ARIA Music Awards of 2004

The 18th Annual Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (generally known as ARIA Music Awards) were held on October 17, 2004 at the Sydney Superdome within the Sydney Olympic Complex. The ceremony was hosted by Rove McManus and produced by his production company Roving Enterprises for Network Ten of Australia. Rove and his team attempted to make the event more appealing to a wider audience by broadcasting for the first time on a Sunday night, creating more of an illusion of a live audience and delegating some of the more "boring" awards to an earlier un-broadcast event. The changes certainly worked, with a peak of almost 2 million viewers across Australia, as well as a domination of the 16-39 demographic where they scored a huge 50.8% of viewers.

The following list includes the winners highlighted in bold, and the nominations below them.

Awards

*ARIA award for Best Album
**Jet for "Get Born"
**The Dissociatives for "The Dissociatives"
**Kasey Chambers for "Wayward Angel"
**Eskimo Joe for "A Song Is a City"
**John Butler Trio for "Sunrise Over Sea"

*ARIA award for Best Single
**Jet for "Are You Gonna Be My Girl"
**Eskimo Joe for "From the Sea"
**John Butler Trio for "Zebra"
**Missy Higgins for "Scar"
**Pete Murray for "So Beautiful"

*ARIA award for Best Male Artist
**John Butler
**Alex Lloyd
**Tim Rogers
**Dan Kelly
**Pete Murray

*ARIA award for Best Female Artist
**Kasey Chambers
**Delta Goodrem
**Kylie Minogue
**Missy Higgins
**Lisa Miller

*ARIA award for Best Group
**Jet
**The Cat Empire
**Eskimo Joe
**Powderfinger
**The Dissociatives

*Take 40 ARIA award for Highest Selling Single
**Guy Sebastian for "Angels Brought Me Here"
**Delta Goodrem for "Predictable"
**Paulini for "Angel Eyes"
**Spiderbait for "Black Betty"
**Shannon Noll for "What About Me?"

*Take 40 ARIA award for Highest Selling Album
**Delta Goodrem for "Innocent Eyes"
**Jet for "Get Born"
**Shannon Noll for "That's What I'm Talking About"
**Guy Sebastian for "Just as I Am"
**Pete Murray for "Feeler"

*ARIA award for Best Breakthrough Artist
**Jet for "Are You Gonna Be My Girl"
**The Cat Empire for "Days Like These"
**Missy Higgins for "Scar"
**Dallas Crane for "Dirty Hearts"
**Little Birdy for "Relapse"

*ARIA award for Best Breakthrough Artist (Album)
**Jet for "Get Born"
**The Cat Empire for "The Cat Empire"
**Dan Kelly and the Alpha Males for "Sing the Tabloid Blues"
**Xavier Rudd for "Solace"
**Dallas Crane for "Dallas Crane"

*ARIA award for Best Independent Release
**John Butler Trio for "Sunrise Over Sea"
**Butterfingers for "Breakfast at Fatboys"
**Jebediah for "Braxton Hicks"
**The Waifs for "Bridal Train"
**Dan Kelly and the Alpha Males for "Sing the Tabloid Blues"

*ARIA award for Best Adult Contemporary Album
**Paul Kelly for "Ways & Means"
**Diesel for "Singled Out"
**Jimmy Little for "Life's What You Make It"
**George for "Unity"
**Lisa Miller for "Version Originale"

*ARIA award for Best Rock Album
**Jet for "Get Born"
**Dallas Crane for "Dallas Crane"
**Spiderbait for "Tonight Alright"
**Eskimo Joe for "A Song Is a City"
**The Living End for "Modern Artillery"

*ARIA award for Best Country Album
**Kasey Chambers for "Wayward Angel"
**Adam Brand for "Get Loud"
**Melinda Schneider for "Family Tree"
**Troy Cassar-Daley for "Borrowed and Blue"
**Slim Dusty for "Columbia Lane - the Last Sessions"

*ARIA award for Best Blues and Roots Album
**John Butler Trio for "Sunrise Over Sea"
**Ash Grunwalkd for "I Don't Believe"
**Jim Conway's Big Wheel for "Little Story"
**Xavier Rudd for "Solace"
**Jeff Lang for "Whatever Makes You Happy"

*ARIA award for Best Pop Release
**Missy Higgins for "Scar"
**Delta Goodrem for "Not Me, Not I"
**Kylie Minogue for "Body Language"
**Pete Murray for "So Beautiful"
**The Dissociatives for "The Dissociatives"

*ARIA award for Best Urban Release
**Koolism for "Part 3 - Random Thoughts"
**1200 Techniques for "Consistency Theory"
**Daniel Merriweather for "City Rules"
**The Cat Empire for "The Cat Empire"
**J Wess for "Tha LP"

*ARIA award for Best Dance Release
**Infusion for "Girls Can Be Cruel"
**Cam Farrar for "Wasted"
**NuBreed for "The Original"
**Cut Copy for "Future"
**Mr Timothy for "I Am Tha 1"

*ARIA award for Best Children's Album
**Hi-5 for "Holiday"
**Amica for "Life Is Fun"
**Hooley Dooleys for "Wonderful"
**The Wiggles for "Top of the Tots"
**The Saddle Club for "Friends Forever"

*ARIA award for Best Comedy Release
**Scared Weird Little Guys for "Bits and Pieces"
**Lee Perry & Gary Eck for "The Hollywood Motel"'
**Tripod (band) for "Live - Fegh Maha"
**Reg Reagan for "Am I Ever Gonna See the Biff Again?"
**Tripod (band) for "About an Hour of Song in an Hour...Again"

*ARIA award for Best Music DVD
**Midnight Oil for "Best of Both Worlds"
**Grinspoon for "23 Hours of Waiting Around"
**You Am I for "The Cream and the Crock"
**INXS for "I'm Only Looking"
**Pete Murray for "Passing Time"

*Channel V Oz Artist of the Year
**Guy Sebastian
**Jet
**Delta Goodrem
**Grinspoon
**John Butler Trio

Artisan Awards

*ARIA Award for Best Cover
**James Hackett for "The Dissociatives" by The Dissociatives

*ARIA Award for Best Engineer
**Paul McKerker for "A Song Is a City" by Eskimo Joe

*ARIA Award for Best Video
**James Hackett for "Somewhere Down the Barrel" by The Dissociatives

*ARIA Award for Best Producer
**Paul McKerker and Eskimo Joe for "A Song Is a City"

Awards for Fine Arts

*ARIA Award for Best World Music Album
**Seaman Dan for "Perfect Pearl"
**Jane Rutter and Slava Grigoryan for "Brazil"
**Joseph Tawadros for "Storyteller"
**Mohamed Bangoura for "Djembe Kan"
**Saltwater Band for "Djarridjarri - Blue Flag"

*ARIA Award for Best Jazz Album
**The Necks for "Drive By"
**Alister Spence Trio for "Flux"
**Michelle Nicolle for "The Crying Game"
**Mike Nock's Big Small Band for "Big Small Band Live"
**Paul Grabowsky for "Tales of Time and Space"

*ARIA Award for Best Original Soundtrack Production Recording
**David Bridie for "Nautical Forlorn"
**Australian Chamber Orchestra for "Musical Renegades"
**Decoder Ring for "Somersault OST"
**Elizabeth Drake for "Japanese Story"
**Various for "Australian Idol Final 12"

*ARIA Award for Best Classical Album
**Teddy Tahu Rhodes for "The Voice"
**Diana Doherty for "Souvenirs"
**Sara MacLiver and Sally-Anne Russell for "Bach Arias and Duets"
**William Barton and the Queensland Orchestra for "Sculthorpe:Songs of Sea and Sky"
**Gerard Williams/Sinfonia Australis for "Beethoven Complete Piano Concertos"

Performers

The following artists all performed on stage during the 2004 ARIA Awards:
*Delta Goodrem
*Eskimo Joe
*Guy Sebastian
*Kasey Chambers
*Jet
*John Butler Trio
*Missy Higgins
*Pete Murray
*Shannon Noll
*Spiderbait

Hall of Fame inductees

The original members of the Little River Band were inducted into to ARIA Hall of Fame. Due to controversy over the right to use their original name (another band member held the trademark) they performed and received the award under the name "The Classic Lineup of the Little River Band" or "The Little River Band - Classic Lineup" (nobody actually seemed to care).

ee also

*Australian music
*Australian rock