44 (0)7801 194 139
Notes to Editors
Diamond Jubilee: 1952 – 2012: GREATEST BRITISH ALBUMS *** hmv survey longlist
Adele 21
Amy Winehouse Back to Black
Aphex Twin Selected Ambient Works 85 – 92
Arctic Monkeys Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not
The Beatles Abbey Road
The Beatles Revolver
The Beatles Rubber Soul
The Beatles Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
The Beatles The White Album
Black Sabbath Black Sabbath
Blur Modern Life Is Rubbish
Blur Parklife
The Clash London Calling
Coldplay Parachutes
The Cure Disintegration
David Bowie Hunky Dory
David Bowie The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
Depeche Mode Violator
Dizzee Rascal Boy in da Corner
Dusty Springfield Dusty in Memphis
Elbow Seldom Seen Kid
Elton John Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Florence and the Machine Lungs
Iron Maiden Number of the Beast
Joy Division Unknown Pleasures
Kasabian Kasabian
Kate Bush> Hounds of Love
Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin II
Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin IV
Manic Street Preachers The Holy Bible
Massive Attack Blue Lines
Mumford & Sons Sigh No More
Muse Origin of Symmetry
My Bloody Valentine Loveless
Oasis Definitely Maybe
Oasis (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?
Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon
Pink Floyd Wish You Were Here
PJ Harvey Stories from the Cities, Stories from the Sea
Portishead Dummy
Primal Scream Screamadelica
The Prodigy Fat of the Land
Pulp Different Class
Queen A Night at the Opera
Radiohead Kid A
Radiohead OK Computer
The Rolling Stones Exile on Main St.
The Rolling Stones Let It Bleed
The Rolling Stones Sticky Fingers
Roots Manuva Run Come Save Me
Sex Pistols Never Mind the Bollocks
The Smiths The Queen Is Dead
The Specials The Specials
Stereophonics Word Gets Around
The Stone Roses The Stones Roses
The Streets Original Pirate Material
Super Furry Animals Radiator
Teenage Fan Club Bandwagonesque
Tinie Tempah Disc-overy
The Who Who’s Next
Diamond Jubilee: 1952 – 2012: GREATEST BRITISH FILMS *** hmv survey longlist
2001: A Space Odyssey
28 Days Later
A Clockwork Orange
A Fish Called Wanda
A Room With a View
Alfie (1966)
Atonement
Battle of Britain
Billy Elliot
Brassed Off
Bridget Jones’ Diary
Chariots of Fire
Control
Dead Man’s Shoes
Don’t Look Now
Dr. No
Dr. Strangelove
East Is East
Four Lions
Four Weddings and a Funeral
Gandhi
Get Carter
Goldfinger
Gregory’s Girl
The Great Escape
Harry Potter: Deathly Hallows – Part 2
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Hot Fuzz
Human Traffic
If
Kes
Lawrence of Arabia
Layer Cake
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
Love Actually
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Monty Python and the Life of Brian
Moon
Notting Hill
Oliver
Quadrophenia
Sexy Beast
Shaun of the Dead
Slumdog Millionaire
Snatch
The Bridge on the River Kwai
The Dam Busters
The Descent
The Full Monty
The Inbetweeners Movie
The Italian Job
The King’s Speech
The Ladykillers
The Long Good Friday
The Railway Children
This is England
Trainspotting
Tyrannosaur
The Wicker Man
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
Withnail and I
Zulu
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