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 sixty-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 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. 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 selection ,if not listed, from a longlist of sixty titles in each category compiled by the entertainment retailer and head office staff in a recent internal poll.
HMV Oxford St, London - QE2 Coronation Parade (1953)
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. 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.
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 2 for £10 pricing designed to inspire the public to revisit titles they’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.
So to add your vote and be in with a chance of scooping this awesome prize bundle make sure you get yourselves over to the official Facebook voting page right now!
