So The Brits are here again and the winner of the Outstanding Contribution Award to Music goes to...the Pet Shop Boys.

Fair enough, but what about that other great electronic band, Depeche Mode?

Isn't it about time they got some recognition from The Brits and their UK music peers?

The facts speak for themselves. Throughout a near 30 year career they have sold in excess of one hundred million records and are without doubt one of the longest-lived, most successful and influential bands to have emerged from the New Wave era.

They have had forty-five songs in the UK Singles Chart, as well as one U.S. and three UK number one albums.

Crucially they are one of only a few British bands to have enjoyed sustained success abroad, cracking America where 60,000 fans saw them play the Pasadena Rosebowl in 1988.

Two years later the release of the Violator album sparked a near riot in Los Angeles when 20,000 fans turned up for an LP signing session.

The subsequent US tour saw sell out dates at the likes of the New York Giants' stadium and the LA Dodgers stadium.

Since then the sell out world tours have continued with tens of millions of people witnessing the band's shows across a multitude of countries and continents.

In March 2006 when they announced a stadium date in Mexico more than 55,000 tickets were sold almost immediately, causing another show to be scheduled at the same venue.

Meanwhile, the hits have continued. Precious, the lead off single from the last album in 2005, Playing The Angel, reached number four in the UK charts. The album itself was number one in 17 countries.

When it comes to the band's influence on other musicians - surely a critical factor in something like an outstanding contribution award - the list is long.

Pet Shop Boys themselves cite them as an inspiration, as have the likes of The Cure, Smashing Pumpkins, Linkin Park and Goldfrapp. Even the poles apart Marilyn Manson and Coldplay - who released a cover version of the video for Enjoy the Silence as an alternate video for their single Viva la Vida - have borrowed from the band.

Techno pioneers Derrick May, Kevin Saunderson and Juan Atkins also regularly cited Depeche Mode as an influence on the development of techno music during the Detroit Techno explosion in the mid 1980s.

And as if to confirm their status in today's digital world in mid-December 2006, iTunes released The Complete Depeche Mode as its fourth ever digital box-set, following in the footsteps of U2, Stevie Wonder and Bob Dylan.

It's impossible to argue with some of those who have won the outstanding contribution award at The Brits in the past - Paul McCartney, David Bowie, U2, etc.

But come on, Duran Duran won it in 2004, despite not having been active on the music scene for eons.

Oasis, bless 'em, even picked up the award in 2007. This after just four or five albums and blatantly borrowing their influences from other people's music. Great band, yes, outstanding contribution, no.

Even the Spice Girls have won this category! So next year maybe..we can but hope.

And to think The Sun newspaper at one time had a campaign running to get the Mode a lifetime achievement gong! That must mean something to Brits bosses?!

Its No Good and Wrong to ignore them in this way.

So come on The Brits get it sorted and lets have some recognition for the Mode!