Hail to the chiefs: Radiohead reign over indie music as they see off White Stripes challenge

Radiohead regained their crowns as kings of the indie music scene last night when they surprisingly beat off newer bands to win the NME award for best album.

Radiohead regained their crowns as kings of the indie music scene last night when they surprisingly beat off newer bands to win the NME award for best album.

They received the most nominations - five - for the awards and emerged with two prizes, triumphing over The White Stripes in the best album category, who had been favourite to win with their critically acclaimed album, Elephant.

Radiohead's sixth album, Hail to the Thief, was hailed as a return to the form set by their groundbreaking earlier work, The Bends and OK Computer, after records like Kid A appeared to be a deliberate attempt to alienate fans with experimentation.

The sixth album's title was a reference to George Bush's allegedly stolen election victory in 2000, and Thom Yorke, Radiohead's vocalist, has been maintaining an outspoken political profile, recently claiming Tony Blair should make a "grovelling apology" over the David Kelly affair.

Radiohead, who also won the best video award for their single "There There", had been expected to lose out to newer bands with a more basic and direct rock sound like The White Stripes, The Strokes and Kings of Leon, who were all nominated for best album.

The Kings of Leon were the only other group to win two prizes, being named best new band and best international band, while The White Stripes won best single for the track "Seven Nation Army", released from Elephant. The White Stripes were nominated in four categories and had been expected to win more, following a year when they dominated music press headlines.

Franz Ferdinand, the new British group, were nominated in the best new band category, but failed to win, despite being the most talked about band of the moment.

Other awards went to Queens of the Stone Age for best live band, The Libertines for best UK band, Dizzee Rascal, the East End rapper, for innovation, and Brody Dalle of The Distillers for rock'n'roll woman of the year. The Glastonbury Festival was named best event of the year.

Arthur Lee of the Sixties group Love was named "Living Legend", while film and television show awards predictably went to The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, and The Office. Radio One disc jockey Zane Lowe won the best radio show category.

Despite winning record of the year at this month's Grammy awards in Los Angeles, Coldplay failed to win any awards, as did The Darkness.

The awards, which are voted for by readers of the NME magazine, were held at the Hammersmith Palais in London.

THE WINNERS

BEST RADIO SHOW: Zane Lowe, Radio 1

BEST NEW BAND: Kings Of Leon

BEST VIDEO: There There, Radiohead

BEST FILM: The Lord Of the Rings: The Return Of The King

BEST SINGLE: Seven Nation Army, White Stripes

ROCK & ROLL MAN OF THE YEAR: Har Mar Superstar, above

BEST LIVE BAND: Queens Of The Stone Age

LIVING LEGEND: Arthur Lee and Love

PHILIP HALL RADAR AWARD: Franz Ferdinand

BEST EVENT: Glastonbury

AWARD FOR INNOVATION: Dizzee Rascal, above

BEST INTERNATIONAL BAND: Kings Of Leon

BEST TV SHOW: The Office

ROCK & ROLL WOMAN OF THE YEAR: Brody Dalle (The Distillers)

BEST UK BAND: The Libertines

BEST ALBUM : Hail To The Thief, Radiohead