Monday, February 9, 2009

GRAMMY RANT!! YAAAAAY!

Case of the Monday’s alert. Grammys? More like “Grannys”. The award itself is a Gramophone for god’s sake. I’m sorry, maybe I’m being snobbish and close minded but why does the Grammys consistently suck every year? I think it maaaaaaay have been around the time when Metallica lost to Jethro Tull for “Best Heavy Metal Album”. I tuned in sporadically last night and was consistently disappointed. First disappointment was the “new” U2 song which opened up the show. About as unoriginal as it gets. And the protest language flashing up on the big-screen? Bush is out…no need for that anymore. Show some youtube clips of drugged-up toddlers or resurrect ZooTV. Moving on. Does anyone else find it odd that there is this sudden groundswell of pasty-white British soul singers (Winehouse, Duffy, Adele…wasn’t she in that hipster band “The Gossip”)? Don’t get me wrong…great vocalists all of them…just find it incredibly strange. So, another revelation from last night – Boys II Men are still around? (holding up megaphone) I LIVE AND WORK IN PHILADELPHIA AND HAD NO CLUE. I also saw Kid Rock nominated a number of times…Kid Rock…really? Wow. Aside from those gems, the Grammys were pretty predictable in my opinion. Lots of Coldplay, Jonas Bros, John Mayer. Josh Grobin…old artists collaborating with them. I guess nominations and performances from MIA, Radiohead and DCFC were supposed to indie/youth-it-up….theeeeeeeeen Robert Plant & Allison Krauss become the big winners of the night (booooooo). Hahahaha…so close!. I think they won “Record” and “Album” of the year (wtf is the difference?). In my opinion (and I remember having so many fights about this) Led Zeppelin is and forever will be the greatest rock-and-roll band that ever existed (sorry Beatles/Stones fans). Everyone loves Robert Plant…and I’m sure his album of duets with Ms. Krauss was great. HOWEVER, I’m not sure how the award winners are picked but you’d hope they’d make way for some new talent like MIA or artists that deserve the recognition for the inventive ways they are changing music…like Radiohead (still considered “alternative” by the Grannys standards). There was a 10% ratings bump against adults age 18-49 from last year but I have a feeling that may be attributed to “The Jonas Effect”. My mother actually texted me asking me if I was “watching the Jonas brothers”. Squeaky clean punks. The hip-hop acts I can’t really comment on (but I will then go into a tirade) except that I’ve heard recordings from Lil’ Wayne, TI, T-Pain and Ne-Yo and they’re all god-awful. I took a chance on buying some new Kanye as well. Terrible. Why cant he stick to rock solid singles like “Jesus Walks” or “Lights”. The new stuff is so tone-deaf. What happened to using obscure samples? Any samples at all or just killer beats? I’m so sick of that computer voice modulator over awful beats and slow unoriginal rhymes. It’s such garbage. In terms of mainstream appeal what happened to the NWAs (Dre/Cube solo), Wu-Tangs, Beasties, Jay-Zs, Gangstars, TCQs and Ghetto Boyz of the world? Obviously I’m stuck in the 90s but I haven’t heard ANYTHING that is anywhere near the skills of the aforementioned groups. Nas was right…hip-hop is dead…and the Grammys died in the late 80s. Anyone reading this blog please…please enlighten me. I heard this underground rap outfit P.O.S which I’ve been meaning to pick up (heard a killer track called “Drumroll”…the man can rhyme at lightning speed). I’ll review it shortly.

I guess the one good thing I can commend MTV on is the uniqueness of their awards shows…the only on-air content actually music related about the flagship channel. XOXOXOXO

1 comment:

Scary Hours said...

Hey Tommy, long time listener, 1st time caller here. I think the Grammys are more about the record industry congratulating themselves than anything else. And with technology making the mainstream record industry less and less relevant, every year the show is more like screaming in a vacuum. And I don't think Zep ever won a grammy.