Kasabian were named Best British Band at the NME Awards tonight (29.02.12).

The 'Rewired' group beat off competition from Arctic Monkeys, Biffy Clyro, Foals and Muse to land the prize - and singer Tom Meighan used their acceptance speech to pay tribute to The Monkees lead singer Davy Jones, who died from a heart attack earlier today.

He said: ''Thank you, thank you, thank you. Listen before I go any further we lost a legend tonight Davy Jones from The Monkees died tonight - 66. This is for Davy Jones.''

Tom then sang lines from the theme song from 'The Monkees' TV show, before saying ''God bless Davy Jones''.

Florence + The Machine picked up Best Solo Artist and Best Track supported by Fender for her single 'Shake It Out' at the event, which took place at London's O2 Academy Brixton.

The Smiths legend Johnny Marr presented Noel Gallagher with the biggest prize of the night, the Godlike Genius Award, and he described the former Oasis star as ''an institution''.

Arriving on stage to the theme song from 'Space Odyssey 2000', Noel said: ''Thank you very much. When I was born that tune was played, freaked my Nan out. Thank you to anyone who has bought a CD, a ticket or T-shirt, cause that's what counts.

''To the people here who have cited me as an influence you are welcome. I'd like to thank Johnny who was the first person outside of Oasis to notice us. And I'd like to thank NME for still giving a s**it after 20 years.''

He then closed the show with a performance which included Oasis tracks 'Half the World Away', 'Don't Look Back in Anger', B-side '(It's Good) To Be Free', and solo songs 'Everybody's On The Run', 'Dream On' and 'AKA... What A Life!'.

He dedicated 'If I Had a Gun...' to his wife Sara MacDonald, saying: ''I dedicate this next song to my wife who is the coolest person in this room, that's not my opinion that's a fact.''

Pulp were the recipients of the Teenage Cancer Trust Outstanding Contribution to Music prize, which was presented by artist Sir Peter Blake, who described the 'Common People' group as ''one of my favourite bands''.

Upon receiving his prize - which is a cast of a one-fingered rude hand gesture - Pulp singer Jarvis Cocker said: '' This isn't quite as pretty at the one you (Peter) designed for the Brit Awards, Adele wouldn't have had any problems tonight would she?''

Other winners at the spectacle - which was hosted by comedian Jack Whitehall - saw The Vaccines take home Best New Band, Foo Fighters win the Best International Band prize and Justin Bieber's 'Under The Mistletoe' record was named Worst Album.

FULL WINNERS LIST:

Best British Band supported by Sonos

Kasabian

Best International Band supported by T4

Foo Fighters

Best New Band supported by Boxfresh

The Vaccines

Best Solo Artist supported by Rekorderlig

Florence + the Machine

Best Live Band supported by Carling

Arctic Monkeys

Best Album supported by HMV

Horrors, 'Skying'

Best Track supported by Fender

Florence + The Machine, 'Shake It Out'

Best Video supported by NMEVideo.com

Hurts, 'Sunday'

Best Festival

Glastonbury

Dancefloor Anthem supported by NME Radio

Katy B, 'Broken Record'

Best TV Show

'Fresh Meat'

Best Film

'Submarine'

Hero Of The Year

Matt Bellamy

Villain Of The Year

Justin Bieber

Worst Album

Justin Bieber, 'Under The Mistletoe'

Worst Band

One Direction

Hottest Male

Jared Leto, 30 Seconds to Mars

Hottest Female

Hayley Williams, Paramore

Best Album Artwork

Friendly Fires, Pala

Best Band Blog or Twitter

Lady GaGa, @ladygaga

Best Book

Noel Fielding, 'The Scribblings of a Madcap Shambleton'

Best Small Festival

RockNess

Most Dedicated Fans

Muse

Best Music Film

Foo Fighters, 'Back and Forth'

Greatest Music Moment

Stone Roses re-unite

Best Re-issue

The Smiths, 'Complete re-issues'

Philip Hall Radar Award

Azealia Banks