Pringles Unsung was a

music competition A music competition is a public event designed to identify and award outstanding musical ensembles, solo (music), soloists, composers, conducting, conductors, musicologists or compositions. Pop music competitions are music competitions which are h ...

in the United Kingdom that ran once from 2006 to 2007. It was sponsored by the

Pringles Pringles is an American brand of stackable potato-based chips invented by Procter & Gamble (P&G) in 1968 and marketed as "Pringle's Newfangled Potato Chips". It is technically considered an Extruded food, extruded snack because of the manufac ...

snack brand, and was one of several brand-sponsored music competitions to be launched during this period. The competition invited

unsigned artist An unsigned artist, unsigned band or independent artist is a musician or musical group not under a contract with a record label. The terms are used in the music industry as a marketing technique. Bands that release their own material on self-pub ...

s to upload a song to the official Pringles Unsung website, where they could then be voted on by the general public and a panel of judges. The most popular songs from each of seven regions progressed to regional heats in

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle ( , Received Pronunciation, RP: ), is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is England's northernmost metropolitan borough, located o ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in Suffolk, England. It is the county town, and largest in Suffolk, followed by Lowestoft and Bury St Edmunds, and the third-largest population centre in East Anglia, ...

Kingston upon Thames Kingston upon Thames, colloquially known as Kingston, is a town in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, south-west London, England. It is situated on the River Thames, south-west of Charing Cross. It is an ancient market town, notable as ...

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

and

Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...

. The winners of the regional heats then competed in a grand final, where they each performed in front of the judging panel. The judging panel consisted of producers

Kevin Bacon Kevin Norwood Bacon (born July 8, 1958) is an American actor. Known for various roles, including leading man characters, Bacon has received numerous accolades such as a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award. Bacon made his featu ...

and

Jonathan Quarmby Jonathan Hugh Quarmby (born 20 December 1961) is an English record producer and songwriter. He is the son of English architect Arthur Quarmby. Born in Huddersfield, England, Quarmby has worked with a range of artists across various genres. ...

, ex-

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in Jamaica by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in 1959, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, another ...

managing director Marc Marot, journalist Paul Sexton and

Echo & the Bunnymen Echo & the Bunnymen are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1978. The original line-up consisted of vocalist Ian McCulloch (singer), Ian McCulloch, guitarist Will Sergeant and bassist Les Pattinson. By 1980, Pete de Freita ...

lead singer Ian McCulloch. McCulloch had become involved as he wanted to encourage exciting new music. The winners of the Pringles Unsung were Cardiff group The Toy Band, who won with their track "Riff Song". McCulloch described the band as being "great musicians" with "the magic ingredient". Their prize was to record a demo produced by Bacon and Quarmby and to receive management advice from Marot. Response to the competition was mixed. The public relations and communications company GCI London were shortlisted for their role in Pringles Unsung in the Consumer Award category at the 2007 PRCA Awards, but lost out to

Nelson Bostock Communications Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

for "An Extremis Success". Adam Webb of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' described the competition as a "nadir" of music competitions, and that a band's associating with it was "liable to kill the most credible career".

References

External links

*. Archived fro
the original
on 11 December 2006 {{Use dmy dates, date=July 2016 2006 establishments in the United Kingdom 2007 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Music competitions in the United Kingdom

See also

References

External links