2024 Winners
To mark a decade of Great Music Stories, the 10th annual awards was run in November 2024, following the same format as previous years. More that 15,000 fan votes were cast across more than 70 bands who made the very long shortlist – all bands that had given time for interviews during the course of the year.
During the summer months, the listen again figures from the interview archive on the site was also factored in to ensure our awards were a reflection on the whole year.
The awards celebrate everyone. Every artist on the shortlist has had an hour special in advance, all the bands have been advocated through the year and the year-end gave music fans the chance to have their say as, together, we once again celebrated creative milestones for the year.
Below we detail the various winners and, for each, we share a number of links for other artist-specific content you can enjoy on this site.
Band of the Year 2024
QUIREBOYS
Many artists had memorable years in 2024, and some hit new highs – but the return of Spike’s Quireboys was one of the most emphatic success stories of 2024. Following events of 2022 and the social media noise, Spike returned with original Quireboys band members and they were also joined by old friend Luke Morley.
Following the first single – a Christmas song – from the new line up, ‘Jeeze Louise’ and ‘I Think I Got It Wrong Again’ followed as the second and third singles. All three were premiered on the GMS rockshow and – powered by organic listener requests – they all had long runs for many weeks. The highly anticipated studio album ‘Wardour Street’ followed and, across the board enjoyed positive reviews. Great Music Stories posted the first review in late August as we called the release as ‘Album of the Month’ for September.
Spike was a regular feature of our year through the seasons – we followed his story at every step of his new journey through a run of interviews – and it was rock show listeners that kept asking for more features.
The band’s festival and live shows in the second half of the year cemented their position in the hearts and minds of thousands of music fans across the country – and this momentum was reflected in the fact that listeners voted Quireboys as Band of the Month for consecutive months in October and November – the first time in years there had been a roll-over in the call that listeners made each month.
So as the year drew to a close, GMS followers and rock show listeners called Quireboys as Band of the Year. A moment that celebrated a journey of conviction and rebirth. And the reforming of original band members few would have even imagined as being possible a few years ago. Yet the quality of the album, the appeal of the singles and the impact of the live dates all made 2024 the Quireboys’ year. After a decade of Great Music Stories, it also was a full-circle moment for us, Spike’s band also being our first Band of the Year back in 2015. Proof enough that sometimes lightning does strike twice.
Discover more
Some of the many Spike interviews available to listen again on this site:
Spike, Nigel and Luke at the Triangle, 2024
Spike’s Quireboys story, 2022
Homewreckers Anniversary 2019
Spike at Ramblin Man 2017
Spike announces a blues album 2027
Band of The Year 2024: Top 30
- Quireboys
- Amongst Liars
- Blue Nation
- Copperworm
- Thieves of Liberty
- Violet Blend
- Autumn Killers
- DeadBlondeStars
- Howling Black Soul
- Jack J Hutchinson
- Sari Schorr
- Carbellion
- Scarlet Rebels
- Gone Savage
- Saffron Gorman
- Calum Ingram
- Empyre
- Electric Black
- Fish
- Ellis Mano Band
- Virginmarys
- Change Persona
- Magnum
- White Raven Down
- Cloverhill
- Lynne Jackaman
- Skam
- Trucker Diablo
- Marshall Potts
- Cry For Mercy
Bands of the Month Through 2024
- December 23: Quireboys
- January 2024: Blue Nation
- February 2024: Amongst Liars
- March 2024: Blue Nation
- April 2024: Howling Black Soul
- May 2024: Blue Nation
- June 2024: Violet Blend
- July 2024: Fish
- August 2024: Copperworm
- September 2024: Autumn Killers
- October 2024: Quireboys
- November 2024: Quireboys
SINGLE OF THE YEAR 2024
Blue Nation: 'Birmingham'
Blue Nation is a band that has had a long run with Great Music Stories – and many fine interviews have been done. For us, the band’s story started with a song – ‘Echoes’ – which after a first nonchalant spin on the Friday Rockshow gained immediate backing from the listeners, starting a snowball of momentum that grew over many months.
An accomplished live act, for 2024 they won the Best Single award for their cover of the Broken Witt Rebels song ‘Birmingham.’ Set against the amount of marketing, engineering and finessing that so often is involved in ‘creating’ wannabe radio hits, this song was the polar opposite. I messaged Neil from the band during a rockshow and mentioned they should do a cover of Birmingham. It was a passing comment, a flight of fancy – but within a week Neil send me a track. Unpolished, one take, but from the heart.
As with ‘Echoes’ a few years previously, ‘Birmingham’ got another nonchalant spin. Another snowball started. It became the most requested track of the year.
The song was never a single; doesn’t matter – the best songs seldom are.
This award was partly about the art of a great song, but it was also about the context, the imperfect truth about capturing a moment – a moment that we shared, which touched the hearts of thousands of music fans in 2024.
Discover more:
New Horizons series, 2023
Music in Numbers from London 2024
Live Act of the Year 2024
Thieves of Liberty
This is one of the most exciting young bands on the circuit. We have followed their story for some years. They’ve done great interviews and they regularly engaged with rock show listeners. They have bagged Band of the Month and also this year Album of the Month for their fine debut – and they crashed into the Top 5 for the Band of the Year countdown.
But live music is what this band is all about – with an energy, quality and fire that really marks the band as one to watch.
This category was decided by a focus group of active music fans from around the UK.
Discover more:
Album review, 2024
ALBUMS OF THE MONTH IN 2024
JACK J HUTCHINSON –‘BATTLES’
ELLIS MANO BAND: ‘LIVE – ACCESS ALL AREAS’
AMONGST LIARS –‘BY DESIGN’
CALUM INGRAM – ‘THE MAN’
SCARLET REBELS – ‘WHERE COLOURS MEET’
FISH – ‘VIGIL IN A WILDERNESS OF MIRRORS’ (2024 REMIX EDITION)
MELISSA ETHERIDGE – ‘I’M NOT BROKEN’
QUIREBOYS – ‘WARDOUR STREET’
THIEVES OF LIBERTY – ‘SHANGRI LA’
TRUCKER DIABLO – ‘SOCIAL HAND GRENADE’
ALBUM OF THE YEAR 2024
Melissa Etheridge - "I'm not Broken"
‘I’m Not Broken’ was our Album of the Year for 2024, and marks the second time Melissa Etheridge has won this award category with us, following the success of ‘The Medicine Show’ a few years ago.
I won’t repeat the words I wrote for the original album review (link below), but suffice to say, this was an album that resonated with so many Great Music Stories followers and rock show listeners during the year. It was so much more than a collection of songs – it marked an event; it was a record with a narrative to it and a story to tell. It also shared the essence of hope to so many music fans that may, in their own way, be overcoming struggles.
And in the age when music is so dominantly about live events, it also seemed apt to celebrate live music for our Album of the Year.
Full album review for ‘I’m Not Broken’
Discover more:
The London interview, 2022
The London interview 2019
Feature interview, 2018
Industry Hero of the Year 2024
Tony Clarkin
As 2024 ended, we wanted to take a moment to celebrate the musical legacy of one of British rock’s great song writers. The rock community was hugely saddened by Tony’s passing at the start of the year. It came about 2 weeks after we had posted a review on Magnum’s studio album ‘Here Comes The Rain’ – and we broadcast 2 special tribute shows in the weeks that followed.
It therefore seemed fitting before the year 2024 ended that we took a moment to celebrate the life and musical legacy of one of the greats – as Tony was. The Magnum music will live on in our hearts forever.
Discover more:
Here Comes the Rain review, 2024
Magnum, Al Barrow interview, 2018
Magnum: The tour bus interview, 2018