There’s one huge story obviously dominating news of the Grammy Awards 2009 - Chris Brown being arrested for allegedly assaulting Rihanna. But that’s been covered to the nth degree in various different places, and the full details have yet to emerge.

So, as is my remit here at Brit Music Scene, I’d like instead to focus on the good that came out of this year’s ceremony. Several British artists went home with awards on the night, and they deserve the plaudits they are receiving.

Last year’s Grammy Awards were all about one British artist in particular, with Amy Winehouse winning five honors. She also performed live via satellite without screwing up, leading many of us to believe she was on the road to recovery. But that wasn’t to be.

The Grammy Awards 2009 saw the range of British artists winning much more diverse, and that’s a great indicator of the healthy state of British music at this point in time.

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2009 has arrived so I’m actually overdue in rounding up my best of Brit Music Scene from 2008. Here we find out what the biggest stories and talking points between the months of July and September.

July

Most bands now love having their songs featured in video games such as Rock Band and Guitar Hero, but Led Zeppelin made a stand against the grain by refusing permission for their songs to be used. Meanwhile, Mani claimed that Ian Brown was the main thing stopping a Stone Roses reunion from happening.

There were claims that John Lydon AKA Johnny Rotten from the Sex Pistols had racially attacked Bloc Party’s Kele Okereke at the Summercase festival in Spain. While the moment that the Sex Pistols swore on live TV was voted as the most requested clip ever.

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Adele is an award winning British artist who has seemingly come from nowhere to be one of the new wave of female artists achieving worldwide success. I’ve had a bit of a love/hate relationship with her, adoring some songs and disliking others. And now she’s covering Bob Dylan. Wow, those are some big boots to fill.

Having said that, the Dylan song Adele is covering is Make You Feel My Love, a song already covered an inordinate amount of time, including by the likes of Garth Brooks, Billy Joel, and Neil Diamond. So even if she had messed it up, it’s not like she’d have been the first to have done so.

Luckily, the opposite is true, and she has actually done a fantastic job. She’s kept the basic feeling and tone of the song true to the original, but at the same time made it her own. Which is a tough job to do when covering an artist as brilliant as Bob Dylan.

Both the song and video exude simplicity, as you can see after the cut.

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I love America, and the majority of the American people I have met both online and in real life. But, when I hear a story such as this, I can’t help but lose a bit of respect for the country and its inhabitants.

Chasing Pavements by Adele is an absolutely brilliant song, and deserves to be listened to by as many people as possible. It was her second single, but was the one which brought her to public recognition. And deservedly so, as both the song and video are fantastic.

But there was a slight problem over in the States with this song, namely that it was thought to be about turning gay, which it clearly isn’t. While most of us wouldn’t have a problem with a song about being gay, some US radio stations actually refused to play the song for that very reason.

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Elbow have won the 2008 Nationwide Mercury Music Prize, beating the likes of Radiohead, Adele, Estelle, and bookies favourite Burial. The Manchester band won the annual music industry award for their fourth album, The Seldom Seen Kid.

The prize was contested by 12 of the best of British acts from this year, all of whom were considered to have released the best albums from the past 12 months. The nominees were announced back in July, when I expressed my desire for Radiohead to win for In Rainbows. But it wasn’t to be.

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I remember a time not so long ago when there was such a dearth of British female singers that Annie Lennox was almost guaranteed a Brit award every year. Now times have changed somewhat, and not only do we have Amy Winehouse doing her thing (drugs, booze, music, more drugs and booze), we have people such as Kate Nash, Lily Allen, Duffy, and Adele flying the flag around the world.

Adele and Duffy have come through at exactly the same time, and their singles seem to have coincided with each other quite a lot. I don’t know whether that’s an intentional ploy from the record companies, but it has set up a kind of battle of the divas.

Both artists have quite a bit in common: have been compared to Amy Winehouse, have unconventional looks but are still sexy in their own way, have voices to die for. But I do declare that you can only like one or the other, or at least have to pick your favourite.

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The Mercury Music Prize, sponsored by Nationwide, is the annual award given to the best album by a British or Irish artist released in the previous 12 months. The ceremony isn’t until later in the year, but a short-list is first released, with the name of the 12 artists, and their albums, on it which the judges think are the best of British.

Having said that, the Mercury Music Prize has a history of choosing albums by up and coming artists, rather than necessarily widely known artists, and certainly not the best-selling ones. Which means there are always some huge surprises in the short-list, and more often than not, in the eventual winner chosen as well.

Last year saw Klaxons named as winners, for their début album Myths Of The Near Future. They beat the Arctic Monkeys, Dizzee Rascal, and Amy Winehouse along the way, although Winehouse’ performance at the awards ceremony probably invoked more press coverage than the Klaxons themselves.

This year’s short-list has now been published, and the usual surprises are present, as well as there being many names missing that were expected to appear.

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Adele is a new British singer that I would put money on making it big around the world.

Her début single, Chasing Pavements, is outstanding, and her album 19 went to number one in the British charts last month. But it seems it’s not just solo success that this girl is after.

According to The Sun newspaper, Adele has indicated her desire to be in an all female super group, and the line-up is pretty damn impressive: Adele, Amy Winehouse, Kate Nash, Lily Allen & Katie Melua.

Please make it happen, as I think this would be the best girl group ever, and with The Spice Girls now no more, and a lot of the other British girl groups splitting up, the UK is in desperate need of one. Girls Aloud are okay in small doses, but this group would kick their asses.

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