Polaroids Of Androids

Person Of The Year 2008

Betsy Watkins of West Brompton in South Australia - the winner of our Person The Year award for the past 46 years.

Thank you to everyone who voted in our inaugural Person Of The Year award. We have just finished grouping together the amazing 14 million votes that we received from all seventeen corners of EARTH. A truly overwhelming response.

Unfortunately, the votes of the people were scrapped at some point during the final counting process and the final decision of our illustrious award was handed over to our six 'super delegates'. Democracy rocks!

And the winner is....

SPOD

If your hard drive had exploded, killed your dreams, your music and your 16,000 pictures of Jessica Alba then you surely would have cried and possibly even contemplated a whole new life path. But Mr SPOD overcame the tragedy and not only did he rebuild his life (and music) in 2008 BUT he also went on to put out one of the most original and entertaining releases of the year.

As fantastic as Superfrenz is, it's in 'da live zone' that Capt SPOD really shines. His shows throughout the year were celebrations of his music, epic amazing parties and chaotic ritualistic orgies of awesome. Back-up dancers, Tucker B's, millions of balloons, male stripping. I truly could never have dreamt up a more entertaining musical experience. Well played, sir.

Honourable mentions

Lil Wayne
Dwayne Michael Carter Jr (aka Lil Wayne) released 147 mixtapes in 2008 - as well as ONE of the finest damn hip-hop releases of the last five/ten/twenty years. His unique blend of insanity and mind blowing lyrical ability was a refreshing splash of Crunk Juice in the face of hip-hop. He re-invented rap music! He made it exciting and daring again! He said 'yeast infection' in a song! Despite heavy leakage Tha Carter III ended up not only being a commercial success (it was the highest selling record of 2008 across ALL GENRES!) but also received a shitload of critical praise.

Eddie from Dead China Doll
A worthy candidate because: a) he has the best beard in Sydney music (EVER!) and; b) he has the great ability to go from shyness to tornado-like-frontman in about 4 seconds. Not only does he act as ringmaster on Dead China Doll's thrilling debut album BUT he also became the centrepiece of all of their live shows with his commanding presence and genuine emotional connection to the music.

Dan Deacon
Mr Deacon's show at Oxford Art Factory in February is right up there with one of the most enjoyable experiences of my life. He made music fun again and (with the exception of Sir SPOD) was the most entertaining individual I had the pleasure of seeing in 2008. Ethan Hawke!

Barack Obama
Jay-Z's swagger + Q-Tip's mind + an Ivy League education. Coolest (and most ripped) president since Abe Lincoln. I like the idea that the current Most Powerful Person In The World (tm) is the kinda ice cool cat who could be updating his sneaker blog via his Blackberry and sinking a one handed half court hook shot AT THE SAME TIME. Once he sorts out this whole 'Iraq thing' I think the only next logical step in his career is to team up with some of his rapping supporters and create the freshest hip-hop album ever, Bulworthz style.

Amy Winehouse
She died in mid-January and yet still somehow managed to perform, punch fans and inject drugs into every vein in her body for another eleven months. A truly remarkable effort. Note: all of the images I found of Ms Winehouse made me feel slightly unwell.

Father Damian aka Pink Eyes (Damian Abraham) from Fucked Up
The group he leads not only released the best hardcore album since... err.. forever.. BUT he also performed a 12-hour show. You walk 2kms to work everyday and you think you are really doing good. This guy is like 450 pounds and he just screamed his head off, moshed with Moby and smashed gutless hipsters in the face for 12 fucking hours. He also looks like the toughest, sexiest and cuddliest man in music.

Words by Jonny

December 29, 2008 @ 07:42 · Articles · Dan Deacon · Dead China Doll · Fucked Up · Amy Winehouse · Lil Wayne · SPOD   10 comments