Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger has expressed his joy at the band being nominated for four NME Awards, describing the quadruple honour as "very nice".The veteran singer, whose band - including newlywed Ronnie Wood and Keith Richards - staged a series of comeback shows to celebrate their 50th anniversary last year, said the nominations were special because they give music fans a chance to have their say.
"It's very nice to be nominated," said Mick. "When I first heard it was four things, I thought, 'Ooh, blimey! That's very nice!'."He added: "And it's not a journalists-only thing, it's not a coterie of closely-knit people choosing. It's funny, because when we were rehearsing at Wembley Arena last year, it was where we used to do the NME Poll winners. We remembered, it was the first time we ever played Jumping Jack Flash, at one of those Pollwinners concerts!"The Rolling Stones are nominated in the Best Live Band, Best Book, Music Moment of the Year and Best Music Film categories.
Joining them with four nominations apiece are Tame Impala, in the Best International Band, Best Album, Best Track and Best music video categories, and Haim, nominated for the best new band, best track, best music video and best Twitter awards.
David Bowie, who recently surprised the music world with a new single and album, is nominated in the music moment of the year category for his return, as well as in the best music video and hero of the year categories.
NME editor
Mike Williams said: "The NME Awards is the highlight of the music calendar and the most rock'n'roll party of the year, so it's incredibly exciting to see such a wide range of artists nominated this time around.
"Rightly so, all the early plaudits will go to Haim, Tame Impala, MIA and the legendary Rolling Stones who lead the way with four nominations each, but it's testament to the exquisite taste of the NME audience that artists as wide ranged as Frank Ocean, Jake Bugg, Pussy Riot and David Bowie are recognised too. To say it's shaping up to be a classic is a huge understatement.
"The NME Awards 2013 will be held at The Troxy, East London, on February 27.