A Leeds indie band formed in a bid to secure a bottom of the bill slot at a local festival and a former army captain whose debut single reached number 148 were the big winners at last night's Brit Awards.
Kaiser Chiefs, the five-piece whose quadruple-platinum album Employment spawned four top 10 hits, have quickly graduated to headlining arenas and won a hat-trick of awards, while singer songwriter and former soldier James Blunt won two.
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Paul Weller, winner of the outstanding contribution to music award, had said he would rather eat his own excrement than perform a duet with Blunt. But that did not stop the five-times nominated balladeer, who shot from obscurity to ubiquity with the biggest selling album of 2005, winning prizes for best British male solo artist and best pop act.
After performing their breakthrough hit I Predict a Riot, the Kaiser Chiefs picked up best British group, best British rock act and best British live act from presenter Chris Evans.
Chris Martin's Coldplay continued their recent run of success by accepting both the best British album award for X&Y, which topped the charts on both sides of the Atlantic last year, and best single for Speed of Sound.
The group, whose mix of critical acclaim and polite mainstream appeal makes them the ideal Brits band, became the first act to win the award for three different albums. They previously won Brits for Parachutes in 2001 and Rush of Blood to the Head in 2003.
Another first time winner, KT Tunstall, triumphed over one of her heroes in the best British female category. The Scottish singer, pegged as one of the leading lights of a new breed of folk rock artists by music critics, beat Kate Bush to the prize.
Despite the effects of internet piracy, record executives claim the efforts of Blunt, Martin et al have left the domestic music scene healthier than at any point since the Britpop era. Younger fans are being drawn not to pop acts but to a new generation of guitar based bands, including Hard-Fi, Franz Ferdinand and Arctic Monkeys, who continued their stellar rise by winning the best British breakthrough act category.
With neat symmetry, many of them have cited Weller's first group The Jam as an inspiration. Last night the still cantankerous singer, who has maintained his popularity through most of his three decades with The Jam, the Style Council and latterly as a solo artist, closed the show with a medley of hits.
Meanwhile, older consumers are refusing to give up the record buying habit, being drawn to artists such as Coldplay, Blunt and Tunstall by the "Radio 2 effect".
Figures released earlier this week showed that UK artists sold a record 62.4 million albums in 2005, almost half of all album sales and their highest share of the market since 1998.
But the resurgence of guitar based acts has left some bemoaning the lack of dance and urban music represented at the awards.
In the best British urban act category Lemar proved he had left his reality TV show roots far behind by beating Kano and Dizzee Rascal to the prize.
American rockers Green Day dominated the international categories, winning both best international group and best international album categories, following their transformation from cartoon punks to stadium filling sloganeers with the George Bush-baiting American Idiot album.
Those successes left a string of established old hands and previous winners disappointed. Oasis, who snubbed the ceremony after only garnering two nominations, won nothing. And despite last week dominating the US Grammy awards U2 were left empty handed, as were Damon Albarn's animated alter-egos Gorillaz.
Madonna, another veteran who enjoyed a critically acclaimed comeback this year, fared better and won the best international solo female award.
One of her contemporaries, Prince, chose the show to launch his bid to do the same. It was his first performance at the ceremony for 20 years and his first appearance at the Brits since 1993 when he turned up with the word slave scrawled on his cheek in protest at his treatment by his record company.
Rapper Kanye West, making a rare British live appearance, won best international male, while country-tinged singer-songwriter Jack Johnson won the international breakthrough award.
Last night's Brits, attended by 4,000 record company executives, artists and their guests, was the last to be staged at London's Earls Court arena. From next year it will move to the refurbished Millennium Dome.
The winners
British male solo artist
James Blunt
British female solo artist
KT Tunstall
British group
Kaiser Chiefs
British album
X&Y, Coldplay
British single
Speed of Sound, Coldplay
British breakthrough act
Arctic Monkeys
British urban act
Lemar
Britsh rock act
Kaiser Chiefs
Live act
Kaiser Chiefs
Pop act
James Blunt
International male solo artist
Kanye West
International female solo artist
Madonna
International group
Green Day
International album
Green Day, American Idiot
International breakthrough act
Jack Johnson
Outstanding contribution to music
Paul Weller
