Fucked Up Win the 2009 Polaris Music Prize
9/22/2009 By Brock Thiessen & Jessica Lewis

Fucked Up have been awarded the 2009 Polaris Music Prize for their album The Chemistry of Common Life at a gala event held at Toronto’s Masonic Temple Monday (September 21) night. Following in the footsteps of Final Fantasy, Patrick Watson and Caribou, the Torontonian hardcore heroes will receive the coveted award, along with $20,000 and, of course, some serious bragging rights.

“Until the very moment they made the announcement, I thought there was no way in hell that we would win,” said Fucked Up front-man Damian Abraham. “This is incredible. I’m more shocked than everyone at CTV. Thanks to everyone that played on the record and Jon Drew that produced the album, everyone at Beggars/Matador, [Polaris founder] Steve Jordan and everyone at Polaris!”

Ten albums were shortlisted for the prize, narrowed down from a long list of 40. The Polaris Music Prize — given out each year to a full-length Canadian album, based solely on artistic merit — is chosen by 182 Canadian music journalists, broadcasters and bloggers who make up the Polaris Music Prize jury, with the final winner being selected by an 11-member grand jury.

In alphabetical order, the artists nominated for the Polaris Music Prize short list were:  

Elliott Brood – Mountain Meadows
Fucked Up – The Chemistry of Common Life
Great Lake Swimmers – Lost Channels
Hey Rosetta – Into Your Lungs
K’NAAN – Troubadour
Malajube – Labyrinthes
Metric – Fantasies
Joel Plaskett – Three
Chad VanGaalen – Soft Airplane
Patrick Watson – Wooden Arms

This was the first year that all ten shortlisted nominees played sets of one or two songs from their nominated albums, with each band receiving much applause from the audience of family members, friends, music journalists and music lovers.

Metric played an acoustic set first, then Great Lake Swimmers and Malajube, respectively, charmed the audience, before 2007 winner Patrick Watson led his band onto the floor with backpacks of lanterns, accompanied by CBC broadcaster Jian Ghomeshi on drums.

Next up was K’naan’s inspiring set, which led into the friendliness of Joel Plaskett and family. Chad VanGaalen certainly will have the audience remembering his performance after declaring he wished Leonard Cohen was there and made some other presumably drunk remarks about micro-organisms and sloppy Suzannes.

Elliott Brood had cookie sheets and wooden spoons passed around to participate in their popular “Write It All Down for You,” and afterwards Hey Rosetta! crammed 13 people onto the stage.

Finally, the now-winners Fucked Up raised as much hell as they were allowed, which included Abraham letting his pants fall down and proceeding to morph his blue boxers into a makeshift thong.  

Just minutes later, CBC Radio 3’s Grant Lawrence, Sarah Taylor and last year’s winner Dan Snaith of Caribou read out that the winner was Fucked Up. Patrick Watson and crew almost immediately dumped a bucket of ice water on Abraham after the Fucked Up singer declared “this is better than a free iPod!”  

In an interview with Exclaim! after the show, Abraham said: “I never thought this would happen, and this isn’t crocodile tears, I was really like there was no way we were going to win and I was packing up my baby as they announced it and I was like… I just couldn’t believe it! I am in shock and I feel so good, I feel so good that we made a record that people feel was on par with Final Fantasy... We made a record that is kind of looked upon in that light, and that is the most flattering thing to have happened.”

Abraham also mentioned in the press conference with Lawrence that they plan to use the award’s $20,000 prize money to make a Christmas charity album, which will go towards helping find missing aboriginal women in Canada.

If Fucked Up isn't on your radar or you need a refresher, take a look at Exclaim!'s October 2008 cover story on the band and The Chemistry of Common Life.

More News: << Previous Story | Next Story >>
Do you have a news tip for us? Did anything crazy happen at a show? Got any inside info on a band? Click here to let us know!
• Check Out Reviews of Massive Attack, Gil Scott-Heron, Pantha Du Prince, Sade and More in New Release Tuesday
• Liam Gallagher Ditches Oasis 2.0 Moniker: “That Was a Shit Name Anyway”
• Lil Wayne's Sentencing Postponed Due to, Um, Dental Surgery
• Matthew Herbert's Pig Album Hits Snag When Pig Dies
• Metric Respond to Backlash over Help Haiti T-Shirt
• Bright Eyes/Neva Dinova Split EP to Get Reissued with Extra Tracks
• The Weakerthans Divulge Details of Forthcoming Live Album
• Megadeth Co-Founder Dave Ellefson Returns for Rust in Peace Tour; Dave Mustaine to Release Autobiography
• MGMT Unveil Congratulations Release Details
• White Stripes Slam U.S. Air Force Over Super Bowl Ad, Bring Ballet to Toronto
Misstress Barbara - Montreal, QC November 21
One of this city’s superstar DJs, Misstress Barbara specializes in big beats for the masses, and with her three-piece band Girls on a Ducati, she’s extending her house pop chops to a more traditional live setting. With a guitar and mic, as well as keys and effects, she’s a capable front-woman but he... Full Review
Transit / Man Overboard - Transit / Man Overboard
The deliberately lo-fi, yet earnest, split between Transit and Man Overboard sounds like the product of a bunch of friends growing up on punk and hardcore throughout the '90s. The hardcore leanings of Boston fivesome Transit lay the groundwork for the pop punk tendencies of the Jersey kids in Man Ov... Full Review
Crazy Heart Dir. by Scott Cooper
Crazy Heart, in which Jeff Bridges adds another career achievement notch on his belt as a down-to-his-last-drink country singer, might be more difficult to watch for musicians than for average moviegoers.

Bad Blake (Bridges), who's on the wrong side of 50, is hauling his truck ... Full Review
Social Networking
• Be our friend on MySpace
• Be our fan on Facebook
• Tweet us on twitter
Viewing the September 2009 Issue: • Contents Page • News • Click Hear • Articles --> On the Cover  •  Front Five  •  Points  •  Questionnaire  •  Release Dates  •  Timeline  •  Videogames  •  Conversations • Music Reviews --> Recently Reviewed  •  Aggressive Tendencies  •  Beats & Rhymes  •  Destination Out  •  Frequencies  •  Groove  •  No Future  •  Pop Rocks  •  Wood, Wires & Whiskey  •  Concert Reviews • Motion Reviews --> Recently Reviewed  •  Dvd Reviews  •  Film Reviews  •  Music DVD Reviews  •  Videogame Reviews • Music School --> Meet & Greet  •  Need to Know  •  What I Play • Contests • Contact --> About Us  • Advertising  • Distribution  • Getting Reviewed  • Getting Published  • Letters To The Editor  • Partnerships  • Subscriptions • Exclaim! Radio --> Aggressive Tendencies Radio  • Beats & Rhymes Radio  • Destination Out Radio  • Frequencies Radio  • Groove Radio  • No Future Radio  • Pop Rocks Radio  • Wood, Wires & Whiskey Radio • Exclaim! TV • Home & Latest Issue • Browse Issues