1994. M People, 'Elegant Slumming'
Who were they? A dance act consisting of DJ Mike Pickering, who put the "M" in M People, and perhaps most notably Heather Small. They released buoyant, soulful pop tunes, but they weren't exactly ground-breaking or leading a revolution. You've heard 'Moving On Up', right?
Was it an entirely outrageous choice? If the panel were looking to go for a dance masterpiece, the obvious choice all these years later is 'Music For the Jilted Generation'. The Prodigy were unpredictable and wildly exciting in equal quantities, rather like previous winners Suede and Primal Scream: M People were safe, almost boring radio favourites. There was also of course Blur on the list, with a little record called 'Parklife', and imagine how differently the competition could have panned out, had Paul Weller's 'Wild Wood' won...
What have they done since? They were pretty big for a while, covering all inescapable bases of soundtracking ads, winning Brits and even working with Sting. But the band haven't released an original album in sixteen years, despite Greatest Hits albums and reunion tours coming and going. It's not certain whether it was the Mercury win that killed M People or the band's inability to evolve and produce better work. It's probably a bit of both.