The Grammy Awards are the night of nights for the music industry. While they are still seen as the centre of the Recording Industry universe, do the Grammy’s mean anything anymore?
Some would argue that the Grammy’s have always been irrelevant. Certainly, it has been responsible for some monumental fuck-ups over the years. We are still laughing from when Jethro Tull beat Metallica in the Best Metal Category.Tull took out an ad in Billboard the following week with a picture of a flute in the advertisement. “The flute is a heavy metal instrument,” the ad read.
Metallica stickered the ‘And Justice For All’ album afterwards with “Grammy Awards LOSERS’.
That was 1989.
Maynard James Keenan did not attend the year Tool was nominated. Instead he issued the statement, I think the Grammys are nothing more than some gigantic promotional machine for the music industry. They cater to a low intellect and they feed the masses. They don't honor the arts or the artist for what he created. It's the music business celebrating itself. That's basically what it's all about”.
In 2007, Trent Reznor wrote in his blog "While the music industry is doing everything they possibly can to go out of business, can we all make sure to rid ourselves of the Grammys, too? Out of touch old men jacking each other off. ENOUGH! Have a nice day."
Bono has admitted referring to them as ‘The Grannies”.
For 2009, there are 110 categories for Grammy Awards. How special is an awards ceremony when 110 people walk away winners? They award something for everything.
Why are there a ‘Best Pop Instrumental Performance’ and a ‘Best Pop Instrumental Performance’?
For that matter, why award anything just because it doesn’t have a lyrics anyway?
Look at the Rock categories alone. There is:
Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance
Best Rock Performance by a Dup or Group with Vocals
Best Hard Rock Performance
Best Metal Performance
Best Rock Instrumental Performance
Best Rock Song
Best Rock Album
Then there is a rap category, an urban category and an R& B category. There is rap solo, rap duo, rap instrumental and on and on it goes.
Then it gets really silly - a Best Latin Urban Album category and my favorite, Best Tropical Latin Album. What the hell is that?
How many people actually heard ‘Frutero Moderno’ by Gonzalo Grau y La Clave Secreta this year? How many bought it? Does the academy make up these music categories? Is there REALLY such as thing as “Tropical Latin”.
How many water-cooler conversations will take place on Grammy day debating who will win Best Banda Album or Best Norteno Album?
Do the Grammy Awards actually have to acknowledge ‘Best Hawaiian Music Album’? Shouldn’t that be limited to the Hawaiian Music Awards? If Hawaii can get its own award, why isn't there a Best Ohio Music Album award?
Somewhere in the past, the meaning of the Grammy Awards disappeared up its own arse.
Gwyneth Paltrow has been nominated for the Best Spoken World Album for Children category. She’s up against Monk star Tony Shalhoub.
It is Stephen Colbert vs. Sidney Poitier in the best Spoken World Album category. Can’t we just let them arm-wrestle for it?
This year’s Grammy broadcast was one of the lowest rating shows ever.
Maybe if they cut out the crap, people might care.
